Since the Churches of Scientology were recognized as tax-exempt over three years ago, The Times article would seem to be very outdated. Indeed, The Times did cover the Church’s exemption, thoroughly, when it was announced three years ago. Certainly there must be more to this story? That is, even if based on an honest mistake, maybe there is a deeper reason for the ongoing controversy.
In answer to that, all we can offer is this: Any new religion, any new movement, indeed any new ideas are usually attacked. This is not unique to the Scientology religion. People attack what they do not understand. Scientology is certainly a young religion, unquestionably subjected to more attacks than any new ideas, religion or movement in this century. However, unlike most of the others who have been attacked, Scientology is not only still here, but is visibly larger than ever. Such, by itself, is controversial.
For years, terrible things have been said about Scientology. And if but a fraction of them were true, we could understand people would think no one should be involved with the organization. Frankly, we ourselves would not be involved with an organization that did all the things people say we do. Unfortunately, some people believe everything they read and then, confronted with a new fact, seemingly at odds with their beliefs, they reject it. Maybe that’s why the Church’s recognition surprised some people.
Unquestioned, however, is this: For years, a great deal of the controversy surrounding Churches of Scientology in other countries of the world have stemmed from U.S. sources. That is, foreign governments would often make the claim that, “Since the Church of Scientology’s headquarters are in the United States, and since the United States government has not recognized you, then why should we? After all, your policy is set in the United States and so that is where any decision should be made.”
It is easy then to see that when the United States government did recognize the Church’s Mother Church, and all its subsidiary organizations, controversy was in the making. After all, following the same line of thought, those foreign governments would have to follow the U.S. lead. The problem is this: Some of those governments had their own agenda. While we are not attempting in this article to convince all Times readers that “we are right” and “they are wrong,” everyone can certainly agree that religious freedom has not been one of the highlights of European history. Indeed, the United States would not exist as it does today if religious freedom were part of European heritage.
The primary site of controversy is Germany, where Scientologists are subjected to brutal discrimination. The German press won’t even allow us paid advertising to tell our side of the story, even when supported with documentation. Then, unable to interest U.S. newspapers in carrying the story, the Church was forced to take out paid advertising in American newspapers, notably The Times.
When Doug Frantz, The Times reporter, contracted the Church a few weeks ago, he was asked what the topic of the article was. In general, he responded that, “You’re making claims of discrimination by the German government and the U.S. State Department is on your side and it seems that they are on your side because you have tax exemption...” In other words, even he could see that with U.S. recognition, the Germans should be treating the Church with a bit more dignity and respect.
Regardless of one’s opinion about foreign countries, any American would agree that when it comes to the subject of religious freedom, the United States of America has a much better history, and therefore a superior concept to that of the Germans.
Indeed, a fact most Americans don’t realize is: Germany has no separation of church and state. The state churches (Catholic and Lutheran) are supported by government taxes, equaling billions of dollars per year.
The U.S. State Department has issued its fourth consecutive annual report condemning human rights violations against Scientologists in Germany. Condemnation has also come from the United States Congressional Black Caucus, the United States Congressional Arts Caucus and the United States Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Other independent bodies, including the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the U.N. Human Rights Commission, the Rutherford Institute, a U.K. Ad-Hoc Human Rights Committee and the Helsinki Commission have also all condemned Germany for its human rights violations against minority religions, including the Scientology religion. None of these decisions has anything to do with IRS tax-exemption. Neither are any of these decisions contingent upon such IRS recognition. Indeed, the international bodies probably aren’t even aware of such. That’s because human rights violations are human rights violations, regardless of one’s U.S. tax status.
Tax-Exempt Recognition continued...
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