List of groups referred to as cults or sects in government documents

The application of the labels "cults" or "sects" to (for example) religious movements in government documents usually signifies the popular and negative use of the term "cult" in English and a functionally similar use of words translated as "sect" in several European languages. Government reports which have used these words include ones from Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, and Russia. While these documents utilize similar terminology they do not necessarily include the same groups nor is their assessment of these groups based on agreed criteria. Other governments and world bodies also report on new religious movements but do not use these terms to describe them.

The Austrian government does not distinguish sects in Austria as a separate group. Rather, religious groups are divided into three legal categories: officially recognized religious societies, religious confessional communities, and associations. In the most recent year for which sects were officially distinguished in Austria, the groups included the Church of Scientology, the Unification Church, the Divine Light Mission, Eckankar, Hare Krishna, Osho movement, Sahaja Yoga, Sai Baba, Sri Chinmoy, Transcendental Meditation, Fiat Lux, Universal Life, and The Family.

A Canadian Security Intelligence Service report of 1999 discussed "Doomsday Religious Movements espousing hostile beliefs and having the potential to be violent.." Groups classified as "Doomsday Religious Movements" included:

In 2005, the Hate Crimes Unit of the Edmonton Police Service confiscated anti-Falun Gong materials distributed at the annual conference of the American Family Foundation by staff members of the Calgary Chinese Consulate (Province of Alberta, Canada). The materials, including the calling of Falun Gong a "cult," were identified as having breached the Criminal Code, which bans the wilful promotion of hatred against identifiable religious groups.

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