Sects
Rather Vague
From: "Spiegel" magazine, issue 9, Germany
Whether Catholic priest, evangelical pastor or
preacher for a sect - that makes no difference for a
Hessian court. The court exempted an adherent of the
"Scientology
®
Church" from his military obligation.
For Hans Loeffelmann, who is a graduate theologian from
Munich and sect observer for the Catholic Church, the
judges have fallen for a bluff and passed a "comical
judgment" which looks to him like a "bad joke."
For his evangelical colleague, Reverend Friedrich-Wilhelm
Haack, it is clear, after the judgment, that something was
rather "amiss" and "undetected." The Lutheran Haack is
afraid that from now on, every vendor of courses will be
able to "cash in as a church," right down to a soccer club if it
states in advance that it kicks as part of its life's goal as a
religion!"
The anger of the theologian was aroused by a Darmstadt
Administrative Court which acknowledged a sect disciple of
the "Scientology Church Germany" as "primarily employed
as a clergyman." The preacher in question, who had made a
complaint about his conscription into the Defense Forces, is
now exempt from military service, which puts him on the
same legal ground as evangelical and Catholic ministers.
The legal judgment on spiritual advisors was obtained by
petitioner Franz Walter Fiedler, 24, who has been pursuing
his studies for four years at the Frankfurt "College for
Applied Philosophy, reg." The college is a mission outpost
of the "Scientology Church" whose founder, Lafayette
Ronald Hubbard, in Loeffelmann's opinion, "makes a
business of exploiting spiritual necessity and deficiencies in
self-awareness of young people under the guise of religion."
The Scientologist's application to be made exempt from
military service with National Defense was turned down last
September by Defense Area Administration IV in
Wiesbaden [Wehrbereichsverwaltung IV]; his objection of
being "trained for the clergy" was not accepted. The military
adjutant refused to categorize the sect as a "religious
congregation."
Fiedler's attorneys were better prepared. They presented
the court with two opinions, one from the renowned
proponent for church rights, Klaus Obermayer of Erlangen,
and one from Axel Freiherr of Campenhausen in Hannover.
These opinions had been written for the Scientology Church
over three years prior. In the opinions, the authors agreeably
gave their employer the appearance of the "character of a
religious congregation" (Obermayer) whose pastoral
counseling, the so-called "auditing," is supposed to be
similar to the "sacraments of Christianity or meditation of
Buddhism" (Campenhausen).
Scientology novice Fiedler counts as one of the beginners
("preclears") who, through auditing, a mixture of confession
and interrogation, is training himself to be a teacher
("auditor"), and after many expensive seminars in Frankfurt,
Munich or Copenhagen will gradually reach the state of
"clear," a "clear, radiant, spiritual being." Loeffelmann states,
"That can cost 250,000 marks and more, and the people
are worse off than they were before."
With a worldwide membership of 5.5 million (12,000 in the
Federal Republic [of Germany]), the Church of Scientology,
with organizations such as "Narconon"
®
or the "Commission
for Violations of Psychiatry against Human Rights", belongs
to the "multi-nationals" (Haack) of commercial religious
business. The life philosophy of "mental health," mixed with
elements of eastern religions - introduced by sect founder
Hubbard, a former science fiction writer, in his book
"Dianetics" - is imparted to the sect members in "integrity
courses" (about 4,160 marks), in seminars for "Dianetics
Counselor" (for 8,179 marks), or given with an electrometer
(price: 700 marks), a type of lie detector.
With its profitable, religious ideas, bizarre mixture of
universal philosophy, pseudo-science and religion, the judge
from Darmstadt bothered himself little with earlier court
decisions which described the Scientology Church as "the
world's largest organization of unqualified people" whose
practice presents, "medically and socially" a "serious threat
to society," and whose adherents have been "pitifully
seduced" and are often "mentally ill." Judge Axel Schulz
stated, "It was not our assignment to check out their
methods to see if they fell under the realm of ordinary
criminality."
So far, neither the sect experts of the churches nor the
parents of children who have been recruited have been able
to convince German federal courts of the destructive
character of some sect techniques. "Criminal conditions such
as fraud, extortion or duress would tip the scales the other
way," said attorney Obermayer.
The administrative judge avoided evaluating the content of
the Scientology beliefs, thereby sidestepping a collision with
the principle of religious freedom anchored in Basic Law.
The judge need not take into account advanced education
or knowledge of ancient languages such as Latin, Greek or
Hebrew in his assessment. The "career picture" of a
clergyman of the two large Christian denominations,
according to a Federal Administrative Court in deciding in
favor of a proceeding for the Jehovah's Witnesses, does not
have to be used as a "measuring stick" for clergymen. Judge
Schulz stated, "They may do what they want."
In the literary excerpts presented by the sect, the legal men
discovered, even though they did not have the contribution
of a theologian, proof of a "classic religious belief"; the
Scientologists attested to an "organized religious community"
and assessed Fiedler's office as "that of a clergyman" - a
far-reaching comparison which permits those obligated to
serve in the military to believe that they can get out of being
a soldier if they hire on with a sect at the right time. This bait
is already serving Fiedler's brethren, as Loeffelmann
observed, in their membership recruitment drive on the
street.
The decision of the judge from Darmstadt has doubtlessly
strengthened the position of all the obscure associations who
have attracted youthful fanatics and the mentally unstable in
the past several years. Scientologists are already celebrating
the decision as their "most important accomplishment in the
German courts." However, the appeal still has to go before
the Federal Administrative Court.
The authors of the opinions, Obermayer (Loeffelmann:
"rather vague") and of Campenhausen (Haack: "old news"),
have since kept their distance. For instance, Obermayer
would not like "to come under suspicion of being a sect
sympathizer"; he believes recruiting pedestrians on the street
for auditing seminars is "very, very controversial" and that
the writings of sect founder Hubbard are "unpalatable."
Campenhausen, who has since then become a civil prebend
administrator of the Lower Saxon government, would not
like his "ecclesiastical-political opinion" to be used so that
"unprofessional people can perform some hocus-pocus to
be free of military service" - at the same time, he also had
the "suspicion" that "Hubbard and his psycho-courses are
full of it".
CISAR.ORG
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approx. March 4, 1979
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