Bashy Quraishy explains in this talk, the discrimination taking place against religions by secular forces in Europe and how certain well funded and connected movements like FECRIS are spreading hatred against smaller religions. His reflections are based on 3 decades of work against racism, discrimination, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Denmark and in EU.
The lecture about history of Islam which was given by leader of anti-sect movement in Russia Alexander Dvorkin is still fresh in memory. The lecture took place on 5 February 2013 in the Northern Arctic Federal University (Arkhangelsk city, Russia) under the title “Origins of Islam. Not-told stories” (length is 1h 25min).
The first reason is that in Russia, in the early 1990’s, anti-cultism was a marginal and rare occurrence. Then it gained strength and became common and ordinary. To me, as a religious expert concerned with problems related to freedom of conscience, anti¬cultism became a sort of addition to the two main problems in Russia – idiots and roads’. In my point of view, today anti-cultists are enthusiasts who suggest the most harmful and foolish ways of solving problems concerning religious life.The second reason – I like the documentary film by Mikhail Romm Obyknoveniy fashizm [Ordinary Fascise For me, the combination of documentation and logic is the key to solving problems, but we will talk about this later.
Alexander Dvorkin is already well-known for his aggressive speeches and writings against Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Falun Gong practitioners, Hare Krishna devotees and other religious groups that fall outside of his Orthodox world. However, in February 2013, Dvorkin shocked Russia’s leading Islamic authorities, when he gave a lecture at the University of Arkhangelsk on the topic “Origins of Islam – Untold Stories.” During his presentation, he made several hostile and unscientific comments about the Koran and Prophet Mohammad.
France, the cradle of laïcité and the driving force of the anti-sect fight in Europe promoting the separation between State and religion; the State where FECRIS was created and which finances it nearly entirely with public funds.
