How Jehovah's Witnesses helped kill Prop 8

[Swede]

Interesting -snip-

This is where Jehovah's Witnesses come in. On Page 116 of Judge Walker's ruling, he cites a 1943 Supreme Court case where the high court did a rare reversal of itself, acknowledging a mistake it made in a Jehovah's Witness case three years earlier. What happened between 1940 and 1943 to Jehovah's Witnesses gave Judge Walker in 2010 his most potent precedent to show that voter will does not trump the protection of minority rights.

A villain of that era

In the 1940s, Jehovah's Witnesses weren't just unpopular and marginalized. They were seen as criminal and a threat to democracy. It was blasphemous enough that they preached there was no hell or trinity and went knocking on doors to say so. But they also refused to salute the flag or say the Pledge of Allegiance.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-08-06-e...

[Curmudgeoness]

1. This is perfect irony. nt

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Eleanor Roosevelt remains one of my most admirable heroes.

[izquierdista]

3. They knocked on doors?

Time for me to upload this video of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDp7pkEcJVQ

[pnorman]

4. From Wiki:

"On June 9, a mob of 2,500 burned the Kingdom Hall in Kennebunkport, Maine.<13> On June 16, Litchfield, Illinois police jailed all of that town's sixty Witnesses, ostensibly protecting them from their neighbors. On June 18, townspeople in Rawlins, Wyoming brutally beat five Witnesses; on the 22nd, the people of Parco, Wyoming tarred and feathered another.

American Legion posts harassed Witnesses nationwide. For example, on June 27, members of the American Legion forced Witnesses from a trailer camp in Jackson, Mississippi and escorted them across state lines to Louisiana, where they were "...passed from county to county, finally winding up in the vicinity of Dallas, Texas." A Nebraska Witness was castrated. Little Rock Witnesses were beaten with pipes and screwdrivers. West Virginia Witnesses were forced to drink castor oil and then tied together with police department rope. Witnesses were jailed for sedition, jailed for distributing literature, jailed for holding a parade, jailed for canvassing without a license.

The American Civil Liberties Union reported to the Justice Department that nearly 1,500 Witnesses were physically attacked in more than 300 communities nationwide. One Southern sheriff told a reporter why Witnesses were being run out of town: "They're traitors; the Supreme Court says so. Ain't you heard?"

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt appealed publicly for calm, while newspaper editorials and the American legal community condemned the Gobitas decision as a blow to liberty. Several justices signaled their belief that the case had been “wrongly decided.”"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minersville_School_Distric...

[Schema Thing]

5. I recently interviewed a man who was beaten in mob violence

as a Jehovah's Witness during that time. Now Jehovah's Witnesses shun him and consider him evil simply for believing differently than they do.


Jehovah's Witnesses are proud of their Supreme Court victories guaranteeing them freedom to worship as they see fit. The irony is that they afford no such freedoms to their own members who come to see things differently than the group.

[pnorman]

6. Don't read me wrong. I'm NOT a Card-carrying Christiian.

I actually have very little feeling for ANY form of Organized Religion. I also regard JWs as among the "cultiest" of the Christian cults. That they should be hypocritical comes as no great surprise.

But when they defy arbitrary authority for their personal beliefs, and frequently at grave risk? As Howard Zinn said: "Don't be on the side of the oppressors!" I'll defend them!

[Schema Thing]

8. defend them against?

I'm just adding more facts to your original information. I was a Jehovah's Witness for the first 36 years of my life. My father was caught up in that violence back in the day.

But make no mistake, their "personal beliefs" aren't really all that *personal*, because as you noted, they are "the cultiest of the Christian cults". The governing body tells them what to believe, and they believe it. If you don't believe it, you'll be considered scum and worthy of death by everyone you know or love, as I am.

Most humans deeply embedded in a group would rather just believe it; believe it or not.



I will give them this, and it's a bit counterintuitive; back in the days of Jehovah's Witnesses being hated and subjected to mob violence, they were also much less cult-like and afforded their members more freedom of thought than they do today.

I suppose without having a real oppressor persecuting them, they have had to resort to "the world is a boogyman" tactics combined with harsh treatment of members who stray.

[Loudmxr]

7. We owe so much to the Jehovah's Witnesses. They deserve our respect.

They really do. Never make fun of them. It's rude.

We owe them the right to peaceably assemble and to pass out literature among other things.

in Europe they were the only voluntary victims of the Holocaust. They chose to go to the camps because they would not pledge alliegence to Hitler.

I think their brand of Christianity is unfortunate in their non participation in community, but if that is what they want to believe then I accept it as a person's belief and I wish them happiness.

[LostinVA]

9. I find their beliefs on women, gays, and education repulsive

And will NEVER respect them. They don't deserve it. However, they have the right to live in peace, just like all of us do.

[Mnemosyne]

10. I applaud the wisdom of Judge Walker. I keep annoying the JW's by giving them literature when

they knock on my door.

The Baptists, I run off my property.

[AnArmyVeteran]

11. How the Jehovah Witnesses used sex to sell their beliefs.

In the mid-80s I noticed a change in how JWs appeared at your door. In the past they always used a couple of very homely older women to try to sell their Watchtower magazines. But then they began using a different tactic. When I heard a knock on my front door I looked through the peephole and it was a gal about 20 who was very attractive. Of course, I opened the door and as soon as I did an older, homely woman stepped out from behind the good looking gal and took over the sales pitch. This happened to me several more times and friends I asked noticed the same thing. I thought it was a good marketing ploy but it didn't seem very 'christian' to use sex to sell. But the JWs obviously thought it was fine.

Anyway, that is a personal story and I don't know if the Jehovah Witnesses went nationwide with their sexual strategy or not. Anyone else face a similar situation? I began calling them the beauty & the beast tag teams. Now, everytime I see a good looking woman at my door I'm worried about what's hiding behind her. Damned JWs!