The 2025 CESNUR Conference
Co-organized by:
Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR)
African Hidden Voices
African Forum for Religious and Spirituality Liberty (AFRSL)
International Society for the Study of New Religions
SPIRITUALITY, RELIGION, AND NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
Cape Town, South Africa, 14–19 November 2025
CTICC-2 (Cape Town International Convention Center 2)
Corner of Heerengracht & Rua Bartholomeu Dias, Foreshore, Cape Town
PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
This program is preliminary, and details are subject to variation. Only those who register through the registration form by September 10, 2025, will be included in the final program.
You can register for (a) full package (conference and the field trips, including the welcome dinner on November 14 and the final dinner on November 19, and lunches during the conference and the field trips), (b) conference only (no field trips and no welcome dinner on November 14, but including lunches during the conference and the final dinner on November 19), or (c) field trips only (for accompanying persons, including lunches during the field trips and the final dinner on November 19, but not including access to the conference).
Due to technical reasons, you can only register for all three field trips; registration for one or two field trips only is not available. Once registered, you are not required to participate in all three field trips; however, regardless of how many trips you attend, the registration fee for the field trips will stay the same.
The venue for all conference sessions is CTICC-2 (Cape Town International Convention Center 2), located at the corner of Heerengracht and Rua Bartholomeu Dias, Foreshore, Cape Town. Note that there is also a CTICC-1, but we will be using CTICC-2. Directly in front of CTICC-2 is The Westin Cape Town, the most convenient hotel for the conference, though it is pricey. A more affordable option that is less than a five-minute walk from the conference is Hotel Sky Cape Town.
Other affordable hotels within walking distance of CTICC-2 are the Onomo Hotel Cape Town Foreshore and The Capetonian.
The conference area, as is downtown Cape Town (unlike other South African cities), is totally safe.
Friday, November 14, 2025
17.00–20.30 / Get-acquainted Buffet Dinner and Registration
The registration fee for the field trips covers the cost of this dinner. However, the dinner is not included in the registration fee for the conference only. The dinner will be at Marco’s African Place Restaurant, 4 Rose Lane, Schotsche Kloof, Cape Town, a beloved spot for locals and visitors seeking authentic South African food and culture. For those staying in the conference area, a bus will leave from The Westin Cape Town, Convention Square, Lower Long Street (in front of the conference venue) at 4.30 pm. The bus will bring participants back to The Westin Cape Town after the event.
Saturday, November 15, 2025
Field Trip 1: The Revelation Spiritual Home Non-Competitive Health Walk
Non-competitive walks are a distinctive event of the African indigenous spirituality institution The Revelation Spiritual Home. The bus will leave from The Westin Cape Town, Convention Square, Lower Long Street (in front of the conference venue) at 9.30 a.m. Lunch will be provided, with return to The Westin Cape Town in the afternoon. You will not be required to walk: we will be observers.
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Field Trip 2: The Spiritual and the Spirits
In the morning, participants will visit the main Cape Town’s centers of The Revelation Spiritual Home (for more information, you can read this article and the new book by Massimo Introvigne and Rosita Šorytė, The Revelation Spiritual Home: The Revival of African Indigenous Spirituality, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025). They will then head to one of South Africa’s top tourist attractions, the Western Cape’s South African wine country. Even those not interested in alcohol will enjoy the natural beauty of the vineyard-rich landscape and the religious liberty connection with the Huguenots, who left France seeking religious freedom and brought French wine technology. Our first stop will be the Huguenot Memorial Museum in Franschhoek, followed by visits to one (or two, if time permits) of the region’s most famous wineries, with wine tasting included. The bus will depart from The Westin Cape Town, Convention Square, Lower Long Street (in front of the conference venue) at 7 a.m. Lunch will be provided, and we will return to The Westin Cape Town in the evening.
Monday, November 17, 2025
Field Trip 3: Beasts, Men, and Gods of the Cape
The title of the field trip echoes Ferdynand Ossendowski’s 1921 intriguing book on the mysteries of Mongolia. The Cape is just as rich in stories to tell. The bus will take participants to the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point of Africa. The water here is so cold that we will visit the most surprising residents of this part of Africa—penguins. In the afternoon, we will return to Cape Town to visit the South African Jewish Museum, Africa’s most important Jewish museum and center. We will finish the day in the colorful Muslim quarter of the city, Bo-Kaap. The bus will depart from The Westin Cape Town, Convention Square, Lower Long Street (in front of the conference venue) at 7 a.m. Lunch will be provided, and we will return to The Westin Cape Town in the evening.
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
9.30–10.00 / Registration
10.00–11.15 / Session 1 (Plenary)
Spirituality, Religion, and Religious Liberty
Chair: Massimo INTROVIGNE
Welcome to South Africa: African Indigenous Spirituality and Freedom of Belief
IMboni Samuel RADEBE (The Revelation Spiritual Home and African Hidden Voices, Johannesburg, South Africa)
Of Course, It All Depends on What You Mean By—Spirituality, Religion, and New Religious Movements
Eileen BARKER (London School of Economics [em.], London, UK)
Religious Liberty: Rights, Responsibility, and Reciprocity
Ján FIGEL’ (President of FOREF, Former European Union Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief)
11.15–11.30 / Coffee Break
11.30–13.00 / Session 2 (Plenary)
New Religions and Religious Liberty Issues in East Asia
Chair: Ján FIGEL’
Exploring the Spiritual Role of Grand Master Hunyuan Chanshi
Fiona Hsin-Fang CHANG (Weixin Shengjiao College, Nantou, Taiwan)
Korean Esotericism. The Three Saints Palace: The Sacred Palace of the Squid Game
LEE Gyungwon (Daejin University, Pocheon City, South Korea)
The Difficult Hour of the Gods: Politics, Religion, and Opposition to “Cults” in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, from the Unification Church to Tai Ji Men
Massimo INTROVIGNE (CESNUR, Turin, Italy)
A Dangerous Precedent: Japan’s Assault on Religious Freedom and Its Global Fallout
Peter ZOEHRER (FOREF, Vienna, Austria)
13.00–14.15 / Business Lunch
14.15–15.45 / Session 3
Back and Forth to Africa: Examining the Influences of African Indigenous Spirituality Worldwide
Chair: Alessandro AMICARELLI
Sangoma Between Tradition and Hybridity: Indigenous African Spirituality and Its Contemporary European Adaptations
Nicole BAUER (University of Graz, Austria)
Spiritual Resistance: Afro-Descendant Religious Movements and the Struggle for Identity and Freedom of Belief in Argentina
Maria VARDÉ (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina)
150 Years of the Theosophical Society: Global Influence and Encounters with African Spirituality
Karolina Maria KOTKOWSKA (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)
From Colombia to Africa: Engaging Samaël Aun Weor’s Heritage and Gnostic Healing Practices in Cameroon
Fernand Idriss MINTOOGUE (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, France)
14.15–15.45 / Session 4
Confronting Scholarly Axioms amid Political and Social Transformations
Chair: Attila MIKLOVICZ
From Mainline to Marginal: The Gradual Decline of the Once-Powerful Protestant Churches in America
Dyron B. DAUGHRITY (Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, USA)
“All Ways to God Are Welcome?” The Lithuanian Catholic and Lutheran Women’s Attitudes Towards the New Religious Movements
Morta VIDŪNAITĖ (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania)
New Religious Movements in Romania: An Indicator of Religious Secularization? Case Study: The Universal Church in Romania
Laurentiu D. TĂNASE (University of Bucharest, Romania)
The Syncretism of Korean Folk Beliefs and Buddhism
JANG Jeong-tae (Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea)
14.15–15.45 / Session 5
Ancient and/or New: Alternative Religious Engagements in Southern Africa
Chair: Edward IRONS
From Bones to Tarot: African Traditional Religions and/as New Religious Movements?
Agnieszka Kedzierska MANZON (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, France)
My Sister’s Keeper: Ausidi as Knowledge-Holders and Ritual Experts
Lee-Shae SCHARNICK-UDEMANS (University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa)
By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them: A Proposed Framework by Which to Understand and Categorize Self-Proclaimed Christian “Occult Experts”
Christina ENGELA (University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa)
Afrikaner Witches? Contemporary Paganism, “Boererate”, and the “Witchcraft Suppression Act” in South Africa
Tristán KAPP (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
15.45–16.00 / Coffee Break
16.00– 17.00 / Session 6 (Plenary)
La Luz del Mundo: Soon, the 100th Anniversary
Chair: J. Gordon MELTON
Panelists: Massimo INTROVIGNE (CESNUR, Torino, Italy), Rosita ŠORYTĖ (European Federation for Freedom of Belief, Rome and Turin, Italy), Bigvai ESTRADA (La Luz del Mundo, San Diego, California), Delfino GUILLEN (Educator, Houston, Texas)
17.05–18.45 / Session 7
Deconstructing Terminological Elements: From Spiritualism to Scientology and Beyond
Chair: Susan PALMER
Scientology and Interfaith: Bridging the Gap
Eric ROUX (Church of Scientology, Brussels, Belgium)
Spirituality in Scientology: A Philosophical Approach
Attila MIKLOVICZ (University of Pécs, Hungary)
From Spiritual to Religious: A Qualitative Insight into Hungarian Second-Generation Scientologists’ Worldviews and Interpretation of Scientology
Márk NEMES (Hungarian Academy of Arts, Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, Budapest, Hungary; and CESNUR, Turin, Italy)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, South Africa, and Spiritualism
Michael W. HOMER (Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah)
17.05–18.45 / Session 8
Spirituality and the Age of Technological Revolutions
Chair: Eriko KAWANISHI
Santa Muerte, A Cult in the Digital Era: A Digital Cult?
Karolina KALETA (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)
Ancient Astronauts, Modern Fears: Racialist and Racist Motifs in Ancient-Aliens Literature
Stefano BIGLIARDI (Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco)
Metagnosis and the IDR Model: Cyclical Rise and Fall of Transcendent Wisdom and Higher-Order Synthesis in an Age of Digital Nomadism
Diohka AESDEN (Independent Researcher)
Digital Media, Historical Churches, and Transformations of Religious Practices in Northern Malawi
Piotr CICHOCKI (University of Warsaw, Poland)
17.05–18.45 / Session 9
Education and Spirituality: Islam and Christianity
Chair: Maria VARDÉ
The Persistence of African Spirituality in African Islam
Davide S. AMORE (Italian Society of History of Religions, Rome, Italy)
Reversion to Islam: Citizenship, Identity and Belonging in Post-Christchurch Aotearoa
Ayca ARKILIC (Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand)
Religion, Death, and Immortality According to Bergson
Povilas ALEKSANDRAVIČIUS (Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania)
Christian Science Schools
Cindy Peyser SAFRONOFF (Independent Scholar, Seattle, Washington)
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
9.30–11.30 / Session 10 (Plenary)
The Revelation Spiritual Home: The Revival of African Indigenous Spirituality. Introducing the New Book by Massimo Introvigne and Rosita Šorytė
Chair: Márk NEMES
Panelists: Massimo INTROVIGNE (CESNUR, Torino, Italy), Rosita ŠORYTĖ (European Federation for Freedom of Belief, Rome and Turin, Italy), Karolina Maria KOTKOWSKA (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland), and representatives of African Hidden Voices / The Revelation Spiritual Home
Respondent: IMboni Samuel RADEBE (The Revelation Spiritual Home and African Hidden Voices, Johannesburg, South Africa)
The Revelation Spiritual Home: The Revival of African Indigenous Spirituality by Massimo Introvigne and Rosita Šorytė is published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2025.
11.30–11.45 / Coffee Break
11.45–13.30 / Session 11
Esotericism and Indigenized Spirituality Across the Globe: Inductive Case Studies
Chair: Karolina Maria KOTKOWSKA
The Old Believers’ Four Centuries in Latvia
Ina KIRŅIČANSKA (Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia)
Local Deities Go Global: Rural India Travels Abroad and the Religion / Spirituality Dichotomy
Svetlana RYZHAKOVA (Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia)
On the Borders of Spirituality and Religion: An Anthropological Examination of Damanhur in the Mid-2020s
Márk NEMES (Hungarian Academy of Arts, Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, Budapest, Hungary, and CESNUR, Turin, Italy)
Lekunutung le Modimo: The Ocean as a Sacramental Space
Li'Tsoanelo ka Mangethe ZWANE (University of Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa)
How Mediums Sense the Spirits of the Dead
Eriko KAWANISHI (Professional Institute of International Fashion, Osaka, Japan)
11.45–13.30 / Session 12
Freedom of Religion or Belief: Frontiers, Debates, and Conflicts
Chair: Davide S. AMORE
Mandatory Registration Orders: A Prevalent Threat to Freedom of Religion or Belief
Brandon Reece TAYLORIAN (Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK)
Government Regulation of Religion: The Case of Rwanda
Edward IRONS (The Hong Kong Institute for Culture, Commerce and Religion, Hong Kong)
R. Kelly’s Sex Cult? A Critical Evaluation of the Evidence
Eric James GREAUX (Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
Freedom of Religion or Belief in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Progress
Nkongho Mangieb Stanley AYUK (EL Theological College, Limbe, Cameroon)
11.45–13.30 / Session 13
Jehovah’s Witnesses: New Developments, Ongoing Debates
Chair: Eileen BARKER
Jehovah’s Witnesses: The End of History for African Americans
J. Gordon MELTON (Baylor University, Waco, Texas [ret.])
A Pattern of Nonviolence and Resilience: Jehovah’s Witnesses During Government Ban and the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda
Valens NKURIKIYINKA (National University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda) [video]
Religious Movements Toward Literacy Development: Ghanaian Indigenous Languages, Translations and the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Araba Ayiaba Ziekpor OSEI-TUTU, Abigail AYIGLO-KUWORNU, Reginald A. DUAH, and Esther Desiadenyo MANU-BARFO (University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana)
Religious Life in Pandemic Times. A Case Study on the Impact of Public Health Measures on the Religious Practice of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Christian DEISENROTH (Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany)
Jehovah’s Witnesses, the State, and Society in Nigeria, 1921–2024
Matthews A. OJO (Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun, Nigeria)
13.30–14.20 / Business Lunch
14.20–16.00 / Session 14 (Plenary)
The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light (AROPL): A New Shia-Derivative Religion and Its Religious Liberty Problems
Introduction: Massimo INTROVIGNE
The Making of a Believer: Conversion Narratives in Interviews with AROPL Members
Susan PALMER (Concordia University, Montreal, Canada)
An Apocalyptic Advocate of the Qaim (Riser): The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light in Contemporary Shia-Islam
David W. KIM (Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, and Kookmin University, Seoul, Korea)
AROPL and the Divine Just State
J. Gordon MELTON (Baylor University, Waco, Texas [ret.])
Testimonies by AROPL Members
Respondent: Karolina Maria KOTKOWSKA
16.00-17.00 / Session 15 (Plenary)
Religious Liberty, Anti-Cultism, and the Path of YahRa
Chair: Rosita ŠORYTĖ
Panelists: Massimo INTROVIGNE (CESNUR, Torino, Italy), Alessandro AMICARELLI (European Federation for Freedom of Belief, London, UK), Kristýna TOMANOVÁ (Psychologist, Brno, Czech Republic)
17.00–17.15 / Coffee Break
17.15–18.45 / Session 16
Contemporary Spiritual Revivalism in Africa: Ethnographic Examinations
Chair: David W. KIM
Resilience and Revival: The Transformation of Vhavenda Indigenous Spirituality in the 21st Century
Peninah Wendy MULAUDZI (North West University, Mahikeng, South Africa)
The Importance of Dance in African Spirituality Amongst the Bapedi ba Sekhukhune
Kgothatso MAFIRI (North West University, Mahikeng, South Africa)
The Role of the Community in Spiritual Healing and Collective Rituals: A Case Study of the Bapedi in Matibidi Village
Theophilus MASHEGO (North West University, Mahikeng, South Africa)
African Indigenous Spiritual Gentrification: Case Study of European Descendants as African Traditional Healer Initiates in South Africa
Tshimane MOGOTSI (North West University, Mahikeng, South Africa)
Beyond the Book: Rethinking the Bible’s Relevance in Africa Through Ancestral and Spiritual Wisdom
Palesa MPHOU (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)
17.15–18.45 / Session 17
Freedom of Religion Issues in Taiwan and the Tai Ji Men Case
Chair: Massimo INTROVIGNE
State Infringement on the Manifestation of Religious Belief by a Spiritual Group Through Taxation Measures
Maryann CHUANG (Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy, Taipei, Taiwan)
Scholars, Activists, and the Tai Ji Men Case
Alessandro AMICARELLI (European Federation for Freedom of Belief, London, UK)
Safeguarding the Light of Faith: The Practice of Faith and Spiritual Odyssey of Tai Ji Men Under Legal and Tax Persecution
Charlotte LEE (Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy, Taipei, Taiwan)
Discrimination Against Spiritual Groups in the Judicial and Tax Systems: The Tai Ji Men Case Highlights the Plight of New Religious Groups
Rachel CHIANG (Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy, Taipei, Taiwan)
Feeling Qi, Facing Charges: The Criminalization of Spiritual Practice in Taiwan
Shelly TU (Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy, Taipei, Taiwan)
Respondent: Eileen BARKER
17.15 – 18.45 Session 18
Spirituality and Religion: East Asian Perspectives
Chair: LEE Gyungwon
The Spirituality of I Ching Divination
Daphne Ching-Fen HUNG (Weixin Shengjiao Merit Foundation, Taichung, Taiwan)
Motivation of the Korean New Religious Movements and Final Issue
HAN Gang-Hyen (International Academy of Neo-Humans Culture, Bucheon City, South Korea)
The Universal Truth and Earthly Paradise Hidden in the Scriptures
KIM Young Suk (Society for the Scientific Study on the Holy Spirit, Seoul, South Korea)
Unification Christology and the Doctrinal Wars of Early Christianity
Alexa BLONNER (Australian Association for the Study of Religion, Sydney, Australia)
Transcending Faith: Religion’s Higher Calling in the AI Era
KANG Yun-Min (International Academy of Neo-Humans Culture, Bucheon City, South Korea
19.45 / Final Conference Dinner
Life Grand Café Waterfront, a stylish, harbor-side restaurant that blends elegance with laid-back charm. Address: 2 Pierhead Road, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
After the conference concludes, a bus will leave from the Westin Cape Town, in front of the conference venue. Those who prefer not to use the bus may join by taxi later (at their own expense).
Presiding and introducing: Massimo INTROVIGNE
Presentation of CESNUR 2026 in Taiwan
Fiona Hsin-Fang CHANG (Weixin College, Nantou, Taiwan)
Concluding Remarks
IMboni Samuel RADEBE (The Revelation Spiritual Home and African Hidden Voices, Johannesburg, South Africa)
Note: The cost of the final dinner is included in the conference’s registration fee. Accompanying persons who will register for the field trips only will also be admitted to the final dinner.
