Editing CESNUR (section)

==History==

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CESNUR was founded in 1988 at a seminar organized by Massimo Introvigne, Jean-François Mayer, and Ernesto Zucchini in Italy.<ref name="Stausberg">{{Cite journal |last=Stausberg |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Stausberg |date=2009 |title=The study of religion(s) in Western Europe III: Further developments after World War II |journal=[[Religion (journal)|Religion]] |language=en |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=261–282 |doi=10.1016/j.religion.2009.06.001 |s2cid=144600043}}</ref><ref name="Arweck">{{Cite book |last=Arweck |first=Elizabeth |title=Researching New Religious Movements: Responses and Redefinitions |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-1138059887 |location=London |page=28 |language=en}}</ref> Introvigne is an Italian intellectual-property attorney and sociology lecturer who also serves as the group's director.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clifford |first=Ross |author-link=Ross Clifford |title=John Warwick Montgomery's Legal Apologetic: An Apologetic for all Seasons |date=2016-01-22 |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock Publishers]] |isbn=9781498282338 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2FGPCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA179 179] |language=en }}</ref> A member of the Catholic conservative organization [[Alleanza Cattolica]] since 1972, Introvigne served as that group's vice president until 2016.<ref name="Alleanza Cattolica">{{Cite web|url=http://alleanzacattolica.org/languages/english/ac_menu_01.htm |title=Alleanza Cattolica – Catholic Alliance – a deepening |access-date=January 5, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601115238/http://alleanzacattolica.org/languages/english/ac_menu_01.htm |archive-date=June 1, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ippolito |first=Michele M. |date=2016-04-28 |title=Massimo Introvigne non è più il reggente nazionale vicario di Alleanza Cattolica |trans-title=Massimo Introvigne is no longer the vicar national regent of Alleanza Cattolica |url=http://www.lafedequotidiana.it/massimo-introvigne-non-e-piu-reggente-vicario-di-alleanza-cattolica/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030093145/http://www.lafedequotidiana.it/massimo-introvigne-non-e-piu-reggente-vicario-di-alleanza-cattolica/ |archive-date=2019-10-30 |access-date=2019-10-30 |work=La Fede Quotidiana |language=it}}</ref> Mayer is a Swiss historian specialized in new religious movements.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rosenfeld |first=Jean E. |date=April 1999 |title=Response to Mayer's "Our Terrestrial Journey is Coming to an End" |journal=[[Nova Religio]] |language=en |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=197–207 |doi=10.1525/nr.1999.2.2.197 |issn=1092-6690}}</ref> He was for a time a lecturer at [[University of Fribourg]] and in 2012, he was appointed by the [[Canton of Fribourg]] to prepare a report on the situation of religious communities there.<ref>{{Cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2012-09-26 |title=La première religion: l'individualisme |trans-title=The first religion: individualism |url=https://www.lesobservateurs.ch/2012/09/26/la-premiere-religion-lindividualisme/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002141844/https://lesobservateurs.ch/2012/09/26/la-premiere-religion-lindividualisme/ |archive-date=2018-10-02 |access-date=2020-03-13 |work=LesObservateurs.ch |language=fr-CH}}</ref> Zucchini is a Catholic priest, who became in 2009 professor of theology in the Theological School of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Massa Carrara-Pontremoli|Diocese of Massa Carrara-Pontremoli]] in Italy and published and lectured about the Italian mystic [[Maria Valtorta]] and about the [[Jehovah's Witnesses]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ricci |first=Rita |date=2016-10-16 |title=Alla scoperta dell'"Evangelo" di Maria Valtorta |trans-title=Discovering Maria Valtorta's "Gospel" |url=https://it.zenit.org/articles/alla-scoperta-dellevangelo-di-maria-valtorta/ |access-date=2020-03-13 |work=ZENIT |location=Rome}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Picariello |first=Angelo |date=December 12, 1993 |title=No alla doppia appartenenza |trans-title=No to double membership |url=https://www.rassegnastampa-totustuus.it/cattolica/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Rassegna-N.-071-Anno-XII-Dicembre-1993.pdf |work=Avvenire|access-date=March 13, 2020}}</ref>

[[Giuseppe Casale]], a Catholic historian and Archbishop of the [[Archdiocese of Foggia-Bovino]], was appointed as the first president of CESNUR.<ref name="Diocese">{{Cite web |title=Giuseppe Casale |url=https://www.diocesifoggiabovino.it/?pag=arcivescovo&id=12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229171823/http://www.diocesifoggiabovino.it/?pag=arcivescovo&id=12 |archive-date=December 29, 2018 |access-date=March 13, 2020 |website=Arcidiocesi di Foggia-Bovino}}</ref><ref name="Flint">{{Cite journal |last=Flint |first=Donna |date=1990 |title=CESNUR Seminar on New Religious Movements |journal=[[Religion Today]] |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |page=15 |doi=10.1080/13537909008580638}}</ref> Later, [[Luigi Berzano]] became CESNUR's president.<ref name="Government">{{Cite web |date=May 2013 |title=Diritti Umani e Libertà Religiosa: Istituzioni Europee ed Organismi Internazionali, no. 60 |trans-title=Human Rights and Religious Freedom: European Institutions and International Bodies, no. 60 |url=http://presidenza.governo.it/USRI/confessioni/doc_normativa_europea/2013/maggio2013.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329195329/http://presidenza.governo.it/USRI/confessioni/doc_normativa_europea/2013/maggio2013.pdf |archive-date=March 29, 2020 |access-date=March 13, 2020 |publisher=Governo Italiano, Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Servizio per i Rapporti con le Confessioni Religiose e le Relazioni Istituzionali |page=19}}</ref> Reviewing the proceedings of one of the first CESNUR conferences, French sociologist [[Jean Séguy]] wrote in 1988 that most participants were Catholic and presented the traditional Catholic view of phenomena such as [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualism]] and the [[New Age]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Séguy |first=Jean |date=April–June 1991 |title=Review of Lo Spiritismo |journal=[[Archives de sciences sociales des religions]] |volume=36 |issue=74 |pages=258–259 |issn=0335-5985 |jstor=30122503}}</ref>

Other members of CESNUR's board include Luigi Berzano, [[Gianni Ambrosio]], [[Reender Kranenborg]], [[Eileen Barker]] and [[J. Gordon Melton]].<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="board">{{Cite web |date=2017-09-11 |title=Board |url=https://cesnur.net/board/ |website=CESNUR |language=en}}</ref> Berzano, who later became CESNUR's president,<ref name="Government"/> is a professor of sociology at the [[University of Turin]]. Ambrosio is an Italian sociologist who became in 2007 bishop of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio|Catholic Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio]].<ref>{{Cite press release |title=L'Antonino d'oro 2009 al vescovo mons. Gianni Ambrosio |date=2009-06-11 |publisher=Diocese of Piacenza and Bobbio |url=https://www.diocesipiacenzabobbio.org/download/documenti/Antonino%20d%27Oro%202009.doc |language=it}}{{dead link|date=April 2024}}</ref> Kranenborg is a Dutch Reformed theologian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klass |first=Morton |title=Reinventing Religions: Syncretism and Transformation in Africa and the Americas |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |year=2001 |isbn=0-8476-8852-6 |editor-last1=Greenfield |editor-first1=Sidney M. |location=Latham, Maryland |page=213 |language=en |chapter=Seeking Syncretism: The Case of Sathya Sai Baba |editor-last2=Droogers |editor-first2=André}}</ref> Barker is a sociologist who wrote ''[[The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing?]]'' (1984) and formed the [[INFORM|Information Network Focus on Religious Movements]] (INFORM) in 1988.<ref name="short_hist">{{Cite book |last=Gallagher |first=Eugene V. |title='Cult Wars' in Historical Perspective: New and Minority Religions |date=2016-07-01 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-317-15667-3 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rS2TDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 27] |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Melton is Distinguished Professor of American Religious History at [[Baylor University]] in [[Waco]], [[Texas]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=J. Gordon Melton |url=http://www.baylorisr.org/about-isr/distinguished-professors/j-gordon-melton/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222105224/http://www.baylorisr.org/about-isr/distinguished-professors/j-gordon-melton/ |archive-date=2017-12-22 |access-date=2019-10-30 |website=Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1995 the French [[Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France]], after the events of the [[Order of the Solar Temple]], published a critical report on [[cult]]s. This was followed by similar reports by other governments. CESNUR claimed these texts relied excessively on information supplied by the [[anti-cult movement]] and criticized them publicly, particularly through a book called ''Pour en finir avec les sectes''.<ref name="Palmer">{{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Susan J. |author-link=Susan J. Palmer |title=The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la République, and the Government-Sponsored "War on Sects" |title-link=The New Heretics of France |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-973521-1 |location=New York |pages=xi-xiii and 215 |language=en}}</ref> Canadian scholar [[Susan Jean Palmer]] wrote that the title, translated as "To Put an End to the Sects", had a double meaning and was "deliberately misleading", as, rather than to sects of cults, the authors wanted to put an end to governmental criticism of them.<ref name="Palmer"/> French sociologists Jean-Louis Schlegel and [[Nathalie Luca]] reviewed the book critically, noting that while the authors were right in criticizing some mistakes of the Parliamentary report, CESNUR had moved with the volume from a scholarly to a militant advocacy position and to a one-sided defense of cults.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schlegel |first=Jean-Louis |date=June 1997 |title=Pourquoi on n'en finit pas avec les sectes |trans-title=Why we're still dealing with cults |journal=Esprit |language=fr |volume=233 |issue=6 |pages=98–112 |jstor=24469793}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Luca |first=Nathalie |date=1998 |title=Introvigne (Massimo), Melton (J. Gordon), eds. Pour en finir avec les sectes. Le débat sur le rapport de la commission parlementaire, compte rendu |journal=[[Archives de sciences sociales des religions]] |language=fr |volume=102 |pages=71–73 |issn=0335-5985 |jstor=30129293}}</ref> According to Palmer, the book upset the French authorities so much so that one of its co-authors, French historian [[Antoine Faivre]], was placed by the police under temporary arrest (garde à vue), accused of having disclosed confidential details about the persons interviewed by the Parliamentary Commission, although he was detained for a few hours only and a judge later dropped the charges.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Palmer |first=Susan J. |author-link=Susan J. Palmer |date=February 2008 |title=France's "War on Sects": A Post-9/11 Update |journal=[[Nova Religio]] |language=en |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=104–120 |doi=10.1525/nr.2008.11.3.104}}</ref>

In a 1996 piece in ''[[Charlie Hebdo]]'', French essayist [[Renaud Marhic]] accused CESNUR of being "a scientific screen used to relay [Introvigne's] theses to the complacent media".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Marhic |first=Renaud |author-link=Renaud Marhic |date=1996-12-04 |title=none |work=[[Charlie Hebdo]] |language=fr |issue=233 |quote=paravent scientifique servant à relayer ses thèses auprès des médias complaisants.}}</ref> Scholars [[Stephen A. Kent]] and Raffaella Di Marzio have argued that CESNUR's representation of the [[brainwashing]] controversy is one-sided, [[polemic]]al and sometimes without scholarly value, while anthropologist Richard Singelenberg questioned in 1997 whether CESNUR is "too friendly and does not make enough critical comments about new religious movements and sects".<ref name="auto" /><ref name="kent" /><ref>{{Cite document |last1=Amitrani |first1=Alberto |last2=Di Marzio |first2=Raffaella |date=April 1998 |title='Brainwashing' in New Religious Movements: clarifying some issues |language=en |publisher=G.R.I.S.}}</ref> Kent further observed: "Many German and French officials working on issues related to religious 'sects' and human rights do not see CESNUR and Introvigne as neutral parties in the ongoing debates... Consequently, other people and organizations have damaged their reputations (rightly or wrongly) among these officials by associating too closely with CESNUR".<ref name="kent" /> Later on, Raffaella Di Marzio changed her mind and became a collaborator of CESNUR.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Maffia |first=Camillo |date=2013-05-13 |title=Persecuzione e campagne anti-sette: intervista a Raffaella Di Marzio |trans-title=Persecution and anti-cult campaigns: interview with Raffaella Di Marzio |url=http://www.agenziaradicale.com/index.php/diritti-e-liberta/1581-persecuzione-e-campagne-anti-sette-intervista-a-raffaella-di-marzio |access-date=2023-12-24 |work=Agenzia Radicale |language=it}}</ref> According to Kent, "many scholars, however, see both CESNUR and INFORM in a favourable light, and they share its criticism of the  'sect-monitors' in France, Germany, and Belgium."<ref name="kent" />

CESNUR again met with controversy when one of the scheduled speakers at the 1997 CESNUR conference, who was to present scholarship on the religious group [[New Acropolis]], was discovered to be a member of the very group she purported to study.<ref name="kwaad" /> Michiel Louter writing for Dutch magazine ''[[De Groene Amsterdammer]]'' opined: "It is difficult to believe that CESNUR-director Introvigne was not up-to-date on her membership in the group".<ref name="kwaad" /> The participation of the New Acropolis speaker to the conference was canceled after the connection was publicly reported by Dutch publication ''[[Trouw]]''.<ref name="auto" /><ref name="Trouw2" />

In 2001, French journalist {{Ill|Serge Garde|fr}} accused CESNUR of "systematic interventions in favor of sects brought to justice", naming [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[Scientology]], [[Order of the Solar Temple]], the [[Unification Church]] and [[Aum Shinrikyo]] and opined that "all the sects know they can count on CESNUR".<ref name="L'Humanité">{{Cite news |last=Garde |first=Serge |date=2001-06-27 |title=Les liaisons dangereuses des universités lyonnaises |trans-title=The dangerous liaisons of Lyon universities |url=https://www.humanite.fr/les-liaisons-dangereuses-des-universites-lyonnaises-248466 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125172714/https://www.humanite.fr/les-liaisons-dangereuses-des-universites-lyonnaises-248466 |archive-date=2023-01-25 |access-date=2022-07-15 |work=[[L'Humanité]] |language=fr-FR}}</ref> 

===Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attack of 1995===
In the aftermath of the 1995 [[sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway]], CESNUR board member [[J. Gordon Melton]] and occasional CESNUR conference speaker [[James R. Lewis (scholar)|James R. Lewis]] flew to Japan at the expense of [[Aum Shinrikyo]]; they then held press conferences in Japan stating their belief that the group did not have the ability to produce [[sarin]] and was being [[Scapegoating|scapegoated]].<ref name="washingtonpost">{{Cite news |last=Reid |first=T. R. |author-link=T. R. Reid |date=1995-05-05 |title=Tokyo Cult Finds an Unlikely Supporter |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite news |last=van der Velde |first=Koert |date=1997-08-05 |title=VU gastvrouw voor sektevriendelijk congres |trans-title=VU hostess for cult-friendly conference |url=https://www.trouw.nl/gs-b02a77a8 |work=[[Trouw]] |language=nl}}</ref><ref name="latimes">{{Cite news |last1=Watanabe |first1=Teresa |date=1995-05-06 |title=Alleged Persecution of Cult Investigated : Japan: U.S. activists visit Tokyo. They're concerned about treatment of sect suspected in subway attack. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-06-mn-62967-story.html |access-date=2019-09-19 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Reader">{{Cite journal |last=Reader |first=Ian |date=April 2000 |title=Scholarship, Aum Shinrikyô, and Academic Integrity |url=http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/14563/1/nr.2000.3.2.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=[[Nova Religio]] |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=368–82 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005112225/http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/14563/1/nr.2000.3.2.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-05 |access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> Melton later revised his judgment.<ref name=Reader /> A paper mentioning the investigation was presented at the 1995 CESNUR conference.<ref name="cesnur.org">{{Cite journal |last=Introvigne |first=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Introvigne |date=October 1998 |title=Blacklisting or Greenlisting? A European Perspective on the New Cult Wars |url=https://www.cesnur.org/testi/greenlist.html |journal=[[Nova Religio]] |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=16–23 |doi=10.1525/nr.1998.2.1.16 |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=CESNUR|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Trouw2" />

Though CESNUR director Massimo Introvigne defended what he termed the "much maligned" investigation, others in the field felt that the scholars' defense of Aum Shinrikyo led to a crisis of confidence in religious scholarship when Aum's culpability was proven.<ref name="kwaad">{{Cite news |last1=Louter |first1=Michiel |date=1997-08-13 |title=Kenners van het kwaad |trans-title=Knowers of Evil |url=https://www.groene.nl/artikel/kenners-van-het-kwaad |access-date=2019-09-19 |work=[[De Groene Amsterdammer]] |language=nl-NL |issue=33}}</ref><ref name=Reader /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kent |first=Stephen A. |author-link=Stephen A. Kent |last2=Krebs |first2=Theresa |date=1999 |title=Clarifying Contentious Issues: A Rejoinder To Melton, Shupe, And Lewis |url=https://skent.ualberta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Popular-Press-Clarifying-Contentious-Issues.pdf |access-date=2024-05-25 |magazine=[[Skeptic Magazine]] |pages=21–26 |language=en |via=skent.ualberta.ca |volume=7 |issue=1}}</ref><ref name="cesnur.org"/> Scholar Ian Reader disputed Introvigne's defense, writing "the case in hand certainly shows that some scholars are capable of saying what those who call on them want them to say, even when the evidence points the other way".<ref name=Reader />

===Eastern Lightning and the murder of Wu Shuoyan===
In 2018, ''Bitter Winter'' was criticized for its sympathetic coverage of [[Eastern Lightning]], a group regarded as a [[cult]] in China.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/chinasource-blog-posts/sorting-rumor-from-fact |title=Sorting Rumor from Fact? Look for the Red Chop |last=Pittman |first=Joann |date=28 December 2018 |website=Chinasource |access-date=15 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027082432/https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/chinasource-blog-posts/sorting-rumor-from-fact |archive-date=27 October 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Introvigne discussed in ''Bitter Winter'' the 2014 [[murder of Wu Shuoyan]], attributed by Chinese authorities to Eastern Lightning.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Introvigne |first=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Introvigne |date=2018-09-20 |title=The McDonald's Murder of 2014: The Crime The Church of Almighty God Did Not Commit |url=https://bitterwinter.org/the-mcdonalds-murder-of-2014/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404015617/https://bitterwinter.org/the-mcdonalds-murder-of-2014/ |archive-date=2019-04-04 |access-date=2019-11-13 |website=Bitter Winter |language=en}}</ref><ref name="asiatimes.com">{{Cite news |last=Salmon |first=Andrew |date=2019-03-21 |title=Chinese Christians live in fear, fleeing abroad |url=https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/03/article/chinese-christians-live-in-fear-fleeing-abroad/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328165401/https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/03/article/chinese-christians-live-in-fear-fleeing-abroad/ |archive-date=2019-03-28 |access-date=2019-11-13 |work=[[Asia Times]] |language=en}}</ref> He supported the position first presented in articles of the Chinese daily ''[[The Beijing News]]'' in 2014,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2014-08-22 |title=山东招远血案被告自白:我就是神 |trans-title=Shandong Zhaoyuan blood case defendant confesses: I am God (machine translated) |url=http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-08-22/123730728266.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825031858/http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-08-22/123730728266.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 August 2014 |access-date=2022-07-15 |work=[[Sina News]] |language=zh-ZH}}</ref><ref name="Xiao">{{Cite news |last1=Xiao |first1=Hui |last2=Zhang |first2=Yongsheng |date=2014-08-22 |title=一个 '全能神教'家庭的发展史 |trans-title=History of the Family of Almighty God Group |url=http://www.bjnews.com.cn/inside/2014/08/22/330806.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027231422/http://www.bjnews.com.cn/inside/2014/08/22/330806.html |archive-date=2017-10-27 |access-date=2020-02-13 |work=[[The Beijing News]] |location=Beijing}}</ref> then advocated in 2015 by Australian scholar Emily Dunn,<ref name="Dunn">{{Cite book |last=Dunn |first=Emily |title=Lightning from the East: Heterodoxy and Christianity in Contemporary China |date=2015 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-04-29724-1 |series=Religion in Chinese Societies |location=Leiden Boston |page=204 |language=en}}</ref> that the perpetrators were not members of Eastern Lightning at the time of the murder. This position was described in 2020 by reporter [[Donald Kirk]] as common among scholars.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kirk |first=Donald |date=2020-02-09 |title=These Chinese Christians Were Branded A Criminal 'Cult': Now They Have to Flee |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/these-chinese-christians-were-branded-a-criminal-cult-now-they-have-to-flee |access-date=2020-02-13 |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |language=en-US}}</ref> However, while Dunn wrote that the two leaders of the group that committed the murder "started out as members of Eastern Lightning (in 1998 and 2007 respectively), [but] they had outgrown it" and were no longer part of the sect in 2014.<ref name=Dunn/> Introvigne, based on a different interpretation of the same Chinese sources quoted by Dunn, argued, both in ''Bitter Winter'' and in his 2020 book ''Inside The Church of Almighty God'', that they had never been members of Eastern Lightning.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Introvigne |first=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Introvigne |title=Inside The Church of Almighty God: The Most Persecuted Religious Movement in China |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-008909-2 |location=New York |pages=80–101 |language=en}}</ref>

Mainstream reporting held that in 2002, members of Eastern Lightning kidnapped 34 members of the [[China Gospel Fellowship]] and held them captive for two months, with the aim of coercing them to join Eastern Lighting.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Henderson |first=Alex |date=2015-04-07 |title=6 modern-day Christian terrorist groups our media conveniently ignores |url=https://www.salon.com/2015/04/07/6_modern_day_christian_terrorist_groups_our_media_conveniently_ignores_partner/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114222909/https://www.salon.com/2015/04/07/6_modern_day_christian_terrorist_groups_our_media_conveniently_ignores_partner/ |archive-date=2019-11-14 |access-date=2019-11-30 |work=[[Salon.com]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Introvigne, however, suggested in 2018 that China Gospel Fellowship invented the story of the kidnapping as justification for the fact that many of its members, including national leaders, had converted to Eastern Lightning.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Massimo |first=Introvigne |date=2018a |title=Captivity Narratives: Did The Church of Almighty God Kidnap 34 Evangelical Pastors in 2002? |url=http://cesnur.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/tjoc_2_1_6_introvigne_bis.pdf |url-status=live |journal=The Journal of CESNUR |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=100–110 |doi=10.26338/tjoc.2018.2.1.6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420210336/http://cesnur.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/tjoc_2_1_6_introvigne_bis.pdf |archive-date=2018-04-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Porfiri |first=Aurelio |date=2018-07-06 |title=EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MASSIMO INTROVIGNE – A Bitter Winter |url=https://www.oclarim.com.mo/en/2018/07/06/exclusive-interview-with-massimo-introvigne-a-bitter-winter/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191129034507/https://www.oclarim.com.mo/en/2018/07/06/exclusive-interview-with-massimo-introvigne-a-bitter-winter/ |archive-date=2019-11-29 |access-date=2019-12-01 |website=O Clarim |language=en}}</ref> In his 2020 book, he adopted a more nuanced position, suggesting that China Gospel Fellowship members described as "kidnapping" what was in fact "deception," as they were invited, and went voluntarily, to training sessions without being told that they were organized by Eastern Lightning.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Introvigne |first=Massimo | date=2020 |title=Inside The Church of Almighty God: The Most Persecuted Religious Movement in China|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|pages=102–116|isbn=9780190089092}}</ref>

In 2019, CESNUR's ''Bitter Winter'' co-hosted in [[Seoul]] with [[Human Rights Without Frontiers International|Human Rights Without Frontiers]] a conference supporting the [[right of asylum]] of Eastern Lightning and [[Uyghurs|Uyghur]] refugees from China living in South Korea. Members of Eastern Lightning and the Uyghur diaspora also spoke in the conference.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hrwf.eu/china-chinese-religious-persecution-harassment-of-refugees-abroad-denounced-in-seoul/|title=CHINA: Chinese religious persecution, harassment of refugees abroad denounced in Seoul|date=June 24, 2019|website=Human Rights Without Frontier|access-date=15 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215114200/https://hrwf.eu/china-chinese-religious-persecution-harassment-of-refugees-abroad-denounced-in-seoul/|archive-date=15 February 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Shincheonji and spread of COVID-19===
On November 29, 2019, CESNUR co-organized a seminar in Seoul claiming that thousands of members of [[Shincheonji]], a group many in South Korea regard as a [[cult]], had been subject to forcible [[deprogramming]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rana |first=Dyvia |date=December 7, 2019 |title=Seminar on Freedom of Faith and Human Rights Held By CESNUR and HRWF |url=https://www.digpu.com/business-and-finance/seminar-on-freedom-of-faith-and-human-rights-held-by-cesnur-and-hrwf/83453/ |work=Digpu News |location=Delhi |access-date=March 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417053156/https://www.digpu.com/business-and-finance/seminar-on-freedom-of-faith-and-human-rights-held-by-cesnur-and-hrwf/83453/ |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Introvigne was among the speakers.<ref>{{Cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2019-12-01 |title=International Experts Urge Democratic Countries To Pay Attention To Religious Suppression Of Minorities In South Korea |url=https://www.uaetoday.com/news_details_ad/27731/international-experts-urge-democratic-countries-to-pay-attention-to-religious-suppression-of-minorities-in-south-korea |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417065555/https://www.uaetoday.com/news_details_ad/27731/international-experts-urge-democratic-countries-to-pay-attention-to-religious-suppression-of-minorities-in-south-korea |archive-date=2020-04-17 |access-date=2020-03-19 |work=UAE Today |location=Dubai |language=en}}</ref>

Regarding the  Shincheonji organization's [[Shincheonji Church of Jesus#Association with the coronavirus outbreak|association with a coronavirus outbreak]] in 2020, CESNUR and Human Rights Without Frontiers released a joint [[white paper]] stating that, although Shincheonji made "mistakes" in its management of the crisis, the organization had also been discriminated against because of its unpopular status.<ref name="BD"/><ref>{{Cite news |author= |date=2020-03-31 |title=Mener kristen sekt er utsatt for jakt på syndebukk for koronautbruddet |trans-title=Believes Christian sect is being scapegoated for the corona outbreak |url=https://www.vl.no/nyhet/mener-kristen-sekt-er-utsatt-for-jakt-pa-syndebukk-for-koronautbruddet-1.1691863?paywall=true |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404015408/https://www.vl.no/nyhet/mener-kristen-sekt-er-utsatt-for-jakt-pa-syndebukk-for-koronautbruddet-1.1691863?paywall=true |archive-date=2020-04-04 |access-date=2020-04-01 |work=[[Vårt Land (Norwegian newspaper)|Vårt Land]] |location=Oslo |language=no |agency=Kristelig Pressekontor}}</ref> The founder of Shincheonji had been prosecuted for his alleged responsibility in the spreading of the Covid, and has been acquitted on January 13, 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shin |first=Hyonhee |date=2021-01-13 |title=South Korea church leader acquitted on charge of blocking virus effort |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN29I0R9/ |access-date=2023-12-24 |work=[[Reuters]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>