JW Children Lie in Custody Cases (page 23)

compound complex

[The following are direct quotations selected from among some 90 letters to Ray Franz from the Branch Committees]:

AUSTRIA: "Many of the brothers do not fully understand the Scriptural position why we should not render such alternative service."

BRAZIL: "We believe that the brothers would have no difficulty to prove their stand if the work involved direct support to the military machine, say, working in a munitions factory or constructing barracks or digging trenches, etc. They would use the same scriptures that they would use for objecting to direct military service. The brothers WOULD have difficulty if the work involved building a road for civilian use, or work on some agricultural project or other work of that kind."

ITALY: "From direct contacts made with the brothers faced with a military service problem we found that IN THE MAJORITY OF CASES they did not understand why they could not accept alternative civilian service. They maintained that no longer being under the direct jurisdiction of the military authorities because of having been assigned to another ministry, they could accept alternative civilian service just as long as they did not engage in any activity having to do with militarism, but doing non-military work such as in museums or hospitals, etc. they would not be guilty of any violation of their neutrality." [ibid., p. 260; emphasis: BCs.]

compound complex

NEXT: Information from Spain, Denmark, Norway and other countries re: the Brothers' difficulty in understanding Society policy.

compound complex

SPAIN: "As a part of the research for this report, a member of the branch committee spoke extensively with three brothers who were exemplary in their neutral stand years ago. He also conversed with three mature elders, two of them from other countries, who have not personally faced the issue in Spain. Varying viewpoints surfaced on many aspects of the matter, but there was complete agreement on one point:

Practically none of our young brothers really understand why we cannot accept 'substitute service' if it is of a civic nature and not under the control of the military. It seems clear that most of the elders do not understand it either, and therefore they often send youngsters to the [branch] office to get information. So the question comes up, Why don't they understand? Is it lack of personal study? Or is it because the arguments and reasonings we have used are not convincincing enough or do not have a clear and firm Bible stand?" [ibid., p. 260.]

compound complex

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compound complex

In addition to the sampling presented, Branch Committees in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Figi, France, Germany, Greece, Hawaii, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Rhodesia, Thailand, Trinidad, Uruguay and Zaire all expressed problems among Witnesses in their lands as to understanding the organization's policy or seeing its Scriptural basis.
Yet throughout the world Jehovah's Witnesses DO [emphasis: RF.] take an adamant stand in rejecting alternative service (unless sentenced by a judge to perform it). Hundreds are right now in jail in many lands for that reason. That this is really not the result of loyalty to God's Word and their personal conviction of the unscripturalness of the course is evident from what follows. Conformity to an organizational policy, and concern that they not be viewed adversely by that organization and by their peers, seems to be the determinative factor for these young men. While some of the quotations just made touch on this aspect, other letters from the committees were quite explicit, revealing the basic reason why Witnesses rejected alternative service provisions made by the governments of their lands. [ibid., pp. 260, 261]

compound complex

BELGIUM: "Few brothers are really in a position to explain with the Bible why they refuse ... basically, they know it is wrong and that the Society views it as such. For that reason some courts said to the brothers that they were pushed by the Society to refuse the provision of the civil service."

DENMARK: "While many young brothers seem able to grasp arguments and think them out and explain them to a degree, it is felt that the majority of young brothers today follow the example of others and take the stand expected of them by the brotherhood without really understanding the basic principles and arguments involved, and without being able to explain their stand clearly."

HAWAII: "Generally speaking, the brothers here have trouble seeing Bible principles governing the maintaining of strict neutrality. Once they know the Society's stand on such issues, they fully cooperate, but do not see the principles too clearly upon which our stand rests."

compound complex

NORWAY: "The brothers in Norway do not accept civilian work without a court sentence, mainly because they know that this is the Society's policy and they are loyal to the Society. It is difficult for them to understand why it is wrong to accept civilian work when the work itself is not wrong and condemned by the Bible. They cannot support their stand properly from the Scriptures."

SPAIN: "When an elder discusses the matter of substitute service with someone, that person generally accepts [the position] that substitution amounts to equivalence. But this idea is not usually truly understood. Rather, it is taken to be the organization's viewpoint, and the elders present it as well as they can and the brothers loyally follow through as they know is expected of them. But it seems to us that many brothers find our reasoning somewhat artificial."

THAILAND: "From our experience many in the past have had problems when trying to maintain their neutrality. Many have refused work out of a kind of group loyalty. They did not know the reason or principle why, but they heard a certain thing was wrong, so they refused."

compound complex

Lloyd Barry's memorandum spoke of "planting" ideas in the minds of the brothers. The evidence clearly indicates that any planting done was by the Watch Tower Society itself, since it is plain that these Witnesses would never have arrived at the policy laid down by the organization from their own reading of the Scriptures or as a product of their personal conscience. Nor was it only those of the so-called "rank and file" or the younger Witnesses who had such serious difficulty with the policy. Men of the Branch Committees themselves found it difficult to support, either on the basis of reason or Scripture. [ibid., p. 262.]

compound complex

COMING SOON:

"It is as simple as all that." - Lloyd Barry

"[...] Branch Committee members...did not find the stated
position by any means 'simple.'" - Ray Franz

JW Children Lie in Custody Cases

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