Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Yes, Watchtower are at it again. They claim to their members that they are the only true religion in the world and the only one God is using to teach spiritual truth. Many, however, will attest to the fact that they are not known for telling the truth, in fact they have developed a nasty habit of telling lies, denying the blindingly obvious, dismissing the claims of their critics and going on the offensive to try and cover up their misdemeanours to shut up those who are finally speaking out about their ill treatment and abuse. Not only do Watchtower claim they do not victimise anyone, especially those who decide to leave their ranks. But now, at the risk of going from the sublime to the ridiculous Watchtower are taking it one step further and are suing some of their victims in court, claiming that ‘they’ are actually the one being victimised. How perverse is that.
This victimisation by Watchtower of Ex members and those who no longer wish to be part of their group is a worldwide problem, in fact let’s call it what it is, an epidemic. There are lots of accounts from all over the world of Watchtower victimising or attacking ex members for speaking out about their treatment, but by way of a recent example of Watchtowers perverse and aggressive behaviour let’s look to the Spanish membership.
In Spain, some ex members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses have taken action and have formed an association called ‘“ASOCIACIÓN ESPAÑOLA DE VÍCTIMAS DE LOS TESTIGOS DE JEHOVÁ” (in English this translates to ASSOCIATION OF SPANISH VICTIMS OF THE WITNESSES OF JEHOVAH). (Registered in the National Register of Associations, Group 1, Section 1, National Number 618471) See this link: https://victimasdetestigosdejehova.org/ This group was formed to support those ex members of the Watchtower organisation who left for various reasons and who felt they had become victims of the manipulation, control and deceit exercised by this group. Part of their core claims as stated on their web site are as follows;
“The movement of people who have been harmed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization around the world stems from its very founding.” Since the religious denomination was constituted, in the defendant’s opinion, there have been a number of persons who have been harmed by their membership in it and, specifically, for the following reasons:
“Especially during the 1950s, this religious organization developed a system of control of its followers that includes internal rules that affect any of its members. Disobedience to these rules, which function as control, leads to an internal trial parallel to the judicial one of any state and results in expulsion or internal marginalization.” “The rules created in that religion include discrimination against women, discrimination in sexual diversity disrespectful attack on other religious options and ultimately a clear violation of fundamental rights of people.” “The result of the application of those rules creates many victims, because it has led many people who have left that religion for one reason or another to loneliness, depression and even suicide.” “The enforcement of these rules also victimizes many Jehovah’s Witness members who are family members of disfellowshipped or disassociated Jehovah’s Witnesses. Continuing to be under pressure to obey those rules or lose their family ends up affecting them psychologically, leading to mental illnesses such as feelings of frustration, anxiety, depression and fibromyalgia, some also ending their lives.“
Although these claims are true, as can be attested to by the writer of this article, Watchtower has taken offence to these expressions and have filed a claim for damages against the Association. The Watchtower legal team state; “This series of considerations are totally degrading to my client and the members that compose it, given the direct imputation from the beginning of the Preamble of the existence of a damage caused by the birth of the group CHRISTIAN WITNESSES OF JEHOVAH.
In a 59 page document filed with the court, Watchtower are claiming besides other things that; The expressions “control of its followers”, “internal marginalization”, “discrimination against women, discrimination in sexual diversity, disrespectful attack on other religious options and in short a clear violation of fundamental rights of people”, “creates many victims”, “has led many people who have left that religion for one reason or another to loneliness, depression and even suicide”, “continuing under the pressure of obeying these rules or losing their family ends up affecting them psychologically, even suffering from mental illnesses such as feelings of frustration, anxiety, depression and fibromyalgia, some also ended their lives”, are expressions totally injurious to the group and its members insofar as they hurt their sensibilities in a notorious way, lacking all the imputations of any evidentiary support.
Are they kidding!! Can they really be so blatant as to suggest there is no evidentiary support to the association’s claims? Are they so Naive to think the Court won’t consider not only the 70 testimonies that were presented in court but also the huge amount of other public evidence against them. A 30 second search on Google will bring up dozens of documented cases of Watchtowers attacks on other religions, discrimination against women, discrimination in a person’s sexual diversity and violation of a person’s fundamental rights. Some in the courtroom were moved to tears when the severity of violations was presented. It is evident from Watchtowers own doctrinal books, magazines and TV broadcasts that they do judge and victimise critics and past members of their religion. Many of these have now removed from their website and church elders have been instructed to destroy these publications from the congregation libraries so the membership won’t be able to check the religions history and thereby cover up their guilt.
For evidence of Watchtowers own written doctrines and how they are flouting even their own rules, see: https://jwfacts.com/watchtower/watchtower-scandal.php
For an English translation of the defending attorney’s summary of this case go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N70aVWaH9k
Watchtower is known worldwide for its prolific enthusiasm of taking to court anyone who they see as a whistleblower and therefore a threat to their credibility and existence. They even have their own legal team to save them money also employing expensive independent law firms for the many cases they are currently fighting.
But what, you may ask ever happened to Watchtower following their own core teachings of forgiving their brother (or sister) up to 77 times, make peace with a brother who you think has sinned against you and not taking your brother to court but leaving things in Gods hands to sort out any issues of perceived wrongdoing. (Matthew 5:23 – 24, Matthew 18:21 – 22, 1 Corinthians 6:4-8). How cowardly and hypocritical of this huge so called charitable, organisation taking to court, using we suspect charitable donations, to sue those who are doing nobody any harm by leaving the religion and who speak the truth, as they have experienced it but who don’t have the financial resources to defend themselves. Isn’t that a disgraceful abuse of those funds??
For decades Watchtower has been persecuting and victimising anyone who dares to question any of the doctrines or beliefs of its governing body and who decides to leave their organisation on a matter of conscience. That fact alone makes them a non-Christian Cult and not the true religion they claim to be. But the tide is changing and Watchtower are beginning to lose many cases they are taking to court and with huge financial implications for them as an organisation. Ex members are beginning to fight back. Just one case in 2023 cost Watchtower 40 million dollars because they lost and there have been many others. Watchtower have no shame and spare no expense when it comes to enforcing their right to constantly change their beliefs and rules of law and woe betide anyone trying to defend themselves or to claim they are unsound and unchristian. They will just claim it is the light of truth getting brighter. (Proverbs 4:18). So who do you think is right? Are Watchtower the victim or are the thousands of first hand testimonies of ill treatment at the hands of Watchtower more to be believed. We will leave the reader and hopefully the Spanish Court to decide. (Court hearing ended Jan 30th 2023. Ruling is still pending)
Contributed by a reader.