From: http://www.cww.de/free-cgi-region1/Webdriver?MIval=9.tpl2:0&news_id=News147987&news_unterrubrik=Regional&news_rubrik=Regional
Munster/Munich (dpa). A year-long legal battle over the obligation to pay sales tax by the Scientology organization has started a new round in Gelsenkirchen.
As a speaker of the finance court of Munster confirmed to the dpa Monday, the court starts anew on the complaint of the sect against the finance office of Gelsenkirchen. In May of 1994, the finance court had denied the self-called church the status of religious association and confirmed their obligation to pay sales tax (As. 15 K 5247/87).
Scientology appealed the decision. The federal finance court in Munich agreed with the organization on technical grounds and referred the matter back to Munster. As the federal finance court pointed out, the Scientology sect did not get a sufficient hearing in Munster. In the first hearing the complainant is said to have not been able to represent itself against the judicial assumption that it [Scientology] was commercially, not religiously, active.
The finance court in Munster had taken other decisions into account, but had not notified Scientology about them. The appeal of the federal finance courts now has the force of law.
With an alleged world-wide membership of seven million members the Scientology organization, which is recognized as a religious association in the USA, is the "market leader" of all the sects. Its critics see it as a profit-making business in the psychological and real estate markets. In June of 1997, the Secretaries of the Interior Conference decided upon the surveillance of the sect by the Constitutional Protection Office. The federal labor court in Kassel has categorized the sect as a commercial business, not as a church.
CDU may exclude Scientology members
State court of Cologne (OLG Köln) confirms decision of Bonn state court
Cologne, April 21, 1998 (AFP) - The CDU may exclude members of the Scientology organization. On Tuesday the State Superior Court (Oberlandesgericht) of Cologne rejected, according to the statement of a court representative, the appeal of three of the Scientologists excluded from the CDU by the Bonn State Court, which had upheld the party exclusion. In the basis of the judgment the Cologne judge emphasized, among other things, that the CDU does not have to tolerate party members with convictions which contradict the fundamentals of the democracy in the inner party. The argument raised by the three complainants was that the Scientology organization is a church, and is therefore under the protection of freedom of religion.
The CDU welcomed the decision and announced that it would continue to exclude anyone "who is involved in totalitarian organizations which have no regard for human rights." According to the court statement, reversal of the judgment is not possible. The party exclusion of the three Scientologists goes back to a party decision of the Christian Democrats in 1991, which stated that membership in the CDU is incompatible with membership in Scientology.
rh/jes
Professional Tests
Questionnaire Prohibited
From: "TAZ"
January 25, 1996Copyright © contrapress media GmbH
Düsseldorf (dpa) - The Dusseldorf Administrative Court has prohibited a real estate company from using personality tests of the controversial Scientology organization in the training of apprentices. These tests contain impermissible interrogation of the person involved. The Dusseldorf company has therefore violated the principle of professional development law. This is the first time that a court has decided, nationwide, that Scientology tests may not be used in professional training.
Sects
Rather Vague
From: "Spiegel" magazine, issue 9, Germany
approx. March 4, 1979Whether Catholic priest, evangelical pastor or preacher for a sect - that makes no difference for a Hessian court. The court exempted an adherent of the "Scientology Church" from his military obligation.
For Hans Loeffelmann, who is a graduate theologian from Munich and sect observer for the Catholic Church, the judges have fallen for a bluff and passed a "comical judgment" which looks to him like a "bad joke."
For his evangelical colleague, Reverend Friedrich-Wilhelm Haack, it is clear, after the judgment, that something was rather "amiss" and "undetected." The Lutheran Haack is afraid that from now on, every vendor of courses will be able to "cash in as a church," right down to a soccer club if it states in advance that it kicks as part of its life's goal as a religion!"
The anger of the theologian was aroused by a Darmstadt Administrative Court which acknowledged a sect disciple of the "Scientology Church Germany" as "primarily employed as a clergyman." The preacher in question, who had made a complaint about his conscription into the Defense Forces, is now exempt from military service, which puts him on the same legal ground as evangelical and Catholic ministers.
The legal judgment on spiritual advisors was obtained by petitioner Franz Walter Fiedler, 24, who has been pursuing his studies for four years at the Frankfurt "College for Applied Philosophy, reg." The college is a mission outpost of the "Scientology Church" whose founder, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, in Loeffelmann's opinion, "makes a business of exploiting spiritual necessity and deficiencies in self-awareness of young people under the guise of religion."
The Scientologist's application to be made exempt from military service with National Defense was turned down last September by Defense Area Administration IV in Wiesbaden [Wehrbereichsverwaltung IV]; his objection of being "trained for the clergy" was not accepted. The military adjutant refused to categorize the sect as a "religious congregation."
Fiedler's attorneys were better prepared. They presented the court with two opinions, one from the renowned proponent for church rights, Klaus Obermayer of Erlangen, and one from Axel Freiherr of Campenhausen in Hannover. These opinions had been written for the Scientology Church over three years prior. In the opinions, the authors agreeably gave their employer the appearance of the "character of a religious congregation" (Obermayer) whose pastoral counseling, the so-called "auditing," is supposed to be similar to the "sacraments of Christianity or meditation of Buddhism" (Campenhausen).
Scientology novice Fiedler counts as one of the beginners ("preclears") who, through auditing, a mixture of confession and interrogation, is training himself to be a teacher ("auditor"), and after many expensive seminars in Frankfurt, Munich or Copenhagen will gradually reach the state of "clear," a "clear, radiant, spiritual being." Loeffelmann states, "That can cost 250,000 marks and more, and the people are worse off than they were before."
With a worldwide membership of 5.5 million (12,000 in the Federal Republic [of Germany]), the Church of Scientology, with organizations such as "Narconon" or the "Commission for Violations of Psychiatry against Human Rights", belongs to the "multi-nationals" (Haack) of commercial religious business. The life philosophy of "mental health," mixed with elements of eastern religions - introduced by sect founder Hubbard, a former science fiction writer, in his book "Dianetics" - is imparted to the sect members in "integrity courses" (about 4,160 marks), in seminars for "Dianetics Counselor" (for 8,179 marks), or given with an electrometer (price: 700 marks), a type of lie detector.
With its profitable, religious ideas, bizarre mixture of universal philosophy, pseudo-science and religion, the judge from Darmstadt bothered himself little with earlier court decisions which described the Scientology Church as "the world's largest organization of unqualified people" whose practice presents, "medically and socially" a "serious threat to society," and whose adherents have been "pitifully seduced" and are often "mentally ill." Judge Axel Schulz stated, "It was not our assignment to check out their methods to see if they fell under the realm of ordinary criminality."
So far, neither the sect experts of the churches nor the parents of children who have been recruited have been able to convince German federal courts of the destructive character of some sect techniques. "Criminal conditions such as fraud, extortion or duress would tip the scales the other way," said attorney Obermayer.
The administrative judge avoided evaluating the content of the Scientology beliefs, thereby sidestepping a collision with the principle of religious freedom anchored in Basic Law.
The judge need not take into account advanced education or knowledge of ancient languages such as Latin, Greek or Hebrew in his assessment. The "career picture" of a clergyman of the two large Christian denominations, according to a Federal Administrative Court in deciding in favor of a proceeding for the Jehovah's Witnesses, does not have to be used as a "measuring stick" for clergymen. Judge Schulz stated, "They may do what they want."
In the literary excerpts presented by the sect, the legal men discovered, even though they did not have the contribution of a theologian, proof of a "classic religious belief"; the Scientologists attested to an "organized religious community" and assessed Fiedler's office as "that of a clergyman" - a far-reaching comparison which permits those obligated to serve in the military to believe that they can get out of being a soldier if they hire on with a sect at the right time. This bait is already serving Fiedler's brethren, as Loeffelmann observed, in their membership recruitment drive on the street.
The decision of the judge from Darmstadt has doubtlessly strengthened the position of all the obscure associations who have attracted youthful fanatics and the mentally unstable in the past several years. Scientologists are already celebrating the decision as their "most important accomplishment in the German courts." However, the appeal still has to go before the Federal Administrative Court.
The authors of the opinions, Obermayer (Loeffelmann: "rather vague") and of Campenhausen (Haack: "old news"), have since kept their distance. For instance, Obermayer would not like "to come under suspicion of being a sect sympathizer"; he believes recruiting pedestrians on the street for auditing seminars is "very, very controversial" and that the writings of sect founder Hubbard are "unpalatable."
Campenhausen, who has since then become a civil prebend administrator of the Lower Saxon government, would not like his "ecclesiastical-political opinion" to be used so that "unprofessional people can perform some hocus-pocus to be free of military service" - at the same time, he also had the "suspicion" that "Hubbard and his psycho-courses are full of it".
Rheinland-Pfalz State Welfare Court
No permit for private employment agent who neglected to tell about Scientology membership
Mainz, Germany
September 21, 2001
http://www.justiz.rlp.deA private employment agent has to tell au-pair girls if they are dealing with host families which belong to the Scientology Organization (SO). That was the decision of the state welfare court in Mainz today.
The complainant runs a private employment agency whereby she puts au-pair girls up with German host families. As a so-called "auditor," she holds a special function as an SO member. She put several of the girls up with families which were SO members without having informed the girls of this.
After detailed testimony by the complainant, the Rheinland-Pfalz State Welfare Court today decided that she (the complainant) did not have the reliability required for the issuance of an employment permit. Reliability of an employment agent can only be assumed if that agent will act within the law. The court said that it was young people like the au-pairs that came to Germany to live (and perform light housework in return for room and board) who especially needed protection, because they were not well-versed in the German language. By failing to tell people about the Scientologists, it was said that the complainant failed in her duties as a private employment agent.
However, the complainant did not lack the required dependability solely because of her SO membership. Nevertheless there was concern about her being able to make a decision in regard to whether she would follow the rules and standards developed by SO founder Ron Hubbard or whether she would follow the appropriate law. That would not meet the requirements for issuing a permit. Therefore the labor agency revoked the complainant's permit as a private employment agent.
Appeal is not permitted. The judgment does not have the force of law (L 1 AL 49/01).
See 001215d.htm for more background on the above case.
Scientology member may not act as employee agent for au pair girls
Rheinland-Pfalz State Welfare Court: Lack of dependability
Mainz, Germany
September 20, 2001
http://de.news.yahoo.com/Mainz (AP) Professing the teachings of Scientology founder Ron Hubbard is not compatible with working as an employee agent. That was decided on Thursday by the first Senate of the Rheinland-Pfalz State Welfare Court in Mainz. The basis of the decision said that membership in Scientology alone was not enough to revoke a work permit. But the complainant, from whom the Federal Labor Department (BfA) had revoked the permit, did not have the dependability required for her work because of her deep involvement with Hubbard's teachings.
The BfA had revoked the work permit it had issued for the 45-year-old complainant after learning of her membership in Scientology from newspaper stories. The former masseuse and bath attendant had acted as agent for au-pair girls mainly from Estonia with German host families.
The presiding judge Ralf Bartz detailed in the basis of the decision that the case went against the complainant mainly because she delivered between six and ten percent of the girls to Scientologists without telling that to the girls. Because she was dealing with minors whose native language was not German, this lack of information was deemed particularly problematic.
The complainant, who bears the rank of Class V Auditor among her fellow Scientologists, is dedicated on the whole to the teachings of Hubbard and is deeply involved in them. In case of doubt she would persistently follow the word of Hubbard, as opposed to the applicable law. It was said this did not meet the requirements demanded of the complainant for acting as employment agent.
Bartz supported his decision basis on the extensive testimony of the complainant, who had to take a position on various quotes from Hubbard. The hearing was required after the Federal Welfare Court turned the case back to the State Welfare Court to be heard again. The highest welfare court had found that membership in Scientology alone was not enough to determine the non-dependability of the complainant, but that all her personal factors had to be taken into account.
The court will not permit appeal of the decision because the dispute has no general significance. However, the complainant can still file a complaint about this decision. (AP)
See 001215d.htm for more background.
[Following is a report that was spread by German Scientology OSA a few weeks prior to the decision.]
Munich, Germany
September 5, 2001
OSA's http://www.menschenrechtsbuero.de/html/aktuell.htmScientologist files temporary restraining order against German Federal Labor Department
With a date of 30 August 2001 the Rheinland-Pfalz State Welfare Court decreed that the Federal Labor Department would have to issue a work permit for a Scientologists to act as an employment agent for au-pairs (Az. L 1 ER-AL 33/01). The department had wanted to refuse the permit solely on the grounds of the applicant's membership in Scientology.
The court referred in its decision to a previous judgment of a different chamber of the court that membership in the Scientology religion did not constitute a reason for refusal of employment. In the prior case the court stressed that the unprecedented 1995 instruction from the Federal Minister of Labor [Bluem] "may not have been compatible with constitutional principles and particularly the area protected by Art. 12 sect 1 of Basic Law," namely that the instruction very probably was a violation of Basic Law (Az L 7 Ar 23/98).
The decision just made is part of a process against the Federal Labor Department by the Rheinland-Pfalz State Welfare Court (L 1 AL 49/01). The secondary process is a demand for recompensation against the labor office for commercial and existential damages which had arisen from an earlier refusal for permit.
Federal Welfare Court overturns judgment on Scientologists as employment agents
Kassel, Germany
December 14, 2000
RTKassel - The Federal Labor Agency may not disregard membership in the Scientology organization in licensing a commercial employment agency (AZ: B 11/7 AL 30/99 R), according to the Federal Welfare Court. In making this decision on Thursday, the Federal Welfare Court contradicted Rheinland-Pfalz State Welfare Court. That court had decided that legal commercial untrustworthiness could not be derived solely from membership in Scientology.
The actual case was about the complaint of a 44-year-old masseuse who had obtained a permit to be an au-pair placement agent in 1994 from the Federal Labor Agency. The permit was revoked one year later after the federal agency learned that the woman was a Scientology member. The revocation was supported, among other things, by a corresponding instruction from the Labor Ministry. In the legal dispute that followed the masseuse indeed commented that she had a "proselytizing mission," but that she only carried that out in her private life. She rejected the concerns of the federal agency as unjustified, that personal data from au-pair personnel could be misused for recruitment purposes or that the personnel would be assigned to and put under the influence of Scientology families.
The state welfare court required the Federal Labor Agency to issue the permit. The Federal Welfare Court has now overturned this decision and referred the case back to the state welfare court for review.
ari/kad
au pair: [at equal (worth)], work for room and board and spending money as the case may be
No wholesale employment ban on Scientologists
Risk of work security violations must be reviewed on a case by case basis
Kassel, Germany
December 14, 2000
APau pair: [at equal (worth)], work for room and board and spending money as the case may be
[Also, Estonians speak an Uralic language which is related to Finnish and Hungarian.]Kassel - Members of the Scientology Organization, which describes itself as a church, are not permitted to be employed in every case as au-pair employment referrers. The eleventh senate of the Federal Welfare Court in Kassel decided on Thursday that the necessary permit from the federal labor agency for au-pair employment referrers had to be considered on a case-by-case basis as to how far the referring agent was associated with the organization and whether that could constitute violation of employment security agreements.
The complainant is a 44-year-old woman from Bad Kreuznach who referred au-pairs from Estonia to German families and who had received a three-year permit from the federal labor agency in December 1994. The agency learned from press reports of the complainant's membership in Scientology and revoked her referral permit. The 44-year-old woman says she is an auditor, a clergywoman of the organization.
The labor agency argued that membership alone was evidence of a lack of trustworthiness needed for referral service. It was said the danger of misuse of the personnel data attained existed for proselytizing.
The senate determined that a wholesale referral ban on Scientologists was not permissible. It said the agency could take preventive action, but would have to produce a founded prognosis of potential risks for each individual case.
The senate did not agree with the complainant's contention that denial of a referral permit would be the same as a professional ban. It said that the overwhelming common good in this case was labor security. The senate referred the case back to the Rheinland-Pfalz state welfare court. They are supposed to review the degree to which the complainant would pose a risk as auditor.
(Case number: B 11/7 AL 30/99 R)
Rheinland-Pfalz State Social Court
[Landessozialgericht Rheinland-Pfalz
Pressereferent]Press Release
January 28, 1999Membership in the "Scientology Church" alone is not sufficient grounds for refusal of a permit for a private employment agency. This was the decision handed down by the Rheinland-Pfalz State Social Court on January 28, 1999 in favor of a complainant who had had her permit for a private employment agency revoked by the Federal Labor Office, and had had an extension of her permit refused.
The State Labor Office had granted the complainant a limited permit in 1994 in regards to serving as an employment service for "au pair" girls. After it was found out that the complainant was a member of the "Scientology Church," it withdrew the permit giving the reason as an instruction from the Federal Ministry for Labor and Social Development, which it interpreted to mean that a member of the "Scientology Church" did not possess the reliability needed for the granting of a permit for private brokering of employment. After the Mainz Social Court verified the legal opinion of the federal office in the first specification, the State Social Court, with the current judgment, reversed the specified pronouncement and the accompanying decision and had the Federal Labor Office grant the complainant the extension until the year 2000 which she had applied for (case L 7 Ar 23/98).
The court based its decision on the fact that factual circumstances, which are demanded by the law in being able to determine the personal reliability of the complainant, could not be proved. It could not be determined that the complainant, serving as an employment agent, had violated applicable laws or had worked against the interests of the employers or employees. In particular, it could not be proved that the complainant had tried to spread concepts of the "Scientology Church" among her "au pair" girls. Membership in the "Scientology Church" alone did not suffice to deny the complainant the freedom guaranteed by Basic Law to be granted a permit for a private employment agency. An appeal will be permitted. The interested parties will be able to pursue the decision to the Federal Social Court.
Scientologist may act as an employment agent
http://www.fulda-online.de/db/rubdef/artikel_detail.phtml?id=22414
Fuldaer Zeitung (Fulda Newspaper)
April 2, 1998Mainz (dpa) A member of the Scientology organization may, according to a decision of a state social court in Mainz, continue to act as a broker for "Au Pair" girls. This decision was confirmed last Wednesday by a speaker of the state employment office of Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland, Albert Fuchs.
In December, 1994, the woman had obtained permission from the state employment office to be a private agent for "Au Pair" girls. As she designated herself as a Scientologist, the permission was revoked in May, 1995. The Mainz social court agreed with the labor office in the first decision. The judge decided that the mission of the state employment agency included neither membership in the organization, nor the determination as to whether a danger existed that the woman would promote Scientology. The judgment of the state social court was, according to to Fuchs, unforeseeable. It was positive, however, that a decision from the highest court would be necessary on this sensitive problem. The labor office had invoked the instructions of Federal Labor Secretary Norbert Blum (CDU), which states that the members of the organization do not possess the legally required reliability.
[FZ]
Ingo Heinemann: Scientology Criticism
Company from the Scientology world believes association with Scientology is bad for business
From Duesseldorf Municipal Court case 52 C 9864/98:
"It has since become generally known that Scientology does not restrict itself in the spread of its teachings, but, in support thereof, is also involved in general business life and maintains to this end a worldwide network in order to maintain influence on member or aligned companies to bring about social change to their own manner of thinking."
Address of original German page:
http://home.t-online.de/home/Ingo.Heinemann/arcmusi1.htm
Date original German page last changed:
August 17, 1999Also on this theme:
Does this company belong to Scientology? On Infiltration of Business.
Duesseldorf Municipal Court 52 C 9864/98 judgment of 17 June 1999 not legally binding
In the Legal Dispute
between ARC Musik sales, Inc., Eiffelstrasse 422, 20537 Hamburg, Complainant,
vs.
Reverend Joachim Keden; 44 Rochus Street, 40479 Duesseldorf
Accused,
the Duesseldorf Municipal Court has, in the verbal proceedings of 20 May 1999 by the judges in the Municipal Court,
found to be just:
The complaint is dismissed.
The costs of the legal dispute are born by the complainant.The judgment is provisionally executable. The complainant will be relieved of mandatory execution by making a security deposit in the amount of 1,700 DM if the accused has not made a security deposit before the execution in the same amount.
Findings of Fact:
The complainant demanded condemnation of the accused with regard to negligence in certain statements about some sort of connections with the Scientology Church.
The complainant is the producer of recordings of international music which she distributes mostly through Bertelsmann Club, Inc. and for which she advertises in her prospectuses. Those also contain the name of her independent sister company "ARC Music Productions" headquartered in East Grinstead, England. The business manager of that company [Name], who also used to be a co-worker and business manager of complainant [name] are members of Scientology. At the time, the complainant's business manager was [Name], who is also a Scientology member.
The complainant uses the so-called Scientology "technology," which has to do with the management teachings of the founder of Scientology. The complainant has already distributed CD's with covers which contain thanks to the founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and pictures of artists who are known Scientology adherents. The address list on the CDs distributed through Bertelsmann by the complainant come from the sister companies of the complainant in England and the USA. Both companies currently have their headquarters in the same places where the seat of Scientology is found in those countries.
The series of letters of the complainant's name is known in the Scientology teachings. There, ARC stands for Affinity, Reality and Communication.
The sister company of the complainant in England is also known as a financial supporter of Scientology.
The accused, in his duties as Sect Commissioner of the Evangelical Church in Rheinland, wrote to the Bertelsmann Club, Inc. in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck on 6 Jan. 1998. The letter included the following text:
"acquaintances have brought to my attention that your offerings in the 1997 Catalog IV include offering from ARC. Possibly the connection of this offer to Scientology is not known to you. For this reason I have enclosed copies of an older list which shows the connection with L. Ron Hubbard.
Because, in the meantime, I have received several inquiries as to what connection there would be between Bertelsmann and Scientology, I would like to inform you of them and ask for an answer which I can then return to those making the inquiries.
I would also like to bring to your attention that some of the addresses which accompany the CDs are addresses known in the Scientology environment. This was also noticed by several readers of your catalog list as they were filling out questionnaires which accompanied the CDs.
I would appreciate it if you were to answer me soon as the concerned individuals making the inquiries would not like to directly or indirectly support Scientology through the Bertelsmann Club."
The complainant alleged that the statements made by the accused did not reflect the truth and that she regarded the statements as damaging for business. Specifically, it was alleged that the connection addressed did not exist. She said the corporation is connected with Scientology neither commercially nor in their organizations. She said that it was not her business goal to distribute Scientology concepts. She said she did not do that with any of her other wares, either. She said, primarily, that no connection to Scientology could be seen in the Bertelsmann catalog which advertised her offerings.
The complainant alleged that the Scientology technology was only used internally to the business. In addition she claimed that the shortened name of "ARC" was only used because the former name was not usable internationally. She said she decided upon the name ARC because that is the French word for rainbow and the complainant had also used the rainbow as a company symbol previously.
The complainant applied
to have the accused, on penalty of a fine set for him by a court for each case of contravention and in case that could not be enacted, an imprisonment for up to six months (maximum fine for each case 500,000 DM), prohibited from asserting or distributing:
a) that a connection existed between the offerings produced by the complainant and advertised in Catalog IV/1997 of Bertelsmann Club, Inc., and Scientology,
b) that a part of these CDs produced by the complainant and advertised in Catalog IV/97 of the Bertelsmann Club, Inc., contained addresses which were known in the Scientology environment,
c) that purchasers of the CDs produced by the complainant and advertised in Catalog IV/1997 of Bertelsmann Club, Inc., would, with the purchase of these wares, be supporting Scientology.
The accused applied
to have the charge dismissed.
The accused mentioned that he did not claim in his letter that the complainant was a member of Scientology. Rather he had, solely on the basis of several documents and the circumstance that many of the persons employed by the complainant were members of Scientology, made the evaluation that a connection existed. This connection was said to have been stated so that it would be fall under general freedom of opinion, that, based on these circumstances, a conclusion that Scientology support was conceivable through the commercial operations of the complainant.
Further details are on the modified court memoranda with attachments.
Basis of the decision:
The complaint is unfounded.
The complainant does not have a claim analogous to § 824 i.V.m. § 1004 BGB, nor a different legal basis to prohibit the statements of the accused about the Bertelsmann Club.
It is conceded to the complainant that in view of the general publicity about Scientology, a connection of the sort asserted can have an effect which is damaging to business.
However, the letter dated January 16, 1998 from the accused to Bertelsmann Club, Inc., contains no claims of fact which run contrary to the truth.
The first thing to be determined is that, in the total context of the letter, can the wording that the addressee would possibly not be aware of a connection between the offer and Scientology be understood not to be exclusively a connection between the CDs offered in the catalog and Scientology, but rather that the accused generally would want to bring to the attention of the addressee of the letter a connection between the business operations of the complainant and Scientology. The wording is so far only awkward. Just from the circumstance that the accused enclosed copies of an older product for the addressee, it can be recognized that he is making a general connection between the complainant and Scientology. This had also been known to the complainant because she, in her procedural presentation, primarily disputed this general connection.
The accused was justified in making this statement, since it does not contradict the truth.
It is not mandatory that the accused prove that the complainant's operations directly serve Scientology or that it is organizationally connected with Scientology. Such a claim was not made by the accused. The assertion that the former, as well as the present, business managers of the complainant are members of Scientology is incontestable. Equally incontestably, the complainant has distributed products in the past to known Scientology musicians. On top of that, the name used by the complainant matches an acronym in the Scientology teachings and which suggests to its adherents - especially if music from Scientology adherents is being distributed -, that the business itself identifies, in any case, with Scientology, therefore a connection exists. This must also be known to the complainant herself since her business is led exclusively by members of Scientology. Since this above-founded connection is clear to her, her evidence that her name matches the French word for rainbow cannot undo this connection.
Additionally the complainant, as she herself presented, uses the management teachings of the founder of Scientology.
If the complainant is managed by members of Scientology, if she distributes products from Scientology adherents, if she incorporates under a symbol which has significance to the Scientology teachings, and if she follows, at least internally to her business, the management teachings of Scientology, then the assertion that there could be a connection is simply true. It is not mandatory here that a connection to Scientology or its teachings be shown in all her products offered in the 97 catalog of the Bertelsmann Club. The accused simply asserted a connection, but not a direct connection, to Scientology.
The accused was also justified in asserting that the CDs distributed by Bertelsmann had addresses enclosed which were known to be from the Scientology environment. This had to do with the addresses of the sister companies of the same name as the complainant in the USA and England. Both have their headquarters in the same city in their respective countries as do the Scientology establishments. The accused had also stated, which was not contested by the complainant, that the English company was making direct payments to Scientology and that the business manager of the company was employed as an active and financially supportive member of Scientology. Here the assertion that the accompanying addresses were from the Scientology environment is also true.
Finally, the accused had expressed his concerns in the letter in question that purchasers of the CDs could unintentionally be supporting Scientology by buying the wares. The accused was also justified in saying this.
The accused had not claimed that support would ensue in every case by the complainant; he had only, based on the described and actually pertinent connection between the business operations of the complainant and Scientology, voiced the suspicion that such a connection was possible, or at least would be conceivable. This is covered as an expression of general freedom of opinion under Article 5 of Basic Law.
It has since become generally known that Scientology does not restrict itself in the spread of its teachings, but, in support thereof, is also involved in general business life and maintains to this end a worldwide network in order to maintain influence on member or aligned companies to bring about social change to their own manner of thinking.
It is irrelevant whether the complainant herself is part of this network or the sale of her products actually serves Scientology directly or indirectly. Based on the described obvious connections in the persons of her management, her organization and also her products, such a conclusion would not be far off. Expressing that on the basis of the underlying facts is therefore nothing other than the exercise of the right to participate in the general formation of free will, which also encompasses being able to express concern about social changes.
The procedural secondary decisions are from the §§ 708 Nr.11, 711 ZPO.
Ingo Heinemann: Scientology Criticism
Counsellor:
Does this company belong to Scientology?
On Infiltration of SocietyAddress of original German page:
http://home.t-online.de/home/Ingo.Heinemann/firma1.htmAlso on this theme:
Duesseldorf Municipal Court decision 52 C 9864/98 of June 17, 1999
Company from the Scientology world believes association with Scientology is bad for business. (full text).
Does this company belong to Scientology?
The following letter gives some hints
Subj: Scientology organizations and the infiltration of companies
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Almost daily the AGPF receives serious questions about whether a company belongs to the Scientology conglomerate. Basic caution is advised in the naming of a company in this regard because it can very quickly drive a smaller company to ruin. Demands for compensation could be a consequence. The Scientology organization itself operates its own companies only to a very limited extent. Therefore this question deals mostly with the issue of whether a company is operated by Scientology adherents and/or according to the instructions and "technology" of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. It is not infrequently assumed that one could recognize this membership by certain - mostly wild - methods of business management. That, however, is not solely the case. Recent comparable methods such as "mobbing" have also become known. Or it could just have to do with an office conspiracy.
Naming names of companies in the media is not very reliable. This applies especially to major corporations. For a long time the Scientology Organization has been making claims that specific companies are managed or operated according to Scientology principles. Inquiries have shown mostly that one sole Scientology adherent has established himself in a certain department. Along with that must be considered that in such major corporations, just the department of training by itself can be a very large establishment which occasionally tries out questionable routes; no kind of conclusions can be drawn from this. Most of these companies elect to ignore any mention of a connection with the Scientology organization.
There are no real-life lists of this type of company, in particularly, none that would be valid in Germany. Such a list would not be sensible since it would take a very large effort to keep it constantly up-to-date. Currently nobody could make this effort. In addition, some companies would potentially rightly indicate that they should not appear on the list.
American lists, especially the "WISE Lists," are to be treated with caution. German companies or their staff have repeatedly claimed that they do not know how they got on these lists. That also goes for the "Patrons" lists, which is the list of donors to the "War Chest." Therefore it is difficult to predict how courts would see the evidence in specific cases.
Scientology adherents prefer membership in two types of companies: as brokers and as business consultants. In both they market a certain ruthlessness and impertinence, very much to the expense of the vast majority of these professions' members who do not succumb to temptation. Scientology adherents, in just their initial courses, have already had almost limitless ability for suffering ("Training 0") and audacity inflicted upon them. That can cause not only the onset of a loss of reality, but also a loss of the usual sympathetic or mercantile considerations up to the loss of the sense of legal responsibility (Hamburg state attorney's office 90 Js 2/87: "...himself only a deceived deceiver ...").
Some former Scientology functionaries or other Scientology adherents employ themselves as business consultants. Often they offer courses of similar description. The brokers/agents, however, appear primarily to be "students" of Duesseldorf broker Klaus Kempe, who is not only a Scientology adherent, but is also the author of a book ("Manager-Geheimnisse" ["Manager Secrets"]) and was or is the chief of the "VEM - Verband Engagierter Manager" ["Association of Working Managers"].
[... a list of German-language publications are given for further information.]
With kind regards,
Ingo Heinemann
12/96
1. Version of this internet page 16.5.99
Author: Ingo Heinemann
"Value Judgments" are permitted
Muenster Superior Administrative Court backs Antwerpes
Cologne, Germany
July 1, 1999
Kölner Stadt-Anzeigerby Detlef Schmalenberg
In August 1995 Administration President Franz-Josef Antwerpes sounded the alarm: "Psychocult infiltrates Rhein schools," announced an internal memo from his agency which warned about the activities of the *VPM. Sympathizers of the "conspiratorially" operating association, out of which "at least 200" were employed as teachers in the Cologne Administrative District "placed themselves in parents' organizations, owned establishments of continuing education with their own lecturers and had themselves recruited into positions of trust," said the report, which was made public by the "Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger."
After publication of the article, it kept the courts busy for years. The VPM complained without let-up, it wanted to have the published statements prohibited. For instance, Antwerpes made statements such as the VPM adherents tended to have an elitist way of thinking ("They argue according to the motto, "The gifted must be advanced; the others should see for themselves where they are."), they were gaining a monopoly on education and order in the day-to-day school routine, and that one should be concerned that they were trying "to implement their often arch-conservative outlook in schools and to recruit new members."
After the Cologne Administrative Court decided in favor of the VPM, the Muenster Superior Court has now decided differently. Antwerpes may continue to "distribute" the statements attributed to him: they were called permissible "value judgments," by which only a "subjective assessment" was being expressed, as Antwerpes' attorney, Rolf Schwartmann, argued. And the judge, who did not permit appeal, also agreed with him.
The VPM filed an objection to the non-permissibility of appeal. By descriptions like "psychocult," the "interdisciplinary operating technical association" which "continues to research the important issues of society" was said to have been defamed, as the speaker of the Cologne board let the "Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger" know upon inquiry.
Pastor Hansjoerg Hemminger, the former director of the "Evangelical Central Agency for World view Issues," is one of the main critics of the [VPM] association. "The VPM, with its headquarters in Zurich [Switzerland] and branches in other cities like Cologne [Germany], has many thousands of sympathizers with numerous academicians among them," said Hemminger. The "particular dangerousness of these people" comes from their "rightwing political fanaticism, which states that one can save the world from all possible evil with the associations' special human understanding." Because of their high level of education, the VPM adherents, who have allied themselves in recent years with persons and groups from the rightwing conservative spectrum, present an "intellectual cadre which would otherwise not exist in this environment."
The association wants to prevent the Federal Ministry for Families from listing it, as planned, in a brochure entitled "So-called Youth Sects and Psychogroups in the Federal Republic of Germany. Their request, however, has not succeeded in their second attempt before the Muenster Superior Administrative Court. The planned publication is "not recognizable" and being illicit, stated the judge. After weighing the VPM's "secondary sources" and "self testimonies," as well as the statements of counselling centers and former adherents, there was "important evidence" that the association should actually be included in the brochure.
Terms such as "smoke screen tactics", "broadcast awareness" and "authoritarian to the point of a totalitarian structure," may be used in connection with the association. The statement that a "rigid friend-enemy-think" rules in the VPM was also supported by "relevant" basis, the Superior Administrative Court believed. Those who think differently are "fought using any means and some are personally defamed," and talk of "psychoterror" is also "justifiable."
Besides that the association is characterized as a "psychogroup with claims of exclusivity and salvation." VPM presents its psychology as science "which permits only a true answer to a question." And the association represents "the absolute claim of being the only one able to provide the correct solution to various issues of human society."
The VPM has filed a constitutional objection and an appeal to the Federal Administrative Court in response to this judgment. The federal administration has pledged to finally release the publication once the Administrative Court has decided. In Karlsruhe there is another legal dispute presently depending on this: the Scientologists have also filed a complaint against being included in the sect brochure.
"Back on guard"
Interview with Administration President Franz-Josef Antwerpes
Mr. Antwerpes, the Association for the Promotion of Psychological Human Understanding, VPM for short, wants to prohibit you from repeating your critical statements about it. Are you happy with the decision of the Superior Administrative Court?
Antwerpes:
Naturally I was not happy about someone trying to keep me from speaking. Anybody acquainted with me knows that. But the dispute with the VPM does not center around a personal story, but the greater public interest: if the School Board would not be allowed to warn of teachers' dangerous convictions, then who would?What bothers you so much about the VPM?
Antwerpes:
It has an arch-conservative ground model which it mixes up with an absolute teaching of purity. It wants a society which will be completely free from outside influences, which allegedly serves only the pure and the good. A society which is exclusively schooled and diligent. The VPM thinks of itself as the guarantor of human happiness and social stability. And anybody who criticizes the monocausal thinking of the association immediately turns into its enemy and is defamed and overwhelmed with lawsuits.In a report by your agency, it said that about 200 VPM sympathizers are working as teachers in the Cologne Administrative District. Do the parents have to worry now that their could could be influenced?
Antwerpes:
No. We have not found any conspicuous activity at the present. That does not mean that the VPM adherents will be active from now on without being noticed. But altogether we have the impression that these people, since the report in the "Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger," have kept their activities to themselves. In addition, the sensitivity [to the situation] has risen in the schools.How is that manifested?
Antwerpes:
The activities of the VPM people are conscientiously observed. For instance at a drug meeting held by several of these people earlier it was asserted that children of divorced parents automatically become addicts. When one takes into consideration that VPMers would want to establish themselves increasingly as drug counseling teachers, that would already be a problem. In addition the group strictly rejects self-sufficient, discriminating forms of learning. Education and order and the personality of the teachers are emphasized. Self-determined, problem-solving groups in the classrooms are said to be chaos or conduct which can prevent learning. I think that is nonsense. Besides this, the VPM follows an abstruse, elitist way of viewing things. They argue according to the motto of advancing gifted students while the others should see for themselves where they stay. If this kind of intellectual concept is pushed onto the children as a part of education in spite of directives and guidelines in effect, then we'll go at it again. We continue to be on our guard.Franz-Josef Antwerpes was interviewed by Detlef Schmalenberg
* "Verein zur Foerderung der psychologischen Menschenkenntnis" (VPM)
[in English that is something like:
"Association for the Advancement of Psychological Human Understanding"]
Dumb move. Kruchem defeated by Reichelt.
March 24, 1999
http://www.surfspion.de/reichelt.htm
In the matter of Kruchem vs. Reichelt or Reichelt vs. Kruchem, as the case may be, the court has come to its first decision. Round 1 in this case goes to Peter Reichelt, who, as is known, made the film about Scientology "Verschwunden in Happy Valley" ["Missing in Happy Valley"]. Peter Reichelt expressed an opinion about Thomas Kruchem, author of the book "Staatsfeind Scientology" ["Public Enemy Scientology"], personally, that Thomas Kruchem had attempted to prevent the film "Missing in Happy Valley" from being broadcast by SWR. Thomas Kruchem disputed this assertion made by Peter Reichelt, and in return, raised considerable doubt about Peter Reichelt, personally, both verbally and in writing. All this could only be of benefit to Scientology, and there will, in all likelihood, be further legal disputes between Kruchem and Reichelt. We strongly doubt that Thomas Kruchem may have been successful with his letters to journalists because the fact is that Kruchem has let himself be taken in by Scientology, and is being handled according to the principle of "Who is Thor? Thor himself, or he who follows Thor?" Perhaps Mr. Kruchem would be better off spending his energy presenting Scientology as the psycho-club it really is.
Temporary Restraining Order against Thomas Kruchem of March 24, 1999
Record
Transaction Number
7-0-100/99Mannheim State Court
- 7th Civil Chamber -DECISION of March 24, 1999/Le
Dispute
Peter Reichelt
[blacked out]
- applicant -represented by:
[blacked out]vs.
Thomas Kruchem
[blacked out]
- Opponent -in the matter of unfair competition
this is a temporary orderSince a strong case has been presented, the following is issued iaw. PP 935 ff. ZPO without further verbal discussion
-2-
temporary order:
1. The opponent is forbidden to assert in the course of business that:
a) the association "Stiftung Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe PRONICA e.V.", of which Peter Reichelt is a board member, has possibly made a donation to the publication of the applicant's book, "Helnwein und Scientology - Luege und Verrat" ["Helnwein and Scientology - Lies and Betrayal"], thereby operating in a manner contrary to the purpose of the association and its charter, on which account is to be checked how much further criminal acts of breach of trust and fraud (against unsuspecting donors) exist, in particular as this occurred in the letter submitted with this application
and/or
b) the renowned actor, Dietmar Schoenherr has left the "Stiftung Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe PRONICA e.V." after a very unpleasant conflict with the applicant.
2. For each instance of violating this order, the opponent is subject to a fine of up to DM 500,000 or confinement of up to six months.
3. The opponent bears the cost of this procedure.
4. The value of the dispute is set at DM 50,000.
/3 signatures/
[The following is the enclosure to the above order]
Dear [blacked out]
Since you, as a journalist, are often involved with the theme of "Scientology," I presume that you have received a press release from Mrs. Hartwig in the past week. In that release, Mrs. Hartwig - completely uncritically - promoted the assertion made by film maker Peter Reichelt that I had tried to stop his "Happy Valley" film at SWR.
My opinion as to the press release which is webbed at "surfspion.de" is enclosed. I have had to take legal steps against Mr. Reichelt and Mrs. Brockmann about this in the meantime. I have authorized the SWR to place any of the written correspondence which they have had with me at the disposal of anyone who should ask about it. You can find out exactly how Mr. Reichelt deals with the truth in other things at this and the "dago.ch" websites.
The following is information - come upon as a result of the unpleasant business with Mr. Reichelt - which I forwarded to the Mannheim state attorney's office and the revenue office yesterday:
"A claim of fact is being spread - as I reminded the SWR to check once more, at the urgent request of someone who has been affected - by the Mannheim film maker, Peter Reichelt, that I had tried to prevent the broadcast of a film by Reichelt on Scientology. I am presently taking legal measures against this assertion which is as slanderous as it is false.
In the involuntary dealings with Mr. Reichelt, I came upon facts which may relate to criminal and tax laws. As usual in such cases, I am hereby communicating these facts to the proper authorities.
I noticed that the the book which appeared in 1997, "Peter Reichelt: Helnwein und Scientology, Luege und Verrat" (ISBN 3-923801-93-9; price DM 48) was published by the "Stiftung Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe PRONICA e.V." (see the book's copyright page), which is entered as charitable in the association register of the Mannheim municipal court.
The purpose of the association, as a look in the charter shows, is "with the aid of donations, support, gifts, bequests, etc, to assist people needing help, in the sense of P 53 of the tax code, in countries of the so-called "Third World": further "the advancement of understanding among people with special consideration for national self-determination and for cultural exchange."
It is therefore probable that the aforementioned association has violated the rules of its charitable status ( PP 55.63 AO) by publishing, not in accordance with its charter, the aforementioned book with the use of donations.
The "Stiftung Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe PRONICA e.V." was founded by the renowned actor Dietmar Schoenherr, who introduced the association many times on television, but left it nevertheless, after a very unpleasant conflict with Mr. Reichelt. The contributions by "PRONICA e.V." and the donors' trust in the association to use their contributions in accordance with its charter may have been considerable, at least for a time.
If this association were to have illegitimately invested its contributions in an expensively produced book about a Scientology painter, it would damage the credibility of other organizations, along with the poorest people in the Third World. Therefore it is clearly in the public interest that this kind of illicit behavior be stopped and sanctioned.
I ask you to look into the matter and to inform me, as a journalist, as to the possibilities of the investigation proceeding.
So much for that. I am glad that you have ordered my book for review and will, therefore, form your own picture. I will gladly answer any questions you may have.
Cordially,
/signature/
Thomas Kruchem"
Helnwein's Success in Court
From: "Stuttgarter Nachrichten," Germany
CULTURE
December 30, 1998Not a "Clergyman of Scientology"
According to a decision by the Federal Constitutional Court ["Bundesverfassungsgericht"] Gottfried Helnwein (50), the painter, may no longer be described as a "clergyman of Scientology." In a decision published Tuesday in Karlsruhe, the First Senate of the highest German Court granted the Constitutionally-based complaint of the Austrian living in Germany in regards to the general character law, and reversed a decision by the OLG Frankfurt [Superior State Court] of June 20, 1996.
The civil court dismissed Helnwein's charge of negligence concerning the statements of a third party about his alleged connection to Scientology. Two associations, whose mission is the fight against sects, made statements in an open letter which included the following: "courted by media and politics, a promoter of a criminal association has advertised for Scientology in countless publications and, himself, is designated as a clergyman." To that Helnwein repeatedly stated that since 1972 he occupied himself with the writings and teachings of the organization, but was not a Scientologist, had not been trained as a clergyman, and had not performed any function of that type.
According to the opinion of the Karlsruhe judge, court decisions influence the general character law if they permit statements relevant to character, even though they are rejected by the person affected as false. The alleged close connection of Helnwein to Scientology could lead to negative considerations in how he is viewed publicly. This was all the more valid since this organization was extremely controversial in society and had often been the subject of public warnings and critical press reports. From the perspective of the First Senate the priorities of personality protection took regular precedence over freedom of opinion if the statement constituted abusive criticism, formal slander, or an attack upon human dignity.
© 1998 Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Germany
POLITICS
Once again, with a little less defamation of character
The Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein was victorious in the Federal Constitutional court against Scientology critics
The Federal Constitutional Court modified its opinion of freedom of expression - and limited it a little bit in favor of the character law
by Stefan Geiger
The accusations were harsh: "in a boundless passion for profit, the Bayer conglomerate violated human rights, spied on critics, and financed right-wing politicians." In a spectacular judgment in 1991, the Federal Constitutional Court viewed the statement quoted above from a pamphlet as being covered by freedom of opinion. The authors founded it on earlier articles from various media from which they had based their own conclusions. Someone could be judged negligent and have to recant only if the press reports were "perceptibly out-of-date or superceded," according to the court at that time.
The necessary and desirable public dispute is possible only if the requirements for the burden of proof of the individual of the truth in content of his statements is not overtaxed. The (not undisputed) speech would be categorized as a breakthrough for the freedom of opinion of the "little people."
This was the Constitutional court judgement used in 1996 by the Frankfurt Superior State Court in a dispute between the Austrian artist, Gottfried Helnwein and two associations who fought the Scientology sect. Helnwein, who indisputably took Scientology courses in the 1970's, was introduced in magazine's and brochures owned by the sect as a Scientology activist and "clergyman" up until 1995 without him visibly defending himself. When Helnwein, in 1994, was in the running for some artistic work on the grounds of the former "Neue Bremm" concentration camp at Saarbruecken, the sect fighters publicly accused him of being a member, clergyman and "auditor" for the Scientologists, "promoter of a criminal association." The artist defended himself against that. He said he had left Scientology a long time ago. In one of the proceedings the Scientologists gave him documents that said he had not had any of the functions ascribed to him. In this case, the Superior State Court decided that freedom of opinion took precedence over character rights and the right to free practice of religion.
According to the decision of the Constitutional Court in the Bayer case, in which the accusations were even more rabid and the business had continued to publicly defend itself against them, the matter appeared perfectly clear. However the mood toward publicity and notoriety has reversed itself in the past few years. In many, quite different places - including the endless amounts of damages awarded by the federal courts for photocopied princesses and blueblooded hitmen ["Schlaeger"] - it is clear that freedom of opinion is given short shrift and protection of honor benefits from that. The protectors of the Constitution now state that the judgment of the Frankfurt Superior State Court trespassed upon the basic rights of the artist, two and a half years after the fact. At variance to what they approved of eight years ago, they turn a pirouette on the old decision of having to prove "the untruth of the assertion" even though the person being criticized has not publicly and actively defended himself from similar media reports in the past. The Bayer board of directors would have liked this. And the circumstances back then would have been better explained than the swirling mist around the Scientology sect in which the artist freely operated.
The Constitutional Court stated each citizen has a right for third parties to respect his altered portrayal of self after a serious attempt to remove himself from an organization with which he was connected, and to assert his membership only as a thing of the past. There is no objection to that.
© 1998 Stuttgarter Zeitung, Germany
Karlsruhe emphasizes the libel law decision in the dispute over Scientology accusation
From: "Die Welt"
December 30, 1998by Friedrich Karl Fromme
Karlsruhe - The Federal Constitutional Court ["Bundesverfassungsgericht"] (BVerfG), in a decision published on Tuesday, has added a new facet to its wide ranging jurisdiction on the relationship between public statements covered by the basic law of freedom of opinion, and the "personality law" covered by the basic laws of human dignity (Basic Law articles 1 and 2).
In the decision of the first Senate (case Az 1 BvR 1530/96), the "correctness" of factual claims which, by their nature, are suited to disparage how a person is viewed, takes a certain degree of precedence in the freedom of opinion. However, the demand on "correctness" cannot go so far that it "strangles" the "free communications process" and the Basic Law to freedom of opinion.
The subject of the decision was the grievance by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein, which was directed against an "open letter." The letter said that Helnwein was a member of "Scientology" and that he was an "auditor," which is Scientology's usual designation for its "clergy." The occasion for the open letter was that Helnwein was being considered for participation in the establishment of a memorial on the grounds of the former "Neue Bremm" concentration camp in Saarbruecken. After the publication of the open letter, Helnwein did not receive the commission.
As a result of Helnwein's civil complaint the Saarbruecken State Court prohibited the authors of the open letter from saying that Helnwein was an "auditor" with "Scientology." The Saarbruecken Superior State Court ("Oberlandesgericht" OLG) dismissed Helnwein's suit. This was cause for his complaint before the Constitutional Court. The BVerfG overturned the decision by the OLG and gave the matter back to be decided anew - with allowances for the artist's 'personality rights' [i.e. in regard to defamation of character]. The OLG had incorrectly concluded that this was covered by freedom of opinion (from earlier decisions of the court - motto "soldiers are murderers" - would not be excluded.)
The BVerfG confirmed the demands for "correctness" of factual assertions; referring to available printed material was not enough, either. Helnwein had disputed ever having had a "rank" such as an "auditor" in "Scientology" bestowed upon him; he said he had an interest in the organization for a time, but then "lost interest" and kept his distance from them since 1992.
The BVerfG said that it could be defamation of character if someone alleged a connection to an organization which could be generally rated as critical. That is all the more valid if it is an organization which one associated with on his own determination. Especially in the statements given by Helnwein that he had nothing more to do with "Scientology," the OLG had not taken the 'personality right' into consideration to a given degree: "even true statements could, by way of exception, make character interests predominant and force freedom of opinion into the background."
© DIE WELT, 30.12.1998
NAME="description" CONTENT="Bavarian Court decision on Scientology - contains facial hair statement">
record 7 CE 96.2861
M 3 E 96.2692Bavarian Administrative Court
In the administrative dispute between applicants
1. Dr. Wolfgang K.,
2. Ingrid K.,
3. Maya K.,
4. Iris K.[address given] with applicants 3) and 4) legally represented by their parents, applicants 1) and 2), and authorized to act on behalf of applicants 1) through 4) : attorney Wilhelm Bluemel and colleagues of [address] Munich
vs.
The Commonwealth of Bavaria, plaintiff, represented by the Bavaria state attorney's office
for an injunction: "Schulreport" April 1996 (Application in accordance with sect. 123 VwGO), here: Complaint of the applicants against the decision of the Bavarian Administrative Court Munich of 29 July 1996, the Bavarian Administrative Court, 7th Senate, by Judge Moll as chairman of the administrative court, and Judges Priegl and Grau of the administrative court, without oral hearing, do issue the following on 27 September 1996:
Decision:
I. The complaint is dismissed.
II. The applicants bear the cost of the proceedings.
III. The value of the dispute is set in both attempts at 4,000 DM per applicant.
Grounds:
I.
Applicants 3) and 4) are the daughters of applicants 1) and 2) and go to a state grammar school. The applicants describe themselves as Scientologists and perceive themselves as members of a religious-philosophical association.
In the magazine, which is distributed by the Bav. State Ministry for Education, Culture, Science and Art, "Schulreport", April 1996 issue, there appears on pages 8 through 10 an article with the title "Alles Clear? Informationen ueber Scientology," which critically discusses the Scientology organization. 90,000 copies of the magazine were printed and, except for 2,200 left over, have been distributed among Bavarian schools. The article on Scientology was also used as instructional material in the schools of the Commonwealth of Bavaria.
2. The applicants applied at the administrative court for a temporary restraining order against the plaintiff with the goal of
"prohibiting these to distribute or have distributed the April 1996 issue of the "Schulreport" magazine, if this magazine contains on pages 8 through 10 "Alles Clear? -- Informationen ueber Scientology" as described above, and to obligate the plaintiff to instruct those already in receipt of the issues distributed that the article may no longer be used as instructional material, and may not be made further accessible to third parties."
In a supplementary capacity, the applicants applied that the injunction they applied for in the main application apply to ten separate specific verbal statements and two cartoon features.
In another supplementary application, the applicants limited their main, or first, application to the grammar school at which applicants 3) and 4) attend.
3. The administrative court dismissed the application because the applicants were not credible in stating they had a claim to the injunction they had applied for. None of the statements in question nor do either of the pictures concern the applicants personally. Neither do the passages of text nor the pictures refer to all adherents of the Scientology organization.
4. The applicants further pursued the goal of their application. The applicants said their human dignity was affected by the magazine article in question. It was said that several statements, based on their content, could be construed as not just refer ring to the organization itself, but to its members. The cited passages of text were said to have the goal of presenting the members of the Scientology Church as negatively as possible. Additionally, applicants 1) and 2) said they were affected in their rights as parents, and applicants 3) and 4) were affected in their basic right to freedom of belief.
5. The state attorney's office recommended that the complaint be dismissed. It was said the applicants were not directly affect by the specifics of the article in question, so they could not claim the right of defense. It was also stated that the application was not factually based, since the magazine article stayed within the bounds of the state's right of expression.
II.
The complaint is not founded, because the administrative court rightly dismissed the application on the basis that the applicants were not warranted in making the claim they set forth.
1. As far as disparaging expressions about a community go, this might be suited for an injunction. A differentiation has to be made, however, between the legal position of a member of that community who strives for an injunction of certain statements not in the name of the community, but puts forth that one's own individual rights are being violated. The larger the aggregate upon which the disparaging remarks are directed, the weaker the personal concern of the individual member, because with negative remarks about a large aggregate, they apply mostly not to individual misconduct or individual characteristics of the member, but the valuelessness, as seen from the point of view of the one making the statement, is spread over the aggregate and its social functions, as well as the the associated demands for improvement to the members. On an imaginary scale, which on one end exists the individual offense of an individual who is identified or named, there exists on the other end the devaluing remark about simple human characteristics or criticism of a social establishment or apparition, which is not qualified to shatter personal honor (see BVerfG NJW 1995, 3303/3306). One who wants to express himself in a negative manner about an aggregate, is basically also responsible for avoidable effects of those addressed with regard to a person who is not himself the target of criticism but who falls in the same category (see BGH NJW 1982, 1805). The intention of the publishers of the "Schulreport" magazine, who wanted to inform and warn people about the Scientology organization, did not automatically exclude the individual relationship of the applicants. They, however, can only demand that specific statements be prohibited if, by these statements - at the very least - their legal positions are most personally directly interfered with (see BGH NJW 1980, 1790; BVerwG DOeV 1984, 940 on the opposition to an association ban). An intervention which is only indirect is not sufficient. Honor rights and civil rights of the person, which are protected under criminal law, refer to a person who might be hurt by remarks directed at him by others and which fall within the bounds of the personality protection law (BGH NJW 1980, 1790). Nothing else can be made valid in public law with personality protection. If a less than flattering conclusion is come to about an aggregate, then a member of that aggregate can only act in defense in his own name if the remark is bound to a criterium that clearly applies to all aggregate members (see BayObLG NJW 1990, 1724; BayVGH NVwZ 1994, 787; BayVBl 1995, 564).
2. Following are the statements objected to by the applicants, including supplements:
a) "With a crude mixture of science fiction, psycho-analysis and manipulative practices of totalitarian states, Scientology adherents are made dependent and systematically exploited both for their services and financially."
This statement contains only a description of the contents of the teachings of the Scientology organization and the methods of spreading these teachings. Adherents of the organization are presented in a sort of victim's role. An expression that contains a negative valuation about the individual conduct of all members of the organization is not contained in the passage of text cited.
b) "A technology of consciousness control based on deception and manipulation is used in Scientology."
This statement is not contained as stated in the article in question. The applicants have strung words from several passages together. These obviously refer, however, to the Scientology organization and not to the individual adherents.
c) "Use of over a thousand group-specific English basic terms and several thousand group-specific supplemental terms have as their goal acquisition of control over thought."
That stated under II.2.a) and b) also applies here.
d) "A spectrum of emotions of members is manipulated that includes guilt (adherents are conditioned always to seek guilt within themselves) and fear (of the "enemy" on one side and of leaving on the other).
In the article in evidence it says "of a person" instead of "of members." From the accurate formulation of words it is even more clear that this is a description of the organization's method of operation, and not a statement about the behavior of all members.
e) "In Scientology a world of many truths would be created, and this would make it impossible for an individual to come to an objective assessment."
The article in question does not contain the words "In Scientology" in the cited sentence apparently refers however to the teachings of the organization.
f) "In order to attain control of consciousness, Scientology breaks up the personality of people. As techniques of this phase of break-up, monotony, rhythm and repetition are the main ingredients of the formal indoctrination sessions."
This statement is not a literal duplication of passages from the article in question, but a summary of the contents of more extensive texts. These, in turn, are concerned with the practices of the Scientology organization and therefore do not directly affect the applicants as far as their rights go.
g) "In Scientology, the good things of the past are disparaged and transgressions, failures, ailments and feelings of guilt are exaggerated."
Previous explanations are referred to for this.
h) "Scientology places all contact to the outside world in doubt, and skills, interests, friends and family must be given up."
This statement also directly concerns only the organization.
i) The applicants further object to the following passage of text:
"Recognition of an SC member
In some cases the conduct of a person is changed as a result of consciousness control over a period of several months, more typically however within several days or weeks. Interestingly, the member develops according to a standard personality (of the same sort of personality structure as the cult member). As a result of cult membership, physical aspects which have been noted are a change in weight (obesity/bulimia), degeneration of strength, change in facial hair, chronic exhaustion and psychosomatic illnesses. Psychic aspects appearing as symptoms have included reduced and weakened thought processes (loss of ability to recognize figures of speech, metaphors or irony, for which are substituted cliches unique to the cult), alteration in the field of emotion, in strong vacillations of feelings and uncharacteristically anti-social behavior. In addition, the appearance of hallucinations can be observed, since excessive daily auditing can make people physically and psychically dependent upon this psycho-technique. This often has harmful side-effects as a consequence, such as lessening of cognitive abilities, e.g., weakening of concentration and ability to make a decision. A radical change in personality is the surest sign that a totalitarian group is at work."
Neither can these statements be successfully contested by the applicants. Regardless of the title, which give the impression that trusted and scientific references for the recognition of a Scientology member follow, the text contains a mitigative, non-binding and general wording that is regularly found in texts on so-called totalitarian new religions. Use of the words "In some cases," "obesity/bulimia," "have been noted," "In addition, the appearance ... can be observed," "this often has," "that a totalitarian group is at work" show that the passages of text are not suited to deliver anything approaching a concrete impression about the image or conduct of every adherent of the organization. The passage more contain information about - from the view of the author - possible consequences of membership in Scientology, and so directly concern only this organization.
j) "Scientology can be regarded as a totalitarian organization from which the fields it uses to cultivate its power are being removed."
This too is a statement solely about Scientology.
k) The cartoon features on pages 9 and 10 make a connection between Scientology and the practice of "brainwashing." No attack on individual members of the organization is recognized.
3. Since due to lack of direct disconcertedness the applicants cannot demand that the plaintiffs not distribute the individual pictures or passages of text they object to for use in instruction, nor prevent them from being distributed or made accessible to third parties, neither can they have a court order issued concerning the entire article. The article on the whole, excluding the segments objected to, is not solely devoted to the Scientology organization.
4. The application does not meet with success, either, in the further attempt to limit it only to the school which applicants 3) and 4) are attending. It does not matter whether Scientology is regarded as a religion or not and (in case it does) whether the article in question is an impermissible assault on the religious freedom of this organization. To the degree that would be the case, the degree to which the applicants are directly affected is inversely proportional in their (personal) honor and civic rights, and their freedom of religion and rights as parents. They still can only make a valid claim as far as their own rights go, and not demand that the state stop, from their point of view, illicit treatment of religions in general or at least as far as schools go (see BayVGH BayVB1 1996, 26 on Crucifixes in Schools).
It was not submitted that applicants 3) or 4) themselves were confronted with the article in question during the course of their studies. Neither was it submitted or credibly presented that this sort of direct confrontation is anticipated in the near future.
5. After consideration of which the complaint is dismissed.
Cost decision: sects. 154 para. 2, 159 sentence 1 VwGO. Setting the value of dispute: sects. 20, para. 3, 13 para. 1 GKG. This decision in incontestable (sect. 152 para. 1 VwGO).
Moll Priegl Grau
Alles Clear?
Informationen ueber ScientologyK. Maier [name changed by editors], Psychologist, Ludwig-Maximillians University, Munich
PSYCHOCONCERN
In view of increased efforts by Scientology in recent times to infiltrate society according to its ideology, the state government made a list of measures to fight the organization on 17 Oct. 1995. These measures include more public information work and provides for public information work specifically in schools.SSS S sss s ssseldom has any group in recent history evoked so much discussion, criticism and controversy as Scientology. This organization, with its approx. 8 million members worldwide, is among the approx. 300 sects, cults and seperatist groups currently active in Germany.
Under the plateau of upper management, Scientology is divided into three sections:
1. The self-proclaimed "Church", which engages in the sale of books and seminars;
2. ABLE (Association for better living and education), which is intended to exert influence upon cultural and social areas, and
3. WISE (World Institute of Scientology Enterprises) to attain influence in the business world.
As far back as 1947, L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, said, "If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be start his own religion." Using money and manipulation, Scientology seeks to attain power and control over business and governments. Members are strategically placed in agencies and governments without revealing their own backgrounds, with the motto, "Clear the Planet." With a crude mixture of science fiction, psycho-analysis and manipulative practices of totalitarian states, Scientology adherents are made dependent and systematically exploited both for their services and financially.
What makes people susceptible to Scientology?
Generally speaking, any person of any age may fall into the hands of this organization. It's mainly young people who can withstand the the cult's daily routine and middle-aged people who have business contacts and savvy that are recruited. People with real problems are not wanted in Scientology. At first glance, members are psychically stable, intelligent, analytically gifted and often career-oriented people. Research has shown that most were approached while they were in a stressful phase of their lives (e.g., moving to another city, new place of employment, broken relationship, etc.) or that they wished to have personal fringe experiences. One can say that Scientology is 100% compatible with today's society, since it promises more performance, more success, more joy, more health and more freedom (Potthoff, 1993). The feeling is imparted that one can apply strictly technical procedures to solve personal problems.
Concept of attaining members
Deception is characteristic of totalitarian groups. The first contact with Scientology can happen in a number of ways: through person-to-person contact on the street, flyers, mass pamphleting, advertisements, books and newspapers or even through a friend who has already become a cult member. Cover organizations are used to waylay innocent bystanders and keep them in the dark as far as the true program goes. One favorite method is the seminar with alluring titles, such as "Success is learnable," "How do I develop my personality?", etc. Groups active in Germany include NARCONON, the "Kommission fuer Verstoesse der Psychiatrie gegen Menschenrechte (KVPM)" [German equivalent of CCHR), which also develops special activities for children in kindergarten, an d the "Zentrum fuer Individuelles und Effektives Lernen (ZIEL)" [German equivalent of ABLE], whose mission it is to make children and adults familiar with Hubbard's learning and study techniques in offering tutoring and private instruction, for instance. Scientology also offers a very comprehensive personality test with 200 questions, which is called the "Oxford Capacity Analysis" (OCA). This process of testing suggests an air of confidentiality, but is lacking in any scientific basis.
In the business world, Scientology can be found mainly in the fields of real estate and finance, business consulting and personnel placement, color and style consultation, and software and EDP. Celebrity Scientologists like John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Lisa-Marie Presley and Michael Jackson are offered as identification models for young people, and serve to cultivate territory in which Scientology may take root. "I was subjected to total consciousness control," said a 43-year-old woman in retrospect (Augstein, 1995, a)
Technique of Consciousness Control
Similar words are often heard from former Scientology members. By "consciousness control" can be understood a system of influence by which the identity (thought, feelings, conduct) is crumbled and replaced with a new one. In doing this the operators are viewed as like-minded citizens. Because the deception and manipulation is not accomplished through direct threats, the cult member receives an overall positive sensation. The techniques of behavior modification, peer pressure and giving way to authority all seem to be happening only in the background. Using the additional component of information control, personal ability to think freely and on one's own is restricted.
Behavior Control
Behavior Control consists primarily of controlling the environment of the person, for instance, through financial dependency. One former member reported it this way, "My search for meaning and recognition in Scientology expressed itself as a yearning, and to finance this I did without everything else, even to the point of not paying my monthly rent on time." (see Hassan, 1994). The auditing sessions and other courses are not to be had cheaply.
Thought Control
One basic course of indoctrination for members in the internalization of group dogma. Scientology's jargon contains certain expressions meant to have new concepts central to the dogma supplant the old. In this regard, ethical concepts in particular are robbed of their original meanings. To this end over a thousand English elemental terms specific to the group and several thousand incidental terms are employed. The goal is to attain control of the mind, alienation from the outside, as well is to implant the elite thinking of members during indoctrination of recruits.
Emotional Control
A person's spectrum of emotions is manipulated in ways including the use of guilt (adherents are conditioned always to seek blame within themselves) and fear (of the enemy on one hand and of leaving on the other).
Information Control
A world with many realities is created, and for the individual this makes it almost impossible to come to an objective assessment of any given situation. Information is assiduously broken up so that adherents may not form a complete picture. Scientology ideology consists of one set of doctrines for the outside world and another for insiders. One former member reported, "Everybody always said that Scientology was much, much more than simple auditing alone. But what this 'much, much more' meant, nobody was ever able to rightly tell me, because I had not gotten far enough along, as they told me" (see Hassan, 1994)
Process of Instrumentalizing Personality
Consciousness control happens in three stages:
1. Breaking up
In order to prepare somebody for a radical change, his or her reality must first be shaken up. Most of the activities used to do that begin completely harmlessly, but get more intense and more direct during the course of this phase. Physiological disorientation is attained through certain combinations of physical activity, nutrition and use of the sauna, in which the body is supposed to be freed of drugs and toxic substances. During this "Purification Rundown" the user is driven toward hallucination with high doses of vitamins in up to five hours in the sauna a day. Hypnotic procedures are undertaken during "auditing," where the candidate is plied with suggestive questions and verbal techniques similar to those used in hypnosis.
2. Modification
In this phase a new identity is forced onto the individual to fill the vacuum left by the old identity's break-up. Indoctination happens more formally (seminars and rituals), as well as informally (spending time with members, reading). Behavior is at first subtly modeled, and pressure is added over the course of time. To prevent premature decay of the new identity, new material is served up as quickly as the subject person can assimilate it. Many techniques of the Break-up phase are also used here. Formal indoctrination sessions are worked primarily with monotony, rhythm and repetition.
3. Fixation
After a person has been broken down and indoctrinated with the new belief system, it is time to rebuild him or her as a "new person." Recollections of the individual are distorted. The good things from the past are diminished and the sins and failures, illnesses and feelings of guilt exaggerated. Doubt is cast on all contacts to the old world. Skills, interests, friends and family have to be given up. The group now forms the true family of the member. A more senior member is placed at the side of the new member. This tactic has the effect of putting the senior member in the model role, plus of motivating the "preclear" (neophyte) to also become a role model for others. The result of this process (duration: days or weeks) is the member no longer being willing to leave the group.
Recognition of an SC member
In some cases the conduct of a person is changed as a result of consciousness control over a period of several months, more typically however within several days or weeks. Interestingly, the member develops according to a standard personality (of the same sort of personality structure as the cult member). As a result of cult membership, physical aspects which have been noted are a change in weight (obesity/bulimia), degeneration of strength, change in facial hair, chronic exhaustion and psychosomatic illnesses. Psychic aspects appearing as symptoms have included reduced and weakened thought processes (loss of ability to recognize figures of speech, metaphors or irony, for which are substituted cliches unique to the cult), alteration in the field of emotion, in strong vacillations of feelings and uncharacteristically anti-social behavior. In addition, the appearance of hallucinations can be observed, since excessive daily auditing can make people physically and psychically dependent upon this psycho-technique. This often has harmful side-effects as a consequence, such as lessening of cognitive abilities, e.g., weakening of concentration and ability to make a decision. A radical change in personality is the surest sign that a totalitarian group is at work. Meanwhile, dropping out of school is no longer necessarily a positive indicator, as this practice has been deliberately avoided in recent times as a defensive measure.
Outlook
In today's world in which there are any number of groups in every category, it pays to be a critical consumer, especially in the areas of continuing education and life management, to avoid systems like Scientology that operate under the guise of religion to cultivate a field on which they can further develop their own power. There are specific questions by which 90% of all cult recruiters can be spotted. One such list can be found under Hassan (1994). According to Haack (1991) the fundamental image that a group has of people should also be checked out. Scientology ethics reads, "The purpose of ethics is to remove counter-intentions from the environment." One woman who left Scientology clarified the danger: "Six weeks in Scientology and the old me was gone, with the new me just a cog in the Scientology machine. Yearning for recognition and total freedom expressed itself as the exact opposite: total subjugation to one idea and many rules."
Literature
Augstein (1995a, 6, 7 May, Eine Scientology Aussteigerin berichtet ueber ihre Erlebnisse. Suddt. Zeitung S. 5)
Augstein (1995b, 27, 28 May, Scientology Milliardumsatze mit einem Kult um Macht und Geld. Suddt. Zeitung S. 10)
Haack F.W. (1991) Europas neue Religionen, Sekten - Gurus - Satanskult. Zurich, Wiesbaden.
Hassan, S. (1994) Ausbruch aus dem Bann der Sekten, Psychologische Beratung fuer Betroffene und Angehoerige. Reinbek bei Hamburg, Rowhohlt
Potthoff, N. (1993) Scientology, Analyse (3 Auflk) Krefeid Verlag Norbert Potthoff
[There are a couple of cartoons, one called "Scientology No!" and the other "Scientology and the dangers", stated to be for 7th graders.]
Schulreport 1/96 Interview with Bavarian Interior Minister Dr. Gunther Beckstein on the Scientology organization
Mr. Minister, the Scientology organization describes itself as a "church." What is really behind that?
Dr. Beckstein: By using the word "church" the Scientology organization makes a claim that it is a religious or philosophical organization. That is exactly what the Federal Labor Court said in its decision of 22 March 1995 that Scientology is not. According to the decision of the Federal Labor Court, this self-proclaimed character of religion or philosophy serves only as a pretext for pursuing business objectives. One can also see from the story of how Scientology started as an organization that its religious or philosophical character is portrayed only as a preventive measure against criticism and state intervention.
How dangerous is Scientology for the individual, for society and for the state?
Dr. Beckstein: Any individual is open to multiple serious risks either as a customer, member or critic of Scientology. Customers who consume services such as psychotests, courses and the like are imperiled most of all by financial exploitation, indebtedness and dependency. In addition to that, they are putting their health at risk with dilettantish "psychotherapy" that could result in anything from a nervous breakdown to an attempted suicide. Members who work for Scientology will be denied their right s with regard to German labor and social security law, as has been noted in court proceedings. Critics are posed by Scientology as "suppressive" or "anti-social" persons, equated with the criminal or insane, and threatened and prosecuted.
With regards to society and the state, Scientology poses an extreme danger as an "organization that combines elements of white-collar crime and psychoterrorism with cult-enclosed business operations under the guise of religion (decision of the Interior Ministers Conference of 6 May 1994) that strives in the long run for world domination and must be met with the combined mechanisms of state agencies.
This organization is also said to be trying to systematically infiltrate business with its own companies and through top management. Are there any factual findings to this effect?
Dr. Beckstein: According to reports at hand Scientology values its business contacts today much more than it does its "church" department. According to these, the Scientology organization is expending 75% of its energy on increasing its influence in the business world. The main contributor in this area is WISE ("World Institute of Scientology Enterprises"), to which German companies also belong. The media and expert literature are reporting continually on that.
Are there any known cases of Scientology trying to install its own educational courses or platforms for children, teens or adults?
Dr. Beckstein: In the education sector the "Zentrum fuer Individuelles und Effektives Lernen" (ZIEL) is active, which is part of Scientology's ABLE branch. It's been generally found that Scientology offers a complete set of educational services for children, which underscores the dangerous of this organization.
Mr. Minister, is the Scientology organization regarded as a totalitarian organization that is at odds with the constitution?
Dr. Beckstein: This question has been answered in the affirmative by a number of experts. The recent opinion from an expert in Frankfurt broadcast by the media also goes in that direction. The proper state authorities, however, have not yet put this question to the test.
What legal alternatives may be pursued in taking steps against Scientology and its multitude of front organizations?
Dr. Beckstein: The state government's list of measures of 17 October 1995 and the decision of the Interior Minister of 15 December 1995 about Scientology describe a good number of legal measures, such as revocation of registration for Scientology associations and use of business, revenue and medical malpractice laws. The state is meeting the challenge as set forth by Scientology.
Schulreport 1/96 continued ...
Information about the Scientology Organization
In connection with increasing the public awareness about the Scientology organization, schools are explicitly requested to provide information during the course of the upcoming year.
1. Students - apart from dealing with the theme in teaching plans, at all grade levels, in conjunction with the SMV, discuss as appropriate the goals, strategies and methods of operation of the organization and its sub-organizations.
2. With regard to the parents association, distribute information to parents as appropriate, e.g., an information evening on this problem area. Parent information should be supported by the "Schule aktuell" magazine, and this should be pointed out explicitly.
Useful references also include a brochure from the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth called "The Scientology Organization: Goals, Practices and Dangers" available from the Federal Administrative Office in 50728 Cologne. Another reference that can be given is a publication from the Bavarian State Center for political information work, "New Religious Movements," the second edition of which is available to all schools. Further information is contained in several films (FWU, Landesbildstellen).
5 B 993/95
10 L 1942/94 Cologne
D e c i s i o n
In the Administrative Court Hearings
on cessation of statements
in this case, in the application for issuance of a temporary order,
in the 5th senate of the
SUPERIOR ADMINISTRATIVE COURT FOR THE STATE OF NORDRHEIN-WESTFALEN
it has been decided on 31 May 1996
by
the President of the Superior State Court, Dr. Bertrams,
Superior State Court Judge Koopmann, and
Superior State Court Judge Dr. Seibert
Thesis:
In regard to the application by Scientology, by means of a temporary order, to prohibit critical statements about "Scientology" by Federal Minister for Labor and Social Order Bluem.
§ 123 VwGO,
§ 261 StGB
OVG NW, Decision of 31 May 1996 - 5 B 993/95 -, 1. Hearing: VG Cologne - 10 L 1942/94 -.
The proponent's appeal against the decision of the Cologne Administrative Court of 23 March 1995 is dismissed.
The proponent will bear the costs of the appeals process.
The value of the dispute, including that of the appeals process is set at DM 4,000.00.
Basis:
I.
The proponent is demanding temporary legal protection in connection with an article published in the "Welt am Sonntag" on 18 September 1994. Therein was cited a series of statements critical of "Scientology" by Federal Minister of Labor and Social Order Norbert Bluem, and it was reported that the Minister had instructed the Federal Labor Office not to grant employment agency permits to members of Scientology.
The Administrative Court dismissed the application,
to restrain the application opponent by means of the temporary order from making or disseminating, literally or perceivably, one or more of the following assertions about the proponent,
- a criminal money-laundering organization was hidden behind the sect,
- it spread a deluded ideology,
- it was a selfish cartel of suppression,
- its ringleaders were criminal,
- its members were subjected to brainwashing,
- it was a giant octopus,
because otherwise the principal would be anticipated in impermissible ways.
This is what the proponent appealed against.
II.
The proponent's appeal is unfounded.
The proponent has no claim to the temporary order he is demanding.
The application for issuance of a temporary order is legally directed against the application opponent and not against the Federal Minister for Labor and Social Order. The quotes taken up by the proponent are to be calculated as statements by the Minister in the performance of business duties by the application opponent. The subject article of 18 September 1994 reveals that the objectively contentious statements are made in connection with an instruction by the Minister to the Federal Office of Labor to categorize members of Scientology as unreliable and to not grant them employment agency permits. In doing that, the Minister did not take a position as a private individual, but was acting in his capacity as minister.
See BVerwG, Decision of 29 June 1995 - 2 C 10.93 -. NWVBl. 1996, 101, 102 m.w.N.
In the present appeals process the continued restraining order, demanded in the claim in the first hearing, was not issued to the proponent because provisions were missing in which one anticipation of the decision - demanded with this restraining order - came into consideration about the subject matter.
In an application directed at the anticipation by the principal, Art. 19 Abs. 4 GG requires the guarantee of temporary legal protection, if otherwise serious, unexpected and otherwise unavoidable disadvantages arise, whose subsequent removal the principal would no longer be in position to decide.
See BVerfGE 46, 166 (179); 51, 268 (284).
An application based on the principal's judgment of anticipation, however, according to § 123 VwGO will only be granted if the expectation in the main point would be unavoidable for the proponent, especially if the demand in the main point had already had recognizable success after a simple summary review of the facts of the case based on the hearing for temporary protection under the law.
See e.g. BVerwG, decision of 14 December 1989 - BVerwG 2 ER 301,89 -, Buchholz 310 § 123 VwGO Nr. 15.
That is missing here. It cannot be perceived in a summary review that the proponent's demands for cease-and-desist are justified, that they would be successful in a trial as to the primary matter, or, moreover, that the outcome of the decision in the primary matter can be anticipated.
It can be left undecided whether the proponent is a religious or weltanschauung community which is covered by Article 4 of Basic Law.
See also opposing BAG, decision of 22 March 1995 - 5 AZB 21/94 -, NJW 1996, 143 ff. m.w.N. on the problem.
Even if one were to favorably regard the proponent as being under the protection of Article 4 Basic law, the application for a temporary restraining order would be without success.
According to the legal judgment of the Federal Administrative Court and the Constitutional Court, as a warning from the federal administration, intervention in the Basic Law by people who hold positions in the federal administration (Ar. 65 GG) in connection with the perception of mandatory protection - in particular by Art. 2 Abs. 2 para. 1, Art. 6 Abs. 1 GG - is legitimized if a cause sufficiently important as to content and significance of the supporting Basic Law exists and if the communicated facts correspond and negative value judgments are not factual, but are anchored in a, in essence, proper or at least factual and justifiable core of fact.
See BverfG, decision of 15 August 1989 - 1 BvR 881/89 -, NJW 1989, 3269; BVerwG, decision of 4 May 1993 - 7 B 149.92 -, NVwZ 1994, 162 (163); decision of 13. March 1991 - 7 B 99.90 -, NJW 1991, 1770 (1771); decision of 23 May 1989 - 7 C 2.87 -, BVerwG 82, 76 (83); OVG NW, decision of 22 May 1990 - 5 A 1223/86 -, NVwZ 1991, 174; OVG NW, decision of 25. August 1995 - 5 B 167/94 -, NWVBl. 1996, 188 (189).
Adequate evidence of a warning exists if a danger to Constitutionally protected rights or at least the founded suspicion of a danger is submitted. In accordance with proportionality in Basic Law that is determined by the measure of the explanation of fact kept to by the federal government compared to the weight of the danger, as well as the content and the function of the warning.
See BVerwG, decision of 13. March 1991 - 7 B 99.90 -, NJW 1991, 1770 (1771).
According to each style and reason for expression (information brochures, press releases, verbal statement) various high requirements can be place upon the exactness of formulation; untouched, here remains the fundamental demand that the communicated facts have to be true to life and that the federal administration has to refrain from non-factual negative assessments.
In accordance with these principles, considered here with a view toward the present proceedings submitted and detailed by the application opponent regarding the self-testimony of the proponent, the perceptions of state positions, the statements of (former) Scientology adherents as well as secondary literature, sufficient indications for a warning about the proponent have been given.
- The characterization of the proponent as a "selfish cartel of suppression" is not to be contested. The Federal Labor Court, in its previously mentioned decision of 22 March 1995,
5 AZB 21/94 -, NJW 1996, 143 (14 f.),
described and verified selfish views and totalitarian tendencies in Scientology using detailed citations from self-statements by the Scientology Organization. These detailed determinations and proof, which can be referenced here for the avoidance of repetition, justify, without further ceremony, the contested assessment in the scope of the requested summary review.
- The description of the proponent as a "giant octopus" also does not meet objections. So far as it contains a negative assessment, it is anchored in truthful or justifiable facts. For instance, the Scientology document, "Clear Switzerland",
Supplement 5, Attachment B28,
makes the claim to infiltrate and control "all areas of life." In the Scientology written material, "The Leadership Channels of Scientology",
Supplement 5, Attachment B 38,
its own worldwide ("as yet non-existent") expansion and the "Clearing of this Planet" are claimed; its own organizational structure is described as a "global network" which is hierarchically structured. International Scientology is said to consist "of over 600 service organizations, missions and groups on all continents in the world"; Scientology is said to be the "fastest growing movement in the world." In connection with the decision cited by the Federal Labor Court and by the proponent's activities of which the application opponent is critical, the admitted claims of expansion and infiltration by Scientology present sufficient factual foundation for the contested qualification as a "giant octopus."
- The assessment, "deluded ideology," likewise cannot be objected to after summary review. In view of Scientology's claim to possess "the only functioning technology with which one can build a new civilization here on earth,"
in: The Leadership Channels of Scientology, Supplement 5, Attachment B 38, p. 28,
or its assertion that Switzerland is "the first cleared country on the planet",
Supplement 5, Attachment B28,
This assessment does not appear to be untrue.
- Further, the accusation of "brainwashing," after summary review, is anchored in credibly represented facts. The term "brainwashing" is indeed to be understood in the narrow sense as a type of torturing of political inmates or prisoners of war with the goal of a complete conversion of political thought and will.
See dtv-Lexikon, 1990, key word quot;Gehirnwaesche" / ["brainwashing"].
Colloquially, however, brainwashing is also described as intense psychic influence, of which the proponent is accused. Prof. Dr. (of medicine) Hans Kind, in his 1989 opinion cited by the application opponent,
Supplement 5, Attachment B 36,
stated, that there was evidence of a definite analogy between the psychological procedure used by the proponent called "auditing" and "brainwashing." Namely, the goal in both cases was said to be the destruction of previous values and the injection of new convictions through a system of indoctrination. Characteristic of this was the search for weak spots in the system of existing beliefs and for "soft spots" in the course of life of the individual, the awakening of feelings of guilt, the suggestion of use of force and, finally, the initialization of small, barely noticeable requirements and increasing claims with the degree of demonstrated collaboration. Dr. Keltsch also spoke in that sense on the occasion of his expert testimony in the 13th session of the Committee for Women and Youth of the German Parliament on 9 October 1991, when he said of the proponent, that by using the so-called "e-meter" (skin resistance gauge) in auditing, and by using constant reward and punishment, an "effective operating conditioning" of Scientology's members was taking place.
Theses document under 4.5.3, Supplement 5, Attachment B 35.
This appears that it is justifiable to talk of "brainwashing" in a colloquial sense.
- The assertion that the "ringleaders" of Scientology are "criminal" is also, after summary review, supported by a relevant, factual foundation which is at least deemed justifiable. In 1978, the organization founder, L. Ron Hubbard, as the proponent has also commented, was convicted in France in his absence for fraud and sentenced to pay a fine of 30,000 franks and to incarceration for four years. His wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, along with ten other leading Scientologists, were sentenced to four to five year terms and received fines for 1979 burglary, conspiracy against the government and multiple obstruction of justice in the USA.
See Supplement 4, Attachment B3, page 50 and Supplement 5, Attachment B8.
- Finally, the proponent essentially cannot prohibit the application opponent by means of a temporary order from using the term "criminal, money-laundering organization" insofar as a delay is expected in that decision.
Minister Bluem used the above-named term in his interview for the article in the "Welt am Sonntag" of 18 September 1994 without further explanation or solidification, so that it could have also have been understood as "money-laundering" in the sense of the criminal act of § 261 StGB. In the scope of the present proceedings, though, there is no extensive evidence visible which justifies the accusation according to § 261 StGB after summary review.
Obviously Minister Bluem had not intended, by his statement, to accuse the proponent or the people responsible of a crime in accordance with § 261 StGB. The application opponent has made it clear in the present proceedings that the accusation of "criminal, money-laundering organization" had not been meant in the criminal meaning of § 261 StGB. He had, instead, wanted to describe the collective facts of the matter, which are characterized by thing which include the following: the proponent, by creation of sufficient psychic dependencies, causes its members to invest their entire income and fortune in taking highly over-priced courses and ordering books. Members were said to be pressured into going into a high measure of debt and also motivated to obtain the enormous finances demanded by the proponent through criminal behavior. The proponent was said to use the income from the sale of its writings and course to buy into companies and infiltrate them. In a similar manner at the end of November 1995, Minister Bluem, in an article - introduced into the hearings by the proponent himself - again publicly mentioned in a "Spiegel" magazine interview his phrase "criminal, money-laundering organization" and explained that the sect was an octopus which ruined people and deliberately put them into debt by making them take infinitely expensive psycho-courses. In an overall summary estimation, it can be concluded that Minister Bluem, intended to use placatory colloquial speech in the interview to say that the proponent demanded considerable financial contribution in a reprehensible manner, that at least some of the finances were a result of criminal acts, that it invested in businesses and that these conditions were be covered up.
In a summary review, the content of this meaning rests upon facts which are deemed at least justifiable. The proponent, specifically in distributing (advertising) brochures from various Scientology centers, has stated that the attainment of the so-called liberation steps of "Clear" to "OT VII" costs about DM 190,000, that for the prepatory course for release of the next OT step ("OT IX") a "special offer" for which a "special price" of about DM 52,000 was being demanded and that the so-called "e-meter," with an estimated material worth of DM 500, was being sold for up to DM 9,000.
Supplement 5, Attachments B12 to B16; see further the evidence in decision of BAG of 22 March 1995 - 5 AZB 21/94 -, NJW 1996, 143 (147 f.).
As presented, actual, extensive evidence exists that, in the taking of this kind of money contribution for which no services of comparable value are returned, psychic dependencies are being exploited. The proponent has presented further proof that members of the Scientology Organization have also committed criminal acts in order to be able to meet the demands for money made by the organization.
See, inter alia, Supplement 4, Attachment B 3 and Supplement 5, Attachments B 23 and B 24.
For a registration of these connections, the term "brainwashing" indeed is only conditionally suited, but its use in the presented context of an interview as a succinct description of a complex behavior - at least up to the decision of a legal proceeding as the primary context - is (still) justifiable. In looking at the presented facts, interference in the rights of the proponent, in any case, is not as important as would be the outcome of a case in which that was the primary matter. It can also be concluded from the explanations presented that one isolated use of the term "brainwashing" in the sense of the criminal act of § 261 StGB in a summary review would have represented impermissible libel towards the proponent. Nevertheless, the Senate, with the background of the explanations by the application opponent in the proceedings at hand as well as Minister Bluem's statements in the mentioned "Spiegel" magazine interview, see no cause for the presumption that the contested term was used in an isolated manner in the sense of a criminal accusation (§ 261 StGB). On the other hand, the application for a temporary order, on the whole, could fail as a use in the context as charged appears tolerable for the time being.
The decision of costs are from 154 Abs. 2 VwGO.
The determination of the value of dispute is based on § 20 Abs. 3, §13 Abs. 1 GKG.
This decision in incontestable (§152 Abs. 1 VWGO).
Dr. Bertrams Koopmann Dr. Seibert
Scientologists Lose
From: "TAZ"
July 5, 1995Copyright: contrapress media GmbH
The renters of Sanderstrasse 4 in Neukolln may continue to hang banners against Scientology-allied condo converters out of their windows. Yesterday the District Court ["Amtsgericht"] dismissed a complaint by the owners of Sanderstrasse 4 ("TAZ" reported). They may continue to display banners that read, "Go with God, but Go! Scientology Sect: out of Sanderstrasse 4!"
taz
Court permits appeal against sect branch Dianetics Stuttgart
Mannheim, Germany
September 19, 2000
Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung
Mannheim/Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - The State of Baden-Wuerttemberg has scored a victory in its legal dispute with the Scientology Organization. The Superior Administrative Court in Mannheim has permitted appeal against a decision of the Stuttgart Administrative Court, as the executive presidium stated in the state capitol on Tuesday. The grounds are stated to be "legal and factual problems."
The Stuttgart judges decided last November that the sect branch of Dianetics Stuttgart may retain its status as an association. The executive presidium had revoked the group's status as a legal association in August 1994.
In its initial reaction, Executive President Udo Andriof welcomed the Mannheim decision. "We now have the opportunity to prove that the revocation of legal capacity occurred correctly because Dianetics Stuttgart is engaged as a business and pursues commercial goals," said Andriof.
From the perspective of the executive presidium, association privilege has to be revoked from the Dianetics group because Dianetics Stuttgart pursues commercial advantage with so-called "auditing" and training auditors. A spokesman of the executive presidium estimated the yearly sales for Dianetics Stuttgart alone at from 2.5 to 3 million marks.
The greatest effect a decision against the organization would have would be in debtor liability. Creditors enjoy relatively little protection with registered associations. If no association assets are available, they walk away empty-handed. In contrast, a legal entity of trade law must maintain minimum capital, and is required to keep balance and audit records.