Despite a total lack of credible evidence Alward continues to insist that the WTS affiliated as an NGO with the UN merely to get a library card. Since the various statements issued by the WTS have been deceitful, dishonest and contradictory then there is no reason to believe them. The onus of proof is on them, not upon those who documented this embarrassing relationship. As it stands the WTS entered into a relationship with the UN that carried various obligations and which led to various benefits. Whatever they say their motivations were, why should we accept them ahead of the factual statements by the UN about what NGO affiliation involves? Especially when the WTS's statements have been shrouded in deceit and accompanied by lies.
Still, Alward turns the question on its head and says essentially that unless other evidence can be supplied (beyond the library card) then we must accept the WTS's explanation. However, as any freshman should know, lack of evidence for proposition B does not imply that proposition A is correct.
But, there is evidence that the library card was not the sole motivation for the WTS. Look what the Portuguese branch office said:
Article in Portuguese newspaper Público (Saturday, October 20, 2001) about the UN case:So, Alward - there is your evidence. Actually, this statement accords rather well with the basic concept of NGO affiliation - that it is done in order to advance the shared goals of the UN and the NGO.Testemunhas de Jeová Ligaram-se à "Besta"
(Jehovah's Witnesses Connected with the "Beast")
http://jornal.publico.pt/2001/10/20/Sociedade/S05.html
http://jornal.publico.pt/2001/10/20/Sociedade/S05CX01.htmlExcerpts:
«"The registry as NGO was made only to be able to give humanitarian help and defend the human
rights in several countries of the world", said to [the newspaper] Público Pedro Candeias,
spokesman of the Association of Jehovah's Witnesses [AJW] in Portugal. In Portugal, however, the
disaffiliation from the registry is not yet officially known by the AJW, which represents nearly 50,000
believers.»«This [JW] official says the religious group to which he belongs has had "an important role" in the
help to populations of countries like Angola, Bosnia, Georgia, Rwanda and other African or
Latin-American [countries]. "To reach those countries was complicated and, for that reason, it was
necessary to registry" the WTBTS in the United Nations. But that registry, he says, does not
compromise the Jehovah's Witnesses with "any political involvement" with the UNO.»«"It is not a political maneuver", says the AJW spokesman, "because without the support of the
UNO it would not be possible to distribute humanitarian help". And as the registry "does not violate
the statutory precepts" of the JW, the criticisms to the registry in the DPI "do not have any basis",
says Pedro Candeias.»
All of this illustrates that the WTS is not to be trusted.
LPH