(a) Church of Scientology

D. Church of Scientology

D. Church of Scientology 69 82 16

The Church of Scientology states that it has 30,000 members.

Separate consideration is also given to the situation of small communities such as the Church of Scientology and The Family.

The High Court found in favour of the Church of Scientology and indicated that the status of a religion did not apply only to theistic denominations.

70. Representatives of the Church of Scientology reported that they enjoyed total religious freedom, including for their places of worship, and entertained good relations with the authorities.

75. The comments made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs reported in the section on the Church of Scientology also apply in the case of The Family.

74. On the question of the situation of members of the Church of Scientology, its representatives explained that any member was free to leave the Church, that he was not obliged to abandon his family and society, and that his financial contributions were voluntary.

67. By virtue of the 1983 High Court decision in Church of the New Faith v. Commission for Pay Roll Tax, the Church of Scientology is recognized as a religious institution in Australia and is therefore entitled to tax relief (see above, para. 11).

4. The Special Rapporteur also talked to representatives of the Catholic and Protestant Churches and the Jewish, Orthodox and Muslim minorities, and with the Bhagwans, Baha apos is, Hare Krishnas, Mormons, Jehovah apos s Witnesses, the Church of Unification and the Church of Scientology.

95. According to the representatives of the groups and communities, with the exception of those of the Church of Scientology, there is, strictly speaking, no obstacle to the exercise of their activities.

92. As to other groups and communities in the field of religion and belief and the Church of Scientology, the Special Rapporteur wishes first of all to recall the relevant international law and jurisprudence.

(a) Decision dated 6 June 1997 by the ministers of the interior of the 16 Länder to place Scientologists under national surveillance by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution for a period of one year, despite the lack, according to the Scientology representatives, of evidence linking the Church of Scientology to any criminal activity.

73. To the Special Rapporteur apos s questions on the explanations for the situation as described by the Church of Scientology, the Scientology representatives said that since reunification Germany had been undergoing an identity crisis, that in an increasingly secular world the major Churches were losing members and encountering financial difficulties, whereas the minorities, including Scientology, had an increasing following and, as new religions, were running into opposition.

20. In the case of the applications by the Church of Scientology for the granting of public law status, Supreme Court decisions are still pending. In the course of one procedure, the Federal Labour Court has had to deal with the question whether a Scientology employee was a worker within the meaning of the right to work.

3. The Special Rapporteur held consultations with non governmental human rights organizations and representatives of the Aboriginal, Baha apos i, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim communities and with the Church of Scientology and The Family.

69. The Minister for Foreign Affairs said that the Church of Scientology represented only a small number of individuals in Australia, where people were free to do what they wanted within the law of the country.

As far as the Federal Government apos s position is concerned, it considers that the Scientology organization only calls itself a church as a front behind which it pursues its economic interests.

68. Other non official commentators criticized the pressures exerted by the Church of Scientology on its members to extract money from them, but they said that they were not opposed to the community as such.

According to the Scientology representatives, it was essential that their Church apos s case should be given due consideration in a fair trial based on the facts, so that an objective decision could be reached.

72. The representatives of Scientology provided very detailed documentation, a summary of which follows, in which the terms and expressions used are those employed by the Scientology representatives

Scientology appears to be closer to minority groups such as the Jehovah apos s Witnesses, the Unification Church, The Family and the Mormons, and is said to assist them with advice, moral support and public relations.

Anonymous is this group of people that protested, very famously, Scientology.

12. With regard to the definition of the term religion , in the Church of the New Faith v. Commission for Payroll Tax case in 1983, the High Court had to determine whether the Church of Scientology fit the description of a religious, public and voluntary institution to be exempted from taxes on wages paid to staff under the income tax law.

United Methodist Church General Board of Church Society

In the view of the Church of Scientology, in addition to the measures described the German State practises a policy of discrimination against it, notably by denying its religious nature and thus refusing to grant it the rights and advantages linked to that status, such as tax exemption, and by applying discriminatory measures such as placing it under surveillance, public information campaigns on Scientology and measures to exclude it from society.

And so these people, over 7,000 people, less than one month later, organized in a hundred cities around the globe and this is L.A. protested the Church of Scientology, and they have continued to do so, now, two full years after the fact.

23. The Special Rapporteur has endeavoured to give a description of the situation with regard to religion and belief, and to examine the situation of religious minorities, and other groups and communities in the field of religion and belief, and the situation of the Church of Scientology.

in one church alone. My church.

To a comment on the intemperate and passionate nature of the debate on Scientology, they replied that Scientology was conducting an aggressive campaign nationally and internationally with many different aims, including publicity.

69. The Special Rapporteur had interviews with representatives and followers of the Church of Scientology and with the German authorities, representatives of religious minorities and other groups and communities in the field of belief and religion and non governmental organizations, including those for victims of sects and psycho groups.

The story is, Scientology had this embarrassing video of Tom Cruise. It went up online.

Church!

Church?

Church?

Also, what church. And it don't matter what church.

His analysis concerned the situation of religions and belief in general and in particular the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu minorities and the Church of Scientology and The Family he paid particular attention to the consideration of religious and non religious matters and relations between religions and society and the State.

I think... He's in church, Will. He's gone to church.

The confusion is even greater in the case of the Church of Scientology, often described as a sect and a commercial enterprise, although those two ideas are contradictory, inasmuch as the term sect initially has a religious dimension, unlike commercial enterprise , and that whatever happens a religion is not a business.

Reminds me of church, Bill.

The bottom of the church.

Church Organ

Church Slavic

In church?