Church of Scientology Reply to the German Government’s Defense of its Discrimination
For further information contact:
Leisa Goodman
(323) 960-3500
e-mail: humanrightsofficer@scientology.org
Church of Scientology Reply to the German Government’s Defense of its Discrimination
* In January 1999, the U.S. State Department published its sixth successive annual human rights report criticizing the German government for religious discrimination against Scientologists. The report also documented intolerance towards Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims.
* Previous State Department human rights reports have confirmed the existence of government policies that exclude individuals from employment in the public sector on the basis of religious belief and bans of federal funding for cultural and artistic events featuring Scientologists. The German government, the State Department has noted, has been accused by the leader of Germany’s Jewish community for its sluggish response to mounting anti-Semitism and right-wing incidents.
* A week before the State Department came out with its 1997 human rights report, its Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad issued a stinging rebuke to a German Parliamentary Enquete (Inquiry) Commission investigating what it termed “so-called sects and psych-groups.” The Commission, the Advisory Committee warned, threatened the fundamental rights of members of these groups—concerns already voiced by an official American delegation two months previously.
* In November 1997, the International House Relations Committee of the American Congress overwhelmingly passed a Resolution accusing the German government of denying jobs to religious minorities, cancelling artistic events because they featured minority religious members and violating the constitutionally-required state neutrality in religious matters.
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For further information contact:
Leisa Goodman
(323) 960-3500
e-mail: humanrightsofficer@scientology.org