by doinmypart 19 Replies latest jw friends
Puke alert:
It exorbitantly taxes not only religious contributions but also humanitarian donations, including those collected to help victims of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
http://www.jw-media.org/region/europe/france/english/releases/religious_freedom/fra_e041006.htm
I read somewhere that they pulled out of France and left the government holding the $50 million tax bill....nice job following it's own council to pay taxes.
And someone posted not too long ago that the U.K. is taking a long hard look at the WT's non-profit status and may impose similar restrictions on them.
The reasons for this tax-exemption denial were stated:
- The association of Jehovah's Witnesses forbids its members to defend the nation, to take part in public life, to give blood transfusions to their minor children and that the parliamentary commission on cults has listed them as a cult which can disturb public order. [2]
This article in French states that the WT appealed and on May 2000 won its tax-exemption in France. The court ordered the State to pay 15,000 Francs to the WT for expenses incurred.
Gerard,
That's another story about a local JW association and a different sort of tax. (Of course it can count, to an extent, in pro-WT jurisprudence). The big, national WT case is still pending at the European Court.
As if the WTS gives a rat's ass about other religions or non-profit organizations being taxed. After all, aren't all these other religions run personally by Satan the Devil? Aren't non-prophet organizations a total waste of time and money? Hasn't the WTS, through it's literature over the past 125 years condemned and ridiculed everything outside of their own empire? So why are they so suddenly worried about what's going to happen to these groups?
The ability to practice religion freely is a basic human right, supported by the United National Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights.........
Oh, is this the same "basic human right" that the WTS is unwilling to fight for? Don't they condemn the entire world when the fight for freedom? They sure don't want to put themselves out at all, but they sure don't mind reaping the benefits from it.
Is it just me, or does this "open letter" have the same smug, superior tone as the letter Rutherford sent to Hitler in the 1930s..........
The ability to practice religion freely is a basic human right, supported by the United National Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights.........
Another thought on that statement:
The WTS plays up the human rights issue about freedom of religion but how do they feel about that basic human right when one of their members chooses to leave and pursue other religious activities?
If a JW chooses to practice religion in a way different from the JWs they will be ostracized and punished. How about those human rights now?
Excellent point undercover. I would love for the Government of France to do an "Open Response" in one of their newspapers asking the Governing Body if they believe that individual Jehovah's Witnesses have the "..ability to practice religion freely.." without fear of being cut off from your family and friends if they choose their Right not to believe everything the WTS puts down in writing.
HYPOCRITES!
"the third largest Christian religion" ( NY Times Ad)
Since when does the judgmental and lying Watchtower Society recognize ANYONE ELSE as Christian?
metatron
The French realised very rightly that the dubs are not a true religion but a cult that destroys families, drives people to death with its blood policy, and exploits its members. So they taxed the hell out of them labelling them a cult.
You then see the dubs that for the sake of money they form alliances with what they call the false religions of satan.
