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Template:ScientologySeries Tilman Hausherr is a German citizen living in Berlin, Germany. He is a software developer and the author of the software Xenu's Link Sleuth, but he is best known for his criticism of Scientology.

He has been described as a "critic of Scientology", an "anti cult-figure", and an "anti-cultist" . Hausherr maintains a website with material related to Scientology, including the Scientology celebrities FAQ. He has been writing several years in the Lutheran magazine "Berliner Dialog" , published by the Lutheran Sect Commissioner of Berlin, Priest Thomas Gandow, and others until 2005.

According to the United States Department of State International Religious Freedom Report 2004, a "Lutheran Sect Commissioner" is an agent of the Lutheran Church in Germany that investigates "sects, cults, and psycho-groups" and publicizes what they consider to be the dangers of these groups.

The Lutheran sect commissioners are especially active in their efforts to warn the public about supposed dangers posed by Scientology, as well as the Unification Church, Bhagwan-Osho, and Transcendental Meditation. The printed and Internet literature of the sect commissioners portrays these as "totalitarian," "pseudo-religious," and "fraudulent." Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Christ, Christian Scientists, the New Apostolic Church, and the Johannish Church are characterized in less negative terms but nevertheless are singled out as "sects."The Catholic Church also employs sect commissioners, who generally restrict their activities to providing counsel to individuals who have questions about "sects."

The US report charges that information campaigns by the Lutheran church, along with those of the state governments of Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg, and Hamburg, "against Scientology and other alleged 'cults' . . . contributed to persistent negative public attitudes toward members of minority religions."

A negative article about Hausherr appears on the Scientology-sponsored website Religious Freedom Watch, which also features negative articles about other critics of the Church of Scientology, whom the site calls "anti-religious extremists." Various sources credit Hausherr for coining the term "Sporgery" in the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, to which he is a regular contributor.

References

1. *Kent, Stephen A. (2003). "Scientology and the European Human Rights Debate: A Reply to Leisa Goodman, J. Gordon Melton, and the European Rehabilitation Project Force Study". Marburg Journal of Religion. 8 (1). {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
2. *Irving, Hexham (1999). ""Verfassungsfeindlich": Church, State, And New Religions In Germany". Nova Religio. 2 (2): 208–227. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
3. *Cowan, Douglas E. (2002). "Cult Apology: A Modest (Typological) Proposal" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (help)
4. Berliner Dialog, Issue 1/2000
5. Berliner Dialog, overview
6. Berliner Dilaog Issue 2005
7. http://www.religio.de/dialog/105/28_01.htm#impress
8. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/35456.htm
9. Tilman Hausherr at religiousfreedomwatch.org
10. Who is the "real" Clark on ARS?
11. The Sporgeries FAQ

External links

• The homepage of Tilman Hausherr

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