I have had relatively high success in getting the local rag to run my letters in the Opinion page. I hope this one is printed.
To the Editor; On October 25 the British press was awash with the story of young Emma Gough from Tellford, UK. This young mother gave birth, and in the aftermath of the event, died, due to refusal to accept a blood transfusion. Her decision was based on a foundational doctrine by the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. She left a devastated husband, newborn twins, and family to grieve her loss. Her loss follows quickly on the heals of events in Canada this past summer in which parents of a multiple birth attempted to fight the use of blood to save the small lives of their children. Thankfully, the courts intervened. But in the case of Emma, she was an adult, and so died due to this refusal. She was just 22 years old. Her children will never know her. Over the years, Jehovah's Witnesses have vacillated on many medical doctrines. I know, for 40 years I vacillated right alongside them. At one time it was disallowed for them to accept vaccinations or organ transplant. Later, after the tragic loss of many lives, they simply changed the doctrines. All of this is easily verifiable in the archived literature of the group. There is a major groundswell of Witnesses, under the masthead of Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood, who are quietly denying application of this arcane practice, destroying their 'No blood' documents, and accepting blood transfusions. They must do so covertly, for excommunication from this group means complete cut off from lifelong friendships and family that remain. But what they are rejecting is policy based on interpretation of Jewish law that predated Jesus by 1500 years. Life is relegated to second place behind scriptural interpretations that, among all the billion Bible believing Christians on the planet, only this sect teach. On a positive note; pressure from such groups seems to be working. The religion is now allowing many forms of blood 'fractions', including a Hemoglobin product made directly from human and bovine blood. At some point future, the religion will likely extricate itself from the shackles of such medically unsound thinking. Peraps financial ramifications will fuel that change, much as it has driven past changes. But until that happens, sadly among those cloistered converts who trust only their Brooklyn leaders, many more deaths will occur. What can we do? We are powerless of course to influence directly the doctrines of religions and cults in our midst. But we can be informed. This is particularly crucial in the case of any religious faction who regularly call at the doors of the people with a view to recruiting others to accept such insane doctrine as God's 'Truth'. We can protect ourselves and our families from such recruitment by intelligent investigation of such matters before they, or any other religious recruiter, knocks on our door. The website www.AJWRB.org is a good start in educating oneself on the Jehovah Witness doctrine of blood and the work being done behind the scenes to avert future tragedy like that of Emma Gough. AK Jeff