This is a letter I'll be sending to the UK Charity Commission governors in the next few days. Please review it critically and make any suggestions for improvement.
As it stands, the letter fits neatly onto a single page - I like that!
Nic'
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Mr J A Nicolaou
196 High Road
Wood Green
London
N22 8HH
Charity Commission for England and Wales
Harmsworth House
13-15 Bouverie Street
London
EC4Y 8DP
Date: 21st October 01
Ref: dnc/wt-2
RE: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Britain
Charity Number: 1077961
Registration Date: 27th October 1999
Dear Sir or Madam
I am writing to voice my concern about the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Britain, the organisation that represents almost 130,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in this country.
I have been associated with this organisation since childhood and was baptised into the faith more than 21 years ago. I remain a nominal Jehovah’s Witness.
My first concern centres on the way this organisation has been misleading both its members and the Charity Commission in that the charity may have been undertaking improper political activities.
In 1992, the Headquarters Organisation of the WTB&TS in New York gained official NGO status with the United Nations Department of Public Information. Following exposure in UK press articles (Guardian 08/10/01 & 15/08/01) the WTB&TS requested that its association with the UN be terminated.
The resultant UN investigation by Mr Paul Hoeffel, (Chief NGO Section, UN-DPI) reached the following conclusion; in Mr Hoeffel’s words “the DPI has made a decision to disassociate the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York as of 9th October 2001”. A copy of his letter is enclosed for your inspection.
I would like to ask that the Charity Commission make enquiries of the British branch to ensure that there is no further infringement of this charities political impartiality.
Secondly, I notice at your website . http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/cc21.htm#11 that:
“In some cases the advancement of religion is not charitable. This is where public benefit is clearly lacking. Examples of this include:
(1) organisations where the benefit is wholly private (such as an entirely enclosed religious order where the activities consist only of private prayer); and
(2)where an organisation is set up to promote the beliefs of a particular religion which undermine the accepted foundations of religion and morality, or are otherwise contrary to the public interest.”
Where the activities of this charity endanger life by prohibiting life-saving medical procedures, when hundreds of families in the UK have been torn apart by the charities official policy on shunning family members and when child abusers are reputedly offered protection from the law by local congregations it seems difficult to see where the “benefit” or “public interest” really lies.
Please be assured that these are not the ravings of a disgruntled ex-member. I am one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and intend to remain such for as long as it is within my power to do so. However, I have come to the unavoidable conclusion that this organisatition cannot change for the better via internal efforts alone.
Therefore, for the sake of thousands of ordinary families and innocent children within the UK I respectfully ask that the Charity Commission investigate the propriety of awarding the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Britain charitable status.
Yours faithfully,
Mr J A Nicolaou
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http://www.do-not-call.org
