Scientologist Wins German Court Challenge of Hamburg Practices

In Germany, the Church of Scientology has won a court victory against governmental practices that have been criticized by the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report. Federal and seven state Offices for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany have had the Church of Scientology under observation, claiming that the Church's teachings and practices are opposed to the democratic constitutional order or violate human rights. (Background memo.) Scientology's website reported on Thursday that the Federal Supreme Administrative Court in Leipzig has ruled that the Hamburg state government violated the constitutional right to freedom of religion of a Scientologist when it advised a private employer to have anyone employed by or conducting business with it sign a "filter" to disavow the works of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology.