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The controversial Church of Scientology has been called many things, but it's a safe bet that no one had previously deemed it a threat to the Russian spirit.

No longer. Under a new law empowering the Russian government to ban written work categorized as "extremist materials," the Russian Prosecutor General's Office has declared that the work of L. Ron Hubbard, the American founder of Scientology, belongs on a list of materials "undermining the traditional spiritual values of the citizens of the Russian Federation."

The law lays out fines of 3,000 rubles ($100) for anyone in possession of such materials, or a jail term of up to 15 days — with harsher penalties imposed on repeat offenders and/or those with a criminal history.

According to the Moscow Times, 28 Hubbard-penned titles are now on that forbidden-readings list, including such works such as "The Factors, Admiration & the Renaissance of Beingness" and "The Unification Congress. Communication! Freedom and Ability." The writings were reportedly intercepted by Russian transport officials, who forwarded them to a panel of "psychiatrists, psychologists, and sociologists" for review. The panel determined that the Scientology works justified using "violence in general" against critics of the church — while also containing "hidden calls for social and religious hatred."

Not surprisingly, the church has blasted back with a statement denouncing the panel's decision. The ban — which Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw points out has yet to go into effect — constitutes "the latest action in an ongoing campaign by extremists in the Russian government to suppress religious freedom in Russia," the church announced in a statement furnished to Yahoo! News. The statement spells out plans to challenge the ruling before the European Court of Human Rights, which has condemned Russia for its past effort to refuse official registration of three Church of Scientology organizations to operate within its borders. Under that 2009 ruling, the court had the Russian government pay damages to the groups, in addition to making it pay for their legal expenses. In a phone interview with Yahoo! News, church spokesman Tommy Davis stressed that including Hubbard's work under the extremist-materials ban is tantamount to "Russia violating their own constitution." What's more, Davis charges that the Prosecutor General's Office tilts its religious policy calls in favor of the Russian Orthodox Church. "It's like putting someone who believes their religion is the only way in charge of determining if other people's faith should be recognized," he said.

This latest dustup is far from the only international battle that the 10-million-member church is waging. Germany has been fighting to ban Scientology outright for some time, and most European countries refuse to recognize the church as a charitable religious organization, even though they still permit the church to operate within their borders on a commercial basis.

— Brett Michael Dykes is a national correspondent for Yahoo! News.

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Originally posted by King Kandy
What benefit is offerred by them being legal (I ask, because judging from the marijuana thread you seem to think there must be one for something to be legal).

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Originally posted by §P0oONY
Banning books is never a good thing.

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Originally posted by Robtard
What about a book on how to best kidnap, ass-rape and murder children?

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Originally posted by Robtard
What about a book on how to best kidnap, ass-rape and murder children?

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Originally posted by §P0oONY
Well, I don't think kidnapping and raping a child is very taxing so I don't think people are just thinking "I've always wanted to rape a child, if only there was a book that taught me how."

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Originally posted by §P0oONY
A book like that isn't going to get published anyway, an I don't consider a bloke in his house printing and putting it on sheets of A4 putting staples through it as real publishing.

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Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Because it's not like small children are near constantly being watched by full grown adults or anything...



a) refusal to publish is just another form of censorship
b) vanity publishers will print anything

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Originally posted by §P0oONY
Because I regard books as a more precious commodity than pot, they are not even in the same league. Books aren't just for today, they're for generations to read, enjoy and research.

Not only that, if you start banning books then where does it end?

Don't ask such stupid questions. This isn't even related to the weed debate. They're totally different.

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Originally posted by §P0oONY
Well, I don't think kidnapping and raping a child is very taxing so I don't think people are just thinking "I've always wanted to rape a child, if only there was a book that taught me how."

A book like that isn't going to get published anyway, an I don't consider a bloke in his house printing and putting it on sheets of A4 putting staples through it as real publishing.

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Originally posted by Robtard
That's a a bullshit answer; you know it.

It was a hypothetical. What if a book like this was made and people grouped together to get it banned, would you be against the banning for the same reasons you stated above?

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Originally posted by §P0oONY
Well, I don't think kidnapping and raping a child is very taxing so I don't think people are just thinking "I've always wanted to rape a child, if only there was a book that taught me how."

A book like that isn't going to get published anyway, an I don't consider a bloke in his house printing and putting it on sheets of A4 putting staples through it as real publishing.