The preachers from religious malls, who distribute the Divinity and “the only True Knowledge”, are becoming more and more widespread. Every tricky salesman can find his customer. The dominance of religious organizations in Ukraine is considered to be a sign of democracy by some experts, while other claim this to be a malicious tumor on the body of Ukrainian society. The cases, when religious fanaticism leads to tragic consequences are not rare, yet, the government considers that the problem of destructive cults is far-fetched. Meanwhile, numerous religious organizations hunt for new members. Maybe, they are about to knock in your doors!

God told not to play chess
Sergey used to be a good mixer and a straight-A student; till his mom didn’t become a “believer” in some religious organization and all her family joined her. The family changed a lot. Sergey never laughs; he quotes Bible now and then, never communicates with his former friends and hardly studies anything in university. His younger sister, who is in the fifth form, is prohibited to play with her peers, celebrate birthdays, visit PE lessons and read fiction books. The neighbors think that the family is in a serious trouble.
The God, Sergey prays to, might seem to be quite odd to a worldly person. He prohibits celebrating Easter and Christmas, though the members of the cult tell they are Christians. The believers mustn’t wear a cross, mourn for the dead, take part in elections, and respect the state anthem and flag or the government. This religion prohibits reading secular books, going in for sport and passing military services. Sergey cannot even play chess or go fishing or camping, for his god is against it. He cannot consult a psychiatrist, have blood transfusion or be a donor too, even if the case is acute. The pastors advise Sergey quit with his studies and communicate with his neighbors. 
Religious community, Sergey’s family is a member of, is one of the most widespread in Ukraine. It is officially registered and it grows. Besides, there are 34 thousand of other religious communities in Ukraine. 

Is this a democracy or permissiveness?
Ukrainian cult researchers claim that we have much more religious organizations than we need. “We have to admit that modern Ukrainian legislations in the sphere of freedom of worship are one of the most liberal in Europe”, - Elena Lishchinskaya, the senior official of the Institute of Social and Political Psychology, tells, - “various off-grade organizations try to pretend they are religious communities. Any other “underground Tom, Dick and Harry” who is carrying out religious rites in his flat has the same rights as traditional Ukrainian religions”. 
Valery Chebanenko, a well-known cult-researcher, the head of “Cults and Society” public organization, tells, that Ukraine is attracting the world’s attention because of its permissiveness in sphere of religion. A number of churches, which are officially banned in most countries, have official status in our country. “It is very unpleasant, but experts tell that our country is the cradle for religious plague which might soon move to Europe. In our country religious organizations may work without any registration. For instance, Ukraine is the only country in Europe where the Church of Satan exists. And this doctrine becomes more popular! By the way, there only country except our one, where this church is legal, is the USA”. 

The preachers go to school
Propagandists of modern gods never sit around twiddling their thumbs. Their system of coming from one house to another to preach has been effective for about a decade. And recently religious communities made youth their target group. “Youth is the most attractive group for involving them into a cult, - Vladimir Noskov, the editor of “Cultic Ukraine” website tells, - as it is very socially active and tends to be maximalist. Besides, it has less critical thinking when it gets new information. This is exactly why preachers find campuses with first year students very attractive. The reason is that entering the university is a stress for young people and they are even more vulnerable then”. 
New religious communities often organize various summer camps or music festivals for the youth. There are even some groups of “Christian bikers”. Vladimir Noskov tells that cults cooperate with the branches of local government which are dealing with the youth. “Now it is almost a tradition that musician from these cults take part in various concerts on some state holidays, and other festive events, such as “Youth day” and other official events, meant for young people. This is how they cooperate, - Mr. Noskov tells, - religious organizations do all the organization work of these festivals voluntarily and later on this information goes to the “youth committees’ reports”. 
The cults have recently been tending to cooperate with schools (though it is prohibited by the law). Elena, the resident of a small village in Fastov district of Kiev region, says: “There are lessons, which are held by representatives of some sect, and this lasts for years. My husband and I are strongly against these lessons, as we have no idea what these preachers can teach our children. But when we expressed our indignation, the teacher told that she thought there was nothing bad about it, as the preachers used to give the children pencils, rulers, etc as presents. Every week they come to some lesson and ask the teacher to give them fifteen minutes to pray with the children. So, the children pray instead of learning. When the preacher comes, my child leaves the classroom. And all this stuff has already lasted for four years”. This church has organized a real social campaign in Oxana’s village, as you can attend English courses for free there or send your child to a summer camp (if you’re lucky enough, the child may even have a trip abroad and you won’t have to pay anything). All you have to do is to attend their church regularly.
Valery Chebanenko claims that the cults’ pressure on schools will even become stronger in future, as they are “the best source of adepts”. “All religious cults have good relationships with schools. There even exists a legislative bill that provides the religious organizations’ right to establish public schools in Ukraine. And the educational programs will be made not in the Ministry of Education, but in the religious community itself, while the state will pay for it”.

Are crimes, committed by cultists, just an accident? 
The methods of preaching the “Holy word”, which are used in most of non-conventional religions, make experts very anxious. According to the data of the sociological polling, which had been carried out by Social and Political Psychology Institute, more than thirty-three percent of Ukrainian population know the cases of the cults’ negative impact on people. “Most neocults’ activity violates the numerous violations of the law, - Elena Lishchinska tells, - as most of them humiliate the person’s dignity, popularize racist ideology, they are often involved into financial fraud and drug abuse. One of the possible negative impacts of the person’s membership in a cult is worsening of his or her mental health. Cultic practices are definitely harmful for the person’s health, if it means refusing of medic aid, injuring oneself, etc. But there is something that makes us even more disturbed, and this is involving the underage children into cults, as they depend on their parents, and parents depend on the leader and on the group. And cultic leaders can call any bizarre and unhealthy strategy “the best and the only right way to bring the children up”. It is very hard to prove legally that a group is destructive, so there’s no way to protect these children. They are under moral and physical pressure, they lack sleep and normal nutrition, and the cult never takes their age into consideration. As the result the children’s rights for education, leisure and recreation are violated. Of course, the law prohibits this, but nobody is ever made responsible for these violations”.
Religious fanaticism often leads to tragic consequences. Elena Lishchinskaya remembers there was a horrible case several years ago. The religious fanatic starved his three children and his mother in law to death during a forty-days fastening (his exhausted wife was lucky enough to reach people, while the “righteous man” escaped). In the villages, where religious communities fell at ease, religious parents don’t consult a doctor if their child is ill, they don’t let doing any medical tests, surgical operations and pregnant women don’t let the doctors make cesarean section during the childbirth. 
A horrible tragedy, caused by religious reasons, happened in Dnepropetrovsk several months ago. The mother and her younger son beat the older son to death with a dumb-bell because he refused to attend a religious organization, they were the members of. “Unfortunately, our state religious studies experts claim that the cases of the kind are nothing but an accident, - Vasily Usenko, MD, the counselor of Dnepropetrovsk “Dialogue” center tells, - they do this year by year and they would never agree that these cruel tragedies are caused by the cultic doctrine”. 
“Psychological violence is the core of these organizations, - Elena Lishchinska tells, - this causes cultic addiction, which is a mental disorder”. “Most cultic doctrines arise hatred against anyone who is not the member of the cult, - Mr. Usenko tells, - they mostly use suggestion just to isolate the adept from his family, so that the relatives could not prevent him from attending the church. So, even if the pastors claim they “stand up for a strong family”, the truth is that they want both spouse and their children become the adepts of the church”.
Religious organizations often have their own “business”: there are cases, when the adepts donated cars, flats and savings. Besides, the believers often do some building or repairmen work in the church or work in some church’s enterprise free of charge.

Judgment is just a word 
It is easy to predict the possible consequences of such an influence on the Ukrainians’ mind. “At the end of the nineteenth century professor Bekhtyeryev studied the consequences of membership in Kondrat Malyovany’s cult and found out that they were extremely destructive for the mind, - Vasyl Usenko tells, - it was at the beginning of the nineties (last century, I mean) when the experts in Sweden found out that 63% of members of the neocult, which is very common in Ukraine, - these members had serious mental disorders and a quarter of them even tried to commit a suicide. Swedish government had to send these people to the USA for rehabilitation and pay for it from the budget”. 
It is almost impossible to persecute someone for psychological violence. Formally, the state has right to stop religious organization’s activity if it is illegal. “But we should admit that the level of legal competence is very low among Ukrainians, besides, our laws exist, but they don’t work. And to end with, the cooperation between the people and the law machinery doesn’t correspond with any standards, - Elena Lishchinska tells”. 
“The freedom of worship never meant permissiveness. International laws acknowledge the country’s right to check if religious organization’s activity is harmful for the society, - Vladimir Khmel, the head of the State Institute of Religions and Totalitarian Religions Studies, tells. – But as soon as we start dealing with destructive cults, a number of activists appear claiming that we are violating the freedom of worship, and that we are trying to reestablish the totalitarian society, though we are just trying to carry out a state expert estimate, which is absolutely legal. Besides, it would be useful to bring the new destructive religious trends apart from Protestantism, which they use as a mask”. 
The blackouts in the legislations are also harmful for Ukrainians. Unlike the countries of Europe, Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, there is no law which would protect the citizens from the harmful psychological influence and psychological violence. “The methods of psychological manipulation are free to use, so anyone can learn them. This is a horrible and a very efficient weapon, - Vasyl Usenko tells. Not only neocults are interested in using this weapon without any restrictions; the politicians, who lobby the neocults’ interests, want it as well. So, there’s no surprise that the government doesn’t protect our rights”. 

Anyone can become a victim 
Of course we cannot say that all religions preach violence, aggression and “eat the citizens’ brains”. Religions, which are traditional for Ukraine, proved that they do much for the society. In Ukrainian villages there are mostly religious families that don’t have alcohol abuse and who are good workers. Religious communities take part in social projects, for instance, they adopt children of create family-like orphanages, while the state doesn’t want to take up this piece of work. 
Yet, there are dangerous groups. Psychologists claim that anyone can get into their trap. “According to the specialists’ estimate, destructive cults are potentially dangerous for 40% of Ukrainians, - Vasily Usenko tells. – Anyone can be involved as we became more vulnerable if we have some problems. In fact, neocults use any personal trouble and every human sin to recruit new adepts. The recruiters promise to give one what he wants the most. If you are sick, then you will be healed; if you are lonely, they tell you will find friends and spouse there, if you are greedy, then you will be promised wealth. The vain people hope they will be admired. Even drug addicts can get free and legal religious drug instead of chemical one. But none of them is told what price they will pay for it”. 
Experts tell that religious addiction and the process of its formation looks pretty much like drug or alcohol addiction. The earlier you notice the changes in the adept, the stronger are the chances to bring him back to the family. Psychologists claim that Ukrainians mostly get involved into cults because they had some problems in their family relationships. They were promised something to replace these relations in the cult as the result. So, the relatives’ aim is to prove their love. Yet, one should do it with the help of a professional psychologist.
 
NB! Journalists mention no names of religious organizations on purpose. Our legislations consider there is no destructive cults in Ukraine and any organization which had been registered in our country can bring a case to the court. 
 
COMMENT
“Destructive cult” term was invited by the journalists” 
Yuri Reshetnikov, the head of Ukrainian State Committee for Nation and Religion-Related Issues:
— Such a great number of religious communities in Ukraine are explained with the fact that the rate of religious people is much higher in Ukraine than in Europe. Most religious communities are Orthodox ones or worship some other traditional religions. It is evident that dangerous religions cannot exist in Ukraine; according to the current legislations they cannot get permission. Ukrainian State Committee for Nation, Religion-Related Issues and the law machinery watch that there were no dangerous religious organizations in Ukraine. Religious communities send apply to our organization for getting permission, and if they look fishy or if we doubt that they are needed in Ukraine, we never register them. And as for the victims of religious doctrines, you see, this is a tricky question. There were some parents, who addressed our department as they considered themselves victims as their child adopted Catholicism or Orthodoxy, which are absolutely traditional religions for Ukraine. So, I say that it is very hard to find out whether religion is harmful or not. The person’s relatives may not understand or approve his religion – and thus they consider themselves to be victims. 
Religious concerns are a very intimate and personal thing. So, we should figure out if we are going to have a democratic state or a police-like one, just as Soviet Union used to be. During the soviet period there were cases when children became unparented just because their parents taught them religion. But today Ukrainian legislation corresponds with the main democratic standards and I don’t think any of religious communities of Ukraine is really hazardous.
 
BY THE WAY 
Antony, the Bishop of Borispol and the vicar Kiev Mitropoly named the most dangerous religious cults in Ukraine in his interview to “Dzerkalo Tyzhnya” (July 2007). The blacklist included “Jehovah Witnesses”, “Scientology Church”, “Hare Krishna Society”, “White Lotus”, and a number of power-evangelism groups, such as “Lord’s Embassy”. “The cult’s destructivity or being totalitarian is not measured with their beliefs. Their actions are just what should be taken into consideration”, - bishop Antony is sure.                                                                               (o 12)