- STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. officials said on Tuesday they disapproved of
a Swedish court ruling which would allow the Church of Scientology's holiest
book into the hands of the public. The U.S.-based church argues that the
book, reserved for key members of the religion, should be kept secret and
that international copyright laws guard the unpublished material from falling
into the public domain. After the court ruling last week, Swedes are now
free to go to places where the document is kept, such as the parliament,
and read it. However, the Church of Scientology has launched a protest
which has its members borrowing the book constantly, making it virtually
impossible for anyone else to see it. Tarja Vulto, a spokeswoman for the
church, said only 300 to 350 of the religion's eight million members had
rightful access to the material in question. ``We are extremely shocked
by the decision...We are very offended. We are talking about our emotions
as a religion. We are going to fight this,'' she told Reuters. U.S. economic
counsellor in Stockholm Anthony Holmes told Reuters: ``We view the whole
Scientology issue as a trade issue. We have not dealt with it as a political
issue at all.'' Holmes added: ``It's clearly a violation of Sweden's obligation
to protect an unpublished copyrighted work. It's a blot on Sweden's reputation,''
he said. Sweden prides itself on laws which allow almost all documents
to be open to everyone. Ordinary people will not be stopped in most cases
from reading even the prime minister's incoming and outgoing mail. ``The
Freedom of the Press Act is like motherhood and apple pie in Sweden. We're
not challenging that. We're saying this is a contradiction,'' Holmes said.
A spokesman for Sweden's foreign ministry said it was unlikely U.S.-Swedish
relations would be hurt. ``We believe our legislation is in compliance
with international law. We have very good relations with the United States,''
said foreign ministry spokesman Jens Odlander. The Scientology document
was turned over to various Swedish archives by a Swede on a personal campaign
against the church. It ran on the internet for a short time before a court
ordered the material be removed. The decision was challenged all the way
up the Swedish legal system until a high court last Thursday overruled
other legislation which said the holy book should be withdrawn from public
use.
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