Belgium: Giving Teegeack A Bad Name

In further international religious liberty news, Belgium contemplates a war on Scientology:

A Belgian prosecutor on Tuesday recommended that the U.S.-based Church of Scientology stand trial for fraud and extortion, following a 10-year investigation that concluded the group should be labeled a criminal organization.

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An administrative court will decide whether to press charges against the Scientologists.

In a statement, Scientology's Europe office accused the prosecutor of hounding the organization and said it would contest the charges.

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Scientology has been active in Belgium for nearly three decades. In 2003, it opened an international office near the headquarters of the European Union to lobby for its right to be recognized as an official religious group, a status it does not enjoy in Belgium.

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Belgium, Germany and other European countries have been criticized by the State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations.

Katherine Mangu-Ward blogged a defense of Scientology last month.

Headline explanation for non-OTs

Comments

[lunchstealer]

Whoa! There is no call for that kind of language.

[J sub D]

Katherine Mangu-Ward blogged a defense of Scientology last month.

And you know that had to really hurt.

[Mike Laursen]

Belgium's list of recognized religions is really, really short. They're still considering the Buddhists' application.

[SugarFree]

Is Belgium in the wrong for considering Scientology criminal organization, or just a sissy for not considering all the rest of the religions criminal organizations as well?

[J sub D]

The German government considers Scientology a commercial enterprise that takes advantage of vulnerable people.

I agree with the German government here. Unlike Catholicism, Buddhism, etc. Scientology --- Oops, never mind.

[Timothy]

Cue OT's defending their pyramid racket in 5...4....3...2...

[Scop]

Mike L

any back-up on that? I'm curious as to what Belgium considers a religion.

[lunchstealer]

Huh. Good call Timothy!

[Mike Laursen]

Oh, I just got my info from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Belgium

[cgee]

lunchstealer: Go Belgium yourself, man...

[Isaac Bartram]

I recall reading somewhere the opinion that Britain and France should have declared war on both Germany and the Soviet Union when they invaded Poland.

Interesting thought. Then the Finns would have been our allies instead of our foes.

Of course, then the Western allies would really have had their hands full.

[Rhywun]

Scientology only became a "religion" because it was in danger from the Feds for not paying taxes. Until then, it was just a business--one that existed solely to line the pockets of Hubbard and his cronies.

[Isaac Bartram]

Dunno how that happened. That was supposed to be in the next thread up.

Me stupido.

[Isaac Bartram]

Rhywun

That's what I heard.

And from someone who knew old L Ron personally.

[J sub D]

Rhywun - It doesn't matter what the motives are in the foundng of a religion. The followers (sheep) will believe what the official, "divinely inspired" dogma states, no matter how ridiculous it is. In 1,000 years somebody will find a copy of J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and make a religion out of it.

[Akira MacKenzie]

A Belgian prosecutor on Tuesday recommended that the U.S.-based Church of Scientology stand trial for fraud and extortion, following a 10-year investigation that concluded the group should be labeled a criminal organization.

It's about fucking time too! Now if only the government in this country would grow some balls and send the Florida National Guard to Clearwater and shut the whole place down.

[Scop]

Thanks, Mike.

Hope I didn't seem aggressive/contradictory about it. Wasn't my intent. I may have to live in Belgium shortly, so I was very curious.

[prolefeed]

Weird, aggressive thugs, those Scientologists. But, I don't see how you can claim they aren't a religion, since quite a few people actually believe what is being taught by that church is true. Either you yank all churches' tax exemptions, or you accept the ones you don't like -- at least in America, where we have this First Amendment thingy that nobody else seems to have.

[jtuf]

I don't believe in Scientology's core beliefs, but they're no stranger than some academic papers. Remember the Oxford professor who announced that we are living in a computer simulation.

[Rhywun]

I don't see how you can claim they aren't a religion

Well, most churches are non-profit and don't charge over $10,000 to learn their deepest secrets.

[J sub D]

Well, most churches are non-profit and don't charge over $10,000 to learn their deepest secrets.

Well, most churhes WILL try to seperate you from your hard earned shekels. One way or another.

[xxxxx]

I was involved with Scientology for many years. I no longer have anything to do with the Church. I have my own disagreements with the organization, but I have read all these threads and there is not an accurate statement among them. Most are the same old urban myths that have been going around for 50 years. Those are not Scientology's "Core Beliefs". Anyone who is familiar with LRH's writings would laugh at such a statement.

As far as Scientology not being a religion, it treats mankind as a Spiritual Being. That falls under the heading of religion.

For those posting the ignorant statements, you might consider the words of a noted philosopher (not LRH) who said, "Know what you do not know."

One of the ideas that LRH taught was to respect the religious beliefs of others. I think if each of us would do that a lot of hatred and turmoil would be avoided in the world. It's easy to make fun of people's religion. Naturally, since most people who adopt a religion do so because they want to be better persons. That makes them more vulnerable as the good often are. So they make an easy target. But it takes a strong person to go on respecting them even though one does not agree with their beliefs.

BTW, the common belief now is that there was a big explosion and then everything sorta of came together and formed planets and suns, and then life spontaneously erupted out of the mud and just kept getting smarter and smarter and here we are, some kind of organic robots walking around. Sounds a little crazy from the outside.

And as Will Durant said, how do you know that isn't a religious belief?

[xxx]

Correction: it's "Know that you do not know"

[Eric Atkinson]

For those posting the ignorant statements, you might consider the words of a noted philosopher (not LRH) who said, "Know what you do not know."
Bull fucking shit!
Niney nine point nine percent of everything the CoS has written down about LRH is the most pathetic sort of bullcrap ever committed to paper. Most of which was written by the com man himself.
Its not the fact that the CoS has strange,absurd ideals, all religions do. Some worse than others. The danger is that the CoS is a scam developed by LRH. The history is clear from his writtings and thus, why the CoS has such a shit fit when anyone make those writtings avalible to the public.
By the way, if you can't tell, I hate fucking clams...

[Dave2]

Dear xxxxx:

Okay, then tell us what we've got wrong. Is it something that the L.A. Times series in 1990 and the Time story in 1991 and the Rolling Stone article last year and the Anderson Report in 1965 and the biographies of Hubbard all got wrong too?

In other words, is it something that every single independent investigator got wrong?

Or do you still guzzle the horseshit of the Church?

[Eldon]

A secular clone called Avatar has been fairly active in Belgium. See http://www.avatarcult.info for more info. They had quite a presence in France until the mid 1990s when they were busted for selling courses to nuclear power plant employees as "management training."
http://members.aol.com/eldonb123/avatar-EDF.html

[Rhywun]

Well, most churhes WILL try to seperate you from your hard earned shekels.

Sure - they have expenses like anyone. And charities, too. But I don't see any other religion charging for their religious texts. If you don't hand over your dough to the CoS, you get nothing.

[John C. Randolph]

Oh, look! The clams sent someone to "handle" this outbreak of information on Scientology.

Pity the poor schmuck: he's getting paid well below minimum wage wile they make him subsist on rice and beans and keep piling on his "debt" for the woo-woo with the "e-meter".

-jcr