London: Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'

The bizarrely cosy relationship between the “Church” of “Scientology” and the London police is something I blogged about at CiF last year, and it is only getting more peculiar. Now comes the news that a teenager has been served a summons by City of London police for participating in a peaceful demonstration outside the shiny new £24-million London HQ of “Scientology” with a placard that called the organization a “cult”:
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Quite. If you live in France, you can call “Scientology” a cult or secte with impunity, because that is how it is defined in law. And as a point of fact, the “Church” of “Scientology” is not a religion under UK law either.

http://unspeak.net/cult/

The incident happened during a protest against the Church of Scientology on May 10. Demonstrators from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous, who were outside the church's £23m headquarters near St Paul's cathedral, were banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was "abusive and insulting".

Writing on an anti-Scientology website, the teenager facing court said: "I brought a sign to the May 10th protest that said: 'Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult.'
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The teenager refused to back down, quoting a 1984 high court ruling from Mr Justice Latey, in which he described the Church of Scientology as a "cult" which was "corrupt, sinister and dangerous".

After the exchange, a policewoman handed him a court summons and removed his sign.
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The City of London police came under fire two years ago when it emerged that more than 20 officers, ranging from constable to chief superintendent, had accepted gifts worth thousands of pounds from the Church of Scientology.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/20/1

The news that on Sunday, Scientologists opened a new £24m "church" in the City of London is a farcical footnote to recent official pronouncements on religion's place in society.

As the Guardian reported: "Chief Superintendent Kevin Hurley, the fourth most senior police officer in the City of London, welcomed the Scientologists to their new home, just a stone's throw from St Paul's Cathedral. Mr Hurley said the Scientologists were a 'force for good' in London and were 'raising the spiritual wealth of society', to applause and cheering from the gathered crowd."

What, you might wonder, is the City's fourth most senior police officer doing giving public estimations of the "spiritual wealth" contributed to society by any organisation? "Spiritual wealth" in itself is an interesting phrase, usually invoked in contrast to filthy lucre - and yet churches throughout history have notoriously been rather interested in base monetary wealth as well as its "spiritual" cousin. Indeed, as in the old Catholic practice of selling indulgences, "spiritual wealth" is often promised exactly in exchange for ready coin. Probably the chief superintendent did not mean to make that insinuation with regard to Scientology - whose name, mixing Latin and Greek to arrive at something meaning "knowledge of knowledge", is at least an amusing tautology.

More strangely, the chief superintendent's remarks contradict the official position taken on Scientology by the Charity Commission. In 1999, the Commission considered Scientology's application for charitable status, and concluded that because its work was private, it would not result in "the moral and spiritual welfare or improvement of the community", that the organisation was "not established for the public benefit", and indeed, that the so-called "church" was "not a religion for the purposes of English charity law". That seems clear enough. Scientology has also been refused religious status in Germany and Belgium; in France it is considered a "sect" or cult.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/steven_poole/2006/10/steve_on_scientology.html

Schoolboy avoids prosecution for branding Scientology a 'cult'

A file was passed to the CPS, which today told City of London police it would not be pursuing the boy through the courts.

A spokeswoman for the force said: "The CPS review of the case includes advice on what action or behaviour at a demonstration might be considered to be threatening, abusive or insulting.

"The force's policing of future demonstrations will reflect this advice."

A CPS spokesman said: "In consultation with the City of London police, we were asked whether the sign, which read 'Scientology is not a religion it is a dangerous cult', was abusive or insulting.

"Our advice is that it is not abusive or insulting and there is no offensiveness, as opposed to criticism, neither in the idea expressed nor in the mode of expression. No action will be taken against the individual."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/23/religion