Proselytism toward the young outlawed? (reject, Jehovah, minority, elder)

[Victor]

Belgium weighs ban on "proselytism"
Jul. 07 (C-fam.org/CWNews.com) - Some members of small religious groups in Belgium are worried that a controversial legislative proposal could threaten religious freedom, according to the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-Fam).
The law in question would punish persons found guilty of "abusing the ignorance or weakness" of minors and other vulnerable people, but the wording is so vague that some international observers fear that the law would be used to repress and discriminate against minority faiths, writes Mark Adams in the C-Fam "Friday Fax."
The bill passed Belgium's Council of Ministers and is awaiting constitutional approval before being debated by the full parliament. It would impose a 3-month to 5-year jail sentence on "anyone abusing the ignorance or weakness of a minor or a very vulnerable individual, either due to his/her age, sickness, disability, physical or mental deficiency, illegal resident status or precarious living condition or pregnancy, so as to get that person to do an act or refrain from doing an act that would seriously endanger his/her physical or mental integrity or assets."

The Institute on Religion and Public Policy has taken a special interest in the legislation and has authored a letter to two key Belgium officials condemning it. The letter, which has been signed onto by other organizations, states that the law "allows for too broad of an interpretation that will inevitably result in arbitrary and discriminatory application of the law by permitting almost unfettered discretion by government officials to use the criminal laws as a weapon to repress minority faiths. Passage of such legislation-- based on the widely discredited notion of 'mental manipulation'-- would represent a serious setback for religious freedom in Belgium."
According to the letter the law is based on recommendations made in a 1997 report from the Belgian parliamentary commission that called for a law punishing those who abuse a person's weakness as a result of an "indoctrination by sects." The letter says the same commission drafted a list that labeled 189 religious groups as "sects" including, Hasidic Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, Zen Buddhists, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, Pentecostals, Amish, Quakers, five Catholic groups, and others.
The Dutch Catholic news site, RKNieuws.net, reported that although the list was rejected by parliament, "Belgian media consider the 'sect list' still as authoritative." The letter claims that organizations on the list still face repercussions today. "[i]t received widespread publicity when it was made public by the Commission . . . stigmatizing all the religions included in the list and effectively operating as a blacklist for these religions and their adherents to this very day."

http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=45209

If your country adapted or considered such a proposition, how would you respond to this?

Could it be stretched to making it illegal to indoctrinate your own children?

[angellous_evangellous]

I find it difficult to justify

"abusing the ignorance or weakness of a minor or a very vulnerable individual, either due to his/her age, sickness, disability, physical or mental deficiency, illegal resident status or precarious living condition or pregnancy, so as to get that person to do an act or refrain from doing an act that would seriously endanger his/her physical or mental integrity or assets."

under any circumstances and I cannot imagine how doing so would be legal now.

[michel]

Europe is a strange animal; I have tried to find something on a Belgiansearch engine but couldn't find anything on the subject.

The letter says the same commission drafted a list that labeled 189 religious groups as "sects" including, Hasidic Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, Zen Buddhists, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, Pentecostals, Amish, Quakers, five Catholic groups, and others.

I find that extraordinarily 'tunnel-visioned'; If the goverment here was to draft such a proposal, I might think it worth while petitioning my local representative...............

Belgium is a strange mixture; first there is something like this, while at the same time, gay marriage is commonplace and perfectly acceptable. The only relatives I have over there (who are older than I) seem 'lost' in a fast changing world they don't understand anymore.

[Faint]

I don't see why this is a bad thing Victor. Why should anyone (religions/cults/political parties/tobacco companies/terrorist groups/military) be allowed to "abuse the ignorance or weakness of a minor or a very vulnerable individual" in order to sign them up for their own ends?

I wonder how many people would not be religious today if they were not solicited/corraled into the faith as children? It reminds me of a documentary I watched recently about white-power/nazis groups in the US who actively seek out young people who are "broken", because the young and the broken are more susceptible to radical ideologies.

[evearael]

It seems if there are groups that are abusive (defrauding the elderly for example) there are already laws on the books to handle them, as Angellous_Evangellous has pointed out. This law is unnecessary.

[Faint]

Originally Posted by evearael

It seems if there are groups that are abusive (defrauding the elderly for example) there are already laws on the books to handle them, as Angellous_Evangellous has pointed out. This law is unnecessary.

Are those laws on the books in Belgium?

[Khalid Muhammad]

Interesting question, does it include indoctrinating one's own children??? Or is that allowed?

[Victor]

Originally Posted by Khalid Muhammad

Interesting question, does it include indoctrinating one's own children??? Or is that allowed?

I don't think that was included, but it's vague enough that someone may see indoctrinating your own children as abuse.