According to the Netherland Times, a Dutch court has revoked the status of Scientology as a “public welfare institution” (i.e., a nonprofit) because the “church” has been deemed a profit-making institution. And with that the Church’s tax-exempt status disappears”

The court decided that the sales of the Church’s expensive courses and therapy sessions are clearly aimed at making a profit, and thus it does not belong on the tax authorities’ charity list.

. . . The court ruled that these courses [the expensive series of courses that one must take to advance to “getting clear”] cost significantly more than commercial educational institutions’ average school fees. “If providers on the secular education market had similar prices, prospective students would experience it as prices for top education by top teachers in prime locations.” The court finds the prices to be very commercial. According to the court, Scientology consciously seeks profits to fill its purse and was able to build “substantial wealth” like this.

The Church can still appeal against this ruling, but it is not yet clear if they will. A spokesperson called the judge’s ruling “discrimination based on religious beliefs”.

This ruling puts a provisional end to a long ongoing process that started in the Amsterdam Court two years ago, according to newspaper Trouw.  Back then the court ruled that the Church of Scientology does not have a commercial character because it gave courses and therapy sessions to poor Scientologists as gifts. The Supreme Court questioned this ruling late last year, also being concerned about the prices Scientology charges.

Of course the Church of Scientology retains its status as an official religion in the U.S., having gained it after a long battle with the Internal Revenue Service (it originally got that status in 1957, lost it a decade later, and then regained in in 1993 after a series of dubious maneuvers, including illegal actions that resulted in some Scientologists being jailed). Scientology isn’t religious in the sense of worshiping a divine being, but I suppose one could make the case that it has a theology (Xenu et al.) and is “churchlike.”

While its tax-exempt status should also be revoked in the U.S., so should the similar status of all churches. There is no legal justification for exempting churches from taxation, which includes ministers getting a tax-exempt housing allowance. But it will be a cold day in July when the U.S. finally bites the bullet and decides to end the tax-exemptions of churches. At present, religious organizations, like other “nonprofits”, are exempted as a way to further charitable giving, but this amounts to unconstitutional promotion of religion—and to taxpayers subsidizing religion—in a secular country (read the IRS regulations for defining a “church” here). And even if you think that “genuine” religions should be tax-exempt, there is no way that Scientology is a “nonprofit,” given the luxurious lifestyle its leaders enjoy and the way it exploits its members.

Scientology is falling on hard times. The book Going Clear by Lawrence Wright (which I read and highly recommend) shows the rotten status of the organization and its bizarre and cultlike activities, while the subsequent movie (which I haven’t seen) has garnered great reviews despite Scientology’s efforts to block it. And now Leah Remini, once a famous Scientologist who belonged to the organization for 37 years (since age 9!) and an actor known for her role in the television series “King of Queens,” is about to release a memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology. Her book will undoubtedly cast further aspersions on the church.

While this is a bit Hollywoodish, Remini’s expose will do further damage to Scientology, and, as far as I’m concerned, the more damage the better. I feel sorry for the many people who have been impoverished, victimized, and even done to death by the Church’s malfeasance and greed. It’s also a sign of the times that had I written this post about twenty years ago, I would have been hounded, persecuted, and even sued by the “church.” They no longer have that power.

Here’s a report explaining why Remini left Scientology, which as far as I know is accurate:

When people start telling you that religions do good stuff, ask them what good stuff has ever been done by Scientology, which, after all, is an Official Religion.

And, for LOLs, here’s the odious head of the Church, David Miscavige, with his Sea Org acolytes. (As noted above, Miscavige’s wife Shelly has not been seen in public for eight years.) And, for grins, I’ll throw in a leaked video in which Tom Cruise, the Church’s most famous member, accepts Scientology’s Freedom Medal of Valor from Miscavige in 2004. If this video doesn’t curl the soles of your shoes, you’re immune to woo. Be sure to watch the mutual salutes and embraces at the beginning, and the salute to L. Ron Hubbard’s portrait at 4:28.

h/t: Gravelinspector