The German government has come out with its annual report on threats to its constitution, and right there at the end is its assessment of Scientology.
Can you imagine the US government being this clear-eyed about the threat that Scientology poses?
Here’s what the report says in its entirety…
The Scientology organisation (SO)
The Scientology organisation (SO) seeks to establish a global society based on Scientology. As in the previous year, the organisation counts about 3,600 members in Germany.
The organisation’s ideology is strictly based on the writings of its founder and long-time leader Lafayette Ron Hubbard (1911–1986), who invented a method he called “technology”, “dianetics” and “Scientology”. This method is intended to create the perfect human, called “clear” or “non-aberrated”. In Hubbard’s teachings, people who are not “clear” are to be denied fundamental rights and human dignity. The SO sees itself as a ruling elite that should reign over the rest of humanity. This world view is incompatible with the principle of democracy enshrined in Germany’s constitution, the Basic Law.
Scientology seeks to attain its envisaged social order via a long-term strategy of expansion, by increasing the organisation’s revenues and by fighting its critics. The SO presents itself to the outside world as an apolitical religious community.
As the restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic were progressively lifted in 2022, the SO increasingly resumed its demonstrations, information stands and distribution of its promotional materials (e.g. through the SO cover organisation The Way to Happiness). The online course and seminar offerings established during the pandemic remained available. The SO uses these offerings strategically in order to bring easily accessible Scientology content to a broader audience, recruit new members, generate funds and further the expansion of the SO. Scientology is pursuing these goals as part of its “Golden Age of Admin” initiative, which U.S. Scientology leader David Miscavige announced to the organisation’s members in 2022.
As in previous years, the SO continued to distribute materials specifically designed for children, with the intention of influencing the public’s perceptions of the SO from an early age.
Now, there’s one whopper in there. Did you spot it?
Scientology claims it has about 3,600 members in Germany. We’ve found in the past that when the church makes these kinds of claims, it’s best to divide by about 7, and 500 members in Germany sounds closer to the truth for an organization that has only about 20,000 active members worldwide.
Other than taking Scientology’s word for that, the German government really doesn’t seem to have any illusions about what this group is or what its aims are.
And that was also the situation nearly thirty years ago, when the German government not only perceived Scientology to be a threat to its constitution, but also took efforts to curb the organization’s growth there.
Scientology reacted by rounding up Hollywood figures to write an open letter in 1996 expressing their outrage. Addressed to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the letter appeared as a full-page ad in the International Herald Tribune. It was signed by Dustin Hoffman, Goldie Hawn, Oliver Stone, and more. It had been placed in the paper by Bert Fields, Tom Cruise’s attorney.
“These acts are intolerable in any country that conceives of itself as a modern democracy. This organized oppression is beginning to sound familiar … like the Germany of 1936 rather than 1996. It should be stopped — now, before it spreads and increases in virulence as it did before,” the letter said.
(Here’s the whole list of signatories: Robert Bookman, John Calley, Sanford R. Climan, Constantin Costa-Gavras, Bertram Fields, Andrew M. Fogelson, Larry Gordon, Goldie Hawn, Barry Hirsch, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Horn, Kevin Huvane, Larry King, Lawrence M. Kopeikin, Arnold Kopelson, Raymond Kurtzman, Sherry Lansing, Michael Marcus, Doug Morris, Rick Nicita, Morris Ostin, Mario Puzo, Jack Rapke, Terry Semel, Sid Sheinberg, Casey Silver, Tina Sinatra, Aaron Spelling, Sheldon Sroloff, Oliver Stone, Robert Towne, Gore Vidal, Paula Wagner, Fred Westheimer.)
Kohl was not amused. “They don’t know anything about Germany, and they don’t want to, either. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have talked such rubbish,” he said.
It’s hard to imagine, more than 25 years later, Hollywood figures rallying to Scientology’s defense in a similar way today.
And while Scientology’s influence in Hollywood has waned, it’s good to see that the German government hasn’t forgotten what Scientology is all about.
Leah meets with LAPD chief
In case you didn’t see Leah’s tweet yesterday…
Bonus items from our tipsters
Once again, it’s a party in the Valley, and why not key off of another Tom Cruise blockbuster!
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Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
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Germany recognises an organisation predicated on radicalisation when it sees one. Other countries turn eyes of varying degrees of blindness to the threat posed by those like the criminal organisation known as the “church “ of $cientology who consider themselves above the law.
It appears that the truth about Scientology has now gained traction in most countries of the world. I would be curious how many new public start a service in the larger orgs.
I will be visiting the San Francisco Bay Area for the premiere of my documentary Brothers Broken in Aug. and I might want to visit a Org or mission there. I don’t hear much from that area any more. It used to be such a rich breeding ground for scientology.