Comments about ‘Church of Scientology convicted of fraud in France’

A dangerous precedent, and an example of how weak the protections of religious expression are in Europe. Whatever you think of Scientology, allowing a government to extract a reimbursement from a religious group is bad news for churches down the road.

I hope that this story doesn't make peope jump to conclusions on the Church of Scientology. If a few leaders are convicted of wrongdoing that doesn't mean it's the church as a whole. May we be respectful to others beliefs here.

Jason, I think so too. I worried when the FLDS property was taken control of. No matter what you think of their religion, they do need to follow the law, but they should also have some freedoms to live as they see fit.

so do you think religions should be above all laws? religion does not excuse you from the law when you commit fraud and it should not.

The problem is that religion is based on claims that fraud laws are not meant to adjudicate. Fraud prosecutions on the grounds that the promised gains from sending money to a Church are based on an ability to tell if such donations benefit people in the afterlife, the answer to which we lack.

This is very interesting. How about this? I met this man from South Jordan, he said he is not active in the church anymore because inside the church, there is so much politics and wrongdoings. In fact, he said that THE CHURCH IS A BIG BUSINESS and just doesn't agree with the teachings. Guess the church is a big business, huh!