A federal appeals court in Boston ruled Monday that a Puerto Rican law intended to keep neighborhoods safe from crime has been used to interfere in the rights of free speech of Jehovah's Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses in Puerto Rico had claimed that laws enacted in 1987 effectively shut down the door to door ministry which the Christian group is well known for. The laws effectively authorized neighborhoods to deny citizens access to public residential streets by erecting walls and gates around them reported Digital Journal last year. According to Primera Hora, the federal court ruled that the law should allow the 318 congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in Puerto Rico to freely express their faith. Jehovah's Witnesses consider the door to door preaching a commandment of Jesus Christ and cite Matthew 24:14, " And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations", to show their actions are scriptural. Director of the Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, Daniel Mach of the ACLU who has hailed the decision, reportedly said: "The Constitution certainly protects the rights of Jehovah's Witnesses to proclaim their faith in public streets, and the government can not impose absolute restrictions on the fundamental right to free religious practice or expression. " The ruling also stated that the government cannot use a claim of safety as a "talisman" to justify restricting the right of freedom of expression and religion said William Ramirez, director of the Puerto Rico chapter of the ACLU.
JWs win constitutional challenge in Puerto Rico
by behemot 12 Replies latest jw friends
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teel
I fail to see the logic behind this... It's like forcing people to open the door of the appartment complex so the JWs can express their faith by going d2d. If their faith is expressed in a wacko way, why should the rest of the world conform to them? They wouldn't lift a finger to accomodate other people's wishes except if forced by law...
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sinis
WOW!!! This almost sounds like PRIVATE GATED COMMUNITIES being forced to open their doors!!!! Not a good position to take...
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ziddina
What?? The Puerto Rican Witnesses can't engage in "mail-in" witnessing??? Get the addresses and MAIL their presentations to the enclosed communities???
Boy, this is going to open up the Puerto Rican Witnesses to infiltration by criminal groups seeking access to such communities...
I hope it leads to a slew of lawsuits against the Watchtower Society...
Zid
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Vidiot
With religious extremism being what it is these days, even money says this is gonna get reevaluated.
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Band on the Run
Public streets vs. private property. Government ownership vs. private ownership. The First Amendment is so important in the U.S. No other amendment comes close in importance. Thanks to living inside locked apartment bidgs, I ask which tenant let them in so I can verify it. If they can't give me a name, I will call the police. All said in nice manner. JWs gone. I feel victorious.
Is it me who are people much more aware of their privacy now? I worked on a civil liberties journal for the ACLU in the 60s. Privacy rights bored me. My prof's big cause was SSA numbers as universal idenitfiers. Ho-hun. He was right. I was wrong. The FTC has the do not call list for commercial solicitors.
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Justitia Themis
Plaintiffs claim that in the early 1980's, the number of Jehovah's Witnesses in Puerto Rico expanded greatly as a result of the opportunity to take their Bible-based message directly to residents at their homes. Plaintiffs claim that the percentage of growth of Jehovah's Witnesses in Puerto Rico for the years immediately prior to the passage of Law No. 21 was six percent in 1982, seven percent in 1983, five percent in 1984, five percent in 1985, and seven percent in 1986. In 1987, the year of Law No. 21's passage, the growth rate in the membership of Jehovah's Witnesses shrank to four percent. Thereafter, membership growth abated--three percent in 1988, two percent in both 1989 and 1990, three percent in 1991, and only a one percent growth in 1992 and each year from 1994 to 1998. There was no growth in 1993. In 1999, there was a decrease of three percent, followed by no change in 2000, a one percent decrease in 2001, a one percent increase in 2002, and no change in 2003
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ziddina
Justitia, thank you very much for showing that information!!!
What, the Watchtower organization can't figure out that another possibility exists?? People in Puerto Rico might have reached the point that they no longer wish to be Watchtower slaves???
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Calebs Airplane
Neighbors: Burglars posing as Jehovah's Witness
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Criminals pose as Jehovah's Witness
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Dacula neighborhood on edge after rash of break-ins DACULA —
A community is on guard after a rash of home break-ins by committed by criminals posing as Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The victims are taking to the Internet to alert others about the break-ins. Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri talked to some of the neighbors to find out how the crimes are being committed.
Police said they're aware of at least four burglaries in one day in the Hamilton Mill subdivision, as well as the Apalachee Farms community. But neighbors said there have been more, and in several cases, they said thieves are posing as members of Jehovah's Witness when they knock on doors.
“You feel a little scared, a little frightened about your surroundings where we never felt that way before,” said victim Steve Boerrigter.
Gail and Steve Boerrigter said their yellow lab Norman isn't the only one still rattled following a break-in at their Dacula home. The couple didn't want to be on camera, but said they were gone for just one hour last Tuesday morning when someone got in through a rear window and stole jewelry and electronics.
“Apparently it seems they're going house to house rather boldly,” Boerrigter said.
Neighbors reported seeing someone ring doorbells posing as a Jehovah's Witness.
“They came to the door just pretending to be Jehovah's Witness and if someone's home they're going to leave,” Boerrigter said. ”It's frustrating that we have to take these kind of measures.”
David Lee wasn't at his home in the Glenaire neighborhood Thursday night. But we were able to interview him through a video relay system he installed last week after someone tried to break in -- with his wife inside. He says a man and woman rang the doorbell then went out back and tried to break a window.
“And then she said, ‘I think they're breaking in’ and that's when I told her to go ahead and yell out to let them know that she was home,” Lee said.
The pair ran off when Lee's wife shouted at them. Lee put cameras in front and behind his home. It takes pictures and emails them if motion sensors detect anyone walk up. Both families said they'll be on edge until an arrest.
“What you thought was a pretty nice neighborhood. You just wonder now, you know, well you feel so violated,” Lee said.
Nearly every witness has reported seeing a black late-model Buick sedan near where the break-ins are happening. Police said they believe the same people are responsible and they're following up on several leads.
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losingit
These are private gated communities! I know because I'VE SEEN THEM MYSELF! There are public streets, and then are the gated communities. I don't think these people in Boston know what these neighborhoods look like. They are meant to keep out those that do not live in the community. If a JW lives in one of these gated communities, then let him bring his friends over to preach there. But if they don't, why should they have access? It just makes no sense.
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