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ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
MOST
COMMONLY
ASKED BY
MEDIA
In the United States, the Church has been involved for many years in actions to protect religious liberty and is active in the American Conference on Religious Movements. This multi-denominational association of religious organizations is dedicated to the advancement of religious liberty and dialogue.
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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