XXXXXX X. XXXX
Attorney at Law
P.O. Box 023134, 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, New York 11202-006J Tel (718) 596-4993 FAX (718) 797-3032
XXXX XXXXXXX Street
XXXXXXXXXX, XX XXXXX
December 15, 1989
Admitted To Bars Of
CONNECTICUT MASSACHUSE'ITS NEW HAMPSHIRE NEW YORK TEXAS
In re: Conditional Disassociation From the Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses
Dear Mr. and Mrs.XXXXXXX:
I represent Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., the parent organization of the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the United States. On behalf of the Watchtower Society, I am answering your letters of August 30, September 11, and October 9, 1989.
You have voluntarily disassociated yourselves from the XXXXXXXXX Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, XXXXXXXX, and are no longer Jehovah's Witnesses.
On page six of my April 22, 1987, letter to you, I indicated as follows:
The Court in Watson ¥, Jones reasoned that when dealing with matters of internal church discipline, a party having voluntarily assented to associating with a religious organization subjects himself to the existing rules and procedures of the church and cannot deny their existence.
The right to organize voluntary religious associations to assist in the expression and dissemination of any religious doctrine, and to create tribunals for the decision of controverted guestions of faith within the association, and for the ecclesiastical government of all the individual members, congregations, and officers within the general association, is unquestioned. All who unite themselves to such a body do so with an implied consent to this government, and are bound to submit to it.
Therefore, the rules and procedures of Jehovah's Witnesses were binding upon you during the time that you were a member of the organization. There is no provision in those rules or procedures which provide for a conditional disassociation.
Any disagreement you may have as to how your relatives are dealing with you should best be considered with your relatives rather than with the Watchtower Society. Since membership in a religious organization is voluntary, your relatives, like you yourselves, have the right to choose whether or not they wish to continue to be members of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, subjecting themselves to the rules and procedures of the congregation. (Color added by Gator)
I would recommend that, if you would wish to regain good standing in the congregation, you heed the provisions set forth on pages 4 and 5 of my April 22, 1987, letter, which states as follows:
H. Reinstatement. A disfellowshipped person may be reinstated in the congregation when giving clear evidence of repentance, demonstrating that he or she has abandoned the sinful course of conduct and is desirous of having a good relationship with Jehovah and his organization. The elders are careful to allow sufficient time, perhaps many months, a year or even longer, for the disfellowshipped person to prove the genuineness of his or her profession of repentance. When the body of elders receives a written plea for reinstatement, the original judicial committee that disfellowshipped the person would, if possible, be the committee that speaks with that individual, evaluating the evidence and works of godly repentance on the person's part, and decides whether to reinstate the person at that time or not.
When the Judicial committee is convinced that the disfellowshipped person is genuinely repentant and should be reinstated, an announcement of the reinstatement is made. This is the course that a disfellowshipped person can take to regain a good standing in the congregation.
This procedure is the same procedure that one who has disassociated himself from the organization can follow in order to regain good standing as a member of the organization.
I hope this information will be helpful to you in resolving what questions you have met forth in your previous letters.
Yours truly