All new religions in their early years have had to endure trials of acceptance. The same was true of Scientology. But with the Church’s growing prominence and visibility came recognition and understanding. Today the religiosity of
Scientology has been fully acknowledged by courts and governments throughout the world.
Courts in the United States have always held that Scientology is a religion; indeed, in a September 1993 federal appeals court ruling, the judges pronounced that there had not been a single instance in which a United States court held otherwise.
The most significant official recognition of the Scientology religion came in October 1993 when the United States Internal Revenue Service granted full religious recognition to all churches of Scientology and related social betterment organisations, concluding after an exhaustive and thorough review that Scientology churches are established and operated exclusively for religious and charitable purposes. The IRS also determined that Scientology is a bona fide religion and that the Church of Scientology met the detailed criteria of the IRS to qualify as a “Church.”
The IRS examination was not limited to the United States, but specifically included reviews of the financial affairs and activities of Church organisations from Australia to Europe. Its findings were uniform — churches of Scientology operate for the benefit of the public interest.
European governments have since then rendered similar recognitions of the religious and charitable status of churches of Scientology. Often, they were preceded by rulings of the leading courts.
As early as 1980, the Appeals Court in Paris ruled that Scientology must be granted full protection as a religion under the French Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. The Appeals Court in Lyon later supported this decision.
In 1997, the Church of Scientology in Milan won a ruling that religious scholars regard as one of the most important legal precedents concerning religion by any top court in Europe. The Italian Supreme Court overruled a lower court that had narrowly defined religion as Judeo-Christian, noting that Taoism, Buddhism and many other great religions had thereby been excluded. The Court described in considerable detail why Scientology qualified to be regarded as a religion — a decision followed by the Italian Ministry of Finance, which soon afterward granted religious tax exemption to Scientology churches in Italy.
Only a few weeks later, the Federal Administrative Court in Germany announced that Scientology religious practices are “spiritual counselling” aimed at “the attainment of a higher level of being.” Germany’s administrative and appeals courts have consistently held in more than 40 rulings that the Scientology religion is to be afforded the protection of Article 4 of the German Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of religious belief and practice and ideological opinion.
In November 1999, the government of Sweden declared the Church of Scientology to be a charitable, nonprofit organisation with a religious purpose. The following year, the Swedish government further officially recognised the Church by formally granting its ministers the authority to perform marriages.
