WTS Legal Invokes Confucius In Political Effort

by MadApostate 6 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  MadApostate

  This was part of my "Whore fornicates with the Beast" series in Hawkaw's UN thread, which is now down.

  While the invoking of a false religion's teachings and philosophy is bad enough, don't overlook the purpose behind this document. All of this is for the purpose of drectly influencing legislation in certain Asian countries. I believe that is called "being involved in politics".

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  THE TEACHINGS OF CONFUCIUS: A BASIS AND JUSTIFICATION FOR ALTERNATIVE NON-MILITARY CIVILIAN SERVICE

  Carolyn R. Wah*

  Over the centuries the teachings of Confucius have been quoted and misquoted to support a wide variety of opinions and social programs ranging from the suppression and sale of women to the concerted suicide of government ministers discontented with the incoming dynasty. Confucius's critics have asserted that his teachings encourage passivity and adherence to rites with repression of individuality and independent thinking.1

  The case is not that simple. A careful review of Confucius's expressions as preserved by Mencius, his student, and the expressions of those who have studied his teachings, suggests that Confucius might have found many of the expressions and opinions attributed to him to be objectionable and inconsistent with his stated opinions. In part, this misunderstanding of Confucius and his position on individuality, and the individual's right to take a stand in opposition to legitimate authority, results from a distortion of two Confucian principles; namely, the principle of legitimacy of virtue, suggesting that the most virtuous man should rule, and the principle of using the past to teach the present.2

  Certainly, even casual study reveals that Confucius sought political stability, but he did not discourage individuality or independent action. Thus, while he was in favor of harmony, Confucius did not advocate conformity and blind obedience.

  This article takes the central theme that Confucius' teachings support the individual's natural and inherent right and responsibility to exercise his conscience and have such right protected by governmental authority. The paper is divided into four parts. After a brief discussion of Confucius, his family, personal background, and the political conditions in which he lived, the article will discuss the major themes in Confucius' philosophy and addresses some of the more controversial issues as they withstood the test of time.

  Part II discusses how Confucius' fundamental teachings on the five relationships, and the individual's relationship to legitimate authority have been used, misused, attacked and distorted over the centuries.

  Part III investigates three specific applications of Confucius' teachings that demonstrate that the thesis presented in the paper; namely, that Confucius' teachings support the individual's natural and inherent right and responsibility to oppose legitimate governmental authority when the governmental authority is out of harmony with the moral sense of the individual, is well-supported.

  Finally, Part IV investigates the recent Taiwan legislation and the application of Confucian thought to freedom of conscience and the question of participation in non-military service when the applicant holds strong religious or morally founded objections to service. It concludes with the suggestion that such legislation should be considered in Korea and all other Asian countries with strong Confucian traditions. This discussion is conducted keeping in mind the principle that Confucianism, like the world's other great philosophical legal and religious traditions, is neither static nor monolithic, but is a gradually maturing tradition.

  Click here for the rest of this lengthy document:

  . http://www-camlaw.rutgers.edu/publications/law-religion/wah.htm
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  Prisca

  I've never seen her picture, but Carolyn R. Wah is asian, presuming by her name?
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  MacHislopp

  Hello Map,

  excellent piece of research, with the

  link for ..the archives. When it is good for ..them

  they will quote even ..HITLER!

  Btw, I've e-mailed the "UN .." letter even to this

  ...lovely and kind ..sister!!

  Waiting for an answer...to share!

  Greetings, J.C.MacHislopp

  " One who has an accurate knowledge
  of God's Word will have no problem
  in refuting false religious ideas".
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  JT

  she maybe mixed like tiger woods but when she was at our house she is a "Sista"

  smile
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  MadApostate

  Just to tie the threads together.

  Looking at the "political participation" angle.

  . http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=14105&site=3
• 

  MadApostate

  Here is an excerpt from Carolyn Wah's article, which I find very interesting considering her position as an Attorney for the WTS, which swears that it always maintains a position of political neutrality. Evidently, the WTS's definition of "political neutrality" does not prevent it from trying to promote legislation which would favor its own interests.

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  An interesting example of civil disobedience in the Chinese community occurred in the United States following the enactment of the Geary Act of 1892. The Geary Act required all Chinese laborers living in the United States to register with the collector of internal revenue. Failure to register would subject the Chinese laborer to arrest and deportation. In 1892 there were approximately 85,000 Chinese laborers living in America. Ellen D. Katz, The Six Companies and the Geary Act: A Case Study in Nineteenth-Century Civil Disobedience and Civil Rights Litigation, 8 Western Legal History 227, 268 (1995). The Chinese Benevolent Association, also known as the Six Companies called for support from the Chinese community and urged the targeted workers to refuse to register and to risk deportation. In September 1892, the Six Companies under the leadership of its President, Chu Ti-chu, told John Quinn, the collector of internal revenue in San Francisco that the Chinese community would not comply with the Geary Act because the act "violated every principle of justice and equity and fair dealings between friendly powers." Id. at 271.

  The Six Companies hoped that non-registration together with political, diplomatic pressures, and legal action would prompt either judicial invalidation or legislative appeal. The constitutionality of the Geary Act is challenged in court and eventually reaches the Supreme Court of the United States in Fong Yu Ting v. United States, 148 U.S. 698 (1893), which upheld the constitutionality of the Geary Act. Private citizens also showed their support for the Geary Act through violent attacks in Chinese workers such as the incident at Rock Spring, Wyoming in which white miners murdered twenty-eight Chinese workers. Id. at 249.

  Congress responded with passage of the McCreary Amendment Act of 1893, that extended the registration requirement for six months. Despite these clear legal and political setbacks, the resistance lead by the Six Companies succeeded because the Cleveland administration decided not to enforce the mass deportations of Chinese workers.

  The movement in resistance to the Geary Act that imposed the requirement for all Chinese laborers to register with the government or risk deportation is properly characterized as "a massive campaign of civil disobedience," because it was public, nonviolent, political and contrary to law. Katz, supra, at 228.

  According to Confucian scholar Sumner B. Twiss, 'the highest Confucian ideal' is the "unity of Man and Heaven which . . . extends Confucianism humanism and its sense of moral responsibility to a planetary or even universal scale."137 Twiss claims that Confucianism like every other "cultural moral tradition" is universal and creates a duty to act when morality, whether "virtue-based or rights-based" is violated by the government.138

  Therefore, the action of the individual is used to call attention to the need of the government to conform to the higher law. By taking the moral stand even when it violates civil law, the conscientious objector provides a service to the government. His actions are similar to the Confucian minister who corrected the Emperor at the risk of personal loss. This morally driven conduct provides a valuable service to the community and protects the stability of the government by calling attention to moral issues.
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  MadApostate

  Part IV

  Asia and the question of alternative civilian service

  Jehovah's Witnesses have been active in Asia for many decades.139 They represent a religious organization that has consistently applied their beliefs regardless of the governmental arrangement under which they live. With their religious beliefs firmly based on the Bible, Jehovah's Witnesses are known to be peaceful, non-violent and cooperative, and at the same time, they refuse induction into any nation's armed forces. These interpretations of scripture are not unique to Jehovah's Witnesses.140

  Looking carefully at both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures as well as the example of the first century Christians, individual witnesses have universally concluded that participation in the military would violate Bible principles.141

  Although service in the military is clearly forbidden according to the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses, The Watchtower magazine, published by Jehovah's Witnesses, recently discussed the possibility of Witnesses performing alternative nonmilitary civilian service.142
  In light of the possibility of alternative civilian service for religious dissenters, Taiwan has recently become the first Asian country to adopt a program providing its draft age citizens the option of completing their constitutional obligation to perform military service in a civilian service program. The newly enacted Statute for Implementation of Alternative Services ("SIAS"), and the amendments to the Military Service Law ("MSL") and the Law of Enforcement of the Military Service Law ("LEMSL") were promulgated by President Li on 2 February 2000.143 The amendments to the MSL and the LEMSL became effective on 4 February 2000, two days after the President's promulgation, while Article 63 of the SIAS authorizes the Executive Yuan to decide when the SIAS will be implemented. On February 19, 2000, the Director of the Conscription Department of the Ministry of the Interior ("MOI") stated that the MOI expects to accept applications for alternative services in April 2000 and to arrange applicants for drawing lots in June 2000, and that eligible applicants must have been born in 1980 or earlier and college graduates may be given priority. The SIAS requires the MOI to establish a Conscription Administration to administer conscription and alternative service matters.

  As a result of the new legislation, many young men who object to military service for reasons of religious belief or conscience, who have not been conscripted may apply for performing alternative service pursuant to the Statute for Implementation of Alternative Service ("SIAS"). Under the Amendment to the Military Service Law, those who have been conscripted and sentenced to imprisonment for conscientious objection to military service will be prohibited from alternative military service if: (i) they were ever sentenced to imprisonment of five years or more, or (ii) the aggregate term of all sentences actually enforced reaches three years or more. According to the Ministry of National Defense ("MND"), 1,307 Jehovah's Witnesses have been sentenced to imprisonment, and nine of them are still not qualified for prohibition from military service under the amendment. As the SIAS is applicable only to those who have never been conscripted, the MND is studying how to accommodate the new legislation to these nine Jehovah's Witnesses.

  There is also a need for similar legislative action in Korea. Korea's Christian population is estimated to be 30% of the general population. Among them are over 87,000 who are Jehovah's Witnesses, who are known worldwide for their refusal to participate in any military service based on their understanding of the Bible. Among these 87,000 Witnesses, some 1,400 young Christian men now serve in Korean prisons for following their conscience and religious beliefs.
  Articles 19 and 20 of the Korean constitution protect the right of all citizens to "enjoy freedom of conscience" and "freedom of religion." On December 21, 1965, the South Korea Supreme Court has ruled that military service is mandatory for every citizen as stipulated in the Military Service Law, and every citizen is constitutionally liable for national defense as stipulated by law. Although freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution, the right to reject the liability for military service is not included in this guarantee. Therefore, it appears that the constitutional duty to perform military service implies that every citizen has the absolute duty to complete military training using rifles, and has no right to refuse to carry out the military commander's orders. This moral dilemma so quickly resolved in 1965 under very different political and economic climate must be reexamined. If the Korean constitution is to be read in light of Confucian principles, then both the legislature and the courts must reconsider how to make this reconciliation for the sake of the consciences of its citizens and the protection of its rich Confucian heritage.