In Germany, Hamburg's Interior Minister Udo Nagel is urging interior ministers from other states to join with him to impose a nationwide ban on Scientology. Germany considers Scientology a business, not a religion. The German Office for the Protection of the Constitution has been watching the group's recruitment practices, fearing that it is a foreign organization seeking to influence political elections. Scientology claims religious discrimination. Spiegel Online and AHN both cover these developments.
UPDATE: According to BBC News on Saturday, federal and state interior ministers have asked Germany's domestic intelligence agency to determine whether the Church of Scientology's legal status as an association can be challenged.
UPDATE: Der Spiegel reported on Monday that German intelligence agencies say there is not sufficient evidence to ban the Church of Scientology, finding that while the organization operates in ways that are hostile to the Germany's constitution, Scientology has not successfully infiltrated a broader population.
