“We quickly understand that we no longer have much choice”, testifies a man who passed through an association targeted by Miviludes

Nathan Morel, 35, has dedicated nine years of his life to the New Acropolis. Attracted at the time by esotericism, he entered this school of philosophy and spirituality where he rose through the ranks, after several integration rituals. “They blindfold me and make me walk around the building, making me follow in my ear the sound of a bell”, he recalls. Then comes a final test to reach the heart of the movement. “They ask me to put myself in a kind of hole in the ground and they bury me alive.”

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The lessons follow one another, take up all the space for him who works, moreover, in collective catering. “I’m caught in a whirlwind of perfectly excessive commitments. We quickly understand that we no longer have much choice. You have to be there, that’s all.” Nathan Morel describes a relationship of control, between “master”And “disciple”.

“The master’s advice is always orders. We had to obey. And so there is something deeply toxic about this whole relationship.”

Nathan Morel, former student of the New Acropolis

at franceinfo

“I would say it is a totalitarian political project. The Roman salute, the fascist axe, the black-brown uniform reminiscent of Nazi symbology”, lists Nathan Morel, as an example. But he understands, with hindsight, what attracts and maintains in such an organization. “In this kind of structure, everyone takes what they need. Some will need emotional security. They will have it. Some will need power. having the fact of living in a community where everyone thinks the same.”

Raising public awareness, a priority

Over the past two years, 27 people have seized Miviludes against this association, which has 500 members in France (18,000 abroad). But Antoine Hérisseau, the president of New Acropolis in Marseille, where Nathan Morel went, denies his accusations: “There is no Roman or Hitler salute. I can understand that our movement is misunderstood. The symbolic aspect exists as for the Freemasons or the scouts who have their ritual gestures.” He regrets that movements with a spiritual approach are thus ostracized. Then he concludes, calmly, that the referrals to Miviludes (more than 4,000 in 2021), today have no legal value.

However, in the face of sectarian aberrations, the government declares that it wants “move up a gear to fight this scourge”. The challenge is to strengthen the French legal arsenal in this area and to continue to raise public awareness of these dangers, in particular through the work of Miviludes, (Interministerial mission for vigilance and the fight against sectarian aberrations), now attached to the Ministry of the Interior).

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Raising public awareness is what Agathe Renouard, 52, now does. She lived seven years within the Beatitudes, a religious and “psycho-spiritual” group targeted since the 2000s by Miviludes, in particular for cases of psychological influence. It took him years to put his own story into words. “At first I struggled. We say ‘the community’ so much. Now I’m starting to accept saying ‘sectarian drift’. Teverything is connected with God, with the Bibleshe explains. This is called charismatic renewal in the Church. Jesus heals us of absolutely everything. God can heal me from my headaches, from my back pain.”

“The grip was made all along the course. I was not raped, I was not robbed of money. The manipulation was put in place little by little. I could not do reverse.”

Agathe Renouard

at franceinfo

Breaking with her family, Agathe has alcohol problems, dark thoughts and the Beatitudes claim to protect her. “I entered the mold of the community and I followed the slogan, chastity, poverty and obedience. In fact, the more destitute we were inside, the closer we were to God. I did not see the danger.” She will eventually get out of it, and even write her story, with four hands, with her husband in a book entitled Why be (c) silent? (Maia Editions). “It’s like thatshe says, that I have passed from death to life”.