Eugene Debs, the socialist was one of the one's caught up in the net. I guess he might well have considered being locked up for his views as being persecuted "for rightousness sake." I wonder how he and the judge would feel about being lumped together?
The Finished Mystery Book---Was The Gov't Really That Upset With JWs?
by minimus 33 Replies latest watchtower bible
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TD
An interesting (and trivial) tie-in from TFM and the imprisonment of Rutherford & Co. to modern JW practice and procedure is the concept of "Disassociation."
It was originally invented to deal with JW's who joined the military. Hauling these people before an ecclesiastical court (i.e. Judicial committee) and punishing them would come dangerously close to "Obstructing recruitment" which is still very much against the law.
Claiming that these ones had "Voluntarily disassociated themselves" helps to maintain the fiction that the JW organization takes no action against those who join the military.
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minimus
TD, true.
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boyzone
I have the 1918 edition of the Finished Mystery. Ray Franz mentions pages 247-253 being the offending seditious statements which were cut out of later editions.
Reading through these pages I can almost hear Rutherfords voice. He is not only critical of war in general but specifically the world war going on at the time. He heavily criticises the cost of the war and the military and naval experts, laying blame firmly at their feet and at the feet of the clergy for the conflict.
"The most virulent and devastating disease of humanity now raging on the earth is militarism" pg 248
"Everything in Germany, Italy, Austria, England and Russia is held back by the confuscation of the proceeds of industry carried on for the support of the army and navy. In the United States the development of our resourses is checked by this same fatal policy" pg 249
"The Anti-Christ doctrine of the Divine right of the clergy was the direct cause of the great war" pg 251
To be honest I find Rutherford's statements mild compared to some of the blatant statements made by the Society on other issues since that time. But I guess sensitivities were running understandably high in 1918 and any dissention or discouragement of the war effort was seen as seditious - or even treasonous.
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drew sagan
The events were are directly linked to American history.
The time peroid when Rutherford and Co. was locked up was a time of severe repression for many groups. It was called the "red scare". The United States government was extremely paranoid that there would be attacks on capitalism and the government from communists and other left leaning radicals. The Russian revolution as well as domestic threats of terrorism helped fule the hysteria. This was an extrememly divisive time in America. Xenophobia ran wild and a long string of anti-immegration laws came into effect during this time as well.
The Watchtower describes what happened to itself during that time without ever once referancing the historical context. This is the key point! To do so creates a myth inside the minds of JWs that some how the United States government took a unique position against the Watchtower, something historic in scope. In all actuality is was part of a greater even in the country, something that the Watchtower was only a part of. Not sharing the full context of the events is a pure example of how the Watchtower advances its own agenda. Witnesses are left to think that the situation is it's own distinct event, shaped by prophecy, the devil, and the hand of God. Thus is the power of myth!
Misinformation can many times be equated with lack of information.
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ssn587
JeffT you are so right it wasn't just about jdubs, they were guilty by any definition of the word, sedition is and was an integral part of their make up especially Rutherford's he loved making other people take risks but he himself wouldn't take any, he was nothing but a charlatan a wolf in disguise whoe own family wouldn't have anything to do with him, he lived in the lap of luxury and made people think he deserved it. People want to be suckers it seems sometime, but hopefully sometime they do wake up, for many it was many many years after first being deluded, but for some they will never wake up.
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drew sagan
ssn587, you said:
JeffT you are so right it wasn't just about jdubs, they were guilty by any definition of the word,
I must disagree. Just because you don't like J.F. Rutherford doesn't mean he must automatically be guilty of a crime. I repeat that this was a time in which many groups and individuals suffered severe repression in regards to free speech. Rutherford may have been saying some really absurd things, but that's all they were. The inability for the United States government to realize that J.F. Rutherford was simply a religious nut with no violent revolutionary intentions is a testemony to how backwards the government was at the time. boyzone said:
To be honest I find Rutherford's statements mild compared to some of the blatant statements made by the Society on other issues since that time. But I guess sensitivities were running understandably high in 1918 and any dissention or discouragement of the war effort was seen as seditious - or even treasonous.
I totally agree.
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AnnOMaly
Reading through these pages I can almost hear Rutherfords voice. He is not only critical of war in general but specifically the world war going on at the time. He heavily criticises the cost of the war and the military and naval experts, laying blame firmly at their feet and at the feet of the clergy for the conflict.
"The most virulent and devastating disease of humanity now raging on the earth is militarism" pg 248
"Everything in Germany, Italy, Austria, England and Russia is held back by the confuscation of the proceeds of industry carried on for the support of the army and navy. In the United States the development of our resourses is checked by this same fatal policy" pg 249
These weren't Rutherford's statements. They were quotes from somebody else - from C. E. Jefferson, American Association for International Conciliation, and was previously quoted in a ZWT 1909. One strong anti-war letter from a Reverend was reproduced on p. 250-1.
The 'Anti-Christ' remark was the FM authors' own (Woodworth and Fisher).
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boyzone
These weren't Rutherford's statements. They were quotes from somebody else - from C. E. Jefferson, American Association for International Conciliation, and was previously quoted in a ZWT 1909. One strong anti-war letter from a Reverend was reproduced on p. 250-1.
The 'Anti-Christ' remark was the FM authors' own (Woodworth and Fisher).
Well ok fair enough, but the book was written at Rutherford's behest so it would be reasonable to say the book expressed his strong opinions even if he didn't pen them himself.
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minimus
A key point for Witnesses is that the Society makes it sound as if they ALONE were singled out for prosecution because of the righteous Christian stand which incidentally fulfilled Bible "prophecy". Once again the Watchtower misleads its readers by ftainting the facts.