RACISM IN WT

by stillAwitness 27 Replies latest jw friends

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  AuldSoul

  I would argue that accusing Jews as the source of Big Business in a letter to the Nazi party would constitute racism.

  The greatest and the most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire. By that is meant the British Empire, of which the United States of America forms a part. It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations. This fact particularly applies to the cities of London and New York, the stronghold of Big Business. This fact is so manifest in America that there is a proverb concerning the city of New York which says: The Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills...The present government of Germany has declared emphatically against Big Business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nations. Such is exactly our position.

  Yes, I would say such comments in a letter to the Nazi party would constitute racism.

  Anyone care to disagree?

  AuldSoul

  P.S. If anyone was curious about why Quotes' site is being sued, you need look no further (Nazi Conciliation)
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  Inquisitor

  If one takes "commercial Jews" to be an insult to the Jews as a race, shall we also take "the oppressive Anglo-American Empire" as an insult to British and American nationals? Having said that the WTS had never shown "genuine malice" to certain races, one must remember that they DiD make some politically incorrect statements. A reflection of the thinking of that era. I of course refer to statements made of people with darker skin. INQ
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  BluesBrother

  I only have access to the 1952 magazine but I belive that if read in context . the comment was not endorsing racial superiority rather the opposite, even if written in a way that would seem quaint today .

  ***

  w52 2/1 p. 95 Questions from Readers ***

  [ Re. Why Tolerate Segregation}..... I left out the first part] Blues.

  Jehovah is no respecter of persons. Neither are his people. But the world in which we live is. Whites are prejudiced against colored, colored are prejudiced against whites. In some colored communities after nightfall a white person would enter at the risk of his very life. To justify this on the grounds that the whites started the discrimination is not Scriptural. (Rom. 12:17) Now, where the danger is extreme should white persons enter these hostile communities and suffer beating and possibly death to prove they have a democratic right to be there? Should a white witness endanger his life to attend a meeting of colored witnesses in such places, or stay overnight with his colored brothers there, just to prove his democratic right to do so?

  Many colored persons practice color-prejudice against their own people. Lighter-colored Negroes will shun the darker ones. Some from the Western Hemisphere look down upon the very dark ones from Africa. In South Africa, whites discriminate against the mixed coloreds, the mixed coloreds against the native blacks, the native blacks against the Indian coolies, and in their native India the Indians discriminate against the no caste or outcasts. Who is innocent to throw the first stone? Can we not see that all classes of the human race are evil, that if we start reforming we shall be lost in an impossible task, with endless discriminations and many varieties or injustices to beat down, which crusading social and political organizations of this world have hopelessly fought for years? For us to become like them would be to fail with them, consume our time in such reforms, lose out as Jehovah’s witnesses, and please only the Devil.

  So let us please God by preaching the gospel despite the undesirable conditions the Devil’s world may make for us. Let us not be sidetracked by Satan and caught in a subtle snare camouflaged in lofty motives and ideals. Can we not wait upon Jehovah to avenge the wrongs we suffer now? Really, our colored brothers have great cause for rejoicing. Their race is meek and teachable, and from it comes a high percentage of the theocratic increase. What if the worldly wise and powerful and noble look down on them as foolish and weak and ignoble, not on an equality with self-exalted whites? It is to God’s ultimate honor, for he confounds the wise of this world by choosing those the world considers foolish and weak and ignoble. Let us boast in Jehovah and in our equality in his sight, rather than wanting to boast in equality in the world’s sight. (1 Cor. 1:26-31, NW) In due time the exalted ones will be humbled, and the humble ones will be exalted. (Matt. 23:12) All of us await this vindication from God, which will come in his due time. Until then, as Paul advised concerning slavery we advise concerning its lingering trace, segregation: "Do not let it worry you." (1 Cor. 7:21, NW) When possible we will meet together, when not possible we will meet separately; but in either event we are always united in spirit, brothers equal in our own sight, in Christ’s sight, and in God’s sight.
• 

  AuldSoul

  INQ, the WTS stated they felt the exact same toward the Jews (Big Business oppressors) as the German Nazi Party. That doesn't smack of racism to you?

  Or are you incapable of seeing what they stated?

  AuldSoul
• 

  jgnat

  Sure the JW's are bigots. They are bigots against anyone who is not a JW. I am white as the driven snow, but I am treated like a contagious embarrassment, easily rectified with a few month's study followed by baptism.

  As long as I am on the "outside", I will not be treated as one of them.
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  richard

  I think you have to be careful to classify the statements of Rutherford on "Business Jews" as anti-semitic. Anti-semitism usually degrades Jews as an inferior human species. As far as I know, such expressions were never printed in the WT literature.

  On the other hand, the anti-Jewish stereotyping as done by Rutherford was not unusual among Christian Fundamentalists and Catholics in the US in the first decades of the 20th Century. In that respect, the WTS did not divert significantly from the religious fundamentalist subculture.

  There's a fascinating book about this: "When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture", by Paul Boyer

  R
• 

  MsMcDucket

  Here's the thing: From my viewpoint they would have an "enlightened" perception compared to the times, if actually guided by holy spirit.

  I agree. If they were God's organization on earth, they should have known that all man were created equal. They should have known if a black person was considered a human or a "beast". They should have been "light years" ahead of everyone else. The Quakers didn't have a problem with black people. Doesn't say much for the dubs does it?
• 

  Dune

  When our kingdom hall was being refurbished/rebuilt last summer, a couple of white brothers came.
  
  One of them was VERY arrogant and chose to use vocabulary words that would go over someone who didnt have a college education(However, he tended to use them wrongly in every sentence he spewed out). The other brothers with him were pretty cool.
  
  I'm not sure I can say that he was exactly a racist/ a bigot. But he's the closests that i've ever seen.
  
  I dont doubt that there is prejudice in the orgo, i mean, I can be quite prejudiced against even my own people, but i doubt that there is out right racism.
  
  ONe thing i will say is how during the civil rights era, the WTS refused to take part in the social movement to end segregation(find it in the quotes site). Was this in a way fueling prejudice back then?
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  jwfacts

  Yes, if the org claimed to be like any other group of people it is somewhat acceptable to have wrong ideas based on those held by the rest of society. But to claim to be Gods Only Channel on earth means that Org must get its doctrines right. I consider it blasphemous to use Gods name (even if it was 100 years ago) to promote shocking doctrine such as black people being inferior in any way.
  It is true that JWs are to be commended for their lack of racism today. But in subtle ways they are still racist. I have been in aboriginal and islander congregations where there are very few black brothers with 'privileges' because they do not conform to Western ideals of punctuality, regularity and education. Due to having limited access to education in many remote areas their level of reading skills rule them out from ever being elders, as if fluency is of more importance to Jesus than compassion and caring for the flock.
  
  http://jwfacts.com/index_files/blackskin.htm
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  AuldSoul

  The only reason i can think of is racism, if you can think of a different reason then please speak up.

  Actually, on that one, I have thought of a different reason.

  Malawi was far enough removed from the US that we could imagine nobility in what was happening to the brothers and sisters over there. If the same happened in Mexico, we may be only 3 degrees removed from someone who was raped and brutally murdered. In other words, Malawi doesn't have a lot of friends and relatives in the US that would know what was happening. Mexico does.

  All the information I personally know about what happened in Malawi comes from currently reading reports online about the incidents (many years past) and from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. They had 100% control over my viewpoint of the situation while I was in.

  In other words, I don't think it was a matter of race in that case. Just a matter of geography. They could get away with enforcing the neutrality rules there at the cost of people's lives.

  BTW, the issue in Germany during Nazi occupation was not over the issue of neutrality as is often inferred (but never directly stated). If you notice what they say would be required to be released, they had to sign a form saying they renounced their faith. That is not an issue of neutrality. Not one JW died in Germany BECAUSE of neutrality, but people in Malawi did.

  AuldSoul