IN SEARCH OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM, Ray Franz, pages 274, 275.
I recall that when the Watch Tower Society purchased a former motion picture theatre in Queens, New York, for use as an assembly hall, the theatre had an ancient Egyptian motif throughout. Over the marquee, the front of the building had large tiles depicting various Egyptian gods and goddesses, one even carrying the CRUX ANSATA. The inside contained other items, including lotus flowers, having religious connotations in Egyptian beliefs. When the Watch Tower renovated the building all these items were left unchanged. After a few years, a friend of ours from the Dominican Republic attended a Gilead School graduation there as our guest. She was struck by the pagan symbolisms and expressed her upset to me, saying that she would not have known what the meaning of these things was had she not read of them in the Watch Tower's own publications. [52] She could not harmonize the strong, negative statements made in the publications with this apparent tolerance. I felt obliged to write President Knorr, pointing out that my concern was primarily for her (and others who might feel as she did). Knorr came down to my office and argued the matter, saying that the items were simply decorations and that, for example, he didn't think that people looking at the lotuses would attribute a sexual connotation to them. He asked if I thought we could not even make use of a Catholic translation because it might have a cross on its front. I told him that I was not hypersensitive about such things, but I thought that we had an obligation to be concerned if there is an adverse effect on others, that if we set forth a particular standard for others then people have a right to expect us to live by it ourselves. Not long afterward the tile depictions of gods and goddesses were painted over. The inside of the building remained essentially the same. More recently the Watch Tower purchased the large Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn. It has gargoyles ornamenting the outside. These, too, are viewed by the organization as inconsequential decorations, void of any serious significance. As I found true in so many cases, stringent requirements placed on Witnesses of the "rank and file" suddenly seemed capable of great relaxation when the organization's own interests were involved.
footnote:
52 See, for example the book WHAT HAS RELIGION DONE FOR
MANKIND?, pages 106 to 119.
