In a decision dated 1 August 1995, the Administrative Court of Vienna, Austria, ruled that “in addition to the fact that after several decades of thorough investigations, Scientology has been granted the status of a bona fide religion and charitable organization by the IRS, less than two years ago in the United States, the country with the greatest number of Churches of Scientology, sufficient evidence was also given by [the Church] to convince us that the Church of Scientology of Austria is a religion.”
The Court went on to note the religious nature of the Church’s services, which the Court characterized as “religious acts in accordance with the religious identity of the Church of Scientology itself, which appears obvious in the statutes of the organization.” In 1996, the Austrian Constitutional Court, in the case Re F, which concerned parental custody rights of a Scientologist, determined that any attempt to treat Scientology differently from other religions “is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and is therefore in violation of the law.”
“Scientology has been granted the status of a bona fide religion and charitable organization by the IRS… sufficient evidence was also given by [the Church] to convince us that the Church of Scientology of Austria is a religion.”
