Title: NEWS: German commission proclaims Scientology more threatening than thought
Author: Scanner <scanner@where.when>
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 14:15:41 -0500

Copyright 1998 Associated Press

AP Worldstream 

March 05, 1998; Thursday 10:13 Eastern Time

German commission proclaims Scientology more threatening than thought.

BONN - Lawmakers fresh from a U.S. visit to defend Germany's stance on
Scientology said Thursday they succeeded in refuting the group's claim
that Germany practices religious discrimination.

At the same time, the five-member bipartisan parliamentary committee
said Americans it spoke with during a weeklong Washington trip confirmed
German suspicions that the group is dangerous.

While the United States recognizes the Church of Scientology as a
religion, the German government considers the group to be a sect with
aims to undermine democracy.

The committee's chairwoman, Ortrun Schaetzle, said the differing stances
on the Los Angeles-based Scientologists had not strained Germany's
relations with the United States.