The coronavirus crisis has not reduced the risk of a sectarian phenomenon, quite the contrary.
A student in Tours, in psychology, discovered in early March mysterious yellow leaflets in the park of his university campus, reports France Bleu.
Hidden in yellow envelopes hanging on stairs or trees, the flyers on a black background with the word "
HELP
" are appealing.
The messages evoke distress: "
We are not here to judge you but to help you
", "
Start over now and forget your past
".
However, this is not a prevention of student distress, according to the Association for the Defense of Families and Individuals Victims of Cults (Adfi).
It is the work of an evangelical movement: the Universal Reception Center (CAU).
About him, Miviludes was seized “
40 times between 2005 and 2020 for suspicion of sectarian aberrations.
"
Read also: Apocalypse, divine punishment: when the coronavirus credits fundamentalist and sectarian prophecies
In
Figaro
, Hugo, the student, who launched the alert on Twitter, explained not to know this movement present in Tours.
Intrigued, he researched and looked at the author of the leaflets.
“
I checked the web for the information available on the center.
I never imagined that this group was suspected of sectarianism and control.
In my opinion, their leaflets primarily target students, especially the most vulnerable, ”he
analyzes.
During an internship, this young man was introduced to these drifts, thanks to the association of the Study Group of Thought Movements for the Protection of the Individual (GEMPPI).
“
It would be dangerous to leave these leaflets in the wild.
I therefore recovered them in order to send them to the National Union of Associations for the Defense of Families and the Individual (Unadfi),
”explains the young man.
On March 9, he also recovered a dozen other identical leaflets, scattered near other university residences in Tours.
Towing on several university campuses
A case far from isolated.
A student in Évry indicated on Twitter that he had spotted these same envelopes in September 2020, close to the faculty and the university library.
"
I put the envelope back in its place because I had not understood that it was a sect,
" he told
Le Figaro
.
Likewise, a teacher from the École nationale supérieure (ENS) in Lyon told
Figaro that she
had seen this type of leaflet at the end of February 2021, in front of the University of Lyon 2. All of them came from the Universal Reception Center, present in around thirty of cities in France.
His credo: “
Give to God and you will receive
”.
This church advocates "
the prosperity gospel" and
"
spiritual healing.
"
At the end of February 2021, Miviludes published an updated list of movements identified as presenting risks of sectarian aberrations in France.
The interministerial report reported in February of “
383 referrals relating to movements of new churches called evangelists in 2020.
” According to Pascale Duval, spokesperson for Unadfi, “
The health crisis has accentuated the activism of these movements of hold.
All crises generate this effervescence.
It's a godsend for them.
"
The Universal Reception Center, formerly called the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, is singled out by the Milivudes.
He is suspected of exercising "
influence
" on his followers, by "
alleged cures
", and "
financial predations
".
The change of name of the small group took place in 2004, following its mention in the parliamentary report on sects of 1995. One of its Brazilian preachers recently argued that the Covid-19 only affects
"those who did not believe in God ”
and urged his followers to
“ disregard health restrictions.
"
Propaganda flyer of an evangelical movement in Tours, inciting young people in psychological distress, to contact him.
@hugo_rnlt
According to Unadfi, the CAU is a religious movement of Pentecostal origin founded in Brazil in 1977 by Edir Macedo.
His doctrine is based on this postulate: "
Faith heals all
".
Its founder preaches "
the healing of all evils by the Holy Spirit
", against a background of "
apocalyptic speeches.
"For example, the founder assures us that the coronavirus is"
a tactic of Satan to weaken people, that there is no reason to be afraid.
"
In
Le Figaro
, the spokesperson for Unadfi, Pascale Duval, underlines that this evangelical movement has its own sector for young people: “
Universal
youth
force.
"
"
Join this movement is a risk to young people to cut their family to be isolated
, "she alert.
The Universal Reception Center invites on its website, to follow "
the ten steps towards Salvation
": "
give up your old life
", avoid
"at all costs conversations, discussions or contacts that could put your salvation at risk ...
"" recommendations
worrying
"according to the association.
“
The leaflet is a practice to exercise their proselytism.
The psychological pressure exerted on the followers is strong.
We promise them the solution to all their problems and all the possible virtues, on condition of getting involved in the church ”, observes Pascale Duvale.
Read also: The dangerous expansion of evangelical sects
In Touraine, the head of Adfi, Marie-Françoise Bardet, remembers having had in 2018 a request for information on this evangelical center in Tours.
"
A person was worried about a member of his family, more and more proselytizing
", tells
Le Figaro
the volunteer.
The movement tends in fact to "
recruit
" a maximum of members.
According to Unadfi, the members' investment in worship is both spiritual and financial.
Each devotee must pay "
a financial contribution equivalent to 10% of their income."
"
This evangelical church is very powerful in Brazil and contributed to the election of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro
", adds Marie-Françoise Bardet.
Expanding movements
The Universal Reception Center is not the only movement reported in the last interministerial report.
In light of the health crisis, the phenomenon of sectarian drift is very insidious and diffuse, according to Adfi.
“
Virtual communities are also less visible.
», She specifies.
The CAU invites young people, especially women, to join its movement, on social networks.
He communicates through his Instagram page, “
Godllywood
” and via his Youtube channel “
CAUTV.
"The injunctions are strong:"
deny yourself
","
change before it is too late
"...
According to Pascale Duvale, “
Evangelical sectarian movements recruit mainly from young people in difficulty and disadvantaged people.
They present themselves as substitute families and are present in sensitive neighborhoods.
The Universal Reception Center recreates a kind of family.
There are always calls for donations at every ceremony.
The few testimonies and reports collected by Adfi on the practices of this movement corroborate
.
There is a real risk of influence and rupture with society with this evangelical movement.
"
This Brazilian movement counts to date twelve million faithful in the world, according to Adfi.
In France, his main place of worship is in Paris, in the 10th arrondissement.
It promises its members "
spiritual healing
" in the face of "
evil spirits."
"Pascale Duval deplores that today"
there is still a great lack of knowledge of the sectarian phenomenon and therefore the isolation of the victims.
"