Hi Outofservice: Back in the 1930s and 1940s and some into the 1950s may have produced some more open resistence by some clergymen. JIm Penton, for example, has strong memories of the persecution that JWs sufferred in Canada, particularly in Quebec. And some few clergymen, especially some few Catholic Priests may have helped fuel to government. I will ask him to give some historical information on this.
When I a kid in the 1950s and 1960s, JWs were just a goofy religion that went door-to-door. On rare ocassions our Catholic Priest in giving a sermon, would mention the dedication of JWs to help inspire the church body of adults to spread the Gospel, minister to one another, etc. But, other than that, little was ever said about JWs.
My mother once allowed a JW to talk extensivelky to her, bringing in his books, etc. I am sure the JW felt he had a Bible Study going. But my mother was highly educated, and fought him tooth and nail. [That reminds me of a new post I want to make regarding abortion that will supprise many on this forum.]
When I started studying with the JWs in the late 1960s, I went to my Catholic Priest. He was not really concerned with JWs, and had a few good things to say. But he was more concerned with religion in general and was considering leaving the Priesthood. So, he was not much help. The head prist - Catholics call the Monsenior - was not too thrilled. He resented the things said in the Watchtower magazine, and would chide the JWs a little bit when they came around.
I recall one time when he yelled out of his window at the JWs passing by, 'We burn old ladies and babies here and sacrifice them to Satan! But the JWs did not see the parody, sarcasm, or humor in what the Minsenior said.
Finally after I left the organization, I did attend a Baptist Church for a while. I too expected that they would be all-concerned and shower me with attention, and that what JWs did was all-important to them. As you experienced, they did not really seem too concerned. Some would come up and ask me how to talk to JWs at the door, or how to help a relative who is studying to see the flaws in the religion. Eventually, I was asked to givce a couple of Sunday School session to adults on how to talk to JWs, but this was more at my request so I could try and deal with a lot of questions all at once.
When the JWs would go to the door, some of the chruch memebrs would tell the JWs that one of the JWs was now attending church, but they would not say who it was (me) because they said that I was in their 'Witness Protection Program" with humor of course. This pissed off the JWs, because they wanted to find out who was attending a chruch of Christendom.
In general, we JWs thought we were the center of the universe, then upon leaving the Big-O, we discovered that we were a tiny moon orbiting some outer minor planet. Kind of like the way sciences determined that earth was not the center of the universe.
Amazing
