WT Society permits JWs to
vote...sometimes...in Germany
From: Stephan E. Wolf
<sewolf@compuserve.com>
Date: 17.
januar 1998 15:53
It's as plain as this: I got the information
from a trusted friend (Helmut Lasarczyk - he was translator at the WTS branch
in Germany and after he left translated the first book of Ray Franz into
German). He knows it from ------ [In the meantime, the information was
confirmed by several elders who attended the German meeting at the beginning of
the year.] It is those dissatisfied elders who provide us with inside
information. We
publish such things as
fast as possible, in order to give the WTS the impression that there truly is
an international network with "spies" right inside the organization.
Note that it says, the JWs can vote when it is
"not political". This includes to vote or be voted for class
representative at school, parent spokesman and even spokesman at the labour
union (which was not allowed until now). However, it does not include voting
for any political party etc.
I do not know if this "new light"
applies to all countries. It might well be that they only say this (and
purposely not write it) here in Germany. The Verwaltungsgericht had ruled
against the Witnesses to become a public society for the reason that they do
forbid their members to vote and therefore are against the very foundation the
state is built upon. The WTS appealed to the highest court of the country. The
case will be called
sometime this year. I
doubt that giving in in such a marginal way will help their course.
So far, we are talking only about oral
information. There is no written document. But this is a general trend which
can be observed lately. Critical things are only communicated orally and not in
any written form. This makes it very difficult to prove anything.
Stephan E. Wolf URL:
http://www.sewolf.com/infolink/