Scientology's secrets spill into open in Danny Masterson rape case

[edhopper]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-27/danny-masterson-rape-trial-secretive-scientology-polices?fbclid=IwAR18Zbh4gAdnIaPqe6hYH0gi5om4FcJVa9PYfZcRx-I669Yrpstb9QGXj6o

And yet this scam is still given Religious tax status.

The focus on Scientology during the preliminary hearing, which stretched over four days and included lengthy discussions of internal church texts and doctrine, wasn’t lost on Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo.

In ruling that there was sufficient evidence against Masterson to allow the case to proceed toward trial, Olmedo concluded that Scientology has “an expressly written doctrine” that “not only discourages, but prohibits” its members from reporting one another to law enforcement. The policy explained why several of the women did not report Masterson’s alleged crimes to the police for more than a decade, the judge found.

[FalloutShelter]

1. Pay Wall

[Grokenstein]

2. L.A.Mag link

https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/scientology-secrets-rape/

[edhopper]

4. Thanks!

[edhopper]

3. Sorry

I was able to read it. MaybeI can quote some of it.

[Ilsa]

5. Tax status was granted because they sued

the IRS agents and managers personally. Scientology harassed them until they broke. The IRS agreed to grant religious exemption if the lawsuits were dropped.

Scientology is a huge scam, and it's emotionally dangerous to relationships.

[bahboo]

6. yes, they are an extremely dangerous organization...

and sadly, they opened a big branch in my fair city by the ocean. Fuckers...

[Major Nikon]

7. They successfully sued the IRS because it wasn't a cut and dried issue

Scientology had no problems getting their initial tax exemption status. While the layman has no problem defining “religion”, it’s actually far harder to define both in the literal sense and particularly so as it applies to tax law. Whatever definition you come up with will inevitably exclude one or more mainstream religions. They lost their tax exempt status because of their political positions, criminal activities, and funneling large sums of money to individuals like Hubbard. The problem there is you have no shortage of Christian organizations doing the same things. As such the IRS couldn’t just summarily dismiss all of their lawsuits.

The biggest problem is the tax laws grant religious organizations tax exempt status simply for no other reason than being a religion. The assumption is religion is assumed to benefit the community. If religions had to prove benefit to the community like all other non-profits do, they wouldn’t be able to pull off their shenanigans to begin with.

[Ilsa]

8. Thank you for clearing that up. nt