July 18, the Moscow State Court threw out the lawsuit of the Russian Justice Ministry against the Moscow Church of Scientology. The religious activity of Church of Scientology in Moscow was acknowledged to correspond with the Russian Constitution.
The Moscow Church of Scientology president, Anton Lychkin said, “I am very glad that we have won, though it is not only the victory of scientologists; this also signifies religious freedom in Russia.”
The head of sect department at the St Tikhon Orthodox Institute, Alexandr Dvorkin, in his interview to ITAR-TASS, stated that the Justice Ministry had intended to deprive the Moscow church of Scientology of registration for formal reasons: this organization had not completed the necessary documents in proper time. However, the organization's lawyers managed to settle this question in legal form in favour of the organization.
At the moment, there are several hundreds of Scientology organizations in Russia with different specializations. According to Dvorkin, there are groups that have a medical, scientific, or educational status. They have different names: Hubbard-College, Dianetics Center, etc. Scientologists use different masks, hiding behind other organizations created by them. “Sometimes, it is difficult to identify them from the name of the organization. For example, in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, there is an organization called Zemlyane (Inhabitants of the Earth), registered as a financial and industry group which, according to the local press, has already put under its control the biggest part of the city and of the region.”
The St Iriney of Leon Center reports that in Ukraine, an officially registered party called The Party of the Seriously Ill Rehabilitation (PRTU) is connected with Scientologists. According to the experts of the center, this could be seen at least from the program of the party, which promises to Ukrainian citizens topazes and making them almost the richest people and turning Ukraine into a world leader. This sounds like a speech of Ron Hubbard.
Scientologists, wherever they appear, recruit more and more new members. At the Moscow State University, in the journalism department library, there is a kind of Dianetics center: here books, posters, and pictures reflecting the Hubbard studies are presented.
In some countries, Scientology is forbidden or restricted in its rights. In France, it was called the most dangerous sect. While in Russia, not one scientology sect has been closed. However, there have been several trials of Scientologists. This shows how fast they have settled in post-Soviet Russia.
However, they are not only in Russia, but in West Europe and especially in the US as well. A book was already translated into English, devoted to the most criminal sect: The Church of Scientology: this book was written in German and titled Meine Ehe mit einem Scientologen (My Marriege with a Scientlogist), Goetersloher Tashcenbuch.
Everybody who studies sects notices that seek power, while Scientology is first in this aspiration. Time magazine once called it a perfect terrorist sect.
Actually, Ron Hubbard who founded the sect never kept secret that his ideas would to turn people into slaves.
On July 18, the Moscow State Court practically acknowledged the sect's activity as corresponding with the Russian Constitution.
Pyotr Bely PRAVDA.Ru
Translated by Vera Solovieva
Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/19/44426.html
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