Brussels Anniversary: Scientology Celebrates 51 Years in Belgium and Social Improvement Efforts

KINGNEWSWIRE / PRESS RELEASE / Destination: Scientology returns to the European headquarters in Brussels, celebrating cultural heritage, community engagement, and a significant 2016 court decision on religious freedom

BRUSSELS, Belgium — 5 February 2026 — The Churches of Scientology for Europe in Brussels commemorates 16 years since opening its Boulevard de Waterloo headquarters, highlighting Scientology’s over 50-year presence in Belgium. The anniversary follows renewed interest from the Destination: Scientology episode on Brussels and an article by Freedom Magazine, which identifies the building as a local icon and revisits the legal proceedings that ended with all charges against the Belgian Church and affiliates being dismissed.

The Brussels site—dedicated on 23 January 2010—occupies an early 20th-century building on Boulevard de Waterloo 100–103 and is described as an 88,000-square-foot facility serving both local parishioners and visitors from across Europe. The premises include a chapel for congregational gatherings and ceremonies, rooms for religious training and pastoral counselling, and a public information space presenting Scientology beliefs and practices and the life and works of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, alongside information on Church-supported social betterment programmes.

While the Brussels headquarters dates to 2010, Belgium’s national timeline extends further back. Public registry information lists the Église de Scientologie de Belgique (ASBL) as founded in 1974—placing Scientology’s organised presence in the country at more than 51 years. Church representatives say the Brussels building has become a focal point for activity in a city where diverse communities and European institutions share the same streets, and where questions of pluralism and freedom of religion or belief are regularly debated in civic and policy settings.

Scientology Network Brussels episode of Destination: Scientology presents the site through the lens of the capital’s multilingual culture and its reputation for compromise, spotlighting community events and interfaith engagement as part of the Church’s daily rhythm. The programme includes on-camera reflections on dialogue and social cohesion, with one staff member describing a goal to “unite people” through better communication and understanding—an emphasis echoed in the Freedom Magazine account of the episode’s theme of “unity while still being diverse.”

A personal narrative featured in the programme describes how applying Scientology communication principles affected a Belgian entrepreneur’s workplace and relationships—an example used in the episode to illustrate how Scientologists describe their religious practice in everyday life. Such testimonials appear alongside broader context: the programme and related coverage revisit a long period in which the Belgian Church faced scrutiny and criminal allegations—an episode that became, in the programme’s telling, a defining test of Belgium’s commitments to due process and equal treatment of minority faiths.

The legal proceedings culminated on 11 March 2016, when a Brussels court dismissed the case and rejected all charges against the Church’s Belgian branch, its European headquarters and individual defendants. Contemporary reporting by outlets noted that the court