According to Spiegel Online, certain German authorities would like to ban the Church Scientology in the country. Notwithstanding the fact that they have no evidence or legal justification for such a move, politicians are afraid that they just can’t get away with it.
The latest rash of insane rants was initiated by Ursula Caberta, a known human rights violator who works for the Hamburg Ministry of Interior. Several years ago, the state attorney investigated Caberta for almost two years on suspicion of corruption because she had accepted a “private loan” from a Church of Scientology opponent in the amount of 75,000 dollars. Caberta was able to get the proceedings dropped upon payment of a 7,500 euro fine.
Reading between the lines it is evident that the real reason that the concerned German officials are restrained from taking such a blatantly illegal action is their fear that it would be exposed as a major human rights violation and would give them another black eye to add to Germany’s long historical track of religious bigotry and intolerance, dating back to the days of the Holy Roman Empire.
Many people not familiar with Germany’s history ask the question why certain German politicians are so upset and downright crazy when it comes to the subject of Scientology.
I will attempt to answer this.
In Germany you have two main religious groups, the Catholic Church and the Protestants. Most Germans are born into either religion and over the centuries there has been no clear distinction between Church authority and government rule. Separation of Church and State is a new idea which has not fully taken hold in Germany as evidenced by the fact that the government still collects a Church tax from its citizens which it turns over to either the protestant or Catholic Churches. This amounts to billions of dollars into Church coffers every year.
Obviously the established churches will not bite the hand that feeds them and in fact in many cases, church officials hold government posts in Germany further bluring the line between government and religion.
As Scientology is new, has a purely religious purpose and accepts no tax money from the government, it is not beholden to any German political agenda. Not being under any government or politician’s thumb, there are individual German politicians and established church apologists who fear that if Scientology gained in influence and power it might force a morality on the government which any dishonest official would rather not have anything to do with.
The German government knows it cannot function without the allegience of its population and religious people tend to give their allegiance to God and the cause of good. Because the established churches in Germany are financially dependent on the government their allegiance is not only to God but to the state and the financial support that it represents.
The Church of Scientology is not controlled financially by any external entity and thus not under the direct control of the German government. It is free to point out immoral conduct of corrupt officials when it sees it. This frightens certain German politicians who fear the rise of a new spiritual force which could lead the population to resist decrees and exploitation. Dishonest and corrupt officials therefore try to depopularize, blacken the reputation of and harass any Scientologist and the Church itself. Thus you get religious persecution as it occurring in Germany today.
Source: Human Rights Alert
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