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Scientology's Fraud Conviction Upheld In France
schwit1 writes "France's top appeals court has upheld a fraud conviction and fines totaling hundreds of thousands of euros against the Church of Scientology, for taking advantage of vulnerable followers. France regards Scientology as a cult, not a religion, and had prosecuted individual Scientologists before, but the 2009 trial marked the first time the organization as a whole had been convicted. 'The head of a parliamentary group on religious cults in France, lawmaker Georges Fenech, hailed the ruling. 'Far from being a violation of freedom of religion, as this American organization contends, this decision lifts the veil on the illegal and highly detrimental practices' of the group, said Fenech. The court case followed a complaint by two women, one of whom said she was manipulated into handing over 20,000 euros in 1998 for Scientology products including an "electrometer" to measure mental energy. A second woman claimed she was forced by her Scientologist employer to undergo testing and enrol in courses, also in 1998. When she refused she was fired.'"
Scientology is the truth! Both Tom Cruise _and_ John Travolta are scientologists. Do you believe me now?
i wonder if there are any high level Scientologists in the NSA?
Of course, they are known as Operating System Thetans.
Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
"one of whom said she was manipulated into handing over 20,000 euros in 1998 for Scientology products including an "electrometer" to measure mental energy"
she obviously wanted a refund because the meter reading was zero.
To be rid of these silly cults once and for all
Yes they can, and usually are. :p
i wonder if there are any high level Scientologists in the NSA?
Of course, they are known as Operating System Thetans.
They even created the Scientology Operating System (SOS). They don't use terms like "cpu" and "reinstalling" anymore, but use more common terms like "brain" and "brainwashing".
but I ran out of money.
Cryonics - Keep cool and carry on.
The Venn Diagram of Irrational Nonsense
Well, I'm an atheist towards the Dollar. I haven't seen one in so long, I don't believe they exist anymore.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
I think you have to go to The Street of Small Gods now.
Whenever I saw one of those "free stress test" tables they set up near the bus station, wait until they got a victim, and then sidle up and exclaim excitedly and loudly, "Oh man, look, e-meters! I didn't know Scientology still existed! You changed the name of your "audits" to "stress tests", huh? That's interesting!" and things along those lines.
The victim *always* got this big wide-eyed look when I mentioned Scientology and scampered away quickly after that (and I got nasty glares from the auditors). Eventually they moved to some other location, but I'd like to think I saved some people from a costly mistake with my actions.
Frankly, I try to be open minded about most religions and I would like to believe that for some people even Scientology may have some benefits, but the Church of Scientology's methods - such as disguising their recruitment behind free "stress tests" - are disgusting and were well worth sabotaging.