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| A Nazi-inspired piece of hate mail was sent to the Hamburg Church of Scientology last year. |
The IRS’ decision was not arrived at lightly. Church of Scientology International, the mother church of the Scientology religion, and all its affiliated churches, missions and social reform organizations in the United States received exemption only after the most comprehensive examination the IRS had ever conducted of an exemption applicant. At the conclusion of this exhaustive review, the IRS concluded to its own satisfaction that the Church of Scientology is factually a religion and entitled to tax exemption.
For years, the German government and media claimed that the Church of Scientology could not be considered a religious, tax-exempt institution because the Internal Revenue Service continued to deny tax exemption to its mother church in the United States, its country of origin. “You’re not recognized in the U.S., so you are not entitled to exemption in this country either” summed up the government’s attitude.
Logically, the German government’s attitude should have changed when American tax exemption was granted. The fact that the Internal Revenue Service so thoroughly investigated the Church of Scientology is particularly relevant to Germany, in several ways. First, the American civil and criminal laws closely parallel these same laws in Germany, so the IRS’ findings that the Church’s activities do not violate public policy should have equivalent force and strength in Germany.
Second, the United States is the home country of the Scientology religion. The Church of Scientology International, the largest Scientology churches, and numerous smaller churches, missions and related organizations are located in the United States. The Scientology religion’s worldwide program of religious activities, as well as its financial affairs, are directed by the mother church, and every church in the world operates in the same manner, utilizing the same policy.
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The Young Union of the Christian Democratic Union, the political party of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Minister of Labor Norbert Blüm and others, published a hate-filled brochure depicting religions as insects. The booklet is an example of modern-day German propaganda. |
Therefore, the IRS had complete access to every echelon of the Scientology ecclesiastical hierarchy and, through Church of Scientology International, to the details of financial and other information about every Scientology church outside the United States, including those located in Germany.
Despite this sweeping investigation and clean bill of health granted by the American government, German officials continue to repeat the same discredited allegations and to find new excuses not to recognize the Church—its vindictiveness has even driven it to embark on a full-scale propaganda campaign to persuade the media and public, as well as the courts, that the Church is engaged in trade.
In attacks upon the Church by German government officials involved in this campaign, innuendo is presented as fact, allegations which have been disproven in courts of law or by government bodies are asserted as if they were true, criminals are employed as sources critical of Scientology without reference to their criminality, and claims made by individuals of known antagonism toward religion are presented without refutation.
In its assaults upon the Church, the German government has even ignored the findings of its own courts and prosecutors—including the most recent ruling on the subject by its own Constitutional Court. (See Chapter 2, “Human Rights In Danger,”.)
