WT intervenes in Ethiopian Church case before Supreme Court of Canada to defend 2018 precedent re excommunication

by Corney 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Corney
    Corney

    Two and a half years ago, The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled unanimously in Highwood Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Judicial Committee) v. Wall that membership decisions of religious associations are not reviewable or justiciable by courts, absent an underlying legal right. Multiple religious and religiously-affiliated organizations (Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, Sikh, Muslim) and secular advocacy groups (like Canadian Constitution Foundation and British Columbia Civil Liberties Association) intervened in that important case, all - if I remember it correctly - supporting the position of the org.

    That mostly correct judgment has been widely accepted by lawyers, scholars and courts. But there were also challenges to that precedent, and one of them was accepted by the Ontario Court of Appeal which allowed a lawsuit filed by expelled members against an Ethiopian Orthodox church to proceed. In short, it decided that written constituion and by-laws of a religious association constitute a contract and give members enforceable contractual rights that may be adjudicated by courts. Read more here, here and here.

    Now the case is before the Supreme Court of Canada which will hear it on December 9. Again, multiple religious and non-religious groups intervened in that case, and Watch Tower Canada was among them. Its amicus brief is available here: https://www.scc-csc.ca/WebDocuments-DocumentsWeb/39094/FM040_Intervener_Watch-Tower-Bible-and-Tract-Society-of-Canada.pdf (all case briefs: https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/info/af-ma-eng.aspx?cas=39094), and during the hearing its representative will be given five minutes to present its position.

    It should be noted that most interveners, including Canadian Civil Liberties Association, support the position of defendant (the church) while two, namely British Columbia Humanist Association and Egale Canada Human Rights Trust (an "LGBTQI2S" advocacy group), unsurprisingly oppose church autonomy and, more broadly, associations' autonomy in general.

    Finally, a word of caution against sensationalism: intervening as an amici curiae isn't about supporting any party (Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Jimmy Swaggart or someone else), it's about influencing a future precedent to protect or advance amici's interests or agenda. This is how amicus curiae works.

  • Corney
    Corney

    For those interested, the case will be heard tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time; it apparently will be streamed here: https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/info/webcast-webdiffusion-eng.aspx?cas=39094

    the argument schedule: https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/CounselSheet-ListeProcureurs/39094-eng.aspx

    (honestly, I'm not going to watch it, but it's possible someone here will; who knows?)

  • Corney
    Corney

    The case was decided yesterday, and the Court unanimously (again) affirmed the Wall judgment and ruled (judgment, semi-official plain English summary) that written constitution and bylaws of a voluntary association don't constitute by themselves a legally enforceable contract unless there is "an objective intention to enter into legal relations." Which is in accordance with common sense and constitutional principles.

    Recent comments on the case:

    https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/26898/supreme-court-examines-intervention-in-workings-of-volunteer-associations-through-church-dispute

    https://www.christianlegalfellowship.org/blog/2021/5/21/aga

  • EdenOne
    EdenOne

    The way I see it, it is the right of every religious community to cease spiritual fellowship with members who break the rules. They have the right to bar access to their Kingdom Halls and their meetings to people they view as undesirable. They have the right to bar ex-members from their religious services and public faith expressions.

    HOWEVER ...

    There should be a distinction between removing someone from within the community of believers and enforcing full on ostracism. Namely:

    a) The community shouldn’t be allowed to treat the former member differently than they treat someone who has never been a member. Doing so is an unacceptable form of discrimination based on religious beliefs, which is an outright violation of human rights.

    b) The former member, since is no longer part of the religious community, is also no longer under its disciplinary reach. Therefore, the boundaries of disciplinary action should be limited to the boundaries of the religious community itself. Since, by definition, a religious community is a fellowship of believers, any form of sanction must not overflow the boundaries of the spiritual fellowship - that means, it must not demand the severance of ties that may exist outside the realm of spiritual fellowship.

    c) No excommunication may excuse the use of hate speech against the former members. No legally established religion should be allowed to teach discrimination in the name of faith and keep enjoying the benefits of legal recognition.

    d) No one should be forced to stay in a religious community they do not wish to belong to, and the individual’s choice of formally or informally parting ways with a religious community shouldn’t be subject to any form of penalty, for that is also a violation of human rights.

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