U.S. Department of State spokesman Nicholas Burns rejected the Nazi comparisons in the open letter as " outrageous " and distanced the U.S. government from Nazi comparisons made by the Church of Scientology , saying , " We have criticized the Germans on this , but we aren 't going to support the Scientologists ' terror tactics against the German government . " Chancellor Kohl , commenting on the letter , said that those who signed it " don 't know a thing about Germany and don 't want to know . " German officials argued that " the whole fuss was cranked up by the Scientologists to achieve what we won 't give them : tax @-@ exempt status as a religion . This is intimidation , pure and simple . " Officials explained that precisely because of Germany 's Nazi past , Germany took a determined stance against all " radical cults and sects , including right @-@ wing Nazi groups " , and not just against Scientology . Kohl 's Christian Democratic Union party denounced the letter as " absurd " and cited German court rulings stating that Scientology had primarily economic goals and could legitimately be referred to using phrases such as a " contemptuous cartel of oppression " .