Scientology's tax exemption has cost the country somewhere in the amount of one billion dollars. It was obtained through stealth at the best, and coercion at the worst. It should be removed for their offenses against the public good.
Scientology is clearly a business and not a religion. For one thing, legitimate religions don't constantly try to SELL you their scriptures and worry about their copyrights, much less cater to celebrities. Ask any Muslim religious leader and he'll be happy to give you free access to his materials. Scientology is a business posing as a religion as a way to avoid taxation.
Any church that claims you can still practice your "Faith-religion" after joining thier "church" is only using the word "church" to maintin tax-exemption status and are abusing an otherwise beneficial tax regulation.
Any *religion* that has a "fair game policy" needs to be scrutinized--even Torquemada wouldn't have tax exempt status if he were around today. Besides, what religion is trademarked?
As a native of Clearwater, Florida (international headquarters of the Church of Scientology), I can tell you the disdain and distrust that Floridians have with the church. Any pet project of a deranged millionaire (L. Ron Hubbard) is no religion.
This is the biggest scam I have ever heard of. Aliens coming out of volcanoes and inhabiting the bodies of humans? How rediculous does this sound? It is not a religion.
I do believe that this institution engages in recruiting and monitoring members in a highly suspicious manner, specifically by assigning public figures to spokespersons who seem to be more like bodyguards than anything else. Their practice of charging big bucks for additional knowledge and advancement in the so called church strikes me more as the business plan of a corporation selling self help packages than it does a house of worship. I have personally known several people over the years who were involved in this at a low level, and it just made them weird. The Hollywood stars promoting it now seem a little beyond weird, from marrying women half their age, to public diagnoses of medical problems which should only be made by a an MD, and not in public, to manic behavior seemingly requiring an MD in and of itself, to flippant naming of their children without regard for the child's future welfare. Frankly, these people seem self-serving and unbalanced, and rumors surrounding L Ron Hubbard over the years tend to substantiate that he is running a highly profitable scam, and not what any reasonable person would define as a church.
I would like to add that all churches including Scientology should have their Tax Exempt status removed.
They have shown a blatant disregard for the establishment clause and promote certain political opinions and politicians.
It is time for all Churches to pay their share of taxes as they have become PACs.
This isn't a church, this is a cult. L.Ron Hubbard on many occasions spoke about how people would believe anything, and this was his joke on the world. Please take this exemption away from them. They get millions of dollars from hollywood, they should have to pay their fair share of taxes like the rest of us.
Ban all religion is right. L. Ron Hubbard created his cult on a bet with some science fiction writers that he couldn't start a science fiction religion and get people in it to believe that humans were put on earth by aliens.
