I sent this fax:
September 25, 2002
Mailing Address:
X
Canada
E-mail:
To whom it may concern
As pertaining to instructions from the media relations/researchers department, I am submitting this written request for copies of reference material. I am a sociology student at the University of Victoria, completing a research project on the history of Jehovahs Witnesses and medicine. In the interest of accuracy, I would like to obtain photocopies of the following reference works directly from your archives:
The Golden Age, Feb 4 1931 p. 293-4 The Sacredness of Human Blood
Watchtower 1967 November 15 pp.702-4 Questions from Readers
Watchtower 1980 March 15 p.31 Questions from Readers
Please contact me if there is a charge for this service.
Thanking you in advance-
I waited 2 months with no response, giving up hope. Yesterday I got this e-mail:
Dear X
My name is Harry Lund. I have the materials you requested from the
Watchtower plus some information that we supply to Health Care professionals
in the Victoria area. I am a member of the local Hospital Liaison Committee
of Jehovah's Winesses and coordinate any meetings with those interested in
our religious stand on transfusion practises in medicine. I would be pleased
to meet with you at your convenience. I live close to you on the other side
of the Jubilee Hospital at 2660 Richmond Ave. Please contact me by phone at X or by email at X to arrange a time. I will be in a conference this weekend from 9 am to 4 pm on Sat and Sun. I work from 10 to 6:00 pm each day of the week.
May I thank-you for this opportunity to explain our position accurately and
first hand.
yours sincerely
Harry Lund
PS There is no charge for this service. It is free and without any obligation.
What should I do?
A couple of ideas Ive had. Originally I just wanted to view the copies, but this may be an opportunity to have a full discussion. Or even better yet, I could turn this into a minor media event at the university by engaging him in a dialog in front of a panel.
If youd like to read the preamble to the letters, see below.
OK, finding out about this Golden Age article was what originally got me fired up about the WTS 6 months ago. I decided to research it, taking great pains to remain as objective and info-oriented researcher as possible, throughout. I contacted a local hall and they said these articles were too old to carry, and bounced me to HQ. So I called HQ in Brooklyn and asked if this article was real. They bounced me to the Writing dept. and I talked to a guy who had the article right there in front of him. They wouldn't comment on the article. So I asked if the article took a negative view of vaccines, quoting
Vaccinations are responsible for the spread of "demonism" and sexual immorality. Thinking people would rather have smallpox than vaccination, because the latter sows the seed of syphilis, cancers, escema, erysipelas, scrofula, consumption, even leprosy and many other loathsome affections. Hence the practice of vaccination is a crime, an outrage and a delusion.... Vaccination is a direct violation of the everlasting covenant that God made with Noah after the flood... Vacination has never saved a human life. It does not prevent smallpox.
He said he needed to study it further and he couldn't comment. I tried many ways to get info, but got the run around. The amazing thing was that info in the articles that casted the WTS in a good light was jumping to his finger tips. He said that medicine was different then (Golden Age days), and that the "cannibal" reference was from a scientific source and organ transplants were not reliable at that time. These were the only comments I could get. Any request for originals had to be in writing. So I sent a fax. Go to top ;-)
One last note- the WTS approach to info exchange is highly unusual. No electronic exchange. And getting library reference material needs a liaison? Imagine if they had to go through that at the public or any other library to confirm references. I think we would have to go back to the dark ages to find such a policy on public information. -J