I am sorry but I have a follow up question maybe you are able to elaborate as you mentioned: "There's religious pluralism in Germany"
Scientology has an IRS tax exemption in the US as another religion, but it seems in Germany the state has made their life quite difficult. Does German law provides for a clear specification of how to define a religion?
You will not find an advocate of Scientology in me :-))
But you will find an advocate of equal treatment under the law and the rule of law.
Apparently members have stronger restrictions than those applied to persons who express extreme right views:
"Scientologists in Germany face specific political and economic restrictions. They are barred from membership in some major political parties, and businesses and other employers use so-called "sect filters" to expose a prospective business partner's or employee's association with the organization."
As I said, not defending Scientology here at all, but from the wikipedia article found this case interesting:
"In 2019, the Munich Labor court sided with the director of personnel of Haus der Kunst, a well-known artistic museum. He had been removed from his position after working for 22 years because it was discovered that he was a Scientologist. The case was settled and the director of personnel was paid 110,000 euro as severance and received a full pension. Many Germany courts also ruled the legitimacy of Scientology as a religion. In 2019, Ahmed Shaheed and Fernand de Varennes who were UN Special Rapporteurs on freedom of religion and on minority issues wrote to Germany that, "discriminating against those who profess a certain belief is illegal under international human rights law, irrespective of whether the belief is religious or merely philosophical or cultural."
That sounds pretty fair to me. It's one thing to punish an individual for having a belief; it's another to give an organization a tax break for a Ponzi scheme based on that same belief.
In the case of political parties: they decide themselves. The large parties all have lists of clubs and informal organizations where membership is incompatible with party membership.
(No major party allows membership in another party, except european sister parties in other countries, but it's possible, and some smaller parties allow it)
in your quote, it says that private businesses and political parties are making these decisions. that's likely done as part of their regular screening processes.
That would be a violation of the general act on equal treatment (introduced 2006), and hence referred to the state's attorney's office. Scientology does not enjoy the protection of religion or worldview because the organisation is under surveillance from the federal office for the protection of the constitution because of their politically motivated crimes.
>Scientology has an IRS tax exemption in the US as another religion, but it seems in Germany the state has made their life quite difficult.
Scientology's founder has been quoted as saying: "You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.” German courts have argued that because of this (and the organization's behavior after he died) that it's actually a for-profit business organization masquerading as a religion.
EDIT: I probably should add that the US is rather extreme amongst nations worldwide in that it does tend to recognize personal conviction rather than only shared dogma/tradition as a form of 'religion'. It's unlikely but I could see the organization losing tax-exempt status. Even if this happened, the individuals couldn't be prohibited from practicing what they believe is a religion.
The US never affirmatively recognized Scientology as a legitimate religious organization. Rather, Scientology fought a prolonged, dirty war with the IRS and came out the victor when the IRS decided to settle. Because of anti-tax sentiment that daemonizes the IRS, the IRS doesn't have the stomach for prolonged battles that play out in the media. The public is too credulous when the defendant invariably plays the Samson & Goliath card. (Trump has also successfully used this technique. I once had a law professor who worked on an IRS case against Trump, and he had some interesting stories--not to mention strong opinions--regarding Trump's business practices. Actually, anyone of means caught in the IRS' cross-hairs will use this technique. But you have to be particularly bellicose, as in the Scientology and Trump cases, to flagrantly violate tax laws with the intention of taking the IRS to the mat.)
It's also worth pointing out that, unlike some other countries, the US doesn't really have a formal system for recognizing religious organizations. AFAIU, the closest thing we have is the IRS adjudicating in the first instance Federal tax exemption status. Otherwise, as a general matter, a religion is as a religion does, and it's usually up to agencies, municipalities, and ultimately courts to decide on a dispute-by-dispute basis whether an organization, group, or person is owed the benefit of some particular religious exception in law.
Side note, Jedi is the fourth largest religion in the UK. I wonder if Disney have considered registering it as an official religion to lower their tax bill there.
Scientology has an IRS tax exemption in the US as another religion, but it seems in Germany the state has made their life quite difficult. Does German law provides for a clear specification of how to define a religion?