Editing CESNUR (section)

===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 />