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/