Gérard Dagon (4 April 1936, Strasbourg - 22 May 2011, Gandrange)[1] was a French evangelical pastor, teacher, author, publisher and long-time Christian countercultist.
He got a Master of Divinity at the faculty of Protestant theology in the University of Strasbourg.[2]
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]
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]
. Du ghetto au réseau: le protestantisme évangélique en France (1800–2005) . Sébastien Fath . Labor et Fides . Genève . French . 194 . 2-8309-1139-3.
. Notre laïcité publique: "La France est une République laïque" (Constitutions de 1946 et 1958) . Émile Poulat . Berg International . 2003 . 259 . French . 2-911289-65-X.