 U.S. Department of State spokesman Nicholas Burns rejected the Nazi comparisons in the open letter as " <unk> " 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 <unk> , 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 <unk> up by the Scientologists to achieve what we won 't give them : tax @-@ exempt status as a religion . This is <unk> , pure and simple . " Officials explained that precisely because of Germany 's Nazi past , Germany took a determined stance against all " radical cults and <unk> , including right @-@ wing Nazi groups " , and not just against Scientology . <unk> 's Christian Democratic Union party denounced the letter as " absurd " and cited German court <unk> stating that Scientology had primarily economic goals and could legitimately be referred to using phrases such as a " <unk> <unk> of oppression " . 
