The Sects of Serbia: Who is More Dangerous, Satanists or Jehovah's Witnesses?

Sects were especially active in Serbia in the "turbulent 90s," but their presence is still noticeable today. More often than not, disadvantaged groups of the population and young people fall under their influence, Serbian sectologist Sladjan Mijaljevic said in an interview to Sputnik.

There is no official data on how many sects operate in Serbia. "First of all, that is because no one is in a hurry to do this work for the last 30 years. Such information appears only when some event happens: when a sectarian organization holds lectures, raises a stink at the cemetery, destroys monuments or performs some rituals. Only then the police department in charge of public order registers these events," Mijaljevic said.

Any attempts and intentions to create a ministerial department to deal with the sects have always been strongly suppressed, the expert added. No one has ever received a permit to form such a body.

The reasons behind this are related to the fact that sects are in the service of a new world order, Mijaljevic believes:

"This is the fourth level of the people's enslavement: the first one is political, then economic, after that — military, and in the end, the spiritual enslavement. The aim is to create a kind of 'shopping mall' of different faiths and offer a 'product' to as many people as possible. Thus, the religious unity of the people is being destroyed."

"Ten years ago, we had more than 300 different sects. In such a state of disorder and separation, it is very hard to resist the common enemy," Mijaljevic told Sputnik.

According to the sectologist, some centers of influence have a very strong influence on the government leaders through their diplomatic missions.

"Pressure comes from the embassies of the US, ??Germany, France and the UK. For example, in 2010, about ten sects were officially recognized as religious organizations, even though they did not meet the law on religious organizations by 2006. It is a known fact that the US Ambassador of that time Michael Christian Polt invested much effort to win the recognition of Mormons as a religious community."

Sects hide behind non-governmental organizations — it is one of the masks of their activities, Mijaljevic claimed.

"Every serious sect has a certain number of people who are engaged in scientific work, humanitarian aid and work with the media. From time to time, they put forward candidates for president of the Serbian Academy of Sciences. All these are the masks that hide their activities; therefore some individuals realize that they are members of a sect only after a while. One sect was hiding under the guise of free English language courses," he explained.

The specialist in sectology is certain of one thing: the idea that satanic sects are the most dangerous is a big mistake.

"In order to make the so-called 'ritual murder,' it takes a decade, during which the person is under the influence of a satanic sect. Typically, people stay no longer than a few months in such communities. In my opinion, Jehovah's Witnesses who refuse blood transfusions, fuel much more serious concern. It is even hard to say how many people have died in Serbia over the last thirty years due to the fact that they abandoned the procedure," Sladjan Mijaljevic said.