Germany Seeks to Ban Scientology
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's top security officials said Friday they consider the goals of the U.S.-based Church of Scientology to be in conflict with the principles of the nation's constitution and will seek to ban the group.
The interior ministers of the nation's 16 states as well as federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble "consider Scientology to be an organization that is not compatible with the constitution," Berlin Interior Minister Erhart Koerting, who presided over the officials' two-day conference, told reporters.
The German government considers Scientology a commercial enterprise that takes advantage of vulnerable people. During the summer, it initially refused to allow the producers of a movie starring Scientology member Tom Cruise as Germany's most famous anti-Hitler plotter to film at the site where the hero was executed, although it did not expressly state Scientology as its reason.
The ministers plan to task the nation's domestic intelligence agency to begin preparing the necessary information to ban Scientology in Germany. The agency has had Scientology under observation for a decade on allegations that it "threatens the peaceful democratic order" of the country.
Scientologists have long battled to end the surveillance, saying it is an abuse of their right to freedom of religion. The State Department regularly criticizes Germany in its annual Human Rights Report for the monitoring practice.
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.