SUPPLEMENTS
[Added August 24, 1999]
Supplement 1
Opinion of the Scientology Church in response to the State Security report of July 1998
(After meetings with the Justice Department it was agreed that the Scientology Church would be given the opportunity to take a position with regard to the report. This opinion would be appended to the report. It would amount to the opinion of the Scientology Church which would not have to agree with the perspectives of the KSK or the Justice Department. Several points were addressed separately on the attached document.)
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The Scientology Church sees in the report various aspects which do not correspond to the actual events and falsely represent Scientology.
*Not one word was mentioned about the Creed of the Scientology Church which quite clearly upholds human rights and, all by itself. contradicts various contentions.
*The Scientology Church is in no way at all "totalitarian" unless this word has been redefined to include every sort of hierarchy in this concept so that every sports club, state church or company, etc. would also be classified as totalitarian.
*The Scientology Church does not maintain its own "intelligence service." The "OSA" department is concerned with legal and PR matters and undertakes research as, e.g., any newspaper editorial staff would also conduct.
*The income of the Scientology Church matches its costs exactly and are a fraction of similarly sized associations as can be seen without further authentication from the yearly books which are open for inspection.
*The report contains numerous inaccuracies, incorrect and omitted information which results in a false picture of the Scientology Church. These are in regard to e.g., L. Ron Hubbard, the Personality Test, the founding of the Scientology Church, the definition of its religious counseling et al.. The Scientology Church has assembled a detailed correction sheet of over 50 points which can be requested.
*Various "independent experts" were cited, e.g. Atack or Miller, who quite clearly are pursuing their own interests and could not be described as neutral. Also, only critical opinions from Germany were cited without mentioning that the majority of the courts there have ratified Scientology as a religious community. Well-known experts have also addressed the statements cited in the report... A small example of the one-sided and irrelevant information is the quotation of the findings of the German Constitutional Security agency of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: in that state there are no Scientology associations or activities at all.
*Among the most important internal rules is that the Scientology Church will keep the laws of the land and that these will be respected very exactly. This quote by Hubbard is, unfortunately, not found in the report.
*While the Scientology Church can grant that the authors of the report have taken the trouble to not assemble only negative information, the selection of the information, nevertheless, gives a distorted picture which often contains only negative statements. The tendentious style of the report is shown in that comments are often so worded that a dubious impression arises and positive information is put in question. Terms such as "potential," "rather," "possible" and the generous use of the subjunctive mood were misused so that no positive impression would be made if it were not politically acceptable.
*The Scientology Church advises the reader of this report to request the detailed corrections for additional information, to get the book "What is Scientology" (will be distributed to public representatives like ministers, government agencies, media, etc., for free) and THEN form a complete picture based on all this information. In any case the Scientology Church is always open for anybody who would be interested in forming their own picture and reviewing further facts personally.
Scientology Kirche, Badenerstrasse 141, 86004 Zürich, Tel. 01 241 91 11
Supplement 2
Synoptic presentation of the input from the Scientology Church ZH of 22 March 1999 and the augmentative clarifications of the KSK in the cantons and states concerned.
Scientology statements Augmentative clarifications of the KSK p. 37 Australia
"It must be made clear that the ban on Scientology in the state of Victoria, Australia has been completely lifted and Scientology in Australia is a charitable, tax-exempt, religious community."
The report available from the KSK mentioned the ban of Scientology in connection with the concern of politicians about the increasing internal control mechanisms in the 1960s.
In 1965 the State of Victoria passed a law in which several core activities of the group were banned. This did not entail a ban of the group itself, but forbade the use of the e-meter and instruction in return for money. The same happened in 1968 in the States of Western Australia and in 1969 in South Australia. Disrupted by Victoria's legislation, the group legally changed its name to "Church of the New Faith." It remained active, but appeared to either do without the banned activities, or at least to conduct them less openly.
In 1972 Western Australia and South Australia struck down their laws against the practices of Scientology. In 1973 the General State Attorney decided that Scientology was an acknowledged group in accordance with the legislation of the Commonwealth. Because Victoria did not provide for the term of acknowledged groups in its legislation, this decision let the group free to conduct its activities again. The government struck down Victoria's law in 1982.
In 1983 the High Court of Australia decided that Scientology was a religion and the "Church of the New Faith" was a religious institution.
Today Scientology is an acknowledged religious group in all states in Australia. The "Church of Scientology" is an acknowledged religious institution and enjoys the same legal protection and tax exemption as other religious organizations.
p. 61 Zurich:
"In Zurich no legal proceedings are pending which are meant to forbid Scientologists from addressing pedestrians on public land. Addressing pedestrians has already been confirmed as fully licit by the Zurich Municipal Court on the basis of religious freedom."
On April 21, 1999, the assembly governing the Canton of Zurich dismissed an appeal by Scientology to the 1994 ban pronounced by the Zurich commercial police on the distribution of the personality test on public land. This decision can be appealed to the Zurich Administrative Court.
p. 73 Greece:
"The SC is active in Greece as an officially religious association. It was only dissolved as an association on account of faulty statutes."
The organization of Scientology was active in Greece under the name "Centre of Applied Philosophy of Greece" (K.E.F.E.). It was the subject of an investigation by the state attorney's office because parents had accused it of conversion propaganda (proselytizing) and psychologically and financially exploiting their children. In 1996, the investigation led to the dissolution of the organization because it was pursuing goals which were not covered by the statutes.
After this decision the organization was re-founded and officially credited as a non-speculative company under the name "Greek Centre of Intellect and Scientology."
The administrative council of K.E.F.E. brought before court for insult and illicit collection of information regarding the personal wealth of citizens. The Scientologists have recently all been acquitted.
p. 80
"The Scientology Church puts great store in establishing that constructive criticism is very much desired and critics are not to be automatically regarded as "suppressive persons."
p. 104 Interpol:
"The conflict with Interpol was settled in the middle of the 1990s. Interpol itself even distributed the book "What is Scientology?" to its offices in various countries."
The conflict with Interpol was actually settled. It is true that the book "What is Scientology?" was enclosed with a letter from the Interpol General Secretary to the national central offices in 1994.
p. 112
"Here is an incorrect translation. The English term "introvert" does not mean "intrude into somewhere" (in the sense of an infiltration), but signifies that attack is the best defense and so the opposing side should be forced into the defensive."
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NOT an official translation:
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