This paper examines the upsurge of anti-sect movements in France during the 1970s and 80s, and their accompanying defence of family values. It explores the ways in which these movements gained public attention and influence, as well as their success in transforming the issue of sects and beliefs into a problem of national and family unity. The distinct associations made between family, cultural homogeneity and national unity on one hand, and between irrational and foreign sects on the other, has transformed the perceived danger posed by the sects into a threat to the very foundations of the nation and its dependence on the family institution.
Sects; Family; Religion; Science; Nation