UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE

Department of Religious Studies Armstrong Building University of 
Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU

Head of Department Jon Davies 

Telephone 091 222 6000 Ext 6525 Direct dial: Tyneside (091) 222 6730 
Direct dial 091 2226533 Fax 091 261 1182 Telex 53654 (UNINEW G)

President Boris Yeltsin, The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia. Fax: +7.095.
206.0766

2 February 1995	

Dear President Yeltsin.

I have recently learnt that the Russian State Parliament is 
considering legislation to outlaw religious missions. I have also 
read excerpts from the report of the committee established by the 
Moscow Duma to investigate sects in Russia.

The information has been supplied to me by the International Society 
for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). I am not a member or a 
co-religionist of this society, but I have an academic interest in 
its history, ideas and practices. I should of course be glad of a 
convincing assurance that the information supplied to me is false, 
but what follows is written on the assumption that it is true.

The excerpts from the committee's report show that there is a demand 
for legal moves against certain religious, groups including ISKCON 
As I know little about the other groups, I shall discuss the matter 
with reference to ISKCON.

The demand for legislation seems to be based on a view which has 
been met with from time to time in the last twenty years in the USA 
and Britain. This view is that movements such as ISKCON are so 
remote from the prevailing culture that no one in their right mind 
would willingly join them, and that those who join them must 
therefore have been coerced, through force, deception or 
psychological manipulation. This is the view that is often taken by 
the parents of young people who join such movements. Parents 
naturally expect their children to follow their way of life, but in 
a rapidly changing society this often does not happen, so parents 
are puzzled and seek a sinister explanation for their children's 
behaviour, seeing them as victims rather than free agents. The 
Special Committee seems to have relied too much on letters from 
parents, who may know little about their children's true motivation, 
and find it hard to believe that their children have willingly 
chosen their present way of life.

I do not claim that there are no religious movements which 
manipulate people through various forms of coercion, but I do not 
believe that ISKCON is such a movement. People are attracted to it 
in various ways: for instance, because it offers pleasant and 
healthy food, companionship, an opportunity to express fervent 
devotion, avoidance of guilt, and a stable and unthreatening social 
environment. These are things which young people often find lacking 
in modern society, even within their own families.

If a charge of psychological manipulation is to have any meaning, it 
must be clearly distinguished from the ways in which people act on 
each other psychologically all the time through conversation and 
other everyday behaviour, as well as the ways in which people

 in authority, such as teachers, military officers or parents, 
instil discipline and inculcate beliefs and attitudes. ISKCON has a 
strict discipline involving early rising, a restricted diet, sexual 
restraint, and the repetition and chanting of set forms of words. 
But each of these has parallels in other ways of life, including 
both lay and monastic Christian life. It is inconsistent to take 
action against some voluntary bodies whose members undertake such a 
discipline, and not against others.

One of the allegations quoted in the excerpts concerns the effects 
of celibacy. 'The libido of young people is destroyed. Women stop 
their menses and men suffer from impotence.' Celibacy is practised 
in many cultures, and is often highly respected, so it is strange to 
find it attacked in this way with reference to certain groups. It 
may reduce libido, but it hardly destroys it, and I have never 
before heard that it prevents menstruation. Such unscientific claims 
serve to discredit the movement for legislation.

As a Christian, I am disturbed by the religious totalitarianism 
which is being proposed. I do not believe that it is justifiable to 
divide religious groups into the acceptable and the unacceptable. 
There is a justification for legislation against coercive practices, 
but in a free society such legislation must be applicable to all 
religious groups, and any such group should have a chance to defend 
itself against accusations of coercion.

I hope you will use your influence to prevent this resurgence of 
totalitarianism in Russia.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Dermot Killingley, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies.

Copies to: Mr Ivan Ribkin (Speaker), Russian State Parliament, 
Ohotniy-ryad 1, Moscow, Russia, Fax: +7.095.292.8508

Anne Dooney, Bhaktivedanta Manor, Letchmore Heath, Watford, Herts. 
WD2 8EP 
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