New SA rights for Scientology

JOHANNESBURG -- The Department of Home Affairs has granted 12 ministers of the Church of Scientology the right to conduct legal marriage ceremonies, the church announced yesterday.

This means that Scientology has been recognised as a religion.

Church spokesman Paul Sondergaard welcomed the decision "as an expression of the government's determination to protect the rights of minority religions.

"In approving the application of our ministers, the government applied the Marriage Act within the framework of a living Constitution that prohibits both religious and racial discrimination," he said in a statement yesterday. -- Sapa