These are just some of the scores of court decisions and affirmations of the religious nature of Scientology. Such religious recognitions come from countries around the world — from Albania to Taiwan, from Costa Rica to the Russian Federation.

In recent years, authorities in the United Kingdom have issued similar decrees. The Ministry of Defence has declared that Scientology is an official recognised religion within the Royal Navy. Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise has granted churches of Scientology exemption from value-added tax and classifies them as religious organisations. The Internal Revenue decreed that members of the Church’s religious order serve out of religious commitment rather than financial reward.

Germany’s Federal Labour Court made a near identical determination in October 2002, concluding that staff members of Scientology churches are “seeking idealistic purposes and [their] own spiritual perfection through the teachings of Scientology.”

Most significantly, in January 2003, the German Federal Finance Office acknowledged the full tax exemption in Germany of the Church of Scientology International, the mother church of the Scientology religion.

Similar recognitions and confirmations have been issued during the same time period from Holland, Hungary, Portugal, Switzerland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, India and Japan.

Concurrently, a noteworthy recognition of the Scientology religion took place in December 2002, when the government of New Zealand issued an official decree fully recognising the Church of Scientology of New Zealand as an exempt religious and charitable organisation in New Zealand.

This recognition was predicated on the historic 1983 decision of the High Court of Australia, in which the Court granted the Church full religious recognition, stating, “The conclusion that [the Church of Scientology] is a religious institution entitled to the tax exemption is irresistible.” In their pronouncement the Court also set forth the criteria for defining religion in all of Australia, a standard adopted by New Zealand.

Then, in March 2003, the National Ministry of the Interior for Taiwan recognised the Church of Scientology of Taiwan as a charitable religious institution and officially added it to the rolls of the recognised religions of the country.

In October 2003, the Director of Income Tax Exemptions in India granted tax-exempt, and religious charity status to the Church of Scientology of New Delhi.

Later that same month, the Church of Scientology Mission of the Philippines was registered as a religious organisation by the government of the Philippines.

These many recognitions were not all easily won. It was often necessary to appeal to the arbiters of justice. Scientologists not infrequently had to deal with misconceptions and even willful false reports about the Scientology religion. But every time, when courts and government officials honestly and objectively examined the facts, they came to agree with the aforementioned 1983 Australian High Court conclusion that “Scientology is irresistibly a religion.”