Religious Apartheid: 1996 – Official Repression of Minority Religious Rights in Germany
he German government also discriminates against Scientology artists due to their religious affiliation. The plight of American Scientologist and jazz great Chick Corea illustrates the level of artistic intolerance for Scientology artists in Germany.
In 1993, the State of Baden-Württemberg cancelled a state-funded concert performance at the World Championship of Athletics in Stuttgart which they had offered to Mr. Corea and refused to allow him to perform his music. Baden-Württemberg officials have admitted that they took this action because Mr. Corea happens to be a parishioner of the Church of Scientology.54 Government officials in the State of Baden-Württemberg have taken other discriminatory actions designed to impair and impede Mr. Corea’s ability to express and communicate his art to the German public. These actions have included directly pressuring other concert organizers and promoters not to allow Mr. Corea to perform, issuing derogatory comments regarding Mr. Corea’s beliefs and religious association to the press in order to stigmatize Mr. Corea, introducing parliamentary motions to deny Mr. Corea the right to perform his art because of his personal beliefs and associations and providing executive announcements that future performances by Mr. Corea, other “confessing Scientologists” and members “of similar groups,” which are subsidized by the state will “be challenged.” These discriminatory actions have the effect of denying Mr. Corea access to music halls owned by the state and intimidate concert organizers and promoters from allowing Mr. Corea to perform his art.
In the Spring of 1994, the Chick Corea Quartet returned to Germany as part of a European tour to perform musical concerts. Mr. Corea was invited to perform at the Opera House of Kassel, a state theatre in the German State of Hessia, on June 3, 1994. When this concert was announced and tickets went on sale, the newspaper Hessische Allgemeine informed the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art that Mr. Corea was a Scientologist. In response, the Ministry of Science and Art and other State officials publicly stated their desire to cancel the concert and criticized the State Theatre for entering into a contract with an artist who was associated with Scientology.55 The Deputy Chairman of the CDU in Kassel called for an inquiry of State Theatre officials who signed the contract and publicly demanded cancellation of the concert as “Scientology and other sects must be hindered wherever possible.”56 The government also notified the German promoter organizing Mr. Corea’s concert that it had “problems” with Mr. Corea performing due to his “membership in the Scientology Church.”57
Indeed, the State pressured the promoter to agree to supplemental clauses to the contract forbidding Mr. Corea from “promoting” Scientology before, during or directly after his performance in Kassel in any way. The supplemental clauses provided that, if a “violation” of these clauses occurred, the promoter would be liable for a penalty of 50,000 DM for breach of contract and legal steps would be taken.58 This supplement to the contract, which was entered into by the state and the promoter without Mr. Corea’s prior knowledge and consent, was publicly proclaimed by the government as a means to censor Mr. Corea since the concert had to go forward due to the prior agreement.59