Gérard Dagon

Born| Gérard Alfred Dagon
4 April 1936

Strasbourg

Died| 22 May 2011  (aged 75)

Gandrange

Education| Master of Divinity
Alma mater|

* University of Strasbourg

Gérard Dagon (4 April 1936, Strasbourg - 22 May 2011, Gandrange)[1] was a French evangelical pastor, teacher, author, publisher and long-time Christian countercultist.

## Early life and education

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He got a Master of Divinity at the faculty of Protestant theology in the University of Strasbourg.[2]

## Ministry

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He became pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine (EPRAL) in 1959, then directed the Union of Evangelical Churches Chrischona (Union des Églises évangéliques Chrischona).[3] He participated in the creation of the evangelical directory, then became president of the (Fédération évangélique de France) in 1991 for a few years .[4] He founded, alongside others such as Swiss pastor and former member of the ADFI Paul Ranc, the association Vigi-sectes in 1998 who informs about religions and cults from a christian perspective.[3] He published books about religious movements, about pseudo-Christian groups he considered cults because of their supposed biblical errors,[5] and an extensive encyclopedia on Christianity. He listed 150 people who have claimed to be the Messiah from the first century CE.[6] At the end of his ministry, he became pastor of an Independent Baptist church in Moselle.[7]

## Reception

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In 1998, the pastor of the Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine Sylvain Dujancourt accused Dagon of using his anti-cult campaign to attract new people to his church.[3]

Sébastien Fath considered Dagon a "key figure of French evangelical Protestantism since the 1970s",[8] and Émile Poulat qualified him a "pioneer" in the religious issues.[9]

## Main works

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* Les Sectes en France, 1958
* Petites églises de France, Amneville, six volumes, 1960s-1970s
* Parlons sectes, Barnabas editions, 1991, ISBN 2-908582-04-X
* Panorama de la France Évangélique, Barnabas editions, 1993, ISBN 2-908582-07-4
* Les Sectes à visage découvert : Tome 1 , Yerres : Barnabas editions, 1995, ISBN 2-908582-09-0
* Les Sectes à visage découvert : Tome 2 , Dozulé :Barnabas editions, 1997, ISBN 2-908582-17-1
* Nouvelle Encyclopédie chrétienne, Gandrange, 2005, 1247 p., ISBN 2-9500197-3-0

## References

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1. ^ Ohlott, Paul (25 May 2011). "Décès du pasteur Gérard Dagon, l'un des fondateurs de Vigi-Sectes" (in French). Top Chretien. Archived from the original on 3 August 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
2. ^ "Les sectes expliquées en public". La Dépêche du Midi (in French). Toulouse: La Dépêche Group. 6 March 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
3. ^ a b c Hervieu-Léger, Benoît (16 April 1998). "Sectes". La Croix (in French). Paris: Bayard Press. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
4. ^ Evangeliques info, Le pasteur Gérard Dagon n’est plus, evangeliques.info, Switzerland, May 25, 2011
5. ^ Rath, Noël M.; Gilbert, Marcel (2005). Les sectes en question: Se questionner et questionner (in French). L'Harmattan. p. 55\. ISBN 2-7475-8996-X.
6. ^ Ohlott, Paul (20 August 2007). "Les prétendants au Trône céleste !" (in French). Top Chrétien. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
7. ^ Evangeliques info, Le pasteur Gérard Dagon n’est plus, evangeliques.info, Switzerland, May 25, 2011
8. ^ Fath, Sébastien. Du ghetto au réseau: le protestantisme évangélique en France (1800–2005) (in French). Genève: Labor et Fides. p. 194\. ISBN 2-8309-1139-3.
9. ^ Poulat, Émile (2003). Notre laïcité publique: "La France est une République laïque" (Constitutions de 1946 et 1958) (in French). Berg International. p. 259\. ISBN 2-911289-65-X.

## External links

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* (in French) Site of Vigi-sectes

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* United States
* France
* BnF data

Other|

* IdRef

* v
* t
* e

Opposition to new religious movements

Concepts|

* Anti-cult movement
* Christian countercult movement
* Cult
* Deprogramming
* Doomsday cult
* Freedom of religion
* Heresy
* Heterodox teaching
* Mind control
* New religious movement

Secular groups|

* APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control
* Center for Religious Studies in the name of Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons
* Cult Awareness Network
* Cult Information Centre
* Cultists Anonymous
* International Cultic Studies Association
* The Family Survival Trust
* Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network
* National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales
* People's Organised Workshop on Ersatz Religion

Secular individuals|

* Jean-Marie Abgrall
* John Gordon Clark
* Steve Eichel
* Martin Faiers
* Leon Festinger
* Carol Giambalvo
* Steven Hassan
* Ian Haworth
* Galen Kelly
* Stephen A. Kent
* Masaki Kito
* Janja Lalich
* Michael Langone
* Saul V. Levine
* Casey McCann
* Jesse S. Miller
* Sayuri Ogawa
* Ted Patrick
* Tsutsumi Sakamoto
* Rick Ross
* Chris Shelton
* Margaret Singer
* Eito Suzuki
* Alain Vivien
* Cyril Vosper
* Louis Jolyon West
* Lawrence Wollersheim

Religious groups|

* Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
* Christian Research Institute
* Dialog Center International
* Dialogue Ireland
* Evangelical Ministries to New Religions
* Institute for Religious Research
* Personal Freedom Outreach
* Midwest Christian Outreach
* New England Institute of Religious Research
* Reachout Trust
* Spiritual Counterfeits Project
* Watchman Fellowship
* Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center

Religious individuals|

* Johannes Aagaard
* Graham Baldwin
* Robert M. Bowman Jr.
* Harold Busséll
* Gérard Dagon
* Maurice Davis
* Alexander Dvorkin
* Ronald Enroth
* Mike Garde
* Robin Garbose
* Norman Geisler
* Jan Groenveld
* Hank Hanegraaff
* Reinhart Hummel
* Roger Ikor
* Bob Larson
* Paul R. Martin
* Walter Ralston Martin
* Robert Passantino

Governmental organizations|

* 610 Office
* European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism
* Centre contre les manipulations mentales
* Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu
* MIVILUDES
* Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France

Individuals in government|

* Nicolas About
* Serge Blisko
* Georges Fenech
* Ford Greene
* Stephen Mutch
* Catherine Picard
* Kenneth Robinson
* Paul Rose
* Tom Sackville
* Nick Xenophon

Historical events|

* About–Picard law
* Anti-Mormonism
* Assassination of Shinzo Abe
* Governmental lists of cults and sects
* Mass suicide of Heaven's Gate
* Jason Scott case
* Arrest of Apollo Quiboloy
* Persecution of Baháʼís
* Persecution of Falun Gong
* Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
* The Prohibited and Unlawful Societies and Associations Act
* Tokyo subway sarin attack
* Waco siege

Publications|

* All Gods Children (book)
* Another Gospel
* Bounded Choice
* Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control
* Captive Hearts, Captive Minds
* The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions
* Churches That Abuse
* Combating Cult Mind Control
* Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion
* Cults in Our Midst
* Cults of Unreason
* Deadly Cults
* The Incendiaries
* The Kingdom of the Cults
* The Making of a Moonie
* Misunderstanding Cults
* The New Vigilantes: Deprogrammers, Anti-Cultists, and the New Religions
* On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left
* Recovery from Cults
* Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change
* Strange Gods: The Great American Cult Scare
* Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
* Twisted Scriptures
* When Prophecy Fails
* The Wrong Way Home
* Zealot: A Book About Cults

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