by WHATSGOINGON 21 Replies latest watchtower scandals
As I mentioned via the above link:
What Watchtower did in Mexico to maintain ownership of the kingdom halls when laws were passed that all religious buildings became state property for the benefit of the community. This did not affect worship but meant Watchtower could never flip the buildings for profit. Watchtower changed the building purpose and then gave the impression they were an education center (building). They also dropped the singing of songs
Scumbags. Lying, hypocritical, SCUMBAGS. They will guilt the average R&F member into giving up/sacrificing everything, including educating, and supporting their own families, but they will stretch ANY rule they can, if it means preserving their financial profitability.
I wonder if this also was part of the reason they specifically allowed Mexican Witnesses to lie about their political affiliation, and avoid jail time, but brothers in Africa had to DIE for their stance. I don't know for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if there wasn't a monetary reason behind that too.
Then the organization had the audacity to say to the rest of the world of witnesses that they had gained religious freedom in Mexico when the Govt.allowed religions other than the Catholic Church to own the land their buildings were on.
As has been pointed out above religious freedom always existed for JW`s the only thing was that no religion other than the Catholic Church could own land that their places of worship was built on.
This didnt sit well for the GB of JW`s they wanted to own the land their buildings were on so they opted to renounce themselves as a religion and adopt a cultural stance.
Hence they then could no longer use the Bible ,sing Kingdom songs (hymns) or pray in their halls as it would mean they were a religion.and not a cultural centre.
And they put up with this hypocricy for many years.
Dunedain - I wonder if this also was part of the reason they specifically allowed Mexican Witnesses to lie about their political affiliation, and avoid jail time, but brothers in Africa had to DIE for their stance. I don't know for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if there wasn't a monetary reason behind that too.
I'm more inclined to believe there was a monetary reason behind the GB allowing Mexican JWs to freely lie while letting Malawi JWs to freely die.
Think about this: If Mexican JWs were persecuted then they would flee and end up across the border in the US. This would then make it the GBs responsibility and the congregations burden. Every dollar a JW in the US spent on a theocratic refugee would be one less dollar to donate to Watchtower.
Wow this is unbelievable. I must say I find it absolutely fascinating and appalling all at the same time. I feel truly grateful that my eyes have been opened.
my only question on this period of history in Mexico is this... How easy/difficult was it for religious organisations at the time to purchase land from the government to use for their religion?
Libby
The simple answer is they couldnt. religious organizations OTHER than the Catholic Church could not purchase land and build their house of worship on it and own it.
The Catholic religion was the official state religion and only they could own the land and building it was on .
Other religions could exist in Mexico but they could not own the land or property including JW`s.
Hi Smiddy
thanks so much for the info. Sorry what I should of wrote (half asleep) was, how easy was it for non catholic religions to rent land for religious purposes. ?
Libby asks an interesting question. Does anybody know what moderately missionary Protestant religions like Baptists and Adventists did at the time before the Mexican law changed? What about the LDS-Mormons? Did they do what the WTS did? If they did, which group or groups came first in this policy?
smiddy: The simple answer is they couldnt. religious organizations OTHER than the Catholic Church could not purchase land and build their house of worship on it and own it.
The Catholic religion was the official state religion and only they could own the land and building it was on .
Other religions could exist in Mexico but they could not own the land or property including JW`s.
Up until 1991, the Catholic Church was not allowed to own land. The land their churches sat on belonged to the state and after 1991, only new buildings would belong to the church (or whatever religion built them).
I'm still wondering though if the GB would of been easily able to rent a place to workship ? If religious organisations at the time applied to rent land/property, how readily was the application granted.
I'll do some digging.
Its only that if land/propert was easily able to be rented then it shows that the GB acted completely in their own financial interests.
