Funny that ... another incident involving Iranian morality police.
Do you still believe that we are in a high control religion?
Cult or High Control Group?
by MillennialDawn 58 Replies latest jw friends
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no-zombie
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NotFormer
No-zombie: yes!
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LongHairGal
NO-ZOMBIE:
Yes, I do. As I said in my previous post answering your post: ..If the Witness religion was geographically isolated and its OWN sovereign country the potential is definitely there for this to happen!…Iran is its own country. This is what you are ignoring.
JWs are bullying enough now (operating inside of relatively free countries) with their shunning routine, the stand against beards and issues about women’s dress, etc..
Again, JWs are only kept in check (for the most part) because they are NOT a sovereign country but are subject to the laws of the countries they live in (thank God)!!
Otherwise they would very quickly degenerate and resemble these other oppressive countries you mentioned.
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no-zombie
Thank you LongHairGal for your considered and thoughtful reply.
However my comments were based on the original question on high control religions in general, which would naturally include those that have existed throughout time.
Many here still refer to the Jonestown suicide cult of 1975 and others like the Japanese Aum Shinriko (Supreme Truth) suicide cult of the 80's, so I thought that it was relevant to include a thought about the Spanish Inquisition. And as the original question was not limited to North American, not traditional, Christian faiths with the numbers of worshipers less than 10 million ... I thought fair to include Muslim religions.
And finally I don't think that you appreciate the structure of Arabic theocratic governments. While there may be a elected President at the top of the political tree, REAL and INSTITUTIONAL power lies directly with the head of the country's Islamic religious faith ... just like the Pope of Rome directly controlled European Kings of the past. Iran is not a political organization with a religion flavor ... no, it is a religious organization that operates in the political space. Thus Iran's morality police are legally able to beat 16 year old girls into a comatose state, over a tuft of hair or the palest of lip gloss.
Religion is a snare and a racket this is for sure, just a Russell said. However the WBTS is not the center of the universe, and there are bigger religions (and non-religious organizations) that fit the BITE model, with problems that are far more worrisome.
If you doubt me, just research Iranian modern history and battle tactics (regarding the willingness to martyr waves of 10 year old Iranian boys on bicycles against Iraqi heavy armor) ... and now think of Ayatollah Khamenei with nuclear weapons.
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LongHairGal
NO-ZOMBIE:
No, I don’t doubt you at all and I know something about the history of that region of the world. More than you might think. I’m a bit of a history buff myself.
Also, I had a relative who worked in Iran and know somebody else who was in Saudi Arabia for a while! They had some horror stories to tell. So, I certainly do appreciate the structure of Arabic theocratic governments!
I see you are big-picturing it with your comparisons.
I know the WTBS is not the center of the world and that worse things happened in the past. We all know the history of the world and religion is bad with the Inquisition and other atrocities throughout history up until the present time. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything about the atrocities and lack of human rights (especially for women) in the places you mentioned.. Obviously, they don’t care what the rest of the world thinks about them.
But, as far as religions go now (that are operating inside of other relatively free countries). I still think JWs is high control group with potential to be a lot worse if it had the upper hand - which I’m glad it does not. You can feel free to disagree.
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Beth Sarim
The JWs could be potentially a lot worse with their harmful and abusive policies.
I tend to think its the laws of the land which prevents the Borg from implementing more harsh and severe disciplinary measures for its victims,,I mean members
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LongHairGal
BETH SARIM:
Yes, that is my point exactly about the JW religion.
We can never know, nor would we want to, just how bad it could be. We only know what we have seen. And it isn’t good.
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Beth Sarim
LHG;
I'll smash your "like"'button.!!
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no-zombie
LongHairGal
While I do appreciate your comments (and I actually do) , you must also know that Islam is not just practiced in nominally Muslin countries. You can find it in the US, the UK, all over the world in fact... as you can the honor killings, female genital mutilation, polygamy and child marriages done by members of that religion in the west, quite regularly. But if want to exude this religion, we could talk about the Satanic death cults that operate in Europe ... or the sex religions of North America. Modern Japan has a fascination with these kind of things too.I'm sorry but people just can't cherry pick their sample data. Otherwise objectivity goes right out of the window.
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NotFormer
"I'm sorry but people just can't cherry pick their sample data."
Dubs do 🙄