by sizemik 34 Replies latest members private
Wasn't the issue also that it was discriminating against those with genuine mental health issues by using them as a yardstick of evil. Using a non sequitir.
Apostates = Have mental health issues.
People with mental healt issues = Evil
Apostates = Evil
sizemik,
The approach you take is novel and I think is one to have some impact. If Watchtower wants to keep pushing the “human rights” button then its natural to ask authorities to look through the same lens at Watchtower's actions toward living and breathing human beings.
A fundamental human right is termed “natural affection” in the Bible. Watchtower harps on this relentlessly pointing out a supposed dearth of “natural affection” as a sign of the last days. But asking family members to completely ignore fellow family members over a conscientious difference in belief is an assault on “natural affection” because it forces families apart rather than leaving them alone to find mutually respectful reconciliation based on the human right of “natural affection”.
Watchtower’s role in this is as an enforcer. That is, if out of “natural affection” a family member willfully contravenes Watchtower’s policy of shunning a fellow member of the family then that individual is subject to the same harsh treatment. Watchtower lawyers have done a thoroughly good job hammering this home. (See the Leslie Long, Esq. letter dated December 20, 1988 available at: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/09/lawyers-response-resigned-and-withdrawn.html
Other than offering the above, I would recommend that your response to authorities leave off suggestions of impounding religious literature published by Watchtower. It tends to stir images of book burnings.
I very much appreciate your incisive approach. Please do keep us posted on this initiative. An appeal to authorities based on human rights (which is not a strict parallel to legal rights) is very much worthy of the work you’re putting into this thing. And, while you’re at it, you should remind authorities not to confuse natural human rights with legal rights.
Marvin Shilmer
Thanks for your input Marvin . . . some very valid points you raise. They are probably well aware of the range of remedies open to them. Focussing on the content should suffice on it's own. If it contravenes natural human rights . . . then the legal implications in terms of the Act is there exclusive domain I guess.
The HRC here is a very independent body . . . with considerable statutory powers. I will probably take a leave it in their lap approach. They will have to provide a valid response at the very least. Nothing ventured . . . .
And thanks for the link . . . some good additional perspective
sizemik, good job! The part where you extract the hurtful words is so amazing.
The hate is so obvious in the Watchtower, it proves, does it not, that their minds are blinded.
Jesus came to heal the world, Watchtower takes away hearing and seeing. Impossible really
to make any sense of it.
Well done sizemik, a very well written letter. The only thing I'm not sure about is the curtailing of the July 15th magazine itself - surely the copies have already been distributed and there won't be any reprints? Or are you thinking of curtailing 2011 bound volumes and next year's CD-ROM? If so, it might be worthwhile mentioning that. Otherwise I'm not sure what a punitive restriction on circulation would accomplish?
Top marks though...
Oh, I love it!! I couldn't think of a single improvement, though I do agree with Jgnat, and just to make a teensy suggestion along those lines?
If you could possibly locate any underage JWs who were summarily expelled from their parents' homes with no shelter and no means of support, bringing cases of that nature to the Human Rights Commission might be very powerful demonstrations of the negative effects of such hate speech.
Edited: Whoops. Never mind. Just came to your post #3228...
Great job!
Zid
I fully encourage the assertion of legal rights and enforcement of laws against cults, and the development of new laws if needed.
I think your statement makes a lot of sense and is well written.
Once again, thanks to all the posters here . . .
I have seriously considered all of the advice you have offered. Most, if not all, has been quite valid and most helpful. I have thus edited the letter in order to accommodate your advice. I've still kept to a general level at this stage, with the view that further information and/or testimony may be required to substantiate my claims.
Anyway . . . have a read . . . and once again . . . please feel free to comment.
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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, otherwise known as Jehovah’s Witnesses, 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 strict Watchtower shunning policy even applies to one's own relatives who leave the organization, including immediate family members.
Tragically, it is the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses who suffer most an account of this policy. Youths, often still in their teens, are shunned in this way by parents and on occasion, are even evicted from the family home. Statistically, around two thirds of Jehovah’s Witness children leave the church. Immediate family members are constantly induced to harbour hostility, rather than find mutually respectful reconciliation based on the human right of natural family affection. Family ties are completely severed for decades, even lifetimes. I can provide multiple personal testimonies to substantiate this.
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 specifically 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 conscientious freedom of religious association. What I find disturbing, is the constant use of emotive hate speech in their literature. Former members of the Watchtower Organisation are simply exercising their own conscientious freedom of 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 (bold mine):
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 [Apostate], 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. ([Brackets] mine)
This is but a sample of a long standing campaign. 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 conscientious religious choice, which I object to. My inquiries reveal that similar complaints are being lodged against this journal in numerous other countries, including within the commonwealth, in response to this ongoing hate campaign being perpetrated by the Watchtower Society, which continues unabated.
If the distribution of similar material targeting a specific group on the basis of race or gender were to occur, such activity would be seen as highly discriminatory and totally unacceptable. I struggle to see how this hatred directed toward a specific group, being based purely on conscientious religious choice can be viewed as any more acceptable.
My request is that the promotion of hate clearly embarked upon through this journal, as exemplified in the July 15 2011 Watchtower (attached), be examined in the light of Human Rights legislation to establish whether or not a breach of that legislation, or the intent of that legislation, has occurred.
Naturally, I defer to your expertise and knowledge in determining the appropriate assessment and recommendations, and look forward to your reply.
Yours etc
great letter it covers the key points and doesn't attempt to cram too many ideas into one document. The link between racial and gender discrimination is made with a light touch and carries the point well.
I love it and wish you every success with your efforts it is so important that we have a voice and it is a rational and clear sighted one.
Great job Sizemik, well written and to the point. Thought provoking. I hope it is recieved well by Mr Hallowell. Good work young man!
