Scientologists have been banned from joining major political parties in Germany such as the Christian Democratic Union , the Christian Social Union of Bavaria , the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Free Democratic Party . Existing Scientologist members of these parties have been " purged " , according to Time Magazine . Scientologists have been prevented from running employment and au pair agencies in Germany ; Scientologists who were running such agencies had their permits revoked . In 1995 , a sports scientist and former member of the German national fencing team was dismissed from his job at the German Olympic fencing centre after he stated in an interview that he had enjoyed reading books by L. Ron Hubbard and had participated in a course run by a Scientologist management and communication consultancy firm . Thomas Gottschalk , a German TV presenter , was falsely accused in 1993 of having taken part in Scientology courses ; Gottschalk responded by announcing that he had not , and that he would henceforth cease all contact with a friend who had links to Scientology . In 2007 , Günther Oettinger , the Minister @-@ President of the German state of Baden @-@ Württemberg , expressed concern that Scientologist John Travolta was to appear on Gottschalk 's programme , and asked the ZDF TV station to consider revoking the invitation ; the ZDF said that uninviting Travolta would cause greater damage , and that Scientology was not going to be discussed in the programme .