Boycott Is Discrimination

Sixty years ago, composer George Gershwin was condemned by Nazis for being Jewish and banned from Germany at the beginning of that country’s darkest chapter. Today, Chancellor Helmut Kohl stood by as the under-30s arm of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Germany’s governing party, launched a boycott of Tom Cruise’s movie “Mission: Impossible” solely because of his membership in the Church of Scientology (Morning Report, Calendar, Aug. 9). This is an act of religious discrimination, which is unconstitutional according to the German Constitution.

The Church of Scientology does not pretend to know what the underlying motive might be on the part of Germany’s leader and a few select politicians who insist on carrying on a campaign of religious intolerance against minority religions in Germany. The Church of Scientology’s bona fides are beyond question, not just in Germany but throughout the world. So far, Germany’s treatment of Scientologists has raised serious objections from the United Nations, members of the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. State Department. All have expressly demanded that the discrimination against the Church of Scientology in Germany cease.

If George Gershwin had been allowed to concertize in Germany, I wonder if the world would have seen the atrocities of the Holocaust. That is what people should be asking themselves as they read about the recent Cruise boycott in Germany.

CAT TEBAR

Los Angeles