Greetings friends . . .
I've put together a response for the NZ HRC's request for more information as well as narrowing down the nature of the complaint.
I've decided the best approach is an objection to their literature and what it contains . . . but the implications should be obvious.
Feel free to offer feedback . . . I haven't sent it yet. Thanks in advance.
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Dear Mr Hallowell,
Thank you for your reply to my email of 14th Sept 2011. Please find attached a pdf file of the July 15th 2011 Watchtower as per your request.
I take this opportunity to add some additional material and background information for your consideration.
The Watchtower organization strongly discourages association with non-members. What this means for Watchtower members is no social contact with non-members; just the bare minimum interaction that is unavoidable in day-to-day life.
Even more rigid is the policy toward individuals who have left the Watchtower religion. Former members who have left of their own accord are not even to be greeted on the street. The Watchtower shunning policy even applies to one's own relatives who leave the organization, including immediate family members.
This somewhat inhumane treatment surfaces largely as a result of the engendering of hatred that Watchtower leaders reserve for those who conscientiously leave the Watchtower organization over doctrinal or church policy issues. These ones are labelled "apostates" and are constantly vilified in Watchtower publications, for example:
These apostates 'have gone out from us because they were not of our sort.' (1 John 2:18, 19) Hence, they no longer have fellowship with loyal anointed witnesses of Jehovah and their companions, and therefore these self-seeking heretics have no "sharing" with the Father and the Son, no matter how much they may boast of having intimacy with God and Christ. Instead, they are in spiritual darkness. (1 John 1:3, 6) Lovers of light and truth must take a firm stand against these promoters of false teaching. In no way do loyal witnesses of Jehovah want to be accomplices in the "wicked deeds" of such unfaithful persons by supporting their ungodly words and activities in any manner. --The Watchtower, April 1, 1983, page 24.
In just one short paragraph - five sentences, in fact - these former members are slandered as:
1. apostates
2. self-seeking
3. heretics
4. having no legitimate claim to christian belief
5. boasters
6. in a "darkness"
7. against truth
8. liars
9. wicked
10. faithless
11. ungodly
Please understand I have no issue with current members exercising their conscientous freedom of religious association, in accord with Watchtower policy. What I find disturbing, is the constant employment of emotive hate speech in their literature. Former members of the Watchtower Organisation are simply exercising their own conscientous free religious choice, and seldom, if ever, match the descriptions contained in Watchtower literature.
Actually, the above quote is quite tame, comparatively. Consider the following Watchtower hate propaganda reserved for those who conscientiously reject Watchtower doctrine:
True Christians share Jehovah's feelings toward such apostates; they are not curious about apostate ideas.
On the contrary, they "feel a loathing" toward those who have made themselves God's enemies,
but they leave it to Jehovah to execute vengeance. --The Watchtower, October 1, 1993, page 19.
The obligation to hate lawlessness also applies to all activity by apostates. Our attitude toward apostates should be that of David, who declared: "Do I not hate those who are intensely hating you, O Jehovah, and do I not feel a loathing for those revolting against you? With a complete hatred I do hate them. They have become to me real enemies. --The Watchtower, July 15, 1992, page 12.
Jesus encouraged his followers to love their enemies, but God's Word also says to "hate what is bad." When a person persists in a way of badness after knowing what is right, when the bad becomes so ingrained that it is an inseparable part of his make-up, then in order to hate what is bad a Christian must hate the person with whom the badness is inseparably linked. -- The Watchtower July 15, 1961, page 420.
Copies of the Watchtower editions in which these quotes appear can similarly be made available on request
It is this campaign of hate directed toward a specific group of people, based on a conscientous religious choice, that I object to. My inquiries reveal that similar complaints are being lodged against this journal in various other countries, including within the commonwealth, in response to this ongoing hate campaign being perpetrated by the Watchtower Society, which continues unabated.
My request is that the promotion of hate clearly embarked upon through this journal be examined in the the light of Human Rights legislation, and to establish whether or not a breach of that legislation has ocurred.
If such a breach has ocurred, I would also request that the importation and distribution of this journal be curtailed, including stocks being currently held, until such time as the publishers of this magazine, The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, address this issue. In addressing the issue, I feel it would be appropriate to request an undertaking that all future publications desist from such practices, and that they also offer an apology, both publically, as well as through this journal, for the harm and distress this has caused to the objects of their campaign.
Naturally, I defer to your expertise and knowledge in determining the appropriate assessment and recommendations, and look forward to your reply.
Yours etc