The 2022 CESNUR Conference
Co-organized by:
Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR)
Centre de Ressources et d’Observation de l’Innovation Religieuse (Faculté de théologie et de sciences religieuses, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
International Society for the Study of New Religions (ISSNR)
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IN AN ERA OF GLOBALIZATION
LE PLURALISME RELIGIEUX À L'ÈRE DE LA MONDIALISATION
Quebec City (Quebec, Canada), 16-18 June 2022
Université Laval
Pavillon La Laurentienne - 1030 Avenue du Séminaire
PROGRAM
Thursday June 16, 2022
8.30 a.m. - 9 a.m. / Registration
9 a.m. - 11 a.m. / Session 1 - Opening Plenary Session
Religions and Their Critics Between Globalization and Localization
Chair: Massimo INTROVIGNE
Greetings from Academic Authorities
Once Upon a Time, There Were Three New Religions: Global, Local and Glocal. But Wherein Lies the Difference?
Eileen BARKER (London School of Economics / INFORM, London, UK)
Transformations of the Quebec Religious Field (1950-2020)
Alain BOUCHARD (Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
Are There “Cults” in China? Branding Religions as “Xie Jiao” in the Peoples’s Republic
J. Gordon MELTON (Baylor University, Waco, Texas, U.S.A.)
Movie: Who Stole Their Youth? The Tai Ji Men Case in Taiwan (Bitter Winter, 2022)
11 a.m. / 11.15 a.m. Coffee Break
11.15 a.m. - 1 p.m. / Session 2 - Plenary
Scientology Studies 2.0
Chair: George CHRYSSIDES
Game Maker: Reassessing L. Ron Hubbard’s Life and Legacy Beyond Biography/Hagiography
Donald WESTBROOK (San José State University, California, U.S.A.)
The War in Ukraine and Russian Conspiracy Theories About Scientology
Rosita ŠORYTĖ (European Federation for Freedom of Belief, Vilnius, Lithuania)
Hubbard College of Administration
Bernadette RIGAL-CELLARD (Bordeaux Montaigne University, France)
Scientology Auditing as a Confessional Practice
Eric ROUX (European Interreligious Forum for Religious Freedom, Brussels, Belgium)
Scientology’s Claim to Confessional Privilege in Comparative Perspective
Massimo INTROVIGNE (CESNUR, Turin, Italy)
1 p.m. - 2 p.m. / Business Lunch
1 p.m. - 2 p.m. / Meeting of the members of the International Society for the Study of New Religions (ISSNR members only; box lunch provided)
2 p.m. - 3.30 p.m. / Session 3
New Challenges for the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Chair: Bernadette RIGAL-CELLARD
Translation of Watch Tower Publications into Canadian Indigenous Languages
David DOCKSTEADER (Jehovah’s Witnesses Public Information Department, Ontario, Canada)
Jehovah’s Witnesses, Covid-19 and the War in Ukraine
George D. CHRYSSIDES (University of Birmingham, UK)
Religious, Ethical, and Legal Perspectives Applicable to the Disfellowshipping Practice of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Shane BRADY (W. Glen How & Associates, Georgetown, Ontario, Canada)
2 p.m. - 3.30 p.m. / Session 4
Religion et spiritualité, célébration et controverse [in French]
Chair: Alain BOUCHARD
Maurice Chabas (1862-1947) et les mondes de l’au-delà
Myriam DE PALMA (Art Historian, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
Les croyants non-catholiques dans un sanctuaire catholique : Défis du vivre-ensemble
Jonas ST-MARTIN (Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
Réactions de la communauté de Bountiful aux allégations d’entorses aux lois. De 1990 à 2018 : de l’ouverture à l’autre à la réclusion ?
Marie-Andrée PELLAND (University of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada)
2 p.m. - 3.30 p.m. / Session 5
Perspectives on Asian Religious Movements
Chair: David W. KIM
Do Japanese NRMs Address “Poverty, Illness, and Strife”? Revisiting the Deprivation Thesis
Adam LYONS (University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
The Daoist Who Wasn’t: The Curious Case of Nguyen Van Cang
Davide MARINO (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)
Ancestors Are Alive Within You: Cultivation of the Self in Sekai Kyusei Kyo in Japan, Brazil and Angola
MIURA Naohito (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A.)
3.30 p.m. - 4 p.m. / Coffee Break
4 p.m. - 6.30 p.m. / Session 6
Discrimination of Religious and Spiritual Minorities in Taiwan and the Tai Ji Men Case
Chair: Eric ROUX
The Tai Ji Men Case: A Chronology
Massimo INTROVIGNE (CESNUR, Turin, Italy)
“Calling a Stag a Horse”: Misrepresentation in the Tai Ji Men Case in the Light of Chinese Classic Literature
Lily CHEN (English language teacher and translator, Los Angeles, U.S.A.)
Religious Freedom Issues in Post-Authoritarian Democracies: Taiwan and the Tai Ji Men Case
CHEN Chieh An (Attorney at Law, Santa Clara, California, U.S.A.)
Bureaucracy, Conscience, and Activism in the Tai Ji Men Case in Taiwan
Jessica KUO (Mental Wellness Consultant, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Holistic Education and the Tai Ji Men Crisis in Taiwan
Linda CHEN (Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
4 p.m. - 6.30 p.m. / Session 7
Polygamy and the Police: The Case of the Ambash Family
Chair: J. Gordon MELTON
Daniel Ambash and Israel’s Anticult Narrative
Susan PALMER (McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Respondents: Aderet Dorit AMBASH and Ilana AMBASH
Followed by the projection of the movie The Ambash Ladies, introduced by its director, Jessica VATURI-DEMBO
4 p.m. - 6.45 p.m. / Session 8
The Victory Altar: “Immortal Faith,” Religious Revolution and Veganism
Chair: David W. KIM
Religious Revolution by the Victor Christ & a Vision of the Victory Altar
HAN Gang-Hyen (International Academy of Neo-Humans Culture, Bucheon City, South Korea)
The Immortal Science as a Religious Innovation by the Victor Christ: Centering on the Theo-Science of the Victory Altar and Veganism
AN Byung-Chun (World Immortality Association, South Korea)
The Secret of Nirvana from Birth to Aging, Sickness and Death by the Principle of Mind and Blood
KANG Yun-Min (International Academy of Neo-Humans Culture, Bucheon City, South Korea)
About the Hidden Manna & 5 Covenants of the Victor Christ
KIM Young Suk (Society for the Scientific Study on the Holy Spirit, South Korea)
The Faith of the Flesh: Eternal Life in the Case of Victory Altar and Pluralism
KIM Jongsuk (The Institute of the History of Korean Messianic Movement, Chunan City, South Korea)
Friday June 17, 2022
9.30 a.m. - 11 a.m. / Session 9
A Rumor of Spirits
Chair: Milda ALIŠAUSKIENĖ
“More Knowledge and Less Faith”: Arthur Conan Doyle’s Quest to Restore True Religion
Michael W. HOMER (Attorney and Independent Scholar, Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A.)
Experimental Research on Medium-Related Phenomena by Julian Ochorowicz
Karolina Maria HESS (Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland)
Séance: Contemporary Spiritualism and the Iconography of Ectoplasm
Shannon TAGGART (Author and photographer, New York, U.S.A.)
9.30 a.m. - 11 a.m. / Session 10
Children in the “Mystical Geography” of Quebec
Chair: Mike KROPVELD
Raising Children in the Apocalypse: Case Studies of Alternative Childhoods in Four Quebec NRMs, 1970s-1990s
Susan PALMER (McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Roch Thériault’s Ant Hill Kids/Holy Moses Mountain Community: An Exploration of Childrearing and Violence in a Quebec Commune
Andrew AMES (McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Secularism and Jewish Schools in Quebec: The Right to Education and the Threat of Assimilation
Shane DUSSAULT (McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
9.30 a.m. - 11 a.m. / Session 11
Meanwhile in India and Nepal
Chair: Benjamin ZELLER
Pahela Baisakh Festival in Bengali Diasporas: How Performances and Material Culture Work in creating Space and Collective Identity
Jannatul MAOA (University of Kansas, Lawrence, U.S.A.)
Sacred on Stage: Pluralism, Controversy and Need. Clashes of Ritual, Enactment and Performance in India
Svetlana RYZHAKOVA (Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia)
A Legitimate Component of the Nepalese Religious Polytropy? Toward Christian Politics of Recognition
Guillaume BOUCHER (University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
11 a.m. - 11.30 a.m. / Coffee Break
11.30 a.m. - 1 p.m. / Session 12
Nouvelles spiritualités et ésotérismes [in French]
Chair: Guillaume BOUCHER
Transmariophanies contestataires, un cas québécois : l’Ordre du Cœur Immaculée et de saint Louis-Marie de Montfort
Alain BOUCHARD (Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
Stratégies d’adaptation d’une communauté de la Mission de l’Esprit-Saint à la suite de conflits au sein de l’église et à l’égard de l’exo-groupe
Marie-Andrée PELLAND (University of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada)
Le sacré féminin au Nouvel Âge: le retour de la Déesse et ses significations culturelles dans la pratique ésotérique du nouveau millénaire
Alex KIEFER DA SILVA (Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
11.30 a.m. - 1 p.m. / Session 13
Religious Pluralism and New Religions in Asia
Chair: Rosita ŠORYTĖ
Amabie Movement Under Pandemic in Japan
Eriko KAWANISHI (Professional Institute of International Fashion, Osaka, Japan)
The Developmental Trajectory and Future Trend of the New Religions
Shu-Yuan CHEN (Weixin Shengjiao College, Taiwan)
Guwonpa-Good News Mission: A Dynamic Grassroots Group in Contemporary Korean Christian NRM History
David W. KIM (Australian National University, Canberra, Australia)
11.30 a.m. - 1 p.m. / Session 14
Religious Pluralism, the New Age, and the Arts
Chair: George CHRYSSIDES
Glocalization at the Intersection of Religious Nationalism: A Challenge to Globalization
John R. POTTENGER (University of Alabama, Huntsville, U.S.A.)
Religious Pluralism between Acceptance and Rejection: Dilemmas of a Believer
Robert T. PTASZEK (The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland)
The Art in the New Age: A Return to Mysticism
Rita SANTILLAN (University of British Columbia, Canada)
1 p.m. - 2 p.m. / Business Lunch
2 p.m. - 3.30 p.m. / Session 15
The Luz del Mundo Church in Scholarly Perspective
Presiding and introducing: Susan PALMER
Panel: A Fast-Growing Religious Movement, a Global Charitable Work, and an Apostle in Jail
Panelists:
Massimo INTROVIGNE (CESNUR, Turin, Italy)
Sara POZOS BRAVO (Sâmann University of Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico)
J. Gordon MELTON (Baylor University, Waco, Texas, U.S.A.)
Rosita ŠORYTĖ (European Federation for Freedom of Belief, Vilnius, Lithuania)
Donald WESTBROOK (San José State University, California, U.S.A.)
Respondent: Bigvai ESTRADA
2 p.m. - 3.30 p.m. / Session 16
North American Issues
Chair: Shane DUSSAULT
Black History in Christian Science
Cindy Peyser SAFRONOFF (Independent Scholar, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.)
New Developments in Native North American Catholicism: The Opening of Black Elk’s Canonization Cause
Bernadette RIGAL-CELLARD (Bordeaux Montaigne University, France)
An Initial Content Analysis of Unicult
Benjamin ZELLER (Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois, U.S.A.)
3.30 p.m. - 4 p.m. / Coffee break
4 p.m. - 7 p.m. / Session 17
A House Divided? A Conversation on the Unification Movement in 2022
Chair: Eileen BARKER
The Unification Church’s Movement for Unification, Pluralism, and its Degeneration
KIM Jongsuk (The Institute of the History of Korean Messianic Movement, Chunan City, South Korea)
Unification Church/Family Federation Schismatic Organizations
Michael MICKLER (Unification Theological Seminary, New York, U.S.A.)
Membership, Money and Morale: The Impact of the Schisms on the Unification Community
Franco FAMULARO (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
One Family Under God: A Vision in Need of a Church?
Michael MARSHALL (Independent Scholar, Washington D.C., U.S.A.)
Unificationism and Pluralism: A Paradox of Triumphalist Universalism
Dan FEFFERMAN (Unification Theological Seminary, Barrytown, New York, U.S.A.)
NRM Leadership Succession and the Law
Nicholas J. CHIAIA (UCI General Counsel, Annandale, U.S.A.)
4 p.m. - 5 p.m. / Session 18
Critical Perspectives and “Cult Watching” In Canada
Chair: Susan PALMER
Reflection and Analysis on Info-Cult’s 40 Years of Existence
Mike KROPVELD (Info-Secte, Montreal, Quebec, Canada) and Marie-Andrée PELLAND (University of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada)
Mainstreaming Scientology
Phil LORD (McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Respondent: Massimo INTROVIGNE (CESNUR, Torino, Italy)
5.15 p.m. - 6.45 p.m. / Session 19
New Religious Movements in Central and Eastern Europe
Chair: J. Gordon MELTON
Challenges to Religious Pluralism in Contemporary Lithuania: the Case of the Ancient Baltic Faith Community Romuva
Milda ALIŠAUSKIENĖ (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania)
Spiritual Trekking From the Perspective of Transpersonal Psychology
Pavel HLAVINKA (Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic)
Legal Status and Human Rights Perspective in the Case of a New Religious Movement, the Guru Jára Path
Martin KRAJCA (Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic)
Saturday June 18, 2022
9.30 a.m. / Field Trip: The Wendat (Huron) Nation
Buses leave from the Pavillon La Laurentienne (1030 Avenue du Séminaire) at 9.30 a.m, to visit a Wendat (Huron) settlement. The Wendat representatives will guide us to visit a reconstructed traditional village and to discover their culture and religion. After a traditional Wendat meal, based on bison meat (vegetarian option available), we will return to Quebec City in the late afternoon.
