BlogIssues

Tom Cruise won’t like this: Germany’s apparently considering banning Scientology! They may have to send Tom out to delegate with the Germans…

Germany’s top security officials said Friday they consider the goals of the Church of Scientology to be in conflict with the principles of the nation’s constitution and will seek to ban the organization.

Apparently Scientology is considered a “commercial enterprise”, would disregard human rights and is “not compatible with the constitution” .They don’t however state specific reasons and the whole “attack” against Scientology is based on very general figures/assumptions.T

There are roughly around 6,000 members in the country. 

“From a number of sources, some of them not available to the public, it has been determined that (the organization) seeks to limit or rescind basic and human rights, such as the right to develop one’s personality and the right to be treated equally,”

I cannot say that I know much about Scientology or their beliefs, they don’t have the best of reputation and are perceived as a scam.

Anyway, the Church of Scientology responded:

While failing to pursue the Hamburg Minister of Interior’s motion, the Minister of Interior Conference has demonstrated that they are completely out of step with the rest of the world. Their statement and recommendation are a blatant attempt at justifying the ongoing and never-ending discrimination against the Church of Scientology and its members in Germany.

Ten years of OPC surveillance has uncovered absolutely no wrongdoing which could justify a ban, as conceded by Federal Minister of Interior Wolfgang Schauble in his interview with German Radio. There is no evidence of wrongdoing to uncover.

The suggestion that the OPC not only continue but expand its intrusive and illegal investigation represents a desperate attempt to concoct a justification for a never-ending investigation that wastes millions of taxpayer euros.

In the last 25 years, there have been over 40 German court decisions acknowledging the Church’s religiosity, including a decision of the Federal Administrative Court.

Since the opening of its major Church in Berlin in February, the religious status of the Church of has been further acknowledged all over the world.

On the 31st of October 2007, the National Court in Madrid issued a landmark decision recognizing that the National Church of Scientology of Spain should be entered in the Registry of Religious Entities as a religion.

On the 24th of September 2007, the European Court of Human Rights confirmed the Court’s unanimous decision of April 2007 affirming that the Church of Scientology is entitled to the rights and protections of religious freedom that flow to religious organizations pursuant to Article 9 of the European Human Rights Convention.

The principles enunciated in that decision upheld the religious freedom of Scientologists and their religious associations and apply throughout the forty-seven member states that have signed and ratified the European Human Rights Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, including Germany.

On the 5th of November 2007, the Church of Scientology of Portugal was officially recognized as a religious organization.

On the 3rd of December 2007, the South African Revenue Service granted the Church of Scientology the status of a Public Benefit Organization as a religious entity with full tax exemption.

The Scientology religion was founded by L. Ron Hubbard. The first church was established in the United States in 1954. It has grown to more than 7,500 churches, missions and groups and 10 million members in 163 nations.

Tom Cruise to the rescue?? In his next flick, “Valkyrie”, Cruise starrs as the most famous anti-Hitler plotter, perhaps Germany will show a bit more sympathy then.