How the Church of Scientology Profits from the Olympics | EUROtoday

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Q4 hundred and fifty meters. This isn’t the gap of a race on the menu of the Paris Olympics, however the one between the Stade de France and the Celebrity Center of the Church (it has the standing within the United States) of Scientology.

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Located on Avenue du Président-Wilson in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), its spectacular glass façade has seen 1000’s of supporters move by because the opening of the Olympic Games, coming to observe the rugby 7s matches and the athletics occasions.

With an inauguration on April 6 after a protracted administrative battle with the municipality, Scientology is subsequently benefiting from a providential highlight by distributing glasses of water, fruit juice and flyers.

The affiliation No to Drugs, Yes to Life, linked to Scientology, claims to have distributed, because the starting of the Games, 1,000,000 “educational documents” to warn in regards to the dangers of drug use. Problem, the contents are disputed by the scientific group.

“Targeting vulnerable people”

“Scientology practices present risks of mental destabilization, exorbitant financial demands, and a break with one's original environment, particularly family,” remembers the Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight in opposition to Cultic Deviance (Miviludes), which has acquired a number of reviews of leaflet distribution in Paris, Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) and Angers (Maine-et-Loire).

“Although it presents itself in a benevolent manner by adopting a welcoming and empathetic posture, Miviludes is concerned about the group's lack of transparency, which seems to target fragile people, those in pain, facing personal tragedies or existential questions,” the interministerial mission expressed concern in a 2021 report.

In the identical doc, she recalled that the placement chosen to put in this heart was not insignificant: “The five-story building is located near the Stade de France, the future Olympic village and the A1 motorway, from where the movement could make the eight-branched cross, its symbol, visible.”

Convictions for fraud

Founded within the Fifties by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986), the Church of Scientology has eight million followers worldwide. It was established in France in 1959 below the standing of an affiliation, and has been repeatedly criticized by the courts.

In 1997, the previous president of Scientology in Lyon (Rhône) was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, after the suicide of a follower, and for fraud. In 1999, 5 Scientologists had been additionally convicted of fraud in Marseille.

Then, in 2013, two of the principle French Scientology buildings needed to pay fines totaling 600,000 euros for organized fraud, aggravated receiving stolen items and extortion.

Today, the variety of followers in France is estimated at between 1,000 and a couple of,000. Described as a “sect” by a parliamentary fee of inquiry in 1995, Scientology isn’t banned in France.

Its most well-known member on the planet, actor Tom Cruise, was embellished as a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres on July 27, and will take part within the closing ceremony of the Paris Games.



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