Does Germany Have Something Against These Guys?

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In fact, everyone involved in the dispute is having trouble presenting a coherent case. The German government also guarantees freedom of religion but refuses to register Scientology as a religion, considering it a profit-making enterprise that is bilking its members of their savings. German officials explain that it is precisely because of the Nazi past that they are hard not only on Scientology but on all "radical cults and sects, including right-wing Nazi groups." People have gone to jail in Germany for displaying a swastika or denying the Holocaust. And most Germans, 70% of whom tell pollsters they think the church should be banned, consider Scientology a subversive organization. "The federal government," says Peter Hausmann, its spokesman in Bonn, "will continue to combat Scientology with all legal means." Kohl snapped that those who signed the letter "don't know a thing about Germany and don't want to know."

Burns told Scientology officials, "We share the outrage of many Germans to see their government compared to the Nazis." But that did not keep him from drawing sharp distinctions regarding German notions of religious freedom. "We believe," he said, "that the members of the Church of Scientology have a right to practice their religion in Germany. Some Americans have had their religious rights infringed." Other U.S. officials use harsher terms. They believe Germany is violating the spirit, if not the letter, of its own constitutional guarantees. And, says an Administration official, the Germans are conducting their "witch hunt in the absence of demonstrated illegal action by the Scientologists."

The Germans have no hard evidence of criminality but an abiding fear of extremism in any form. The Christian Democrats call Scientology "totalitarian." A Social Democratic member of the Bundestag says it is "fascist." When a German delegation met with U.S. officials on the issue late last year, the Americans argued that if there is evidence of illegality, the Scientologists should be prosecuted under existing laws. The Germans replied that, well, there wasn't enough evidence for a trial, but even so, their government "has a responsibility to protect its citizens." Washington agrees that the lid should be kept on dangerous movements but thinks Bonn is tightening such restraints far beyond worrisome Nazi-like groups. "This is all extralegal in our view," says an American diplomat.

Some German officials argue that the whole fuss was cranked up by the Scientologists "to achieve what we won't give them: tax-exempt status as a religion. This is intimidation, pure and simple." Scientologists campaigned in the U.S. for years before receiving tax exemption in 1993, and Washington has not asked Bonn to grant it.

Both countries emphasize that the dispute will have no serious effect on their close alliance. The German embassy in Washington says the relationship is obviously in good shape if this is the biggest problem it has to deal with. Last week's State Department report also points to "some positive developments": Bonn has decided not to put Scientology under federal surveillance and concluded there is no evidence that the church has committed criminal acts. In spite of the public argument, both capitals think they can quietly agree to disagree on the issue--if the Scientologists will let them.

--Reported by Jordan Bonfante/Bonn and Bruce van Voorst/Washington