Damanhur is a Church

30.12.2011

From our Italian correspondent

News taken from the national daily ‘La Stampa’ and the local newspaper ’La Sentinella del Canavese’.

The Turin Appeal Court has upheld Damanhur’s appeal against the sentence issued by the Court of Ivrea in a case regarding employment rights brought against Damanhur by the British Journalist Jan Turvey.
The Appeal Judges have decided that work carried out in the context of a ‘religious community’ cannot be considered as normal employment and is therefore not subject to the payment of taxes or social contributions. Work in such a context, of benefit to the Community, is likened to voluntary work even though it is paid, governed by a contract, subject to disciplinary procedures and carried out in set hours.
The ruling, which has shocked the legal profession, openly endorses the abuse of people who are seduced into working for powerful esoteric groups like Damanhur.

Damanhur, as far as the Judges are concerned, is a Church even though in the past it has always professed to be a non-religious organization and is presently conducting a campaign in Parliament for legal recognition as an Intentional Community. Damanhur is not officially registered as a Church or Community in Italy and therefore has no legal status as such. It is nothing more than a group of affiliated associations.

This ruling also overlooks the fact that Damanhur is a multi-national enterprise with a turnover of more than 20 million Euro a year according to the Italian financial newspaper 24 Ore (2006). It will now be exempt from paying worker contributions or taxes. A strange ruling indeed in a time of national crisis where taxes are being increased across the board for everyone else…

One can only imagine that the Damanhurian god Horus must have worked overtime behind the celestial scenes to ensure such a beneficial outcome.