E/CN.4/1998/6/Add.2 page 20 purpose of this questionnaire is to check or see whether the candidate displays the necessary loyalty towards the State and if he conforms with the democratic order. According to the authorities, any candidate who has relations with Scientology is entitled to an interview at which he has a chance to demonstrate that he is fit to work in the civil service. There is thus no question of all Scientologists being automatically excluded from the civil service. The point is not to establish that the candidate has a “faith” or an ideological commitment to the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, but to see how far the candidate may let the organization control his thinking and behaviour and how far it actually does so. The claim that Scientologists are persecuted because of their “religion” is also refuted by the fact that there are Scientologists employed in Bavaria as civil servants. The use of protective declarations in the award of public contracts in certain specific fields (business advisory services, staff training and management, in-service training and seminars, consultancy, software development and maintenance, project development and supervision, research and development) serves to protect public services against any infiltration by Scientology. It is thus incorrect to assert that firms managed by Scientology are without exception excluded from the award of public contracts. The Bavarian Cabinet agreed on 8 August 1996 to refuse to give any State support or assistance to events having a relationship with Scientology, or to withdraw all support if the fact of Scientology participation was only discovered later. In point of fact, the denial of grants to Scientologist artists does not mean that they are treated differently and unconstitutionally because of their faith or their ideas. The decision to withhold support from an event is based not on the ideas protected by article 3, paragraph 3, of the Constitution, but on the behaviour and methods of Scientology, which are against the law. In addition, these artists have, without any restriction, the chance to organize events in Germany themselves, without public subsidy, or to collaborate with agencies working in the sector in question which are not eligible for subsidies. Finally, according to the German authorities, the violations of human rights alleged by Scientology to have occurred in the private sector are not verifiable. 80. According to the authorities, Scientology and its members are not subjected to any discrimination or intolerance, and still less to persecution, and all measures taken with respect to them are in accordance with the law. Furthermore, in Germany, as a State governed by the rule of law, Scientology is entirely free to challenge these measures in the courts. To a comment on the intemperate and passionate nature of the debate on Scientology, they replied that Scientology was conducting an aggressive campaign nationally and internationally with many different aims, including publicity. The German authorities also support the view that the problems should be dealt with case by case and not lumped together on a general basis. Several government representatives said that they were not in favour of banning Scientology, but rather of informing the public about it and about the judicial proceedings against it. Other representatives, particularly in Bavaria, said that they were in favour of banning Scientology, but only after establishing proof. 81. Many representatives of groups and communities in the field of belief and religion stated that they are at present suffering from the consequences of the conflict between the German authorities and Scientology, consequences which are reflected at the social level in suspicion or indeed rejection of any group which, because it is a minority group, is suspected of abusing