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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 10/27/2009 : 12:39:47
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Link
| A Paris court convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud and fined it more than 600,000 euros ($900,000) on Tuesday but stopped short of banning the group as prosecutors had demanded. |
A pity, but we'll take what we can get. Another pity that we can't take what we can get out of the scaly hides of these scumbags.
The group's French branch immediately announced it would appeal the verdict.
The court convicted the Church of Scientology's French office, its library and six of its leaders of organized fraud. Investigators said the group pressured members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain and used "commercial harassment" against recruits.
The group was fined euro400,000 ($600,000) and the library euro200,000. Four of the leaders were given suspended sentences of between 10 months and two years. The other two were given fines of euro1,000 and euro2,000.
However, the court did not order the Church of Scientology to shut down, ruling that it would be likely to continue its activities anyway "outside any legal framework."
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Actually, this is a pretty cool move. The Scientologists will indeed continue on and, being greedy as well as stupid, will leave themselves open to further prosecution. One hopes that it will get progressively harsher.
Too bad they won't go on prosecute Catholic/Protestant/Muslim/etc. fraud whilst they're about it....
[Moved to the Religion folder - Dave W.]
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 10/28/2009 : 07:13:16 [Permalink]
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L. Ron's dreadful, little circle-jerk is getting it from all sides, I am happy to report. Now they've had one of their directors tell them to go piss in their collective hats.Yeah, it's a Hollywood mixed with Scientology story, which I normally avoid like the plague, but director Paul Haggis's very public and damning resignation from the Church of Scientology because he couldn't reconcile his belief in the fundamental unfairness of banning gay marriage and his church's support for it is definitely worth a read:
In what may prove to be an earth-shaking rupture for the organization, Oscar-winning writer and director Paul Haggis has broken publicly with the Church of Scientology, the Hollywood-centric religion that has recently come under renewed scrutiny for its political positions.
In a scathing letter to the church's celebrity contact, Tommy Davis, Haggis accused the church of hypocrisy and lies, especially regarding its decision to support the anti-gay-marriage proposition on the California ballot last year, Proposition 8.
"I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated," Haggis wrote, referring to support for Prop. 8 in the church's San Diego branch. "You promised action. Ten months passed. No action was forthcoming."
He added: "The church's refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent."
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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AnthroGeek
New Member
USA
38 Posts |
 Posted - 10/28/2009 : 10:10:06 [Permalink]
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| I would love to see them brought up on charges under the RICO act. |
A series of fun one-liners about various pseudoscientific claims and, even better, a concise description of the scientific method - Ken Feder on Skeptic Friends Network from "Frauds, Myths and Mysteries" |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2009 : 10:24:57 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by AnthroGeek
I would love to see them brought up on charges under the RICO act.
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I think it's been tried to no avail. The Grift of Scientology is nothing if not slippery. They are often accused but seldom convicted, which is why the French decision is such a breath of fresh air.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Excellent…
