Does the Church engage in interfaith affairs?
Absolutely. The Church is a strong advocate of the interfaith approach on issues important to all religions. Scientologists work with representatives of many religions to support and encourage interreligious dialogue, religious freedom, constitutional law and respect for religion in society.
The Church has been involved for many years in actions to protect religious liberty and is active in the American Conference on Religious Movements (ACRM). This multi-denominational association of religious organizations is dedicated to the advancement of religious liberty and dialogue.
Scientologists worked together with leaders of other religions to petition the U.S. Congress to enact a Religious Freedom Week. The result was just such a designation in 1988. It has now become an annual national tradition.
The Church mustered interfaith support for a bill prohibiting claims for punitive damages against religions, with strictly defined exceptions. Many religious groups joined the Church of Scientology in support of the bill, including the National Council of Churches. The bill (California Senate Bill No. 1) was signed into law by the governor in September 1988.
The bill had arisen following a frivolous lawsuit filed against a Christian church over the suicide of one of its parishioners. The Church of Scientology worked with more than 1,500 religious organizations to oppose the suit and make its ramifications known to other religions and the public. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed a California Supreme Court decision which held that the state’s laws forbid the filing of such cases against churches.
In 1991, Scientologists supported passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was signed into law on November 16, 1993. The Church of Scientology International was an active member of the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion, a broad-based religious and civil liberties group that strenuously worked for passage of the act.
For more than a decade, the Church has exposed and defused assaults on religious freedom from organizations which support "deprogramming," the violent practice of paying kidnappers to try and break an individual’s faith through such tactics as forcible restraint, food or sleep deprivation, beating, drugs and even rape.
Over the years, deprogrammers have attacked members of many different religions, including Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Mormons and Moslems. As a result of coordinated interfaith actions, deprogrammers have been arrested, convicted and jailed for their role in such illegal activities.
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