Sorry this is so long.
HEARING BY HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Rayburn House Office Building
June 14, 2000
THE TREATMENT OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN WESTERN EUROPE
Effect on Institutional Level and Personal Lives
Presented by Philip Brumley
General Counsel for Jehovah?s Witnesses
INTRODUCTION
Fifty-seven years ago on this very day?June 14, the nation?s annual Flag Day?the Supreme Court handed down one of its most historic decisions: West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. Speaking for the Court, Justice Jackson stated: "If there is any fixed star in our Constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein." This ruling guaranteed religious freedom for Jehovah?s Witnesses in connection with our Bible-based belief that saluting any flag violates God?s demand for exclusive devotion.
Even though most citizens do not agree with our doctrinal stand on this issue, the fact remains that the United States has gone on record that it will defend our right to adhere to this belief. In contrast, many nations of Western Europe are becoming increasingly equivocal about whether they will protect genuine freedom of worship.
When governments determine that religious beliefs do not meet standards of "loyalty" to the State or constitute a breach of public order and withhold religious recognition or registration, where does that lead us? Will governments next dictate what beliefs are acceptable in democratic societies? When governments fail to acknowledge any distinction between commercial enterprises and voluntary, self-sacrificing endeavors to promote humanitarian, religious endeavors, what will happen to the concept of charities? Will volunteerism be taxed out of existence? Can a government legitimately assert that it protects religion freedom when at the same time it uses its taxing power to oppress those who belong to certain religions?
We will provide some details of these trends using France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Sweden as examples. The following facts speak for themselves and document the current state of the basic human right of religious self-determination in Western Europe.
DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT IN FRANCE
Records show that Jehovah?s Witnesses have been active in France since 1891. This spring more than 204,000 attended the most sacred celebration of the year for Jehovah?s Witnesses, the Memorial of Christ?s death. Certainly Jehovah?s Witnesses are not a "new" religious movement and can hardly be called a "minority" religion when we are the third-largest Christian religion in France.
The recent attempt of the French government to officially deny religious status to Jehovah?s Witnesses began with an adverse ruling by the Conseil d?Etat in a 1985 inheritance case. (The French will aver that, under the rubric of the "wall of separation of Church and State," the French government grants official recognition to no religion. However, the facts speak otherwise. Recognized religions are extended benefits, such as being able to receive charitable bequests.) The Conseil d?Etat refused to allow one of Jehovah?s Witnesses to leave a portion of her estate to the Association of Jehovah?s Witnesses in France because the court did not agree with our doctrinal rejection of blood transfusions and refusal to participate in military service. The fact that there are 3,000 French doctors who are willing to operate without blood completely eviscerates the first basis for the court?s ruling. The passing of a law on alternative non-military service in France that provides a conscientiously acceptable method for young Jehovah?s Witnesses to render ?Caesar his due? does away with the other reason for the Court?s refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the faith of Jehovah?s Witnesses in France.
In spite of these favorable developments, the French Parliamentary Commissions on Sects have made the situation worse by issuing biased reports containing lists of supposedly "dangerous sects" and including Jehovah?s Witnesses among them.
Institutional Consequences:
A direct result of the discriminatory treatment toward Jehovah?s Witnesses in France is a 60-percent tax that has been levied on donations received by the Association of Jehovah?s Witnesses in France. Next week, on June 20, 2000, a hearing is scheduled in Nanterre on this matter. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall wisely observed: "The power to tax involves the power to destroy." Although governments are fully authorized, both Biblically and secularly, to tax their constituents, this particular tax has no other purpose but to make it impossible for Jehovah?s Witnesses in France to financially support the operations of their own faith. That means 60 cents of each dollar contributed to support our annual Bible conventions, operate our Kingdom Halls (houses of worship), and fund national relief measures will go to the French government. Only forty cents on the dollar will be left to use for the charitable reason for which it was given. No religion could financially continue to operate under such a punitive tax.
To our knowledge, no other religion is being taxed 60-percent on personal contributions made in good faith to their church. Instead, other religions enjoy tax exemptions granted by the Conseil d?Etat. Not even most minority religions are taxed?in fact, we are only aware of one other case where personal donations to a religious association have been questioned. The French tax authorities have clearly indicated at the conclusion of their 1996 and 1997 audits that the association that is now being exorbitantly taxed "participates in the maintenance and practice of Jehovah?s Witnesses? form of worship." Those audits established the not-for-profit nature of the associations used by Jehovah?s Witnesses. Recently, an audit by the international firm of Grant Thornton likewise established the not-for-profit character of all associations used by Jehovah?s Witnesses in France.
Upholding the religious nature of Jehovah?s Witnesses? associations, there have recently been four favorable Courts of Appeals decisions exempting Kingdom Halls of Jehovah?s Witnesses (houses of worship) from paying land (property) tax. This is part of the process established in France to grant religious recognition. Needless to say, French authorities have appealed all four cases which means that this issue will ultimately be heard by the Conseil d?Etat. Should that court rule in favor of religious freedom as Justice Jackson?s court did in this country in 1943, it will not be necessary for us to pursue this matter to the European Court of Human Rights.
Personal Consequences:
The negative effects on a personal level from the parliamentary mislabeling of Jehovah?s Witnesses as a "dangerous sect" are widespread. Schoolteachers and day care workers who are Jehovah?s Witnesses have been targets of smear campaigns, unwanted job transfers, or have been fired because they were perceived as being a threat to the safety, morals, and education of children under their care only because of belonging to a supposed "sect."
A new aspect of the consequences on a personal level is illustrated in the case of René Schneerberger, a minister of Jehovah?s Witnesses, who has been corresponding regularly with inmates in the French prison system to provide spiritual guidance. Some prisoners, who are not Jehovah?s Witnesses, requested subscriptions from René to The Watchtower and Awake!, the official journals of Jehovah?s Witnesses. In October 1999, the prisoners advised Mr. Schneerberger that they were no longer receiving these religious magazines. The reason given by the director of the Bapaume prison was that the magazines were suspended because of the "sectarian" nature of Jehovah?s Witnesses as "recognized by the parliamentary commissions." The suspension has not been lifted.
