[blenIgnigeSef]

A French court has convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud, but stopped short of banning the group from operating in France.
What I don't get is how, if :

-It's not considered a religion in France but a Cult.
-It just got convicted of Fraud.

why they can't ban it?


BBC NEWS | Europe | Scientologists convicted of fraud

[Msrwbdas]

What I don't get is how, if :

-It's not considered a religion in France but a Cult.
-It just got convicted of Fraud.

why they can't ban it?


BBC NEWS | Europe | Scientologists convicted of fraud

Apparently they could have banned it up until this year, but the court found that some obscure recent regulatory change means that you can't ban a sect for fraud. None of the news reports I have seen go into greater detail than that, but they all agree that the court seems to believe it doesn't have that authority anymore.

[Terinalo]

One thing is the article is in English so everything has to be translated and many things cannot be translated exactly.

The article said that it was a sect and not a religion. "France regards Scientology as a sect, not a religion." Note that when it comes to law, God is in the details. Mirriam-Webster defines sect as "1 a : a dissenting or schismatic religious body; especially : one regarded as extreme or heretical b : a religious denomination." So are they saying that it is a sect(a) or sect(b)?

Also the article was saying that it is a business, the words it used was "Unlike the US, France has always refused to recognise Scientology as a religion, arguing that it is a purely commercial operation." Isn't that a business? Drug companies in America are fined for millions of dollars and one for over a billion dollars but they are not shut down.

So they are saying that it is not a religion but a religious body(a) or a religious denomination(b) that is also a business? Or the article got something wrong.

The Muslim countries would have no trouble shutting them down, but France is a democracy.

[blogforlovxr]

What I don't get is how, if :

-It's not considered a religion in France but a Cult.
-It just got convicted of Fraud.

why they can't ban it?

Banning religions because they're fraudulent raises troubling questions. Where do you start? Where do you stop?

Scientology's missteps are well documented, most recently on ABC's Nightline. People still believe. One man's fraud is another's eternal salvation.