WHY is the
Watchtower Society suddenly
allowing
French and
German JWs to vote?
THIS official U.S. government report published on the State Department's webspace at http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/970722_relig_rpt_christian.html may shed some light:
United States Policies in Support of
Religious Freedom: Focus on
Christians
Report Consistent with the
Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year
1997,
House Report 3610
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human
Rights, and Labor Affairs, July 22, 1997.
Foreword by Secretary of State Madeleine
K. Albright
[excerpts from the sections on France and Germany:]
France
A Parliamentary Commission on Sects
identified 172 groups as sects, including
Jehovah's
Witnesses, which was categorized
as a "criminal sect" for its prohibition against
blood
transfusions. The Commission's Vice
President has stated that certain elements
characterize
sect behavior, including the
mental manipulation of members especially as pertains to
money
and sex, and the cultivation of an
anti-social mentality that leads to rupture with the
family.
The Commission is studying
legislative proposals to regulate sect activity without
intruding
upon individual liberties.
Germany
Recently, a federal administration court
in Berlin denied Jehovah's Witnesses the status of
a
"public body" on the grounds
that the church did not offer the "indispensable loyalty"
towards
the State, because, for example, it
refused to acknowledge public elections.
Jehovah's
Witnesses are appealing this
ruling in the Constitutional Court. Scientologists,
including
American citizens, have reported
discrimination and harassment in Germany. In June
1997,
German authorities placed the Church
of Scientology under observation for one year,
a
decision Scientologists indicated they
would appeal.
"Commission of Inquiry on So-Called
Psychogroups and Sects" is preparing a report on
sects
and the potential dangers they may
pose to society and to individuals. One
Christian
Charismatic Church led by an
American pastor reported that it had been subjected
over
several years to vandalism, threats of
violence, and public harassment or scrutiny by
sect
commissioners. The church is
challenging a 1995 ruling by authorities in Cologne,
who
revoked its tax exempt status on the
grounds that it was not a charitable organization and
did
not contribute to the cultural,
religious, or spiritual value of German
society.
Copyright © 1998 by David A. Reed, all rights reserved. Clipart copyright © by Corel Corp., Metro Creative Graphics, Inc., Metro ImageBase, Inc., T/Maker, Zedcor, Inc., et al., used with permission.