This will not protect them from liability. My family was so proud of being Jehovah's Witnesses. Serving at Bethel was a high honor. They went to prison as Jehovah's Witnesses. Roman Catholic laity do not bind the Roman Catholic Church legally yet they are Roman Catholics, acknowledged by the church. Family members went to prison, believing they were Jehovah's Witnesses.
You have so little status in life as a JW. Now, you are not even a JW but a nothing.
Does anyone here remember what the id cards of the 1940s and earlier eras stated?
Any lawyer can find the quote in the WT. I don't see how any judge could not see the lies. Individuals commit actions. The WT never held a gun against anyone's head. The primary reason Witnesses engaged in unlawful activity at their risk was a belief in Jehovah and his org. Indeed, few Witnesses can separate Jehovah from the org. Rutherford, etc. never sat in prison except for the sedition acts.
This is mind games. Brainwashing is a reality. To be fair, history is full of examples of individuals being martyred for their faith. Sir Thomas More and Dietrich Bonhoffer are clear examples. Of course, Stephen, Ignatius, all the RC and Protestant martyrs were despicable. If anyone watched the Tudors on SHO or Netflix, there are examples of beheading or worse every episode.
Popes have been imprisoned and murdered.
Within the church, martyrdom is held in high regard then it switches to low regard. I wonder if the KH crowd even notices the wording. Was there not a crappy song called "We are Jehovah's Witnesses/"