The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la République, and the Government-Sponsored "War on Sects": Book Review : The New Heretics of France: Minority Religions, la République, and the Government-Sponsored "War on Sects," by SUSAN J. PALMER. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, 272 pp.

Abstract : Considering the extreme difficulty of undertaking any serious research on such a topic in France, where positions remain highly polarized, Susan J. Palmer's work is impressive, both in terms of field work and of its fundamental orientation. In the Hexagon, the scientific, social, and media-related obstacles are still such that a French religious sociologist would be hard put--or would not be able at all--to produce so well documented a study. The main interest of the book is to succeed in highlighting the gaping divide between the Anglo-Saxon and the French approaches to religious freedom. But at the same time, Palmer seems so appalled by the French situation that her tone at times comes a little too much to verge on one of indictment, while the effort to examine all the sides of the issue is proportionately weakened.