by Band on the Run 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I periodically check the talk page of the JW wikipedia page. When I entered the search terms, I noticed JW in Norway, which aroused my curiosity. According to the article on religion in Norway, Norway funds most religious groups. According to the article, JWs receive state funds as a religion. They are a very small minority. The article does not say that they turned down the money b/c of neutrality principles.
They are on Caesar's payroll evidently.
Jehovah's Witnesses is the largest nontrinitarian religious organization in Norway, with a membership of 14,976 in 2009. [21] A branch office is located in Ytre Enebakk. Jehovah's Witnesses receive public grants in the same manner as other registered religious communities in Norway.
They do get a "Yu'le kaka" every year.
(Christmas cake)
Interesting find.
Here's an article that explains how the funding works.
http://www.iheu.org/state-funding-religious-institutions-norway
I found a possible angle to explore, should anyone be interested in investigating.
A further problem is that there is no correct register of members in the state church. Such a register was started in 1993, but many people are still registered against their will or their knowledge, so the register clearly contains more people than it should. Estimates vary from a few thousand to several hundred thousand members.
Perhaps I am cynical but I find it really hard to believe someone from the jw/wts org hasn't exploited this opportunity.
Also, what do they have to do/promise in order to get the funding? And do they comply with the terms?
My uncles went to prison rather than serve during WWII. I was not so cynical when I came to this forum. Is anyone surprised? This is far worse than a tax exemption.
If I do not remember things totally wrong, I think it was in Sweden or could it have been Norway organisation even appealed when state support was denied.
CP
Looks like the green monster still visits with the $ociety.
good catch
The WT no longer receives government funds from Norway for being a religion. It is due to a court ruling in March 2022 due to the WT's policy about shunning. See https://a-jw.org/norway/jehovahs-witnesses-loses-appeal-in-norway/ .
I just recently learned about this in Norway. Apparently all religions, including JWs, historically have received funding from the government. Just this year, though, the JWs lost that funding and are appealing the decision, as DJW has referenced. I watched a video about it that had been discussed on this site a couple of months ago.
Edited to add: I didn't notice that this thread is 10 years old and DJW was adding the update.
Here is a video interview related to this:
