Religious Intolerance

in Germany

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Quotations from the German Constitution:

Statements that new employees must sign in two German firms before being hired: ₈

Overview of the Anti-Cult Movement:

In the 1960's, a Anti-Cult Movement (CCM) was founded in the United States. It was created in response to the many small new religious movements (NRM) -  often headed by a single charismatic leader. Young adults flocked to these groups, seeking an intense spiritual experience and inter-personal intimacy. Some of these movements encouraged their followers to sever relationships with their friends and families of origin. Many followers abandoned their academic pursuits in order to devote more time to the movement. Some parents became alarmed, fearing that their children had become the mindless victims of mind control techniques and brainwashing. A movie The Manchurian Candidate (1962), dealt with mind control. Although it was a work of fiction, and based on non-existent science, it convinced much of the public that such control was possible.  

A series of incidents involving loss of life in small destructive, religious groups (including those at Jonestown and Waco) raised public concern about "cults" in general. However, by the late 1990's, the CCM had largely run out of steam in the United States. Some within the movement had committed very serious criminal acts, assaulting and brutally kidnapping members of NRMs and forcibly confining them. A series of legal cases put the largest of these groups out of business.

But even as fear of "cults" started to diminish in North America, it was on the ascendancy in some European countries - particularly in Russia, Germany and France. Public fears were greatly increased by a religiously motivated mass suicide-murder of members of the Solar Temple group in southeast France on 1995-NOV-16. In Germany, this fear seems to have promoted the federal government to actively persecute members of the Church of Scientology. A number of incidents have been reported at the federal, state and local level. The Church has won some, but not all legal battles in German courts.

German Persecution of Religious and Other Minorities:

In addition to the above, the Helsinki Commission, Congressional Arts Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have independently expressed their concerns. Within Germany, the Cooperation of Christian Lawyers and Legal Advisors has warned that "religious freedom is in danger in Germany."

We have been unsuccessful in obtaining information on the response of the German government to this groundswell of concern by human rights groups and others. We are actively seeking such information.

German Secret Police and "Otto D."

Germany's Interior Minister, Manfred Kanther, announced in 1997-JUN that "All means available to the state" will be used to monitor Scientology's 30,000 members in that country, because the government believes that the church is a threat to democracy. Counterintelligence agents will be used. He did not say how the Church threatens the democratic processes.

The Church of Scientology International filed complaints with the United Nations High Commissioner, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. They expected to file additional complaints with other international civil rights watchdog agencies. Meanwhile, Switzerland announced that they had found no legal basis to justify the surveillance of church members.

Otto D. is a police officer in Germany. He seems to have been in line for a promotion, when an unsigned letter came to the attention of the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution (OPC). The letter claimed that Otto was a leading member of the Scientology church in Berlin. The secret police raided his house, but found nothing. Otto was suspended from work. The OPC then tried on multiple occasions to bribe a part-time employee of the Church of Scientology in Switzerland. They offered $5,000 DM. The OPC hoped that they could gain access to Scientology membership records and prove that Otto was a Scientologist. The German branch of Scientology denies that Otto was ever a member. He has counterattacked with both civil and criminal law suits. He indicates the he is not a Scientologist; he said that he does not have a  religious faith, although he is tolerant of all. He comes from a long line of persecuted individuals. His mother was Jewish; many of her relatives were exterminated in concentration camps. These developments caused a minor international incident between Germany and Switzerland.

It is ironic that the OPC's role is to protect the constitution, is apparently committing unconstitutional acts when investigating Scientologists. They have been unable to bring charges against any Scientologist for any criminal act after over a year of investigation.

The European Journey for Religious Freedom

The Foundation for Religious Tolerance, a Scientology group, has promoted the European Journey - a foot race from East Grinstead, Sussex, UK to Frankfort, Germany. It started on 1998-JUN-24 "In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." It is also intended to publicize the increasing governmental persecution being experienced by various religious minorities in some European countries. ₃ Although their name, Web site's URL, and logo are similar to ours, we have no connection with that group.

A total of five runners, from Canada, South Africa, Switzerland, and the US traversed about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) through 8 countries - UK, Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany. They picked up additional national runners in each country who accompanied them to the border. They held celebrations at various key human rights locations, such as the International Court of Justice at the Hague; the European Parliament in Brussels;  Human Rights Square in Trocagero, Paris, etc. The runners carried a "torch of freedom" and a religious freedom proclamation. The latter lists 19 human rights reports critical of the German government's persecution of religious minorities. They have received support from various Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Raelian, Scientology and Sukio Mahikari groups, theologians, scholars, politicians, and individuals.

The Journey ended at a "Rally for Truth" celebration in Frankfurt, Germany on AUG-10. This was attended by about 6,500 individuals, and was well covered in the media. A new coalition of religions was formed on AUG-11. It includes representatives from over 20 faith traditions, including Charismatic Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, etc.

The next day, leaders of the Islamic Association of German-Speaking Muslims, Central Community for Orthodox Judaism in Germany, German Sikh Community, Unification Church in Germany, and the Church of Scientology in Germany announced the formation of an Interreligious Coalition to fight religious discrimination in Germany

Enquete Commission:

This Commission is composed of 12 MPs from the Lower House of the Federal Parliament, and a similar number of experts. Most members have a history of opposing new religious groups. They labored for 2 years, spent about 2 million DM ($1,150,000 US) and produced a two volume, 602 page report on new religious groups (NRMs) and "psycho-groups" in Germany. It is called "So-called Sects and Psychological Groups." The Commission apparently was a fiasco. Der Spiegel, a leading German newspaper claimed: "The parliamentary investigation of the controversial psycho-market turned into a religious war. One participant commented: 'Some acted so hysterically you would have thought they were themselves members of a sect.'...their report is a confused conglomerate of banalities, contradictions and dubious recommendations." ₄

The Commission was created largely as a result of two strong opponents of the Church of Scientology:

There appears to have been a split between these Scientology opponents and the rest of the Commission. The group compromised by including almost no material about the Church of Scientology in their report.

The experts on the Commission produced a total of 6 studies on German sects. They concluded that there was "no problem and no danger" from small religious groups in Germany. These studies have been suppressed by the Commission. Two commission members have called for the reports to be published. They remain sealed.

Angelika Koester-Lossack, the Green Party leader in the Commission, commented "Regarding the individual groups, we actually came up with little new information." The Christian Democrat party representative, Ronald Pofalla admitted: "There is no broad social situation [of concern regarding NRMs]."

Some conclusions of the Commission's report:

They made 20 recommendations. Even though they concluded that new religious movements were not a threat to the state or its people, they recommend a number of actions to control, regulate and persecute small faith groups. The recommendations include:

A group of professors (philosopher Hermann Luebbe, Protestant church historian Gerhard Besier, former federal minister Hans Apel,  University in Tuebingen professor Niels Birbaumer, Cologne Professor of Public Law Martin Kriele, and Cologne sociologist Erwin Scheuch) criticized the Commission, saying that they have engaged in defamation of and discrimination against small religious and ideological minorities. ₅ They are concerned that the Commission will develop into an "ideological watchdog". The academics warned against "inquisitional work of the sect-hunters." They criticized the makeup of the Commission:  "Amongst the experts in the Commission are sect and ideological commissioners of the two main churches but no experts from other religions and ideologies; and there are no representatives of the often criticized free-market for advanced education and management training. The sect commissioners of the main churches now have the opportunity to sit in judgment on those with whom they are in ideological competition, and against whom they have been litigating for years." They accused the objectivity and independence of the Commission. They point out that some Commission members are "agents of the competing religious communities...litigating against those about whose actions they are now supposed to adjudicate." The academics are concerned about the creation of a "hierarchy" of religions - some "better" and some "worse" in the eyes of the state.

The professors met with representatives of management training seminars, groups which had been "particularly criticized" but not interviewed by the Commission. "There was not one case where we found evidence of destructive actions by persons, groups or organizations...And, similarly, we could not establish that any interventions by volunteers had had any effect in any one case -- even though we could note many useful aspects."

They warned that citizens should be more concerned about danger from fashionable "sect-hunts" than from most of the NRMs.

Recent Developments:

"The U.S. Government has expressed concern to the German Government about efforts to monitor religious organizations. The U.S. Government also has told the German Government that it would be concerned if persons were placed under observation or denied rights on the basis of mere membership in a group, rather than suspicion of illegal acts by individuals."