The Economics Ministry is now developing a filter for use by all ministries of the federal government.

With that precedent set at federal level, state governments will have even less compunction about implementing such flagrant discrimination. It is but a small step from filtering out companies because of the religious affiliation of their owners to filtering out artists because of their religion. Today, these filters infest the economic community in Germany. Tomorrow, government officials may decide to implement them throughout the artistic community as well. And so on. Blacklisting of artists who are Scientologists is already a fact in Germany, and unless we send a strong signal to the German government that such discrimination will not be tolerated, it is likely to worsen.

The climate of religious oppression that leads to these incidents is ignited and fueled by the German government. It invalidates and denies my right and those of other artists to freedom of artistic expression in Germany, yet the government has the power to bring an end to these fundamental human rights violations if it chose. Unfortunately, our hopes that under Chancellor Schroeder, the German government would assume the mantle of a truly democratic administration committed to non-discrimination have so far not been fulfilled.

I want to reiterate a point I made during my previous testimony before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1997, and which I have repeated in meetings where I have discussed the extent of the problem with congressional representatives. And that is this: The German government’s abusive treatment of religious minorities is undemocratic, uncivilized and a violation of Germany’s commitments under international human rights laws, specifically the Helsinki Accords and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.