It's all over the news -- still.
You'd have to be living under a rock to be in Germany and not know about the new Church of Scientology that just opened in the capital city of Berlin. However, you do need to do a bit of reading between the lines to fully interpret the media that has been running on such.
Now, anyone with half a brain knows that the easiest way to pursue a political agenda is to completely manipulate the media, and let people know what "public opinion" is, by simply fabricating it and putting it in a news article.
Such is the case with Scientology in Germany, and has been for some time.
Read my last article on the new Church of Scientology in Berlin -- the new Berlin Scientology Church has displays and seminar rooms where anyone can just walk in off the street and find out what the Church is all about. Hardly the 'secretive sect' that some odd German media is trying to pump up the jam on. Seriously, the new Berlin Church has 360 degree windows that go all the way around the building -- you can't even have an office in that place without having a window. Just try to be secretive there!
But talking to friends I have there, who went to the opening and were some of the people from the U.S. waving flags all over the place, said that Germans on the street were just utterly curious, wondering what in the heck Scientology is -- as all they had heard was the random maunderings of the media. It's far from this scene that German news tries to trump up.
So, it really makes me wonder what in the heck various German government officials are trying to protect -- like, what are they sitting on? It's pretty well known that the Church of Scientology vigorously investigates people who create human rights abuses, and won't stand for that sort of thing at all. So what are these officials worried about? What would cause them to try to continue to badmouth an organization which has a dedicated following, which zealously works in fields of social reform, drug rehab, and general help?
When the grand opening was happening, I kept seeing odd news articles that talked about an "exclusive opening ceremony for 150 Scientologists" while the photos showed 1000 people, all out on the street, celebrating the opening. Who's kidding who here?
Seriously. Being in Germany, when all you hear is German media, it must be tough. But looking at it from the U.S., it just looks like wagging the dog to draw attention away from something we don't know.
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