On 30 August 2022, the Church of Scientology Amsterdam has been granted public benefit status by the Dutch authorities, the same status as other religious communities in the country.
The Church applied for public benefit status in 2012. After the Church of Scientology Amsterdam provided extensive information and after a thorough examination of the Church’s financial administration along with the Church’s aims and activities, public benefit status was granted by the public benefit department of the tax office.
The Netherlands tax office (public benefit department) has granted the Church of Scientology with full public benefit status in accordance with the General National Tax Law Article 5b, read together with the Implementing Regulations Article 1 a Section 5, which explains that by public benefit activities it means:
“…all activities aimed at achieving or promoting the objective of a public benefit institution.”
All of the activities of the Church, which arrived in the Netherlands at the end of the 60ies and established the first corporation in 1972, are now recognized retroactively from 2012, as being for the public benefit
These activities include Sunday Services and religious ceremonies (weddings, baptisms, etc.) as well as the other main services of the Scientology religion, i.e. spiritual counselling (also called auditing) and the study of the religious works of the Scientology religion.
Robert Kruijt, the Director for Public Affairs of the Church of Scientology of Amsterdam has informed in a public statement:
“We are grateful the Dutch authorities have properly confirmed our religious activities and practices and our work toward the humanitarian aims of Scientology as of public benefit. Our aims are, as established by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, ‘a civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper, and honest beings can have rights, and where Man1 is free to rise to greater heights’.
In fact, Scientologists all over the Netherlands and the Church itself have now an extraordinary encouragement to continue and increase even further our religious, humanitarian and social betterment activities in a big way.”
And Kruijt concluded saying that:
“If people have any questions about Scientology, its religious services and ceremonies, as well as its local and global humanitarian activities, they are invited to visit the Public Information Center of the Church of Scientology Amsterdam or find information in our extensive and publicly available site or even our international TV station”.
This final decision from the Dutch authorities adds up to the ever-increasing number of governmental and judicial recognitions in democratic countries the world over, including from the European Court of Human Rights, the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, South Africa and many more.
The Scientology religion was born in 1952 in the United States through the discoveries of L. Ron Hubbard, and to date, its churches, missions and social betterment groups and activities are present in over 190 nations and zones.
1 Man in its acception of any member of the Human race