Germany has sought to nurture tolerance as a national characteristic since World War Two, but it doesn\u2019t stretch to the Church of Scientology. A new Forsa poll shows 74 percent of Germans think Scientology should be banned. The survey comes hard on the heels of a declaration from federal and regional ministers that the movement is unconstitutional. That announcement, the culmination of a row with Scientology dating back to the 1970s, opens the way for a possible ban.<\/p>\n
Germany is not alone in refusing to recognise the Church of Scientology as a religion, but it goes further than many other countries in its rejection of the body. It see Scientology as a cult masquerading as a church to make money, a view Scientologists reject.<\/p>\n
Agents of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, a kind of German FBI, are already gathering information on Scientology and a whole chapter is devoted to it in the intelligence agency\u2019s 2006 report. It describes the movement as having a \u201ctotalitarian character\u201d\u009d because it seeks to exert control over its members. But the agency is not sure the government will be able to get enough evidence to ban it.<\/p>\n