Posted on www.christianwitnesses.com
| The Federal Public Ministry at Ceara, Brazil, on July 14, 2011 filed a civil action against the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses in the 8th Federal Court for practicing religious discrimination against former members. Prosecutor Nilce Cunha Rodrigues has taken on official representation of Sebastian Oliveira (Ramos) who, after being expelled from the religion was discriminated against by colleagues, friends and relatives, including his mother, in accord with norms of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who are headed by a Governing Body of the Watchtower Society. He had begun attending meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1998 and was baptized in 2001. Because of questioning some doctrinal points of religion in 2009, he was summarily disassociated/expelled becoming a victim of intolerance by those following the religion. Nilce said it was “obvious" that there is an attitude of disrespect for the "rights of human dignity, equality of honor and reputation, freedom of conscience and belief and freedom of association." Further, such acts of discrimination are "intolerable" in Brazil. She noted that the Jehovah's Witnesses are inconsistent as they make an effort to relate to people of other religions in order to indoctrinate them in going from door to door, but they do not do so for anyone who leaves or is expelled from them. A former member "will suffer actions of hostility and rejection by the same group that had welcomed him before when he was practicing a different religion." The prosecutor’s assessment is that the intention of Jehovah's Witnesses is to "inflict hardship" on ex-members "as punishment because they have strayed from the teachings that the organization considers as truth handed down directly by God to the Governing Body." She said that this is a case of violation of Article 5 of Brazil’s Constitution which accords all citizens equality before the law, without distinction of any kind. She has asked the court to prevent Jehovah's Witnesses from prohibiting former members from living with their families. The essence is that religious entities can not preach intolerance via any medium, including orally. She has also asked for the application of a daily fine of $ 10,000 for each identiable case of disobedience, a monetary amount equivalent to $6,348.40 in U.S. dollars. http://www.midiagospel.com.br/noticia/brasil/mp-acusa-testemunha-jeova-de-discriminacao.html http://www.opovo.com.br/app/opovo/fortaleza/2011/07/29/noticiafortalezajornal,2272960/mpf-entra-com-acao-contra-igreja.shtml |
| RELATED NEWS: Nilce Cunha Rodrigues, a federal prosecutor in Brazil and the author of a Public Civil Action, that is a lawsuit, against the Watchtower Bible And Tract Society as well as the Bible and Culture Association of Fortaleza (local Jehovah's Witnesses group in Fortaleza), a city in northeastern Brazil, has appeared in a highly enlightening interview for the first time on Daily TV (Diario TV), an affiliate of Brazilian Global TV Network on August 6, 2011. The following tape (just click the link) first shows Sebastian Oliveira Ramos, a Brazilian ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses in Fortaleza who got the lawsuit started along with peaceful protesting against the extremist type of shunning practiced by Jehovah’s Witnesses the city and area. He and other Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses exposed the violations of the Constitutional rights of Brazilian civilians on billboards in northeastern Brazil, held peaceful rallies and street marches. After the segment featuring Sebastian Ramos, the tape shows the interview with the prosecutor or attorney general. She appears so informed that she could pass for having been an Ex-Jehovah’s Witness. This may not be the end of the Watchtower Society in Brazil but it may be the start to the end of a lot of Watchtower’s ability to cause such intense discrimination against former Jehovah’s Witnesses. Readers who do not know the Portuguese language can still understand a lot from Sebastian’s holding forth of his sign against discrimination and the intense nature shown by the Prosecutor’s during the TV interview: http://youtu.be/sB-xvnyXYyA Congratulations to all our Friends in Brazil, and please keep up the good work! |