Scientology labeled a criminal organization in Belgium?w

[Netko]

I mean am I the only one who finds it disturbing that countries with fucking state religions who don't exactly have a great history of tolerance when it comes to religious minorities are essentially persecuting a very small group of people because they disagree with their beliefs?

State and church have been separated in Germany since 1919. There is no state religion.

Ahh, understood. I was under the impression that most European countries still had an "official" religion, even if it was just ceremony.

[img=left]http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2308 ... ax5.th.png[/img]Nope, down to just England, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Malta, Cyprus and Greece plus most of the microstates (Vatican being frontrunner in that group for obvious reasons). Considering that there are 30+ countries in Europe the accurate statement would be that few countries in Europe still have a state religion.

[salm]

[img=left]http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2308 ... ax5.th.png[/img]Nope, down to just England, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Malta, Cyprus and Greece plus most of the microstates (Vatican being frontrunner in that group for obvious reasons). Considering that there are 30+ countries in Europe the accurate statement would be that few countries in Europe still have a state religion.

You forgot the eastern European countries. Many of them have state religions, in general orthodox: Russia, Belarus, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and a couple of other ones.
And Europe consists of 40+ countries. About half of them have a state religion.

[Netko]

Erm, no, all the ex-communist states have one dominant religion (well, except Bosnia which is at a crossroads of Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Islam) with churches that meddle in politics as a pressure group, however those religions aren't official state religions - other religions have equal rights to the dominant one and the country and its ceremonies are secular.

The above map (taken from wikipedia but matches some cursory checks I made at official sites) clearly demonstrates that (grey areas are countries with no official state religion).

[Wyrm]

Scientology is throwing a fit about the leaked details of their case, saying they constitute a violation of the "confidentiality of investigation" (what's that in English?) and that the prosecution is "out to get them".

...

-Formation of a criminal organisation
-Extortion
-Fraud
-Violation of trade codes
-Violation of privacy laws
-Unlicensed practice of medicine

I'm curious: What on that list hasn't been known for years? Where's the breech of confidentiality?

[anybody_mcc]

Erm, no, all the ex-communist states have one dominant religion (well, except Bosnia which is at a crossroads of Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Islam) with churches that meddle in politics as a pressure group, however those religions aren't official state religions - other religions have equal rights to the dominant one and the country and its ceremonies are secular.

Well , we don't have any dominant religion, but otherwise you are right.

[Molyneux]

Scientology is throwing a fit about the leaked details of their case, saying they constitute a violation of the "confidentiality of investigation" (what's that in English?) and that the prosecution is "out to get them".

...

-Formation of a criminal organisation
-Extortion
-Fraud
-Violation of trade codes
-Violation of privacy laws
-Unlicensed practice of medicine

I'm curious: What on that list hasn't been known for years? Where's the breech of confidentiality?

Scientologists aren't pissed off that this kind of thing has been found out so much as the fact that someone's doing something about it. "Breach of Confidentiality" would appear in this situation, at first glance, to be bull.

[Darth Wong]

Well, one of the charges is the practice of medicine without a license (something they should be charged with here too). You don't see the Vatican issuing orders to "treat" suicidal people and deny them proper psychiatric care (and even allow them to die).

Yes you do, just not in North America or Western Europe. Catholics have been implicated in many exorcisms around the world, in which people were confined against their will and then starved or beaten. Every one of these incidents should be prosecuted as a torture/murder, but few of them are. Worse yet, when it does happen, the local bishop usually says that the church does not officially approve, but asks for leniency anyway, because these people were "acting on their beliefs" or some other such bullshit.

And finally, there's the widespread phenomenon of independent Christian "faith healers", who claim to be able to heal serious diseases. How many people have forgone or delayed serious treatment in order to see one of these charlatans? We'll probably never know, but we do know that they are rarely (if ever) put in prison for their fraudulent practices.

[K. A. Pital]

We have Churches meddling in politics in Russia, but we don't have a "state religion". Sadly, the influence of the Orthodox is rising.

[Superman]

And finally, there's the widespread phenomenon of independent Christian "faith healers", who claim to be able to heal serious diseases. How many people have forgone or delayed serious treatment in order to see one of these charlatans? We'll probably never know, but we do know that they are rarely (if ever) put in prison for their fraudulent practices.

Ah, good points. Yes, you're right.

Well, on the plus side, televangelists do seem to land themselves in prison more often than not.

[salm]

Interesting. The German Wikipedia states that Russia, Romania and several other eastern European nations have a state religion. Just proves what a load of crap Wikipedia is once again.