Patio,
While I agree on all that is said in this thread about WTS basically forbidding personal views, it doesn't differ that much from the government agency that employs me. There are certain people designated to speak to the press.
You're confusing two very different issues. Of course only designated persons can speak authoritatively for the corporation. Naturally, not every 6 million+ JW can speak for the Watchtower Society, neither for the JW religion as a whole. But scholars don't care much about such things. They want individuals to tell them how they personally experience their life as a JW. JWs interviewed will only be expected to tell how they themselves live their lives.
So, naturally, you cannot speak for your agency, and even less the state. But you are permitted to speak for yourself. If scholars asked you to tell them if you liked your job, etc, you will certainly be able to do so. If they asked what the agency means about various issues, you could not.
In an authoritarian sect like the JWs, the individual doesn't exist as such. He is merely a tool for the greater Organization. Kill the "old personality" and take on a new one with the suit and tie...
As I said, I did send this around to a few scholars of religion. They found it very amusing and, as I said, extremely naive. "What a mental world!" one said.
It is sad that the WTS thinks its interests are better served by hiding their members' feelings to scholars and the public.
- Jan
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Faith, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel. [Ambrose Bierce, The Devil´s Dictionary, 1911]