To those in favour of the ban: if it applied in your country of residence, would you turn in your JW relatives to the authorities? Would you have your children/parents/siblings sent to prison for their beliefs?How the hell do I turn off the highlighting? Oh well................... Scotsman raises a good question here. Despite what my family believes I would never turn them in for practicing their beliefs. However, I would call social services if one of my family members refused blood for one of their children.
Moscow Bans JW's
by HoChiMin 66 Replies latest jw friends
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sandy
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amac
I can't believe that people would be in agreement with this. Those of you who agree with it and live in the US do not belong here. You should move to Moscow so you can be with like minded people.
This is a complete step back for the advancements in religous freedom that were made in Russia. I'm ashamed for anyone who is so blinded by their bitterness and hatred of JWs as to agree with this. It shows a complete lack of objectivity and tolerance and complete arrogance.
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heathen
I can definately see some religions being banned . There are religions that incite the kind of hatred and violence that have no place in modern day society . I would venture to name a few , the moslem religion , the catholic church the church of scientology and various outright satanic religions . Freedom of religion is a nice thing but when religion becomes the central cause for inhumane acts it's time to say enough .
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Gerard
Moscow's Golovinsky Court upheld Russian prosecutors' demand on Saturday for the religious organisation to be shut down in Moscow on the grounds the group harms its members' life and health. [...] The Moscow branch has been accused of "breaking up families, inciting its members to suicide and harming their life and health" by not allowing its members to have blood transfusions.
No one complained when the polio virus was nearly erradicated. Expose the Darktower for what they are!
The WT denies the Russian girls -who who were pushed to suicide by this cult- were members at all!
http://www.jw-media.org/region/europe/russia/english/releases/intolerance/rus_e990212.htm
"Church members are disturbed by recent efforts to link Jehovah's Witnesses to the suicide of three girls in Balashika, in the Moscow area. [...] Several Russia media outlets speculated that the deaths of three girls in Balashika were the result of involvement with a religious group and specifically named Jehovah's Witnesses as being suspect. Jehovah's Witnesses see the charge as ironic, particularly considering that they recently sponsored an international campaign to educate the public on warning signs of teenage suicide. Jehovah's Witnesses distributed more than 20 million copies of an article series entitled "Suicide?A Scourge of Young People" in more than 150 countries during September 1998. [...]During its report on the deaths, ORT television showed footage of group suicides committed in the United States by members of cults.
Jehovah's Witnesses had nothing to do with the suicide of an 18-year-old Vladivostok man, the group said recently, responding to media coverage suggesting that the young man was a member of the religious group and that was why he took his life. http://www.watchtowernews.org/russiasuicide.htm
Now get this: From the WT's home page:
Some Indicators of Suicide
- Problems sleeping, loss of appetite
- Isolation and withdrawal, accident proneness
- Running away from home
- Dramatic changes in appearance
- Drug and/or alcohol abuse
- Agitation and aggression
- Talk about death; written messages of self-destruction; artwork depicting violence, especially against self
- Guilt feelings
- Hopelessness, anxiety, depression, crying spells
- Giving away personal possessions
- Shortened attention span
- Loss of interest in pleasurable activities
- Self-criticism
- Sexual promiscuity
- Sudden drop in school performance, school attendance problems
- Cult or gang membership
- Euphoria after depression
Doesn't this list self-describe that most JWs are at a high suicide risk?
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pepheuga
guys,
i think a deep breath, and the taking of a few steps back to in order to survey a bigger picture, would be well advised. yes our hearts rejoice to see impediments placed in front of the jws. but there is much more to this picture than that.
russia has a long and (for tens of millions of its own people*) sad history. this is in some measure attributable to the self serving & totalitarian "leaders" according to whose matchless wisdoms its people have been governed (remind you of anyone?).
mr putin, it seems, is taking his country back to the bad old days. russia is not becoming more free, it is becoming less so. mr putin is creating headaches for people inside his country - witness for instance the treatment meted out to the channel one, rtr & ntv media outlets - and for people outside it - witness the recent goings on in the ukraine.
jw practices are indeed odious, but the russian state machinery that is presently clamping down on the jws is a very big beast and has in the not too distant past been a very nasty one, and we should think hard about history and present political trends before giving our sanction to its repressive activity.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin#Death_toll
pepheuga
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Robdar
Maybe the Russian authorities have been reading the reports in the American press of the law suits against the WTBTS.
Probably not.
Maybe the Russian authorities have been reading the personal accounts on JWD (and other sites) of the heartache and sorrow cause directly through involvement with the WTBTS.
Sure and one day piggies might fly but more than likely they wont.
Maybe the Russian authorities are brave enough to stand up and defend their people against such groups as the WTBTS.
Nope again.
Having attended the Russian Orthodox Church here in America, I can safely say that the Orthodox despise the JWs. For a while, the Church did nothing when it's priests were burning down the homes of JW in Russia. They finally excommunicated one of them.
Believe me, the Orthodox are behind this ban. BTW, the Orthodox are fostering their own hatred. So, if this was the real reason that the Russian government was banning the witnesses, it would also have to ban the Orthodox.
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justhuman
Thar is sad because WT will use this as sign that they are persecuted