They really have no shame

by expatbrit 13 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  expatbrit

  From Watchtower media:

  MOSCOW—On May 22, the Golovinsky District Court ordered the Russian government to pay for a philological-psycho/linguistic expert study to be conducted on the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses published in the past ten years.

  The study will be carried out by The Institute of the Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and one psycho-linguist, Konstantin Igoryevich Alekseyev. Judge Vera Dubinskaya did not set a time limit for the study.

  "This is nothing more than a determination to find experts who will support a ban on Jehovah's Witnesses," stated Artur Leontyev, defense attorney. "There has been expert study upon expert study since 1996 in the effort to refute key charges in this trial. This new attempt will only further draw out this harassment of Jehovah's Witnesses in the courts. The last time an expert study was appointed in April 2002, a ten-month delay resulted."

  One sociological study entitled The Family and the Bible, conducted by A.I. Antonov, head of the Department of Family Sociology at the Lomonsov Moscow State University, established that the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses "plays an important role in strengthening the institute of the family." In particular it shows a divorce rate among Jehovah's Witnesses of less than 5 percent compared with 40 percent among the general population of Moscow. The study also revealed a much higher level of education among Jehovah's Witnesses (when compared with that of the average Muscovite), which tends toward independent rational thinking and decision-making. "Tolerant attitudes and conduct improve the longer a person is a Witness," said Professor Antonov.

  Jehovah's Witnesses are registered in 399 communities in 72 regions throughout the Russian Federation. In November 2002 an appeal court in Chelyabinsk ruled that the rights of Jehovah's Witnesses to be registered as a legal entity were protected under the Russian Constitution and the European Convention. Moscow remains the exception to re-registration under the 1997 religion law.

  There are now over 130,000 active Witnesses in Russia, and this year 282,433 persons attended the commemoration of the death of Christ.
• 

  Hamas

  Although we consider Witnesses to be braindead, as we were also at some stage in our lives, I think it is an injustice not to say that most JW's are very well educated. I know there are lots of stupid ones about, but most Witness kids can read and write very well from early ages thanks to the training that they recieve.

  As much as I hate the Watchtower, I cannot deny Witness kids are polite and well educated in this regard. It is the lemminghood amoung Witnesses that is the most stupid thing of their makeup; not their education.
• 

  RunningMan

  I guess it depends on what exactly is meant by "well educated".

  If it means that Witness kids behave themselves in class, then yes, it is true.

  However, most people consider "well educated" to mean educated to a higher level than average. That is certainly not the case. In all of my life, I can count the number of Witnesses that I know who have university degrees on one hand, and I still have three fingers left.

  And as for "tolerant attitudes and conduct improving the longer one is a Witness", well that is just too stupid to even bother responding to.
• 

  Valis

  I think it is an injustice not to say that most JW's are very well educated.

  Your idea of being educated has a very short definition. All parents should teach thier children to read or write to better make the most of thier potential, not just so they can comment at the Kingdom hall or peddle magazines.

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer
• 

  IslandWoman

  I don't live in Moscow and don't have friends there, so the highlighted observation may very well be true, I do not know.

  Linda
• 

  Uzzah

  I actually believe those numbers to be fairly accurate.

  Russian JW's have only been free to outwardly practice their religion for about 14 years. With the exception of young children, most would not have felt the pressures those in Western Countries have felt by the Borg to pioneer, take menial jobs etc.

  When travelling through Eastern Europe while still a Bethelite, most Russians JW's I met had some form of University education. There weren't any organziational 'careers' available until recently.

  That said, it is ironic that it was actually the 'persecution' of the JW's in that country that resulted in the higher education rates, than it was the beliefs and tenets of the Sect itself.

  Uzzah
• 

  avishai

  I think it is an injustice not to say that most JW's are very well educated.

  I think, statistically, it's retarded to say they are! They are at the VERY bottom of the heap in all studies for education.
• 

  RunningMan

  Here are the real numbers, ranking percentage of members who have university degrees:

  1. Unitarian Universalist: 49.5%

  2. Hindu: 47%

  3. Jewish: 46.7%

  7. Agnostic: 36.3%

  18. Catholic: 20%

  20. Lutheran: 18%

  21. Seventh Day Adventist: 17.9%

  27. Baptist: 10.4%

  28. Pentecostal: 6.9%

  30. Jehovah's Witnesses: 4.7%

  As you can see, JW's were dead last out of 30 religions surveyed. The full report can be found here:

  http://www.freeminds.org/psych/miseduca.htm
• 

  Uzzah

  Running Man. Those stats are from a NATIONAL study (i.e. United States only).

  I don't think there can be any argument regarding the JW's in North America or other developed countries being poorly educated.

  The quote that Expat posted in his thread was discussing Russian Jws.

  Uzzah
• 

  expatbrit

  Hello:

  it wasn't really the education part of the quote that made me spray beer over the monitor. However, what kind of "education" do you think is being referred to here? Something "equivalent to a college education", maybe?

  What I found jawdropping were the assertions on "independent rational thinking and decision making", and "tolerant attitudes and conduct". No matter how high the level of education of a person, or the source of that education, if that person is a believing Jehovah's Witness then such claims are outrageous!

  Expatbrit