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Scientology
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Do you think it's as dangerous and malevolent as the media report?
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Re their Tax exempt status.
This comes back, I think, to their vast quantities of cash, and their litigious nature. They were actually stripped of their tax-exempt status in the US back in I think it was late 60s? - They then slapped the IRS with a blizzard of law suits, and regularly filed, went to court, lost - for decades - until the IRS finally caved in, because of the drain on their resources that defending all these lawsuits represented. So Scientology paid what was effectively a token fine/back payment in taxes, and in return were re-instated as a tax exempt body.
It is also important to recognise that they have an extensive PR machine that lobbies ceasely for Scientology to be recognised as a religion in all of the countries they operate in. Some countries they have been successful, others less so. France is a hostile envirnoment for them - they have been classified as a cult, and were recently fined nearly a million dollars for fraudulent behaviour.
In the UK they are not exempt from tax, but are exempt from VAT - they are recognised as a not for profit organisation, rather than a religion.Despite that, it is recognised as a religion by the Prison Service and the Armed Forces.
This comes back, I think, to their vast quantities of cash, and their litigious nature. They were actually stripped of their tax-exempt status in the US back in I think it was late 60s? - They then slapped the IRS with a blizzard of law suits, and regularly filed, went to court, lost - for decades - until the IRS finally caved in, because of the drain on their resources that defending all these lawsuits represented. So Scientology paid what was effectively a token fine/back payment in taxes, and in return were re-instated as a tax exempt body.
It is also important to recognise that they have an extensive PR machine that lobbies ceasely for Scientology to be recognised as a religion in all of the countries they operate in. Some countries they have been successful, others less so. France is a hostile envirnoment for them - they have been classified as a cult, and were recently fined nearly a million dollars for fraudulent behaviour.
In the UK they are not exempt from tax, but are exempt from VAT - they are recognised as a not for profit organisation, rather than a religion.Despite that, it is recognised as a religion by the Prison Service and the Armed Forces.
Blimey... all quite fascinating stuff really. I had always thought it was one of those faddy things that was popular now as obviously had some big name members but would fade away in to obscurity once people stopped being interested in Tom Crusie or John Travolta; it's clearly much bigger than that and malevolent seems the correct word for it.
Nasty stuff imo, NoM, systematically milking vulnerable people of their money by preying on their insecurities. And very agressive.
http://
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this article by John Sweeney doesn't make pleasant reading
http://www.dailymail....d-Scientologists.html
http://www.dailymail....d-Scientologists.html
