Religious Freedom Summary* (1997)


The Basic Law specifically provides for religious freedom, and the Government respects this right in practice. Most religious organizations are granted tax-exempt status. In order to obtain this status, state-level authorities must find that the organization operates on a nonprofit basis and contributes socially, spiritually, or materially to society.

Beyond the basic tax-exempt status, state governments grant certain religious groups "public-law corporation" status. This status entitles an organization to levy taxes on its members; the taxes are collected by the state and distributed proportionally to the religious group's enrolled membership. State governments also subsidize various institutions affiliated with such public-law corporations, such as schools and hospitals. In order to attain public-law corporation status, a religious organization much show that its constitution and membership offer an assurance of its permanency. Although commonly thought to include only the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches, Jewish congregations, and a few small free churches, the number of religious groups that have acquired public law corporation status is significantly larger.

In July the Federal Administrative Court in Berlin upheld a decision of the Berlin state government that had denied Jehovah's Witnesses public-law corporation status in that state. The court concluded that the church did not offer the "indispensable loyalty" towards the democratic state "essential for lasting cooperation," because, for example, it forbade its members from participating in public elections. Jehovah's Witnesses are appealing this ruling in the Constitutional Court.

One Christian Charismatic Church led by an American pastor reported that it had been subjected over several years to vandalism, threats of violence, and public harassment or scrutiny by sect commissioners. The church is challenging a 1995 ruling by authorities in Cologne, who revoked its tax exempt status on the grounds that it was not a charitable organization and did not contribute to the cultural, religious, or spiritual values of German society.

The Church of Scientology continued to be the focus of debate. Scientology has come under increasing scrutiny by both federal and state officials who contend that it is not a religion but an economic enterprise. Authorities have sometimes sought to deregister Scientology organizations previously registered as nonprofit associations and require them to register as commercial enterprises. In November the Federal Administrative Court in Berlin, in sending an appeal concerning the deregistration of a Scientology organization in the state of Baden Wuerttemberg back to a lower level for further review, declared that a registered nonprofit association, religious or otherwise, could engage in entrepreneurial activities as long as these were only supplementary and collateral to its nonprofit goals. The case continues in the lower court.

Some government officials allege that Scientology's goals and methods are antidemocratic and call for further restrictions on Scientology-affiliated organizations and individuals. In June authorities of the federal and state Offices for the Protection of the Constitution (OPC) agreed to place the Church of Scientology under observation for 1 year because of concerns raised by some offices that there were indications that Scientology may pose a threat to democracy. Under the observation decision, OPC officials will seek to collect information mostly from written materials and first hand accounts to assess whether a "threat" exists. More intrusive methods would be subject to legal checks and would require evidence of involvement in treasonous or terrorist activity. One State, Schleswig-Holstein, announced in August it had decided not to implement such observation, on the grounds that the situation did not appear to justify such measures. While Federal Interior Minister Manfred Kanther supported the decision on observation, in a written response to an inquiry from the Bavarian state government, Kanther indicated that he did not see sufficient evidence to support a ban on Scientology.

ost major political parties continued to exclude Scientologists from membership arguing that Scientology is not a religion but a for-profit organization whose goals and principles are antidemocratic and thus incompatible with those of the political parties, although there has been only one known instance of enforcement of this ban. In July a Bonn state court, in the first court challenge to this exclusion, upheld the December 1996 expulsion of three Scientologists from a state-level organization of the governing Christian Democratic Union party, ruling that a political party had the right to exclude from its organization those persons who do not identify themselves with the party's basic goals.

Scientologists continued to report discrimination, alleging both government-condoned and societal harassment. So-called "sect-filters," statements by individuals that they are not affiliated with Scientology, are used by some businesses and other organizations to discriminate against Scientologists in business and social dealings. Scientologists assert that business firms whose owners or executives are Scientologists, as well as artists who are Church members, have faced boycotts and discrimination, sometimes with state and local government approval. Other Church members have reported employment difficulties and, in the state of Bavaria, applicants for state civil service positions are screened for Scientology membership. Several states have published pamphlets warning of alleged dangers posed by Scientology. In October a Berlin hotel and a firm renting meeting space reportedly refused to rent space for public events to be held at their facilities when they learned that the Church of Scientology was involved in organizing the events.

Scientologists continued to take grievances to the courts. Legal rulings have been mixed. In April the European Commission on Human Rights decided not to pass on to the European Court of Human Rights a discrimination case brought by the Church of Scientology against Germany, on the grounds that the Church had not exhausted domestic legal channels.

A parliamentary commission established in 1996 to investigate so-called "sects and psycho-groups" has included the Church of Scientology among the groups about whose structures, principles, and activities the commission heard testimony. The Commission is expected to produce a final report in the spring of 1998. In December 1996, federal and state government authorities established an interministerial group of mid-level officials to exchange information on policies toward Scientology and to gather and examine charges of discrimination. This body has no decisionmaking authority. It plans to publish a review of state-level policies in 1998.

*Source: County Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997, U.S. Department of State