Two things that are irritating the HELL out of me in this topic; the use of the word "martyr" and the use of the word "ban."
A martyr is someone who dies sooner than renounces their own beliefs. It's that simple. You are not a martyr for your cause by being fined by the government anymore than I am a martyr because I had to suffer through Subway not having honey wheat bread to make my sandwich with. It doesn't work that way. You might could make the case that the leaders of Scientology in France are being persecuted by the French Government, but persecution implies unfair harassment to the point of said treatment being unbearable. Which leads me to my second point....
Scientology has not been banned in France. Their leaders were given a minuscule punitive fine following an investigation into an initial complaint stating they refused to refund money (21,000 euros) to someone who bought books and went to classes for Scientology, then decided they didn't want to be part of the group. 600K euros to a group that has 10 million members worldwide, worship centers across several countries, a thriving junk and "fixed" donations from it's own members is CHUMP CHANGE, hardly persecution by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, this more being done to give the Church bad press and to help cast doubt and suspicion on their activities, itself a far better tactic to help get rid of them than any attempt to ban them.
