Scientology On Trial In Belgium

dgharmon sends this news from the Atlantic Wire: "After a years-long legal battle, federal prosecutors in Belgium now believe their investigation is complete enough to charge the Church of Scientology and its leaders as a criminal organization on charges of extortion, fraud, privacy breaches, and the illegal practice of medicine. ... Multiple reports and the group's legal history point to one key factor here: The Belgian government won't charge Scientology for being a cult — authorities are focusing on prosecuting it as a criminal organization. Which is a new twist, as most of the group's many court battles over the years have focused on establishing its legitimacy as a religion. ... The Church of Scientology houses its European headquarters in Brussels, so a ban in Belgium could be crippling to the group — and authorities there seem to know it."

Comments

Re:Here it comes...

[Anonymous Coward]

How many other churches have, in the modern era, tried to infiltrate the government and destroy evidence against them (Operation Snow White)?

Re:Epic Corruption: Operation Snow White

[UnknowingFool]

Interestingly, if you read the CoS' account of L. Ron Hubbard's military career, he was some sort of war hero who commanded ships on many different oceans (sometimes simultaneously) and two different navies (British and US) while being awarded numerous medals (including British ones that are never awarded to non-British personnel). His official record shows that he joined the Navy before Pearl Habor as a Lt. Junior Grade and in 9 years only promoted to Lt. He spent most of this time on American shores and was reprimanded (and relieved of command) numerous times. He does have medals from his service; however, most of them were routine ones awarded for time of service rather than valor. His official CoS archivist and biographer Gerry Armstrong quit the church after discoveries of numerous inconsistencies in his records including his military one.

Re:There is a huge difference in places

[TENTH SHOW JAM]

With the invention of the printing press, and therefore cheaper ways of circulating information, the world neatly divided into those who wanted information to be free, and those who didn't.

Funny how things move in cycles.

As a former member of the "Church" of Scientology,

[briancox2]

I believe this approach to dealing with the organization is exactly appropriate. The practice of any religion can be run by an organization that turns out into a cult. The attacks that we see on "Scientology" should not really be directed at the subject of Scientology nor used to label the subject as a cult. It is the corrupt management by David Miscavige that really is to blame. And, yes, he IS criminal. He abuses staff, torments former members who try to practice outside his control, harasses members for donations relentlessly and, of course, he trashes freedom of speech to keep people from knowing of his crimes. Mark Rathbun is the former number 2 in charge of the Co$. He's out and posting on a blog on WordPress everything he knows. Check out his blog for a viewpoint you won't hear from anyone else.