Nathan Natas....The indictment has four counts. If each count had a 20-year sentence attached and if they were found guilty on all four counts, then that would amount to 80 years per defendant. However, the sentences on the counts were made to run concurrently, so only 20 calendar years would be served by each defendant.
Why were Watchtower officials (Rutherford) imprisioned in 1917/1918/1919 ??
by run dont walk 42 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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nowuask
They did not play well together, so they were going back for return visits.
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TheOldHippie
Hello,
OK, I was under the impression it was a "go to war or go to prison" choice, not that it was a "assist in a hospital or go to war" choice. I then fully understand you, and you come in the group which was asked "not to be offended" because of the change that occured as to alternative service. I fully understand your position. Just as I understand it IF the Spanish JW who spent somewhere between 10 and 15 years in solitude in desert prisons in Spanish Sahara because he refused - but was offered other options, which he refused because of the then prevailing understanding.
Tough.
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Leolaia
Bridgeport Telegram, 7 June 1918, p. 2
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Leolaia
An interesting "letter to the editor" at the time on the Watchtower policy:
Sheboygan Press, 27 April 1918, p. 2
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Leolaia
Here's an alarmist editorial about the "anti-American" "treasonous" Watchtower:
Wichita Daily Times, 30 May 1918, p. 4
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Leolaia
So it looks like it kind of happened like this. Congress passes the Selective Service Act and a draft of young men occurs in the country, requiring them to register with local draft boards. There is a provision in the Act for conscientious objectors on religious grounds, but they needed to be "members of pacifist religious organizations" (such as the Quakers). Moreover, if objector status is granted by one's local draft board, one would need to accept whatever non-military alternative service is required of them.
Attempting to obey the "law of Caesar", young Bible Students register with their local draft boards. Some local boards accept their status as "members of a pacifist religious organization", but others do not. Why? There were problems with every portion of the legal requirement. First of all, how can it be demonstrated that these men were members of a religious organization? The Society, as set up by Pastor Russell, explicitly eschewed having a "membership roll"; this was because Russell did not believe that his group was an organized religion started by a man but nothing less than the last-days gathering of the elect. Thus their names are "written in heaven". The Bible Students did make a distinction between "consecrated" and "non-consecrated" followers, and there was the smaller group who had signed their Vow. But as Joseph Rutherford admitted on the stand, there was no objective way of verifying that someone had been consecrated. He instead said that you can tell after five minutes of conversation whether the person is or not; this is a subjective determination. This situation was deemed very unsatisfactory to the draft boards. After all, if conscientious objector status be granted to the Bible Students, basically anybody out there who wanted to avoid the war can just simply say that he is a consecrated member of the International Bible Student Association and there wouldn't be an objective way for the draft boards to verify this -- other than possession of religious literature. It also wasn't clear to draft boards that the ISBA was a pacifist organization. This was because the Bible Students had no creed that members had to agree to. Anti-war statements or articles in publications was not deemed a sufficient basis for determining that the ISBA was a specifically pacifist organization. In response to this problem, secretary-treasurer William E. Van Amburgh scrambed to write a form letter to local draft boards which contained an "Affidavit of Person Whose Discharge is Sought" which explained that the ISBA was a pacifist organization containing a "creed" against participation in war:
"I, Mr. So-and-so, do solemly swear I am XXX years old and reside at XXX and that Serial No. XXXX was given me by Local Board XXXX on the day XX of 1917, on the ground that I was a person who was a member of a well recognized religious sect or organization, organized and existing May 18 1917, whose then existing creed or principles forbade its members to participate in war in any form and whose religious convictions are against war or participation therein, in accordance with the creed or principles of said well organized religious organization.
"I do further solemly swear that I am a member in good faith and good standing of the International Bible Students Association which, on the 18th day of May, 1917 was organized and existing as a well recognized religious sect or organization, whose existing creed or principles forbade its members to participate in war in any form...."
In contrast to Russell's denial that they had a creed of any form, Rutherford on the stand quite openly spoke of the pacifist "creed" of the Bible Students. Finally, it was not clear to some draft boards that the ISBA was a religious organization that operated like a church. It instead appeared to simply be a publishing company of religious material. There were other religious presses, but they were not recognized as valid religious organizations or denominations. It would be like someone who purchased a copy of Spurgeon's Sermons claiming to be a member of the religious press merely because he bought a book.
In light of this confusion, there were young Bible Students (consecrated or not) who were conscripted and sent to boot camp. They didn't know what to do, so they wrote to the ISBA for help. Some disobeyed orders on their own accord. Others received letters from members of the ISBA advising them to disobey the orders of their commanding officers, or letting them know that they have a choice between refusal of service and serving, but that they are subject to Christ as their true "commander". Rutherford wrote to one conscript: "If you feel you cannot have anything to do with the present war, you will refuse and let the officials take their course. You probably will be confined or shot". I believe there is also an aspect of self-fulfilling prophecy here. The Bible Students believed that this war, the Great War, was the war of Armageddon in the Bible and that there would have to be a "great tribulation" and persecution of those consecrated in Christ. Refusing to serve and accepting punishment would thus bring about this persecution (and I wonder if the Nazi persecution of German Bible Students during WWII served a similar purpose during that period in "fulfilling Bible prophecy"). The government however did not look very kindly to this advice. Encouraging desertion of duty and insubordination was against the law.
But the situation was even worse. Not only were faithful Bible Students to refuse military duties, but they were also to refuse peaceful alternative service, such as working in a hospital. The letter I posted by Giovanni DeCecca is a good example of such advice. However, encouraging conscientious objectors or conscripted soldiers to refuse even alternative service was also against the law. And publications that stated such a position (such as the Finished Mystery) were also suspect. So a combination of a lack of recognition of the status of conscripts as members of a religious organization and overt actions to elicit insubordination by conscripts led to the arrests of ISBA directors in May 1918.
It is amazing that for all the mileage the Society gets out of the events of 1918 and 1919 in their current literature (as fulfilling Bible prophecy and proving that the JWs are God's only organization on earth), they never to take the trouble to explain what those events were all about. Actually, considering how much of their past is glossed over in the literature, it is not surprising at all.
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run dont walk
WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks leolaia
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Leolaia
BUMP, for the young'uns. :)
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Balsam
I just looked up in the Watchtower Library 2005 "Joseph Rutherford" and it brought up the 1975 yearbook which has some extensive articles on the whole deal about "The Finished Mystery" but their side of the story is totally different than the court papers. Very interesting reading all this stuff.
Balsam
