Germany Shows Consistent In Its Zero Tolerance Policy Towards Church Of Scientology, Shuts Down Kindergartern Run By CoS - Page 3
There have been several other cases in France's contentious relationship with the organisation...
France registers Scientology as one of dozens of groups that should be tracked to prevent cult activities.
Justice Minister Guigou said on Thursday: "Sects, and this one in particular, are extremely powerful. I think they should be prevented from doing any harm."
And while Belgium hasn't banned the Church of Scientology, it refuses to recognize it as a religion either.
The Church of Scientology's efforts to gain religious status in Belgium is likely not helped by an ongoing investigation against 12 Church members for charges ranging from extortion and fraud, to unlawful practice of medicine. From the NYTimes article:
A Belgian prosecutor recommended that the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology stand trial on charges of fraud and extortion, after a 10-year investigation. The prosecutor, Jean-Claude Van Espen, said that up to 12 people from the church should face charges and that his inquiry had concluded that Scientology’s Brussels-based Europe office and its Belgian missions had conducted unlawful practices in medicine, violated privacy laws and used illegal business contracts. The Church of Scientology said it would fight the charges.
All these legal entanglements and on-going scandals are certainly straining the Church's resources. The Church of Scientology, like other "religious" organizations, are dependent on membership and donations to their organization. Without their religious status financial pressures loom large with their funds being tapped for tax payments and a lack of government subsidies typically afforded charitable religious organizations. So far, Scientology has lucked out in the U.S. since securing tax exemption status as a religious organization from the Internal Revenue Service in a secret deal with the two made in 1993.
This could change however, as there is a pending lawsuit before the courts challenging this status. Currently, the Church of Scientology receives tax benefits no other religious organization is afforded, but a couple in Los Angeles are seeking to have that ruling overturned, or redefined to include ALL religions.
[Editor's note: For more on this case, please check out Glosslip Radio this Sunday at 10:00pmEST, when we will be interviewing the lawyer in the pending U.S. case. Look for a later post on this interview.]
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