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Teen faces charges for calling Scientology a cult

by Roger Sinasohn (Subscribe to Roger Sinasohn's posts)
May 21st 2008 5:00PM

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Filed under: Teens

Is Scientology a cult? The organization has come under fire a lot lately, with protests staged around the world. Those protesters, for the most part, do their best to remain anonymous due to the organization's long history of retaliation. In London, however, one teenager forgot about that part and now faces charges for making the claim that Scientology is a cult.

The fifteen-year-old was taking part in a peaceful demonstration outside the London headquarters of the Church of Scientology, holding a sign that said "Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult." A policewoman quoted a law that prohibits signs which include words that are insulting and told him to remove the sign. The boy responded by quoting a 1984 high court ruling wherein Justice Latey described the Church of Scientology as a "cult" that was "corrupt, sinister and dangerous".

That didn't faze the policewoman; she took his sign and handed him a court summons. The London police force has been criticized for accepting thousands of dollars' worth of gifts from the organization. "This barmy prosecution makes a mockery of Britain's free speech traditions," said Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil liberties group, Liberty. "After criminalising the use of the word 'cult', perhaps the next step is to ban the words 'war' and 'tax' from peaceful demonstrations?"

I'd hate to think that the ability to insult and offend was taken away from our youth; sometimes that's exactly what they need in order to make changes for the better.

Tags: church, church of scientology, ChurchOfScientology, cult, protest, scientology

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