Unholy Alliances

But Dvorkin has other “friends,” such as Carol Giambalvo, a member of another anti-religious hate group connected to the earlier CAN. Her book, which promotes deprogramming, was translated into Russian and distributed at an anti-religious seminar in St. Petersburg.

Dvorkin also has a similar-minded supporter in Germany — Thomas Gandow, who has also been involved in attempted deprogrammings.

Victim A.K., who experienced Gandow’s methods, was picked up from her house by two strangers and taken to visit Gandow. Her abductors refused to tell her where she was going and refused to let her out of the car. At Gandow’s office, she was threatened with psychiatric incarceration, told that her daughter “might disappear,” and given other warnings to “cooperate.” A.K. was pregnant at the time and, under pressure, agreed to sign a letter stating she wanted to leave her religion. She was forced to add that the letter was signed “by my own will.” The incident was so stressful that three weeks later she lost her baby.

Alexander Dvorkin is attempting to consign Russia to the same sort of extremism which plagued the communist era, calling for a fight with any individuals who believe differently — even if they break no laws and are honest, hard-working citizens. We know what such an attitude meant for Germany in the 1930s. And we understand why the United Nations is now again criticizing the German government because of violations of human rights in the 1990s, as are the United States’ State Department and human rights organizations.

Dvorkin’s mandate is spreading hate propaganda about religious groups. He manipulates information, pulling quotes out of context in order to create “alarming” stories. He then uses his position in the Moscow Patriarchy to circulate this disinformation on government and official lines.

Why should Russia — a country with a rich spiritual culture and potential — tolerate such people, who spread nothing but the seeds of hatred?

The fact is, people are tired of being told what to do and how to believe. They want to find out for themselves and trust in their own answers.

Russia had too many years of false propaganda. Alexander Dvorkin should be free to follow his faith and to comment on the beliefs of others. But no one has the “right” to use lies to destroy another’s beliefs. Having publicly declared himself to be the Russian representative of the now-obsolete American Cult Awareness Network, Dvorkin has at least made it known — even if unintentionally — that his information is of the most unreliable sort. Our country has come too far out of the errors of the past to allow the totalitarian attempts at thought control practiced by CAN to be planted here.