German officials want Church of Scientology banned in the country
BERLIN  Top German officials announced Friday that they will seek to outlaw the U.S.-based Church of Scientology.
The announcement came after a two-day conference of interior ministers of Germany's 16 states well as federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
Berlin Interior Minister Erhart Koerting, who presided over the two-day conference, told reporters that Scientology is an organization that is not compatible with the German constitution.
The German government considers Scientology not a religion but a commercial enterprise that takes advantage of vulnerable people, he added.
The ministers said the planned to ask Germany's domestic intelligence agency to begin preparing the necessary information to ban Scientology.
The agency has had Scientology under observation for a decade on allegations that it “threatens the peaceful democratic order” of the country.
Sabine Weber, president of the Church of Scientology in Berlin, said she views the renewed attempt to ban her group as a reaction to increasing acceptance of Scientologists in several European countries.
“It is very, very clear that the true picture of what Scientology is about is pushing its way through,” Ms. Weber said. “The interior ministers are clearly reacting to that.”
Scientologists have long battled to end the surveillance, saying it is an abuse of their right to freedom of religion.
The U.S. State Department regularly criticizes Germany in its annual Human Rights Report for the monitoring practice.
The interior ministers gave no specific examples of abuse for their decision, but the most recent annual report on extremism compiled by their agencies criticized the organization for disregarding human rights.
“From a number of sources, some of them not available to the public, it has been determined that (the organization) seeks to limit or rescind basic and human rights, such as the right to develop one's personality and the right to be treated equally,” the report said.
Earlier this year, the German government initially refused to allow the producers of a movie starring Scientology member Tom Cruise to film at a site where Germany's most famous anti-Hitler plotter was executed, although it did not expressly state Scientology as its reason. It later allowed the production to go ahead.
The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology was founded in 1954 by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. It first set up in Germany in 1970 and officials estimate it has some 6,000 members there.
Official warning leaflets from the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior on (from left to right) Islamic extremism, Scientology, and organized crime. 

After an investigation into the Church of Scientology (CoS), top security officials in Germany said that they consider its goals to be in conflict with the German constitution. Hamburg's Interior Minister Udo Nagel first brought complaints to state interior ministers in Hamburg. The German Office for the Protection of the Constitution has also been monitoring the group, fearing they may gain control in German elections. In official reports, the government agency has said "There is substantial evidence that the Scientology organization is involved in activities directed against the free democratic order." Nagel has been building support among other interior ministers.

Berlin's Interior Minister, Senator Erhart Koerting, presided over a two-day conference on the issue with the interior ministers of all of Germany's 16 states.  Federal Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, also attended. The German government does not believe Scientology is a religion, but instead treats it as a commercial enterprise, and states that it takes advantage of its members. The government taxes the CoS and its sister organizations as businesses in the country.

The interior ministers will ask Germany's domestic intelligence agency to determine what will be necessary in order to ban the CoS in Germany. The organization has been under investigation by the German government for over a decade, under allegations that it "threatens the peaceful democratic order."

Scientologists have said that the investigation is a violation of their freedom of religion, and the United States Department of State has criticized Germany in its Human Rights Reports in previous years. Sabine Weber, a representative of Scientology in Germany, called the actions to ban Scientology "more than incomprehensible."

This past summer, Germany had initially refused producers of a film starring Scientologist Tom Cruise to film at key sites. Cruise was later able to shoot his film in certain restricted areas.