Academic Journal "Social Justice Research" Publishes Special Issues on Justice and New Religious Movements

Vol. 12 No. 4 (December 1999) of the authoritative academic journal "Social Justice Research" has been released (with some delay on its formal date). It is a special issue on "Justice and New Religious Movements" guest-edited by James T. Richardson. It will be remembered as a seminal scholarly collection of social justice studies on how justice is violated by anti-cult campaigns, particularly (but not exclusively) in France. Articles on anti-cult activities in Canada, Australia, Hungary, Russia, Germany and Belgium are also included, together with a study by James Beckford on religious discrimination in British jails. The French section includes an article by Massimo Introvigne on the anti-cult campaign against the Aumist Religion of the Mandarom; an analysis of the trials of Tabitha's Place (the French branch of the Messianic Communities), and a very important article by Dick Anthony criticizing the career and theories of French anti-cult psychiatrist Jean-Marie Abgrall. Human right scholars, institutions, and activists (the core readership of "Social Justice Research") will be alerted to what is happening in certain countries, while Anthony's devastating critique of Abgrall will probably have an impact on future court cases. "Social Justice Research" is published by Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 233 Spring Street, New York N.Y. 10013-1578, fax (212) 807-1047