This is just in. Translation by me, so not a very good one.

Het Laatste Nieuws 19.07.05 21u08 http://www.hln.be/hln/cch/det/art_100037.html

Onkelinx doesn't accept Scientology's bid for candidacy of recognized religion

Minister van Justice Laurette Onkelinx (PS) has not accepted the candidate status of the Scientology-church as recognized religion in Belgium. The candidacy of the Armenian Church an Buddhism are taken in to consideration by her.

...

As of today there are six recognized religions in Belgium who also receive subsidies by the federal department of justice to the amount of about a hundred million euro a year; the catholic, protestant, angelically en orthodox Church, the jews- and muslim-community.

...

Minister Onkelinx received recently three new requests for candidacy on top of them. ... That [candidacy] of the controversial Scientology-Church she however categorically refuses, despite pressure from abroad, they say in her cabinet. The minister has refused all contact with the movement. Onkelinx points among others to the fact that the Scientology church features on the list of organizations that was made in 1997 by the parliamentary research commission concerning cults.

Financial demands

`The Scientology-Church had indeed clear sectarian trades, especially concerning demanding extremely high financial demands of her followers versus very little in return `, says senator Luc Willems (VLD) who co-wrote the parliament report.

°°°

I´ll end here because it is late and translating is boring. The senator says that being on the list doesn´t mean they should be considered harmful per se. Though at this point at time a recognition of Scientology by the parliament is out of the question, he says. Scientology on its part says it doesn´t know who filed the request for recognition. Because the criteria are very nontransparent they will not strive for official recognition, says chairwoman Myriam Zonnekeyn..

I don't know how it exactly works in Belgium, perhaps my Belgian neighbor can tell more.

-- Mike Gormez

- World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE) - www.stop-wise.biz - www.whyaretheydead.net - Why Are They Dead, Scientology? - Child abuse and neglect by scientologists www.taxexemptchildabuse.net - www.psychassualt.org - Scientology hatred of mental health (CCHR)

This is an article from the Belgian daily De Standaard for July 20, 2005. It can be found at http://www.standaard.be/nieuws/binnenland/index.asp?articleID=G67GH68R

The most interesting bit of news in it is that it seems that finally, *finally*, those raids that took place back in 1999 might lead to an actual trial in the near future.

I append the original article in Dutch for archival purposes, here's my translation (additions between [] are mine):

DOOR REMAINS CLOSED FOR CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY Ministry of Justice turns down recognition as a religion

The Scientology movement will not be officially recognised as a religion in Belgium, and consequently won't be receiving any subsidies. The Church of Scientology had applied for official recognition with the Ministry of Justice, but minister Laurette Onkelinx (PS [French-speaking Socialist party]) "refused all contact" since it is a cult, and one against which a criminal investigation for fraud is pending.

Belgium officially recognises six religions: Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Anglicanism, the (Greek-)Orthodox Church, Judaism and Islam. Besides those, organised secular humanism is also subsidised by the Ministry of Justice. [Here De Standaard shows its ultra-Catholic roots, by separating humanism from the "real" religions. It's subsidised in exactly the same way as the others.]

Three other religions recently applied for similar recognition: Buddhism, the Armenian church (which is currently considered part of the Orthodox church), as well as Scientology. This organisation counts many followers in the US, among them the movie actor Tom Cruise.

In Denmark, for instance, Scientology is a recognised religion. [Why, of all countries in the world, they picked Denmark for a comparison, I don't know, and I don't know either if it's true or not. Very few countries share Belgium's absurd concept of "officially recognised and subsidised religions".] But in our country, the door remains closed.

"I refused any meeting with them", Onkelinx said during a press briefing yesterday. "First of all because a parliamentary commision of enquiry has described Scientology as a cult. Secondly because there is a judicial investigation of this organisation ongoing in Brussels."

That investigation for fraud has now been concluded. A referral to criminal court is likely to follow in the next few months.

The ministry of Justice is favourably inclined towards the requests of the Armenian church and of Buddhism, although in the case of Buddhism additional talks will be needed, since it doesn't have an organisational structure.

[The next paragraph is very strange: they somehow missed out three zeros in the amounts of money mentioned, making millions of euros into thousands. I'm correcting.]

The ministry of Justice spends about 100 million euro on the six recognised religions and humanism, most of it going to Roman Catholicism (74 million), followed by Humanism (9.4 million), Islam (6 million) and Protestantism (3.2 million). [All more-or-less mainstream protestant denominations with a presence in Belgium cooperate in something called the United Protestant Church of Belgium, which isn't really a proper church but an administrative vehicle to divide these subsidies among the member churches.]

Onkelinx added that the new Muslim executive [that's the elected body set up to receive the subsidies for Islam] will probably be in place by late September. The candidates are currently being screened by State Security. The government is intent on preventing extremist Muslims from infiltrating the executive.

20/07/2005 Filip Verhoest ©Copyright De Standaard

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ORIGINAL TEXT:

Deur dicht voor Scientology-kerk Justitie weigert erkenning als godsdienst

Van onze redacteur

De Scientology-beweging krijgt in België geen erkenning als godsdienst en zal bijgevolg ook geen subsidies ontvangen. De Scientology-kerk had een aanvraag tot erkenning bij Justitie ingediend, maar minister Laurette Onkelinx (PS) heeft "elk contact geweigerd", omdat het om een sekte gaat waartegen bovendien een onderzoek loopt wegens fraude.

BELGIE heeft zes godsdiensten erkend: de katholieke, de protestantse, de anglicaanse, de (Grieks-)orthodoxe, de joodse godsdienst en de islam. Daarnaast krijgt ook de georganiseerde vrijzinnigheid subsidies van het ministerie van Justitie.

Drie nieuwe godsdiensten klopten recentelijk aan de deur om eveneens een erkenning te krijgen: het boeddhisme, de Armeense kerk (die nu onder de orthodoxe godsdienst valt) en ook de Scientology-beweging. Die laatste beweging heeft in de Verenigde Staten vele aanhangers, onder wie de filmacteur Tom Cruise.

Ook in Denemarken bijvoorbeeld is de Church of Scientology een erkende godsdienst. Maar in ons land blijft de deur dicht .

"Ik heb elk gesprek geweigerd", zei Onkelinx gisteren op een persontmoeting. "Ten eerste omdat een parlementaire onderzoekscommissie in ons land de Scientology-beweging als een sekte heeft omschreven. Ten tweede omdat er in Brussel een gerechtelijk onderzoek tegen deze beweging loopt."

Dat onderzoek handelt over fraude en oplichting en is inmiddels afgesloten. De komende maanden volgt er waarschijnlijk een doorverwijzing naar de correctionele rechtbank.

Tegenover de aanvraag tot erkenning van de Armeense kerk en van het boeddhisme staat Justitie positief, zij het dat met de boeddhisten nog gesprekken volgen omdat zij niet over een georganiseerde structuur beschikken.

Justitie verdeelt onder de zes erkende godsdiensten en de vrijzinnigheid ongeveer 100.000 euro, waaronder het merendeel voor de katholieke godsdienst (74.000 euro), gevolgd door de vrijzinnigheid (9.400), de islam (6.000) en de protestantse kerk (3.200).

Onkelinx zei nog dat de nieuwe Moslimexecutieve waarschijnlijk eind september kan worden geďnstalleerd. De kandidaten worden momenteel door de Staatsveiligheid gescreend. De overheid is ervoor beducht dat extremistische moslims de Executieve zouden binnensluipen.

20/07/2005 Filip Verhoest ©Copyright De Standaard

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