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Scientology In Russia
Scientology has been subjected to considerable regulation in Russia including having books prohibited, and branches forced closed. Church of Scientology Moscow v. Russia In April 2007, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Russia for repeatedly refusing to consider the Moscow Church of Scientology's application for the status of a legally valid religious association. The court found that the reasons given to deny re-registration of the church by the justice department and endorsed by the Moscow courts had no legal basis. Other events In July 2007, the St. Petersburg City Court ordered that the city's Scientology center be closed for violating its charter by engaging in unlicensed health care services. A court in Samara came to a similar decision in November 2008, closing down the activities of the local center for practicing without a license. In September 2009, the European Court of Human Rights issued a binding ruling in favor of two Scientology branches in Su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientology
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It has been variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religious movement. The most recent published census data indicate that there were about 25,000 followers in the United States (in 2008); around 1,800 followers in England (2021); 1,400 in Canada (2021); and about 1,600 in Australia (2016). Hubbard initially developed a set of ideas that he called Dianetics, which he represented as a form of therapy. This he promoted through various publications, as well as through the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation that he established in 1950. The foundation went bankrupt, and Hubbard lost the rights to his book ''Dianetics'' in 1952. He then recharacterized the subject as a religion and renamed it Scientology, retaining the terminology, doctrines, and the practice of "auditing". By 1954 he had regained the rights to Dianetics and retained both subjects under t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SOVA Center
The SOVA Center for Information and Analysis is a Moscow-based nongovernmental organization and think tank conducting sociological research primarily on nationalism and racism in post-Soviet Russia. Currently, SOVA devotes its monitoring, research and advocacy to three projects: Misuse of Anti-Extremism Legislation, Racism and Xenophobia, and Religion in Secular Society. SOVA publishes print reports in Russian and maintains a website updating readers in both Russian and English. Its reports are often cited by Western media sources including ''The New York Times'' and ''The Guardian''. History and Structure Members of the Moscow Helsinki Group and thRussian research center "Panorama"established SOVA in October 2002. SOVA is based in Moscow and receives funding from several Western think tanks. The organization's director is Alexander Verkhovsky, and its deputy director was Galina Kozhevnikova until her death in March 2011. SOVA's activities are devoted to the following projects ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientology And Law
The Church of Scientology has been involved in court disputes in several countries. In some cases, when the Church has initiated the dispute, questions have been raised as to its motives. The Church of Scientology says that its use of the legal system is necessary to protect its intellectual property and its right to freedom of religion. Critics say that most of the organization's legal claims are designed to harass those who criticize it and its manipulative business practices. In the years since its inception, the Church of Scientology's lawsuits filed against newspapers, magazines, government agencies (including the United States tax collecting unit, the IRS), and individuals have numbered in the thousands. In 1991, ''Time'' magazine estimated that the Church spends an average of about $20 million per year on various legal actions, and it is the exclusive client of several law firms. According to a U.S. District Court Memorandum of Decision in 1993, Scientologists "hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientology Status By Country
Scientology status by country describes the status of Scientology and its recognition as a religion or otherwise in different countries. The Church of Scientology pursues an extensive public relations campaign for state recognition of Scientology as a religion. The level of recognition Scientology has been able to obtain varies significantly from country to country. The Church of Scientology has been given tax-exempt status in its home country, the United States, and has received full recognition as a religion in various other countries such as Italy,Gallagher, Eugene V.; Ashcraft, W. Michael (2006)Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America , p. 185 South Africa, Australia,. Sweden, Portugal and Spain; it thus enjoys and regularly cites the constitutional protection afforded in these nations to religious practice. Some countries, mostly in Europe, have regarded Scientology as a potentially dangerous cult, or at least have not considered local branches of the Church of S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Moscow Times
''The Moscow Times'' is an independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking tourists and expatriates such as hotels, cafés, embassies, and airlines, and also by subscription. The newspaper was popular among foreign citizens residing in Moscow and English-speaking Russians. In November 2015 the newspaper changed its design and type from daily to weekly (released every Thursday) and increased the number of pages to 24. The newspaper became online-only in July 2017 and launched its Russian-language service in 2020. In 2022, its headquarters were relocated to Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ... in the Netherlands in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Undesirable Organizations Law
The Russian undesirable organizations law (officially Federal Law of 23.05.2015 N 129-FZ "On amendments of some legislative acts of the Russian Federation") is a law that was signed by President Vladimir Putin on 23 May 2015 as a follow-up to the 2012 Russian foreign agent law and Dima Yakovlev Law. The law gives prosecutors the power to extrajudicially declare foreign and international organizations "undesirable" in Russia and shut them down. Organizations that do not disband when given notice to do so, as well as Russians who maintain ties to them, are subject to high fines and significant jail time. Critics say the terms are unclear and lead to dangerous precedent. Supporters of the bill reference organizations that have become actively involved in supporting political dissent. Implications for NGOs Under the law, Russian prosecutors are able to target foreign groups which they deem to present "a threat to the foundation of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Church Of Spiritual Technology
The Church of Spiritual Technology (CST) is a California 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, incorporated in 1982, which owns all the copyrights of the estate of L. Ron Hubbard and licenses their use. CST does business as L. Ron Hubbard Library. A 1993 memorandum by the Church of Scientology International stated that the organization is an autonomous church of the Scientology religion outside the international Scientology ecclesiastical hierarchy. CST conducts an extensive program of activities to preserve and archive the Scientology Scriptures for use by future generations. CST also owns the option to acquire RTC's rights to the Scientology advance technology and religious marks under three narrowly defined sets of circumstances, each of which contemplates a serious threat to continued existence of the religion. CST is the principal beneficiary of Mr. Hubbard's estate, provided that it obtains recognition of its tax-exempt status. Corporate information The Church of Spirit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Institute Of Scientology Enterprises
World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE) is a Church of Scientology organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It states that it is an "international membership organization whose members use both L. Ron Hubbard management technology and embrace the responsibilities and ethical standards of WISE membership." History Hubbard said about the early Churches of Scientology: "They are not business and so fail when they try to operate like one". He then began creating a new system of organizing these churches with the stated purpose of "Disseminating Scientology to the world"; this new system was modified continually until about 1980. In the late '60s, a project began compiling his notes into hard bound volumes that later became known as the Organization Executive Course, or OEC. Originally intended as a training program for church executives (hence the name), Hubbard later made them available to all church staff and stated that all staff should train on them. Howe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jehovah's Witness
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in evangelism and an annual Memorial attendance of over 21 million. Jehovah's Witnesses are directed by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, a group of elders in Warwick, New York, United States, which establishes all doctrines based on its interpretations of the Bible. They believe that the destruction of the present world system at Armageddon is imminent, and that the establishment of God's kingdom over the earth is the only solution for all problems faced by humanity. The group emerged from the Bible Student movement founded in the late 1870s by Charles Taze Russell, who also co-founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in 1881 to organize and print the movement's publications. A leadership dispute after Russell's death resulted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Commission On International Religious Freedom
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is a U.S. federal government commission created by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate and the House of Representatives. USCIRF's principal responsibilities are to review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and to make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and the Congress. The USCIRF has been criticized for perceptions of a pro-Christian bias and for the selection of certain Commissioners, including Tony Perkins and Gary Bauer, as well as connections with anti-LGBTQ hate groups. History USCIRF was authorized by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, which established:GPPublic Law 105 - 292 - International Religious Freedom Act of 1998Page accessed June 3, 2016GPPage accessed June 3, 2016 *An O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal List Of Extremist Materials
Federal List of Extremist Materials (russian: Федеральный список экстремистских материалов, ''Federal'nyy spisok ekstremistskikh matyerialov'') is a list of works that are banned in Russian Federation, primarily based on the Russian Internet Restriction Bill. It is compiled by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. Producing, storing or distributing (including spreading via the Internet, quoting in non-academic sources, and other forms of public information, considered to be a "distribution") the materials on the list is an offense in Russia. As of October 20, 2020, this list includes 5114 items. 106 items are already excluded from the list (although their numbers remained in the list). The list includes publications and websites that criticize Russian authorities, such as the book '' FSB blows Russia up'' by Yuri Felshtinsky and Alexander Litvinenko (№ 2791), certain publications by Muslim theologians and Jehovah's Witness ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
