Did you know that the Jehovah's Witnesses have done much to guarantee the rights and freedoms we enjoy?

Question

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Harlan Fiske Stone wrote, "The Jehovah's Witnesses ought to have an endowment in view of the aid which they give in solving the legal problems of civil liberties."

In the United States numerous cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses are now landmark decisions of First Amendment law. In all, Jehovah's Witnesses brought 23 separate First Amendment actions before the U.S. Supreme Court between 1938 and 1946.

The most important U.S. Supreme Court legal victory won by the Witnesses was in the case West Virginia State Board of Education vs. Barnette, in which the court ruled that school children could not be forced to pledge allegiance to or salute the U.S. flag. The Barnette decision overturned an earlier case, Minersville School District vs. Gobitis (1940), in which the court had held that Witnesses could be forced against their will to pay homage to the flag.

The fighting words doctrine was established by Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942). In that case, a Jehovah's Witness had reportedly told a New Hampshire town marshal who was attempting to prevent him from preaching "You are a God-damned racketeer" and "a damned fascist" and was arrested. The court upheld the arrest, thus establishing that "insulting or 'fighting words', those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace" are among the "well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech [which] the prevention and punishment of...have never been thought to raise any constitutional problem."

In a more recent case, Jehovah's Witnesses refused to get government permits to solicit door-to-door in Stratton, Ohio. In 2002, the case was heard in the U.S. Supreme Court (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society v. Village of Stratton). The Court ruled in favor of the Jehovah's Witnesses, ensuring the freedom of all to go door-to-door without obtaining permits.


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Answer 1

How about the Rights of all the children who have been molested by Members and Ministers of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Elders and The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society protect them.
I know this from personal experience .I know it happens and I know it is covered up. My father was an Elder.

They may go to the Supreme Court to preserve their right to Preach door to door or to NOT Serve in the Military but they have done NOTHING about the RIGHTS and FREEDOMS of thousands and thousands of children who have been molested over all these years.

Next to the Catholic Church, Jehovah's Witnesses are a Mecca for Pedophilia behavior.

Answer 2

Yes I do recognize this. In reality a few of my near private peers have been expelled from institution for refusing to participate in an act of worship to the flag. Jehovah's Witnesses are legislation abiding residents anywhere they reside besides while the legislation of guys clash the legislation of God. (Acts five:27-29) As such Jehovah's Witnesses maintain to combat for his or her devout rights. I recognize, as LineDancer, aspects out that almost all don't wish to understand approximately this, however in case any one does, you'll be able to learn approximately pending instances global right here.

Answer 3

The Watchtower Society has an interesting history of provoking court cases in the USA, from the 1940s onwards in particular. By then officialdom suspected the Society's enormous sales of literature was no more than business sales without a license. (e.g. in 1940 the Saturday Evening Post had an article, "Armageddon, Inc." by Stanley High.) Such opposition came largely from people who valued religious freedom. So whenever JWs were arrested for selling books without a license, legal action was immediately begun to establish they were merely preaching by use of the printed page instead of the spoken word. Despite numerous defeats, they repeated again and again their claim of religious freedom. Gradually this created the impression that JWs - a minority group - were being persecuted for practicing their faith and not for conducting a business racket.

Tactics to induce "martyrdom" worked a treat. Areas, like New Jersey, were targetted by mass groups of JWs on Sundays. Complaints from locals who did not wish their peaceful Sundays disturbed inundated the Mayor and Police Chief. When the police asked the JWs for their license to peddle books, they refused to secure them. They returned more and more often and fines were imposed. The mass arrests and sentences were immediately appealed. The Wt.Soc could have put a quick halt to this by appealing to the principle of freedom of the press. Instead, it insisted on using the freedom of religion approach. The courts continued to hold that JWs were not being denied freedom of worship, nor molested in their Kingdom Halls, and that they would be allowed to sell books if they obtained licenses. The JWs cried, "Intolerance!" even though they were also saying publicly, "Religion is a snare and a racket!"

JWs knew all along that they had a right to distribute their literature without censorship under the freedom of the press section of the Bill of Rights. They refrained from using it, however, because they wanted to become religious "martyrs". The massive publicity gained created sympathy for them. Apply those facts to the 2002 Stratton Court case and be warned!

Answer 4

I'm not sure what is the point to your question. Many religious organizations have been the source of court cases. I don't see why one might be more significant than another.

Each such case is a part of the evolution of Constitutional interpretation and application to our daily lives. However, you should keep in mind that a single cases doesn't always establish case law for all time. I believe that you will find that other cases applicable to soliciting permits within a single community have other results. The reason is that differing foundations of law have been used..

Answer 5

That's great...write a paper about it. Or maybe you should write a paper about my JW family. My mother caught my father molesting my oldest sister when she was 2 1/2 years old. Mom "didn't know what to do" so she took him to the Elders. One elder counseled Dad using the Bible about why it was wrong and both of them about the sin of divorce. They went on their merry way...Mom stuck by him, had 3 more children to him, and he became an elder. He molested all of us children, many other Witness children until finally he was caught. He died in prison last year. In the same congregation, there was another child molester...my sister was one of his victims...Mom and she went to the elders about him and they did the same thing. The Catholic faith and all their trouble with molestation pales in comparison to the habit of the JWs to harbor such people and not turn them over to the proper authorities. They will only do so in the states that it is required of them legally. Perhaps you could stop defending such hypocrites and research why it is that JWs think it's okay to not turn over their members who admit to molesting young children to the elders and seek counseling on it. Ps...Mom is still a Witness...all of us kids hit the high road!

Answer 6

Yes, I knew that Jehovah's Witnesses have filed several lawsuits in order to preserve THEIR freedoms. The result has been that others have also benefited although the Jehovah's Witnesses have never filed a lawsuit for the benefit of anyone except themselves.

Thousands of others have also done much to guarantee the rights and freedoms we enjoy; they gave their lives.....a lot of people feel that giving their lives to defend freedom was just a tad more noble than filing a lawsuit and benefited a lot more people, in the long run.

It's also true that during WWII while JW's were filing lawsuits in the US to protect the freedom of JW's, US soldiers were fighting and dying which eventually resulted in the release of a lot of people - including JW's - from the concentration camps in Germany.

Answer 7

10 Million EX-JW now

There are now twice as many former Jehovah's Witnesses as there are active ones with 13,000 leaving everymonth.

Who are Jehovah's Witnesses?

They will extol and preach "God's Kingdom" and this sounds attractive,what they hide from you is their blasphemous Watchtower cult version that Jesus has already had his second coming in 1914 and is working "invisibly" through them.

They have won 37 of their 46 U.S. Supreme Court cases, assuring us all of freedom of speech and assembly and equal protection under the law.

The sad irony is that the Watchtower Society *daily* abuses the human rights of thousands of its members. It denies current members the right of free speech by forbidding them to speak to former members, even close family members.

And it denies former members their right of freedom of worship by refusing to allow them to leave the religion with dignity, should they come to disagree with Watchtower's practices or doctrines.

The 'religion' of Jehovah's Witnesses is a dangerous cult that controls every aspect of its members' lives.

Are they knocking on your door?
----
Danny Haszard (expert witness on the Jehovah's Witness) http://www.freeminds.org

Answer 8

Someone else let fly this trash before. You may know that it was JW's that shut down religious broadcasting in Canada. They got their "Judge Rutherford" recordings and railed on people. The government shut them down and kept Christians from broadcasting for over 70 years.

Answer 9

its like saying that the high prices of Shoes is the reason behind world war II.................
no they didnt , u know they didnt!!!
Jehovah's Witnesses are bunch of high people that run after u in airports and bus stops for change and to take their papers or whatever,
if u said the mormans or Satanics we would have something to talk about u and me but Jehovah's Witnesses?! PUUUULEEEZZZZZ

Answer 10

Yes.

Jehovah's Witnesses have brought almost 70 cases to the U.S. Supreme Court and won more than two-thirds of them (many of those they lost were later overturned).

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/19960722/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/19980108/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20030401/article_01.htm