NEWSWEEK: After Ban, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia Harassed by Police During Religious Services (page 3)

snowbird

That's so true, Outlaw.

We reap what we sow - no exemptions.

Sylvia

blondie

When I was 11 a brother in China in prison for years was released and he went to the 1963 Pasadena convention right after and talked about his experiences..

The WTS can trot out such experiences and convince those alone that they too can rely on their god....

I'm sorry for any children that are affected and those jws that are true believers. I expect the others have learned how to protect themselves.

I do worry from time to time that although being gone for 17 years, some non-jws don't grasp the difference, once a jw always a jw.

snowbird

Blondie, was that Harold King who wrote the Kingdom song From House to House?

Sylvia

ToesUp

"The guys who should really suffer are tucked safely away in a lakeside resort in upstate New York."

Bingo...these guys sit their fat asses up there in NY (all expenses paid) and watch as the poor rank and file goes to prison. I hope I get to see these 7 criminals put in jail one day for all the damage they have inflicted on poor innocent families.

OrphanCrow

Hecce: Most likely the State will have neighborhood watchers checking any JW suspicious activity.

Absolutely that will happen. Without question.

Four days after the Russian JWs were banned, for being an 'extremist' organization, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Murmansk region held the finals for a role-playing game competition for young people in Russia. The games were called "Anti-Terror 2017" and were held on April 24.

From the Russian website https://51.xn--b1aew.xn--p1ai/news/item/10091895/ :

"Goal of the game - with the help of simulated situations to teach young people how to act in cases of threat of terrorist attack and to identify extremist propaganda facts."

This is what the anti-terror games consisted of:

"Games organizers have offered the teams take five simulated situations under the code name. For example, during the "Underground" Students got into the hall, the walls of which the image of an extremist nature were placed, that it was necessary to select from dozens of other images and to inform the supervisor. On stage, "the student audience," the students were looking for "explosive device" and properly operated when it is detected, during the "Library" - looking of the seven proposed texts, the "forgotten" by someone in the student library, extremist statements and texts. Step "House" made of students carefully study the content on the pages of friends in social networks in order to find the banned information. The most difficult for all the teams proved to stage "Railway Station", where the waiting room was a "suicide bomber" among the passengers. Only members of the "Razumovsky name squad" command from the mage correctly identified conventional terrorists and in accordance with safety regulations act when it is detected. Rest of the game confused look and feel normal "passengers", including their nationality.
The highlight of "AntiTerror-2017" were performances of employees of the department of special purpose Russian Federal Penitentiary Service of the Murmansk region "Iceberg". Special forces soldiers "liberated" the hostages, whose role is performed by the police, and successfully stopped the riots to "a football match." Students carefully observe the actions of the police and special forces. According to the organizers of the game, performances should teach children to act correctly in the event of these situations in real life.

And THAT is what is happening in the rest of Russia - they are training their young people to be vigilant in spotting potential terrorists (which places the JWs' behavior, regardless of their motives, into a category that defines a potential security problem).

And it is for this reason that the JWs in Russia are best listening to the authorities rather than the WTS when it comes to changing their behavior - what the org tells them to do is what makes them behave like an extremist organization. Russia is a country that is training their citizens how to deal with potential terrorist threats. And they are really serious about it.

I have mentioned before that, in some aspects, the ban on the JWs in Russia can actually act to protect them. They should be underground right now - it is the safest place for them to be. Out on the streets and being publicly visible is not safe for people who behave like they do. It is their behavior that lands them in hot water. The JWs are organized and they behave like an extremist group whether they are one or not.

As much as we are shocked that this action goes against what we think of human rights, religious freedom, freedom of speech, etc., the acknowledgement that Russia's politics, geographical positioning, history and all of that, has bearing on the situation is, I think, critical. The best we can do right now is try to understand what is happening and why.

Personally, I think that the WTS is being incredibly naive and irresponsible with their reaction to this ban. They know very well that the way the JWs operate place them into a category of suspicious behavior. It isn't just that the WTS literature is suspect - it the way that the WTS operates that is suspect.

Terrorism on domestic soil in Russia is a very real threat - all the time, every day.

Anyone here remember the Beslan school siege? It was awful - it happened in 2004 and it was Chechen rebels who held over 1200 adults and children hostage. It was horrible - the whole thing unfolded terribly.

One of my Russian cousins wrote to me about it. From her email:

"The siege in Beslan is a great tragedy. Some of my relatives and friends
>were there and told terrible things. Nobody expected that so many children
>with their relatives would be dead. The 1. of September is a great holiday
>for children and their parents in Russia. It is the first schoolday.We all
>were shocked when we heard about the capture of hostages in Beslan. It is
>situated 200 km far from our region."

The Beslan School tragedy is just one of many events that have gone into the establishment of anti terror laws in Russia. Those laws have become very broad and are being implemented in severe ways against any organization that falls into what Russia has defined as 'extreme' and both violent and non-violent forms of extremism fall under Russia's new laws

So, yes, the JWs are going to be targeted in Russia. That is a given. And the WTS knows that. They have always known that. It is inevitable.

Crazyguy

This starting to remind me of Malawi!

steve2

This starting to remind me of Malawi!

I do not wish to minimize the difficulties faced by JWs in Russia, but please, the comparison to Malawi is completely unjustified - and a stain on the memory of JWs who were routinely rounded up in Malawi and imprisoned and in many cases, murdered by pro-government thugs who were never called to account for their actions.

SAHS

“sharing faith in homes” . . . “laws against sharing faith in homes, online, or anywhere” . . . “Christians in Russia won’t be allowed to email their friends an invitation to church or to evangelize in their own homes . . .”

As much as, I must admit, I don’t agree with the Watchtower organization, this is quite disturbing and alarming. Putin seems to be the next great powerful totalitarian dictator of our 21st century.

Obviously, the “a man’s home is his castle” principle of the west is on the way out in Russia. . . . I sure wouldn’t want to live there – no matter what my religious affiliation is!

FedUpJW

So why not gather as families only using the bible,

They will say for the same reason it is claimed that Daniel defied the kings order and prayed on his rooftop(or whatever). Appearance. The public "knows we congregate at kingdom halls. If we start meeting subtly at our homes as families or in small groups of friends for a meal it might APPEAR that we have quit."

Gotta keep up APPEARANCES. That's what the JW's are all about, as we know.

sparrowdown

What is the bible law that states you must attend meetings of a twentieth century american religion always and forever no matter what?

Not going to meetings is not a disfellowshipping offense!

The answer is simple don't break the law of the land because by not attending you are not breaking a bible law!

NEWSWEEK: After Ban, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia Harassed by Police During Religious Services

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