Federal prosecutors want to convict scientology as criminal organisation

[sabaku_no_gaara]

http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20140327_01043368

It's in Dutch here's a google translation:

Two non-profit organizations and ten members of the Scientology movement will have to answer . Before the Brussels criminal court correctional That the Council Chamber in Brussels decided. It is the non-profit Church of Scientology of Belgium and the European Office for Public Affairs and Human Rights of the Church of Scientology International . The federal prosecutor wants to condemn Scientology as a criminal organization , accusing the defendants include scams , illegal medicine , breaches of privacy laws and extortion .


Do you think they could actually be convicted? And what would happen if they are officially branded a criminal organisation? Would that influence their activities in their homeland for instance?

[Euphoric]

I think they could and should be labelled a criminal organization. Frankly, they are a large-scale cult who terrorize and murder members who leave the fold and essentially run a large pyramid scheme that drains the resources of its members. They have a high-powered legal team that covers their asses whenever the crap they do is brought to light, a legal team that destroys careers, reputations, and lives.

Here's one incredibly disturbing case, if you have the stomach for it, you can see the photos of the deceased and see what horrible, cruel conditions these sick s exposed her to during her final days. Here is an excerpt from the article barely that scratches the surface as to this poor woman's condition, and the pressure that the Church of Scientology's legal team exerted on everyone involved:

On December 5, 1995 McPherson’s autopsy was accomplished by assistant medical examiner Robert Davis. Davis never completed McPherson’s autopsy report because he was asked to resign from his position. The autopsy report was completed by his supervisor medical examiner Joan Wood.

On January 21, 1997, Wood went public on the TV show Inside Edition and stated that the autopsy showed McPherson had deteriorated slowly, going without fluids for five to 10 days, was underweight, had cockroach bites and was comatose from 24 to 48 hours before she died.

So yeah, I hope they do label the Church of Scientology a criminal organization

[sabaku_no_gaara]

I think they could and should be labelled a criminal organization. Frankly, they are a large-scale cult who terrorize and murder members who leave the fold and essentially run a large pyramid scheme that drains the resources of its members. They have a high-powered legal team that covers their asses whenever the crap they do is brought to light, a legal team that destroys careers, reputations, and lives.

Here's one incredibly disturbing case, if you have the stomach for it, you can see the photos of the deceased and see what horrible, cruel conditions these sick s exposed her to during her final days. Here is an excerpt from the article barely that scratches the surface as to this poor woman's condition, and the pressure that the Church of Scientology's legal team exerted on everyone involved:

On December 5, 1995 McPherson’s autopsy was accomplished by assistant medical examiner Robert Davis. Davis never completed McPherson’s autopsy report because he was asked to resign from his position. The autopsy report was completed by his supervisor medical examiner Joan Wood.

On January 21, 1997, Wood went public on the TV show Inside Edition and stated that the autopsy showed McPherson had deteriorated slowly, going without fluids for five to 10 days, was underweight, had cockroach bites and was comatose from 24 to 48 hours before she died.

So yeah, I hope they do label the Church of Scientology a criminal organization

pretty horrid, but hard to believe it's all true, It sounds like the plot of a conspiracy movie. I never imagined these things actually happened

[Euphoric]

pretty horrid, but hard to believe it's all true, It sounds like the plot of a conspiracy movie. I never imagined these things actually happened

You know what they say, reality is stranger than fiction.

[fkizz]

Good. Scientology is a burden for everyone.

[Hobbes]

This is a good thing; I hope scientology is eradicated.

[Garbarsardar]

Will they arrest Tom Cruise for crimes against acting? This is the real issue here.

But yes, I mean, yes please. Not a moment too soon.

[Derpy Hooves]

Good. Hopefully in the future the next target will the their evil empire in the US.

[Roma_Victrix]

I hope this is just the start, and not the end of the unravelling of Hubbard's cooky cult of Scientology, that wonderful ideology that brought us Battlefield Earth.





That clip honestly never gets old.

If you think about it, though, L. Ron Hubbard was an absolute genius to scam a bunch of gullible millionaire actors into handing him checks for his "services." It's just a shame that his sham is now ruining and, as Euphoric has pointed out, ending some people's lives. Their "faith" also has the audacity to try and challenge respected medical fields like psychology as illegitimate. How ironic: I can't think of anything more illegitimate than Scientology.

[Euphoric]

*snip*

Thanks for the laugh, awesome clip.

[Theodotos I]

There's always a fine line when dealing with "beliefs" through force of law. . .but yes, I've seen enough of Scientology to believe that it's an outright scam. Kudos to anyone who manages to close them down.

[Caesar Germanico]

How they managed to expand so much anyway?

[Denny Crane!]

Well yes they should.

And everyone should turn Mormon and despite their ludicrous beliefs the world would be a nice place and everyone would be nice. Oddly true says I the atheist wannabe buddhist, god I wish I was as nice as a mormon. I wish all scientologists were mormons - dumdumdumdum.

[Wallachian]

Well hopefully they do get labelled as criminal and outlawed. It is a very dangerous cult which has expanded way too much. Time magazine ran an article titled Scientology The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power. Excellent read and coverage.

[StarDreamer]

A dangerous cult based on a pyramid scheme... Yeah they should be outlawed.

[Lord of Nihilism]

I'mn going to agree with most people here and say Scientology has no place in this world.

[Euphoric]

Hey, it seems like labeling the Church of Scientology a criminal organization is finally a topic that everyone of every background at TWC can get behind. Go figure.

[Lord Thesaurian]

Hey, it seems like labeling the Church of Scientology a criminal organization is finally a topic that everyone of every background at TWC can get behind. Go figure.

Hold that thought. Regardless of what anyone may think of the Church or its beliefs, outlawing the church on the basis of those beliefs sets an ominous precedent. It may very well be the case that numerous church leaders and/or members are or have been engaged in criminal acts, and in such cases those responsible ought to be prosecuted, obviously. The despotic governments of Europe may have their own systems to work with, but I certainly hope no such idea of "banning a religion" ever reaches our shores.

If an entire religion or system of ideology can be criminalized, then the entire concept of First Amendment rights is compromised. If Scientology can be outlawed for preaching violence, aggression and usury, then I can easily think of any number of reasons why any religion that relies on any sort of moral absolute ought to be banned, and any speech and/or publication to that effect consequently banned as hate speech. Similarly, any group of people who wishes to assemble for the purposes of a meeting may easily be subject to close monitoring and permissions - oh wait, that's already the case.

Bottom line, arresting a murderer is fine. Arresting someone because they say they want to murder someone is a dangerous precedent that may easily lead to the restriction of any system of thought not in explicit accordance with the relevant governmental system. I'm honestly quite surprised that so many people are cheering this blatant violation of what, for Americans, is a basic right, just because Scientology is very unpopular.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Euphoric]

*snip*

We outlaw dangerous cults in the United States all the time. Any cult that advocates murder, rape, torture, suicide, etc. we aggressively dismantle. Davidians are the perfect example. You see, there is a fine balancing act between civil liberties and security that goes on in every nation, liberal or not.

[Lord Thesaurian]

We outlaw dangerous cults in the United States all the time. Any cult that advocates murder, rape, torture, suicide, etc. we aggressively dismantle. Davidians are the perfect example. You see, there is a fine balancing act between civil liberties and security that goes on in every nation, liberal or not.

You'll need to source that. I can find no record of the federal government explicitly banning any religion or religious group. Of course it depends on whether the feds recognize a group as "religious" or not, such as when the USSC refused to recognize Timothy Leary's LSD "church." To my knowledge, cults have always been busted for the actions of their leaders/members, not explicitly outlawed. For example, the Davidians were raided by ATF for illegal weapons possession. Explicitly banning any religion would be a pretty obvious violation of the First Amendment.