I don't think Scientology is alone on this making money thing.

I don't think that a movie with Tom Cruise may not be popular. The church here should not make a scandal to make the money as it may be unfair at first. Why doesn't the government recognize it anyways?

Germans are wise and highly cultured people who are well learned in the arts of deception as they have been fooled once by a false belief system (WWII) and they are very skeptical of any school of philosophy that uses demagoguery in order to sway people into their organized theological belief system. Germans are cautious too.

What? What does Tom Cruise shooting a movie have to do with his religion? Is he bringing Scientology bibles for everyone or something?

I really don't understand the reasons for 'that' decision, but I think that Scientology need a really good kick in the backside... SO MANY people suffer under Scientology, SO MANY people lose everything they have worked to gain, SO MANY people find nothing but suffering and fear within Scientology. As someone looking in at it from the outside, it is utterly absurd, and simply not worthy of respect IMO. I cannot grasp the lengths of self-delusion that Scientologists must stoop to to actually believe what they claim to. However there is a commonly suggested alternative, that the people running it simply don't believe in it, but just want to make money from it (which they most certainly are)... It's hard to say either way, but I personally think that Scientology should be given a damn hard time for the obvious idiocy and suffering it inflicts on it's followers : /

Tom Cruise was barred from filming scenes in the so called "Bendlerblock", a part of the German Ministry of Defence where Colonel Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg was executed on July 21, 1944, one day after his failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Therefore this place is considered a memorial and also used as a place for swearing-in ceremonies of the German armed forces. Shooting movies at this place is - in general - considered inapropriate. The decision had nothing to do with Mr. Cruise and Scientology, but simply with German histroy. Also keep in mind, that the movie finally was shot in Bendlerblock after negotiations with the producers, where the producers accepted and declared to respect the dignity of that place.

I'd like to bring in another aspect: The German constitution demands strict seperation of state and religion. You can read this in the constitution of the Republic of Weimar (Reichsverfassung of 1919), articles 136 to 139, which are part of todays constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz, 1949), article 140. Also the German constitution grants religious freedom to everybody (Grundgesetz, article 4). It is correct that Scientology isn't recognized as a religion by the German state. Unfortunately exactly the same applies for Chritians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and every other religion - for one simple formal reason: As state and religion are to be separted strictly, no official authority in Germany has the right or even the possibility to recognize or deny any group, ideology, philosophy or whatever the status of a religion. It is simply impossible. Religious groups (like for example the Christian churches, many Jewish and Muslim communities) in Germany are recognized as "public bodies" by the German state. This grants tax priviledges and also the right to raise taxes. In order to be recognized as a "public body", the group (which does not necessarily have to be a religious group at all) has to file an application to the federal department of treasury. BUT: Scientology never did that.