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The thing is, the US government has a large security apparatus that is actively trying to prevent and discover foreign influence, and there are explicit laws re
by tsimionescu 3y ago
The thing is, the US government has a large security apparatus that is actively trying to prevent and discover foreign influence, and there are explicit laws requiring them, and other agencies, to do so.
In contrast, preventing individuals to infiltrate the government based on religion is entirely illegal, and there are good chances no one high up in the intelligence community even thought of the danger of Scientology before this was discovered.
- throwaway5110 3y agoPreventing people from participating in government based on their religion is illegal, but Scientology's aim is subversion, which the government correctly guards against. Normally religions brazenly reach for government control in board daylight so it's easy to respond. Scientology's convert infiltration tactics were fairly novel and so caught a lot of people off guard.
- tsimionescu 3y agoYes yes, I'm not saying the government illegally acted against this infiltration. Just that, because of the protected status of religion, it was much harder for the government to use the same mechanisms it uses against foreign nationals attempting similar things. So, even though Scientology has nowhere near the levels of motivation and resources as China or the USSR did, it was far easier for them to conduct such an operation (before they were caught once).