Supreme Court bans Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia

MOSCOW (AP) 20 April 2017 — Russia's Supreme Court on Thursday banned Jehovah's Witnesses from operating anywhere in the country, accepting a request from the justice ministry that the religious organization be considered an extremist group.

The court ordered the closure of the group's Russian headquarters and its 395 local chapters, as well as the seizure of its property. The Interfax news agency on Thursday quoted Justice Ministry attorney Svetlana Borisova in court as saying that Jehovah's Witnesses pose a threat to Russians.

"They pose a threat to the rights of citizens, public order and public security," she told the court. Borisova also said Jehovah's Witnesses' opposition to blood transfusions violates Russian health care laws.

Yaroslav Sivulsky, a spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, said in a statement they are "greatly disappointed by this development and deeply concerned about how this will affect our religious activity."

Jehovah's Witnesses said they would appeal the ruling. Jehovah's Witnesses claim more than 170,000 adherents in Russia. The group has come under increasing pressure over the past year, including a ban on distributing literature deemed to violate Russia's anti-extremism laws.

Human Rights Watch criticized Thursday's decision as an impediment to religious freedom in Russia. "The Supreme Court's ruling to shut down the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia is a terrible blow to freedom of religion and association in Russia," said Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The rights group also expressed concern that if the ruling takes effect, Jehovah's Witnesses could face criminal prosecution and punishment ranging from fines to prison time.

They're a most peculiar sect. I have no idea why, beyond the blood transfusion business, they have attracted the ire of the Russian state. I can only judge by the two or three I've known - quite nasty when they finally realised that you weren't ripe for conversion.

April 2008: "Just as the government has tightened control over political life, so, too, has it intruded in matters of faith. The Kremlin's surrogates in many areas have turned the Russian Orthodox Church into a de facto official religion, warding off other Christian denominations that seem to offer the most significant competition for worshippers. This close alliance between the government and the Russian Orthodox Church has become a defining characteristic ....

Because the JWs answer ONLY to God and refuse to be controlled by any government the Russians see them as a threat and have tried before to severely curtail their seeking converts. The current religious extremism at present in the world have given the Kremlin an excuse to 'persecute' the JWs and make it very hard for them to exist - seeking members will be more than likely punishable by fines and imprisonment. LL

Ah, proselytizing! If memory serves, they've come a cropper elsewhere for that?

bb1 wrote:Ah, proselytizing! If memory serves, they've come a cropper elsewhere for that?

Yes, the Nazis tried to wipe them out. Many ended up in the labour camps and some were gassed. LL

No, not nazis - recently.

They seem to get locked up all over the world. In South Korea, it's dodging conscription-

https://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/by-region/world/jehovahs-witnesses-in-prison-2/

Jehovah's Witnesses and the Jews
One of the most aggressive missionary groups operating today in the State of Israel is the sect which calls itself 'Jehovah’s Witnesses'.
Lately, this sect started an aggressive publicity campaign in order to build for itself a positive image in the eyes of the public. They hope to succeed based on the fact that most people in Israel are unaware of the true nature of this sect and of its sordid history. They’re pouring a lot of money into this publicity campaign from their vast resources (their income in USA alone is surpassing $1.25 billion dollars).
As a part of this propaganda they sent an expensively produced book and a videocassette to every member of the Knesset. There they describe in great detail the suffering that members of the sect underwent during the Nazi regime. Our brochure is the first modest step in exposing the true face of this fanatical sect, which bases all of its propaganda on historical revisionism and outright lies.

A long article but most informative re the JW and their background. LL
http://yadlachim.org/?CategoryID=203&ArticleID=577

Thanks, LL, that was most interesting.

In yet another publication of the sect(28) under the headline 'The Holocaust - victims or martyrs?' they 'kindly' explain that “all those who suffered as a result of the Holocaust were victims, but only a minority were truly martyrs.” Jews just like Poles, Russians and Ukrainians were merely victims. “But the case of 'Jehovah’s Witnesses' in Europe was different.” They and only they were true martyrs of the Holocaust.
Audacity more base than that is hard to imagine!
According to the above-mentioned bombastic claims, we might have thought that millions of members of 'Jehovah’s Witnesses' perished during the Nazi period. But in the 1974 Yearbook of the sect they admitted that a total of 2,000 of their members were sent to concentration camps, and from these 838 died or were executed.(29)
It is impossible to take lightly the suffering of even one human being. But the idea that deaths of a few hundred members of 'Jehovah’s Witnesses' is more horrible that the death of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, could only sprout in the distorted minds of the leaders of that sect!

That would suggest they were actually one of the LEAST persecuted of nazi victims. As the author says, one is too many, but that is nothing like the huge number of persecuted JWs I had always imagined, not having read anything about it before.

Their behaviour in the camps does rather chime in with the family I knew - they weren't very nice people, for all their supposed godliness, and I felt sorry for their children, growing up in such a bleak, joyless environment.

A couple of their missionaries did turn up on my doorstep once, wanting to talk to me about Hellfire, or something. I told them I was a pagan, and if they didn't b*gger off, I'd put a curse on them.

My eldest son's m-i-l had a run in with them years ago. She used a broomstick and a 'witching spell' to put the fear of Wicca up them. She's a gentle person but one hell of an actress - they never darkened her door step again. Had them call here about 4 years ago, told them I was a practizing wizard!!!! Haven't seen them since. LL

Odd how effective that is.

bb1 wrote:Odd how effective that is.

If you were a mad religious fanatic would you try and take down a 6'7" wizard with curly black hair, beard and flashing blue eyes? I doubt they registered I didn't have a tail and cloven hooves! Just my height can make me appear somewhat intimidating. LL

Hmm, but surely, whatever their version of God is, shouldn't He be more powerful than any wizard or Wiccan? They can't have much faith in their Higher Power.......

bb1 wrote:Hmm, but surely, whatever their version of God is, shouldn't He be more powerful than any wizard or Wiccan? They can't have much faith in their Higher Power.......

I can be most intimidating and I have had much practice in making people look up at me. A deep voice and a foreign accent also helps the effect. Kinda like Christopher Lee as Dracula!!!! LL

They must genuinely believe they can be cursed - which is, of course, how 'curses' work. They don't work on people who say, Oh, stop being so stupid!

They only work on the gullible and superstitious.....

Do you have your hair slicked back and wear a cape, LL?

lily wrote:Do you have your hair slicked back and wear a cape, LL?

Can't slick my hair at all, dear one, it is very curly!   But do have a lovely black cape ....   LL   

 Very dignified, I must say, LL.    I do love your medal.  What did you earn it for?

lily wrote: Very dignified, I must say, LL.    I do love your medal. What did you earn it for?

As I remember, it was for thumping Trumpers .... LL

  Noooooooooo..........