Church of Scientology the "United Churches of Florida" the citizens and City Council of Clearwater did not realize that the building's owners were actually the Church of Scientology until after the building's purchase. Clearwater citizens' groups, headed by Mayor Gabriel Cazares, rallied strongly against Scientology establishing a base in the city (repeatedly referring to the organization as a cult), but Flag Base was established nonetheless. In the years since its foundation, the Flag Land Base has expanded as the Church of Scientology has gradually purchased large amounts of additional property in the downtown and waterfront Clearwater area. Scientology's largest project in Clearwater has
Scientology in Germany by a large number of independent associations or "Vereine" in Germany; their umbrella organisation is the "Scientology Kirche Deutschland e.V." Germany's domestic intelligence service, the "Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz" ("BfV", or Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution), estimates that there are 4,000 Scientologists in Germany, down from earlier estimates of 5,000 to 6,000. The Church of Scientology reported around 30,000 members from the mid-1990s onwards; this number remained stable for many years. However more recently Scientology has said it has only 12,000 members. Discrepancies in Scientology membership numbers arise because the Church of Scientology applies more inclusive criteria in