E/CN.4/1999/58/Add.1 page 18 non-believers and indifferent to religious matters or who consider that the communities' demands are for privileges rather than for rights. Still according to Laycock, in the United States “the conflict is between the religiously intense and the religiously unintense”. We may note, moreover, that for most minorities, to remedy this situation, and in particular to resolve specific problems such as refusals relating to places of worship, would take a great deal of time and money. 50. Concerning Scientology, its representatives declared that their organization had been recognized as a religion in the United States since 1993 and that it had 42 churches with 3 million members. As regards the information collected by the Special Rapporteur during his visit on the existence of forced labour camps - the “Rehabilitation programme” - and Scientology's harassment of its former members and its critics, even including killings, the representatives of the organization firmly rejected those accusations and sent the Special Rapporteur a detailed dossier in which they explained that: (a) the Rehabilitation Programme was a voluntary religious retreat emphasizing intensive contemplation and concentrated religious studies, balanced by a certain form of physical labour, and that it was not “brainwashing”; (b) Scientology's ethical code prohibited illegal activities, and hence the organization's detractors were not the object of harassment, but of legal proceedings; (c) the deaths of certain Scientologists in Florida were accidental. 51. As far as atheism is concerned, it is a movement which, for the time being, is developing and organizing among the population on a modest scale, generally because of its non-acceptance by the society, in which religion remains a very strong point of reference in social, cultural and identity terms. However, some organizations, such as the Free Thought Society of Greater Philadelphia and the Anti-discrimination Support Network play an active role aimed in particular at securing genuine recognition for atheism and respect for the rights such recognition would entail. Apart from contesting State-supported religious symbols, which to a degree are imposed on everyone, such as the mottos “In God We Trust” on United States currency and “One Nation Under God” in the Declaration of Allegiance to the national flag, and various oaths which include a reference to God, these organizations complain about discriminatory situations and bring court proceedings with regard to them, in particular the obligation to sign an oath to God in order to join the Boy Scouts of America. C. Situation of Native Americans 52. The situation of the Native Americans was discussed in depth with officials, including the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, representatives of the Native Americans and non-governmental organizations and various personalities. 53. The Native Americans are without any doubt the community facing the most problematical situation, one inherited from a past of denial of their religious identity, in particular through a policy of assimilation, which most Native Americans insist on calling genocide (physical liquidation, religious conversion, attempts to destroy their traditional way of life, laying waste of land, etc.).