In a recent article, Professor Massimo Introvigne reported on an alarming increase in incidents of violence perpetrated in Japan against members of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses and an equally alarming increase – according to Jehovah's Witnesses of up to 638 percent – of hate crimes and hate speeches.
The anti-cult government agency MIVILUDES (Mission Interministérielle de Vigilance et de Lutte contre les Dérives Sectaires) received another 'slap in the face' from none other than its home court, the Paris Administrative Court, which certified MIVILUDES' malfeasance in packaging and spreading false news on religious minorities - in this case, the Jehovah's Witnesses - contemptuously describing them as 'cults' and attributing to them deviant sectarian behaviours that (...)
Documents prove that private anti-cult organizations had a key role in the creation of government documents that caused a surge of hate speech and violence.
by Massimo Introvigne — In June 2023, while peacefully engaging in preaching, a female Jehovah’s Witness in her 70s was assaulted by a 57-year-old man.
The outcry over the new French law that has established the crime of "psychological submission" aimed at "strengthening the fight against sectarian drifts" and, from bad to worse, the crime of incitement to refuse treatment or the adherence to unconventional practices, is not fading. But the most attentive have not missed the fact that the new crime seriously endangers freedom of religion or belief, an old target of French laicity. Also because in all of this there is the unwieldy hand of MIVILUDES.
"The [Orthodox] Church does not appeals for heretics, members of cults or dissidents to be subjected to prosecution. However, the decision to ban Jehovah's Witnesses is to be considered a positive act in the fight against the spread of cultic ideas, which have nothing in common with Christianity." These were the words with which Metropolitan Ilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Council for External Affairs of the Russian Church, greeted the banning of Jehovah's Witnesses occurred in Russia 7 years ago, on April 20, 2017.
The intolerant drift towards minority religions seems to know no rest in Europe, despite the dictates of the European Convention on Human Rights and the rulings promulgated by various courts in individual European states, such as the Court of Rome and, most recently, the Belgian Court of Cassation. The Netherlands also sees no reason to criminalise the restriction of contact with excluded ex-congregates.
The year 2023 ends with a good news for the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Belgium. The Belgian Supreme Court definitively puts an end to the Ghent case, reaffirming the legitimacy of the practice, adopted by Jehovah's Witnesses and, essentially, by all religions and human associational groups, political or otherwise, of severing relations with those who have disaffiliated or been expelled from the congregation.
We share an important contribution by Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers, published in Bitter Winter on the issue of how the media demonise religious minorities. Already in the past, Fautré had denounced the Belgian media's campaigns against the Christian congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, giving misleading when not outright false information, which was punctually refused in court. But so be it, the damage was done and the aim achieved.
Nazism justified the extermination of the Jews - and other disliked minorities, including Jehovah's Witnesses - on the theory that they were a kind of disease that endangered the superior races, primarily the German Aryan race. Painful history, but past history... or maybe not! The anti-Spanish Association of the Victims of the Jehovah's Witnesses (AEVTJ) claims that being a Jehovah's Witness is like having 'diabetes', i.e. a disease that must be monitored, treated and possibly eradicated. For the good of mankind, that is.
by Steno Sari — Stereotypes have always helped us in classifying the world around us. Like compasses, they orient us in a reality that is otherwise too big for us, which is thus tamed and subdivided, with little subtlety, into Manichaean, clear-cut alignments between good and bad, civilised and uncivilised, inside and outside, near and far.
From Spain a small step for the Christian community of Jehovah's Witnesses, but a big step for freedom of belief in Europe and around the world. While there are still, unfortunately, numerous violations of freedom of belief and religion globally, timely denounced with diligence by the USCIRF, the Spanish government has given a clear indication of which path to follow for a peaceful and civilized coexistence. The hope is that other governments will follow its example.
by Steno Sari — In an address to an international conference, Pope Francis said, "Religious freedom is not just that of a private worship thought. It is freedom to live according to ethical principles consequent on the truth found, both privately and publicly."
Humanity is experiencing an "emergency" period. If on the one hand the WHO has declared the Covid-19 emergency over, on the other hand the emergency pitting Ukraine and NATO on one side and Russia on the other side with the bugbear of nuclear conflict as a backdrop continues.
by Steno Sari — “Amoktat”, that is, the act of a madman. With this simple label, Hamburg police shelved the March 9 killing of seven Jehovah's Witnesses inside a Kingdom Hall. A fact that is difficult to understand and of which many details and motive are not known.
Today 35-year-old Philipp F. shot to death seven people, all of them Jehovah's Witnesses. Police had visited him after receiving a tip that raised doubts about his mental health and warned them that the man "harbored a particular hatred of religions and in particular of Jehovah's Witnesses."
Once again, justice prevailed over the intolerant and uncivilized attitude of the Russian judicial bodies towards the Christian congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.
This was reported by The European Times in an article that we reproduce below.
Rosita Šorytė — In Central Asian countries, courts have penalized the Jehovah’s Witnesses for allegedly damaging the mental health of their victims and propagating “religious extremism.” These accusations did not originate in Central Asia but were imported there from Russia. After examining some specific court cases, the paper discusses three main Russian accusations against Jehovah’s Witnesses (...)
La Libre Belgique (28.07.2022) – On 20 October 2018, La Libre mentioned a report that the Centre for Information and Advice on Harmful Sectarian Organisations, CIAOSN, had asked the House (the federal parliament) to investigate sexual abuse of minors committed within the Jehovah's Witness community.
By Willy Fautré — On 22 February, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued two judgments in favor of 14 Jehovah’s Witnesses and found that Russia violated their fundamental rights to freedom of religion. Russia has been ordered to pay a total of over 99,000 euros ($112,323 U.S.) in compensation for violations that included mistreatment at the hands of law enforcement officials between 2010 and 2012.
We present the book by George D. Chryssides which illustrates the "world" of Jehovah's Witnesses, their origins, beliefs, practices, up to the controversies and criticisms they face. Reading offers the opportunity to get to know and understand one of the most persecuted yet vital confessions of our times.
