Story number 1 for 8 May 2001

(France)–Topping the news, the French Senate is slated to vote on a controversial anti-sect bill on May 10th. Some feel that the legislation would open the door to religious discrimination in Europe. However, Operation Mobilization’s Chris Lorimer isn’t so sure. He says the bill is aimed at cults and sects. Lorimer points out that the main issue deals with “mental manipulation”. “Taken to its extreme, some people would say, “Well, if we tell people that there’s only one way to go to heaven, are we not manipulating them mentally?” I don’t think, personally, that this will have any warning or danger for evangelical protestant missionaries or churches in France.” O-M is doing evangelistic training and church planting in France, which is why Lorimer takes issue with those who say there isn’t much freedom of religion. “I think that any mainline evangelical church or organization that wants to work in France can do so with freedom, as it abides by the French law.”