Bluem demands rigorous opposition to Scientology
[The German language original is on Ingo Heinemann's page entitled
"No Legal Proceedings against 'Money Laundering' or 'Brainwashing'" at
http://home.t-online.de/home/Ingo.Heinemann/waesche1.htm
Bonn, Germany
September 18, 1994
Welt am Sonntagby Heinz Vielain
Federal Labor Minister Norbert Bluem (CDU) urged a "substantially rigorous, faster opposition" to the "Scientology" sect, which is active in Germany.
He regards the sect as a "criminal money-laundering organization which is intent on expanding its delusional ideology worldwide under the pretext of religion and will stop at nothing," Bluem explained to "Welt am Sonntag." The Minister has instructed the Federal Labor agency not to issue members of "Scientology" permits to run private employment agencies.
The CDU politician said to the "Welt am Sonntag," "It is high time that the big wheels of this human-despising cartel of suppression finally receive our message loud and clear: they are criminal! Provisions will have to be made so that the sect will be put under surveillance by the Constitutional Security agency [domestic intelligence]."
Scientology, according to the Minister, is spreading its tentacles around the world like a "giant octopus": "Potential members are put into psychologically and physically dependent relationships. They are subjected to brainwashing; their personalities are systematically destroyed. Then they are materially exploited without end. Even though we know all this, far too little has really been able to be done in effectively opposing this organization."
Bluem pointed out the danger of giving the sect more and more leeway through "constant update of legal review procedures, instead of [maintaining a] determined opposition."