PRESS RELEASE // Church of Scientology International // GERMANY – For nearly three decades, Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution monitored the Church of Scientology and its followers under claims that the religion posed a threat to democracy.
Today, the surveillance ends where it should have: with the complete failure of the allegations it was based on.
Despite years of investigations, informant recruitment, infiltration attempts, political campaigns, blacklisting, “sect filters,” public warnings, and intensive scrutiny, German authorities have found no extremist network, no state conspiracy, no anti-democracy campaign, no acts of violence, and no evidence that Scientologists were ever the threat they were made out to be.
The truth is simple: The threat never existed.
What did exist was 30 years of institutionalized discrimination against a peaceful minority religion and its practitioners.
Scientologists in Germany lost jobs, careers, and business opportunities due to their faith. Families faced stigmatization. Scientologist children experienced discrimination in schools. Artists, professionals, and public figures were attacked and ostracized for their religious beliefs. Government-backed “sect filters” pervaded public and private sectors, warning employers and institutions away from Scientologists as if mere religious association was dangerous.
All this was justified by a narrative that has now collapsed.
Not due to a lack of time.
Not due to a lack of resources.
But because the allegations were false from the start.
During these decades, Scientology gained recognition, protection, and vindication globally.
In 1993, following an extensive examination, the United States Internal Revenue Service granted full religious recognition to Scientology Churches and related entities.
In 1997, Italy’s Supreme Court recognized Scientology as a religion and rejected efforts to criminalize its practices.
In 2007, Spain’s National Court affirmed Scientology’s status as a religion entitled to religious freedom protections under European law.
In 2013, the United Kingdom Supreme Court condemned discrimination against Scientologists as “illogical, discriminatory and unjust” while recognizing Scientology chapels as places of worship.
In 2016, after an 18-year prosecution with sensational allegations, Belgian courts fully acquitted Scientology and condemned the proceedings as fundamentally incompatible with human rights protections.
Concurrently, courts and governments globally recognized Scientology and protected the rights of Scientologists as members of a legitimate religion.
Meanwhile, in Germany, the surveillance apparatus persisted.
Even as courts repeatedly ruled against related discriminatory actions.
Even as internal findings acknowledged the lack of evidence.
Even as multiple German states quietly ended surveillance after finding no actionable wrongdoing.
Even as international human rights organizations, foreign officials, and major media questioned Germany’s treatment of Scientologists.
History shows the danger when governments distort minority religion beliefs to justify exceptional treatment. When suspicion replaces evidence and propaganda replaces objectivity, constitutional protections erode.
This is the true lesson.
This was never simply about Scientology.
It became a test of whether democratic societies would uphold religious liberty when political fear, stigma, and opportunism made it unpopular.
After nearly 30 years, the final result starkly contrasts with the rhetoric that fueled the campaign.
No democracy was saved.
No hidden conspiracy uncovered.
No constitutional threat exposed.
Only the reality that a vast apparatus of surveillance, suspicion, and discrimination targeted a peaceful religious community innocent of the claims justifying it.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution’s announcement does not erase the damage inflicted on thousands of Scientologists over decades.
But it marks the collapse of one of the longest-running state-sponsored religious discrimination campaigns in modern democratic Europe.
History has rendered its verdict.
And that verdict is not on Scientology.
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