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http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=37053c94.856719236%40news.earthlink.net&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain
From: publicrelations@scientology.org
(Public Relations)
Subject: RE: Armstrong posting on Greece
Date: 1999/06/09
Message-ID: <37053c94.856719236@news.earthlink.net>#1/1
X-ELN-Insert-Date: Wed Jun 9 11:45:04 1999
Organization: Church of Scientology International
X-Posted-Path-Was: not-for-mail
Reply-To: publicrelations@scientology.org
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
X-ELN-Date: 9 Jun 1999 18:36:57 GMT
Gerry Armstrong has posted
a 1994 program which lays out a plan
to protect the rights of minority religions in Greece.
Nothing better illustrates
Armstrong's hallucinatory state of
mind than his assumption that the actions in the program are somehow
illegal. He thinks that all he has to do is make the allegation and it
will stick. This is an old tactic of Gerry's. He is on record as
saying, "we don't have to prove a goddam thing ... we just have to
"allege" it." It's not unlike something the McCarthyist crowd would
do -- seize on anything that supports their hysteria so long as you
don't look at the facts.
Armstrong needs to read
the U.S. Department of State human
rights reports on Greece to find out what's going on there. The
reports show why any religion would take effective actions to protect
religious freedom in that country.
Here are some excerpts
from the 1997 Report:
Section 2 Respect for
Civil Liberties section
c. Freedom of Religion
it states "Police frequently detained
Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Scientologists after receiving
complaints that the individuals were engaged in proselytism. In most
cases the individuals were held for several hours at a police station
and then released with no charges filed. Many reported that they were
not allowed to call their lawyers and that they were verbally abused
by police officers for their religious beliefs. Mormon church
officials allege that police failed in June to intervene appropriately
in two separate cases when missionaries were assaulted on the street
in central Athens...
"In December 1996,
an Athens court revoked the operating permit
of KEFE (now known as EKDS), the organization representing
Scientologists in Greece, on a technicality...The court's decision
contained extensive criticism of Scientology's beliefs and practices;
the Scientologists appealed the decision in order to have that
language invalidated. Since October 1996 the Government has summoned
15 members of the boards of KEFE and EKDS to face charges of
"unprovoked factual insult."
"On December 16,
the European Court of Human Rights held
unanimously that Greek courts had violated Article 6 of the European
Convention on Human Rights by refusing to acknowledge that the Canea
Catholic church in Crete had legal personality and therefore the
standing to act in legal proceedings. The Court awarded the church
$40,000 in court costs and damages. Human rights observers viewed the
decision as a criticism of government policies toward non-Orthodox
religions."
There's a great deal more
in reports not only by the State
Department but by a number of international human rights organizations
concerned at the situation in Greece.
It is not surprising that
Armstrong is oblivious to real human
rights abuses. He faces 14 counts of contempt with a possible 28 days
in jail and a $10,000 bond for not showing up regarding his violations
of court orders. He ought to deal with that.
publicrelations@scientology.org
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