Scientology In France

Here is the "Official statement of the Church of Scientology" in France regarding the recent court decision that you may have heard about in the media.

If you can read French then the original is here: Pour le tribunal, la Scientologie doit continuer ses activités

Here is a translation that I ran through Babel Fish. Not the best English, but understandable:

For the court, Scientology must continue its activities

First of all, and it is perhaps most important, the Court recognized today that the Church of Scientology was to continue its religious activities in France.

It could not escape the reality which there exists a broad community of happy Scientologists to practice their religion. It also noted that in spite of the extraordinary media pressure around this lawsuit, no new complaint had been deposited in 10 months since the beginning of the lawsuit.

The UNADFI was declared inadmissible once again as a civil part, which proves again that it does not have any legitimacy to be involved in the businesses concerning the religious minorities, and that the million subsidies which it received from the State are not enough to make it credible in front of Justice.

Concurrently to that, the Church denounces a lawsuit in heresy, an enquiry of modern times and this since the beginning. The judgments pronounced in total contradiction with the requisitions of withdrawal of case of origin are the result of carefully orchestrated political pressures which seem to have weighed on the court.

“We will not give up. The religion of Scientology develops more than ever and its recognition in France is inescapable, as in the other countries. We believe that nobody has the right to say to the French what they must think and what they must believe as regards religion”, declares the spokesperson of the Church Celebrity Centre.

We support the French Constitution and the European Convention of the Human rights, whereas the campaigns of Georges Fenech and Miviludes are criticized within certain international organizations because of the threat which they carry against freedom of worship. The international report/ratio of the American State Department on the religious liberty which has just left recalls once again that “the discriminatory treatment towards the Witnesses of Jéhovah and the Scientologists continues to lend to concern”.

The Church of Scientology was founded in 1954. Today there exists more than 8000 Churches of Scientology, missions and groups in 165 countries. The Church sponsored the most important initiative of education to the human rights in the world as well as the greatest nongovernmental programme of prevention against drug.

The Scientology makes great strides without precedent, with a more significant development during the last twelve months than during the five previous years, that the five last years being higher than the 50 previous years combined.

Last weekend, the inauguration of the new Church of Scientology of Rome gathered 6000 people. The next week, the Church of Scientology of Washington DC will settle in its new buildings in the middle of the city.

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Oh, no. Despite the best laid plans of mice, the Church of Scientology continues to expand at an exponential rate. Too bad :)