Damned Christians

[Spongebob]

Scientology is beyond the pale.  I've never understood how they conned any government into recognising them as a religion with tax exemption. On reflection, no ta long

I've never understood why any religion could con governments into thinking they were entitled to tax exemptions.  Even when I was still catholic.

Traditions and practices around taxation of churches dates back to the Roman empire at least.  At that time there were expectations regarding monies/goods owned by god that have sort of hung around for centuries.  During dire times those practices were broken, but generally they were observed.  I think in modern times the more direct reasoning is that churches are non-profit organizations that work to the public good.  This is ostensibly true but we all know that the church spends tons of money on non-charitable things like gigantic crosses and opulent megachurches, among other things.  I can remember attending church meetings in which members hotly debated the percentage of their funds that should be used for charity.  Of course a significant portion gets spent on recreational activities.  I think if there were fewer Christians involved in government this might draw some attention.

Regarding Scientology, why not?  It has all the same trappings as Christianity, Mormonism, Islam and all the others.  It has an abuse problem, but then so do a lot of other religions.