Church of Scientology Reply to the German Government’s Defense of its Discrimination
Examples of Government 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
Examples of Government Discrimination:
The responsibility for the discrimination against Scientologists in Germany lies squarely with the German government. As Senator Alfonse D’Amato, Chairman of the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said during a September 1997 public hearing into religious intolerance in Europe, “If you create the climate in which prejudice and hatred can abound, what do you think is going to take place?” The German government, through its discriminatory policies targeting German citizens solely because of their religion, has created a climate in which Scientologists are prohibited from public service, have been physically abused, are banned from political parties, their businesses are blacklisted in government computers, their children have been harassed and thrown out of schools and kindergartens and artists have been prevented by officials from performing if they were known as Scientologists. In addition, the German federal and state governments have taken many actions that are directly discriminatory of Scientologists.
The following is a sample of discriminatory measures adopted against the Church of Scientology and its parishioners by the federal and state governments of Germany:
(1) In June 1997, Federal Minister of the Interior, Manfred Kanther, announced that the Church of Scientology was being placed under surveillance by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s internal security agency. This observation is nationwide and has been implemented by 15 out of Germany’s 16 states. Agents from the OPC have been harassing our parishioners and have attempted to bribe them into turning against their Church. A German OPC agent was even arrested in Switzerland for conducting illegal espionage against Scientologists in that country and faces prosecution. The German government had to apologize to the Swiss authorities, but no apology has been forthcoming from the German government to the Scientologists in Germany and Switzerland against whom this crime was also committed.
(2) In December 1996, Federal Minister of Labor Norbert Bluem ordered all employment agencies to mark with an “S” in government computer records the names of companies owned by Scientologists.
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For further information contact:
Leisa Goodman
(323) 960-3500
e-mail: humanrightsofficer@scientology.org