Si terrà sabato 17 e domenica 18 febbraio nella sede dei Testimoni di Geova di Caltanissetta, l’Assemblea di circoscrizione dei Testimoni di Geova nella Lingua dei segni italiana per la parte del Sud Italia che cura la divulgazione della Bibbia nella Lingua dei Segni Italiana, a beneficio delle persone sorde. Il programma svilupperà il tema “Accumulatevi tesori in cielo” (Matteo 6,20). Saranno esposti discorsi, interviste ed esperienze di vita reale. Interessanti saranno i due simposi dal tema “Continuate a cercare prima il Regno” e “Siate ricchi verso Dio”. L’istallazione di due maxischermi permetterà di avere una visione chiara dei vari oratori.
Assemblea di Circoscrizione in Cinese
17-18/02/07 – Sala assemblee di Prato (PO)
Assemblea di Circoscrizione in LIS
17-18/02/07 – Sala assemblee di Caltanissetta (CL)
Government closes another Jehovah’s Witness congregation
By Igor Rotar, Forum 18 News Service
Jehovah’s Witnesses are deciding whether or not to appeal against a decision to strip legal status from their congregation in Fergana, eastern Uzbekistan, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. The government’s decision means that all Jehovah’s Witness activity in the city is now illegal and subject to harsh penalties. All but one of the more than 30 Jehovah’s Witness communities in Uzbekistan have been persistently refused legal status.An Uzbek-based lawyer told Forum 18 that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have virtually no chance of successfully appealing, as the regional Justice Department simply carries out instructions from the Uzbek government. An official in the Parliamentary Ombudsperson’s Office, Maruf Ushmanov, told Forum 18 that “It is your personal opinion that any registered or unregistered religious communities are being persecuted. We’ve had not one single complaint from religious believers.” But this claim is contradicted by a letter Forum 18 has seen from the Ombudsperson, Sayora Rashidova, in response to complaints about the criminal case launched in 2006 against Pentecostal pastor Dmitry Shestakov, who is now awaiting trial.
The Jehovah’s Witness congregation in the city of Fergana [Farghona] has failed in its attempts to regain legal status through the courts, Jehovah’s Witness sources have told Forum 18 News Service. The community has one chance left to appeal to the republican court in the capital Tashkent, but has not yet decided whether to do so. This stripping of legal status means that any religious activity the community conducts is now illegal and punishable under the Administrative Code or, for repeat offences, the Criminal Code. This puts it on a par with all but one of the more than 30 Jehovah’s Witness communities in Uzbekistan which have been persistently refused legal status.
An Uzbek-based lawyer who defends the rights of religious minorities, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Forum 18 that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have virtually no chance of successfully appealing at the national court level against the decision of the regional Justice Department since it simply carries out instructions from the Uzbek government, which is trying to reduce the influence of religious minorities in the country.
Forum 18 tried to find out from the Parliamentary Ombudsperson, Sayora Rashidova, what she is doing to help religious communities that cannot get legal status or which have had their legal status removed. Maruf Ushmanov, a specialist in the office, told Forum 18 on 9 February that Rashidova was absent. However, he categorically rejected any complaints. “It is your personal opinion that any registered or unregistered religious communities are being persecuted,” he told Forum 18 from Tashkent. “We’ve had not one single complaint from religious believers.”
However, this claim is contradicted by a letter Forum 18 has seen, dated 11 October 2006, from Rashidova to the Uzbek General Prosecutor’s Office and to the Andijan police investigator, in response to complaints about the criminal case launched last year against Andijan-based Pentecostal pastor Dmitry Shestakov, who is now awaiting trial (see F18News 14 February 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=911).
On 21 December 2006, the Jehovah’s Witnesses lost an action in Fergana city court against Fergana Regional Administration, which had cancelled the registration of the local Jehovah’s Witness congrgation (see F18News 20 December 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=892), and on 30 January 2007 lost a similar action in the regional court, Kirill Kulikov, a defence lawyer for the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Central Asia, told Forum 18 from St Petersburg in Russia on 8 February.
The decision to close down the Jehovah’s Witness organisation in Fergana region of eastern Uzbekistan was taken by the regional Justice Department on 24 August 2006 (see F18News 5 September 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=837).
The department based its decision on infringements of the law on the part of the Jehovah’s Witnesses: failure to register a change in the legal address of the organisation; obtaining religious literature without an expert assessment of its content; and carrying out missionary activity (see F18News 5 September 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=837).
Fazliddin Pavlanov, head of the Religious and Social Organisations Registration Section of the Fergana regional Justice Department, maintained that the decision to cancel the registration of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ registration was “perfectly legal”. “They had broken several laws,” he told Forum 18 from Fergana on 14 February. “First, they had been engaging in active missionary work – and we have witnesses. Second, they had been meeting at a different address from the one given in their registration document. And third, they had been supplying literature which had not been through the expert approval process.”
According to the Uzbek Religion Law, which contravenes international human rights standards, members of a religious community may hold services only at its registered legal address. The Religion Law also requires members of religious organisations to submit religious literature to the government’s Religious Affairs Committee for compulsory prior expert assessment; they may distribute such literature only if the Committee approves it. The Law also forbids members of a religious organisation to engage in missionary activity.
However, Kulikov insists that the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Fergana have not broken the Law. “The Jehovah’s Witnesses explained to the authorities that they had lost the house where their community had been registered and they immediately set about registering a new legal address,” he told Forum 18. “The Justice Department’s conclusion about the obtaining of religious literature without expert approval does not reflect the true situation.” He said the religious literature which arrives at the one legal Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation in the town of Chirchik [Chirchiq] near Tashkent has gone through the required expert approval process. He added that with the agreement of the Religious Affairs Committee, the community in Chirchik functions as a central organ for the Jehovah’s Witnesses and hence it is there that religious literature arrives. Only after that was some of the literature, which had been approved by the Committee, sent on to the community in Fergana.
Official censorship of all religious literature was markedly increased in June 2006 (see F18News 29 June 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=805).
Kulikov also insisted that individual Jehovah’s Witnesses in Fergana do not engage in missionary activity aimed at converting members of other religions to their faith. “There are no cases of fuelling religious enmity between Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims,” he told Forum 18.
The decision by the Justice Department makes all Jehovah’s Witness activity outside the remaining congregation in Chirchik illegal. “Under Uzbek law, unregistered religious communities are not allowed to function and now our brothers in Fergana will not be free to preach their religious beliefs in peace,” a Jehovah’s Witness, who preferred not to be named for fear of reprisals, told Forum 18 last August (see F18News 5 September 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=837). “The closure of our sister congregation in Fergana demonstrates how the authorities’ relations with Jehovah’s Witnesses have deteriorated.” Among “fresh examples” of this, the Jehovah’s Witness cited the recent denial by the government’s Religious Affairs Committee of permission to extend the Kingdom Hall in Chirchik, the only remaining legal Jehovah’s Witness place of worship in Uzbekistan.
Pressure has been increasing against religious minorities such as Protestants and Jehovah’s Witnesses in recent months, with a Jehovah’s Witness being forced to leave the country because of a possible threat to kill him (see F18News 28 November 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=878). State-run media encouragement of intolerance against religious minorities has been stepped up (see F18News 19 December 2006
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=890), as has a propaganda campaign to camouflage Uzbekistan’s religious freedom violations (see F18News 19 December 2006 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=891). (END)
This is something being shared with all of you for I know many of you live in the Los Angeles/Orange County areas–or you have friends with whom you will want to share this special invitation. You may recall that only a few weeks ago the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust had a really special event–with a very fine presentation by Dr. Michael Berenbaum and then a surprise visit–from Max and Simone Liebster, our dear, dear friends who survived and have both written books that we have enjoyed to tell their experiences. No, Max and Simone were not in Los Angeles in person but were in their home in France and spoke to us through a web camera and it was like we were with them in the same room.
So many tried to come to that program but the seating was extremely limited–but wisely the museum scheduled a second program at the last minute which was later in the day .. So many of the friends were able to hear the program and also see the exhibit that is shown in the Attachment to this letter (or below if you cannot open an Attachment). There are pictures in the Attachment.
But now the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust has decided to really open this up for more people. They’ve obtained a facility in what is called Laguna Woods Village (but formerly was known as Leisure World) and it is right there where Hwy #5 and #405 come together, just past Irvine a few exits. There are hundreds of seats so you will not be left out if you wish to take your family or friends from the congregation. If you have already seen the film “Knocking” on DVD you recognize that Brother Joseph Kempler is the brother who tells his story and now he will be here in person to share. What a privilege it will be to hear him, to meet him, as well as the other folks who will be involved. Below is the material that shows in the Attachments: This Exhibition set up in the LA Museum is particularly slanted toward our youths who would face problems similar to what Rudolf and Sim one faced and involves using their cell phones at the museum as they hear them individually narrate points at each of the 12 storyboards, as Rudolf and Simone speak to them.
For the February 28 program: If you are wondering about the cost of admission, you realize that this is using a rented facility and so there are certain expenses to be covered. Certainly it is not for any of Jehovah’s Witnesses who might be a part of the program, for we all know that any work we do is free. Please do send this on to any of your friends who may live in this area. The museum was careful and thoughtful to arrange this on a night when not as many have regular congregation meetings.
Your brother, Weldon
LOS ANGELES MUSEUM OF THE HOLOCAUST (www.lamoth.org)
presents
Explorations of Faith & The Holocaust
February 28, 2007 / 7pm 9pm
Join us for a panel discussion of faith in the Holocaust with Jehovah’s Witness Survivor Joe Kempler (below, right), Jewish Survivor Renee Firestone (right), and religious representatives from the Jewish and Jehovah’s Witnesses communities.
We will show clips from the award-winning documentary Knocking (www.knocking.org) which details experience of two Witness families facing a crisis of faith, and the new film Swimming in Auschwitz by filmmaker Jon Kean, which chronicles the life of five female Survivors of Auschwitz.
Following the presentation, audience members will have the opportunity to ask the panelists questions about their experiences.
Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007
Doors open 6:00pm
Tickets $20.00
23822 Avenida Sevilla
Laguna Woods Village, CA
92637
Information 323.782.1442
A copy of the infamous Declaration of Renunciation (above) which the Nazis offered Witnesses to sign in exchange for release from concentration camps.
Por Javier Rueda Hernández/Agencia de Información y Análisis Quadratín
Martes 13 de Febrero de 2007
Morelia, Mich., 13 de febrero de 2007.- Mineros de la Sección 271 demandaron a las autoridades estatales garantías para continuar con su “lucha” pues temen por su integridad física y las de sus familiares.
En conferencia de prensa, al menos ocho trabajadores siderúrgicos de Lázaro Cárdenas, entre ellos varios golpeados por la refriega del pasado 2 de febrero, propusieron la creación de un comité provisional que dé una salida momentánea al conflicto minero.
Aún con claras huellas de la golpiza que recibieron a manos de “vándalos contratados” por la gente de Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, exigieron al gobierno del estado y federal que no se desliguen de la problemática que ya ha dejado muertos y heridos.
César Reyes, uno de los representantes de la Sección 271, denunció que al menos 200 trabajadores han sido despedidos de las empresas, de los cuales 150 son Testigos de Jehová que no han querido participar en las movilizaciones “violentas” de la mafia de Gómez Urrutia.
Sostuvo que este mismo día podrían acudir a la ciudad de México para interponer una serie de quejas ante la Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos.
César Reyes deslindó a la Sección 271 de los hechos del 2 de febrero, “nunca fue un enfrentamiento, ellos vinieron a golpearnos y a masacrarnos. Ellos estaban armados y balearon a varios de los compañeros”.
Detalló que no hay condiciones para realizar un paro nacional minero como lo ha venido señalando Napoleón Gómez Urrutia pues no cuenta con el apoyo de la mayoría de los trabajadores, sólo con un pequeño grupo de golpeadores que se han apoderado no sólo del sindicato sino del puerto de Lázaro Cárdenas.
Indicó que al menos 10 denuncias penales pesan sobre seguidores de Gómez Urrutia, mismo que se paran en la Subprocuraduría General, y no son detenidos a pesar de que han cometido varios y graves delitos tanto estatales como federales.
Los mineros señalaron que no “queremos que el proceso electoral intervenga y se retrace la justicia que estamos demandando desde hace varios meses”.
César Reyes recordó que el día de los hechos más de 200 jóvenes que habían estado “bebiendo y drogándose”, “nos agredieron” hasta casi matar a varios de los compañeros.
Dijo que las acusaciones que han hecho en su contra los seguidores de Napoleón Gómez Urrutia nos ha afectado moralmente y agregó que no sólo tienen secuestrado al sindicato sino a todo el puerto Lázaro Cárdenas que no avala las prácticas de esta gente.
Dangers of Bearing “Witness”: JW’s say intolerance intensifies
By Vahan Ishkhanyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Jehovah’s Witnesses say their group is experiencing growing intolerance and even acts of violence against them in Armenia. The religious sect blames several incidents in recent months on negative television and newspaper reports about them.
Two women say they were assaulted for promoting their religious beliefs.
The group – known for their door-to-door proselytizing and “Watchtower” literature – says hostilities against them have noticeably increased since they were given legal status in Armenia two years ago.
According to complaints registered with police . . .
On August 21, 2006, Ashot Poghosyan, a priest of the Armenian Apostolic Church, beat two female Jehovah’s witnesses in Yerevan’s Shirak street so fiercely that one of them had her arm fractured in two places.
Zoya Tamaryan and Lena Karapetyan say the priest attacked them while they were discussing religious topics with a trader.
“He slapped Lena and then me, I fell and broke my arm,” Tamaryan says. “He picked up a rock, I stood up and ran, he was after me with a rock . . . he threw the rock but missed.” She claims the priest also threw a bottle also at the other woman.
(ArmeniaNow has been unsuccessful in reaching the priest, however police verified the incident.)
Police in Yerevan’s Shengavit district say they didn’t open a criminal case, after speaking with Poghosyan, who expressed remorse for his role in the incident.
But Tamaryan, 57, says she doubts whether the priest is sorry.
“He should at least have come to me and offered an apology,” Tamaryan says. “I haven’t seen him regretting what he did to consider whether to forgive him or not.”
Artak Tadevosyan, an investigator in charge of the case, refused to answer ArmeniaNow’s questions.
The Jehovah’s witnesses applied to the court of the first instance and the court of review to revoke the police decision refusing to institute a criminal case, but their appeals were rejected.
According to other reports:
On March 31, last year, in the entrance to one of the buildings in Yerevan’s 3rd district (Shengavit), Mareta Melkonyan and Manyak Brutyan were beaten by a citizen after Manyak asked him: “What do you think about the state of the country?” Gerasim Abgaryan kicked them and threw them down the stairs. This time the women’s application was considered and the court found Abgaryan guilty and handed a six-month suspended sentence and imposed a fine.
The most recent incident occurred on November 16, when knocking at a private house gate in Yerevan’s Arabkir street Karmen Sargsyan and Nvard Stepanyan were approached by a school teacher, Aghasi Mikaelyan, who demanded that they go away. He grabbed the organization’s periodicals from Sargsyan’s hands and hit Stepanyan across the face. The women turned to police. After Mikaelyan apologized to the women in the police precinct they took their application back.
“Cases of violence against us have increased recently,” says Jehovah’s witness Levon Margaryan. “We have registered five cases of violence, but there were more that we didn’t register. It is noticed that television programs and newspapers play a big role. People say – they said this or that about you on television and begin to feel animosity against us.”
There are occasional programs on television and articles in the press against religious organizations. One example: one clergy says on the pages of the “Azg” daily that Jehovah’s witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists and other “decadent” sects are like AIDS “which in this case decays a person’s mental abilities.”
On another occasion editor Hakob Avetikyan (whose brother is an Apostolic priest) writes that his paper criticizes religious minorities and will to criticize them for their misleading propaganda and aggressiveness.
State officials also participate in the crusade and comment publicly in apparent contradiction to Armenia’s commitment to the Council of Europe to create equal conditions for all religious organizations. Head of the Government’s Department for National Minorities and Religious Affairs Hranush Kharatyan has been among those who’ve erroneously stated on television and during forums that Jehovah’s witnesses were banned in France as a decadent sect.
Jehovah’s witnesses say that violence, in particular, began when during one TV program writer Vahram Sahakyan called on people to beat with rolling-pins sectarians knocking at their doors. On his website (www.vraert.com) Sahakyan writes: “Slam the doors in front of sectarians so violently that they roll down from the wave of the blow.”
FRANCE – Interview of an atheist socialist mayor open to religious tolerance
Interview with Mr. André Delelis concerning the use of Bollaert Stadium in Lens for conferences of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Conducted and recorded by Régis Dericquebourg (University Charles De Gaulle-Lille 3, Sociology of Religion and Laïcité, CNRS)
(Centre National de Recherche Scientifique)
for Human Rights Without Frontiers Int’l.
HRWF Int’l (12.02.2006) – Website: http://www.hrwf.org – Email: info@hrwf.net – On the 26th of August 1998 Mr. André Delelis agreed to be interviewed about the use of the football stadium in the City of Lens, a place well known as the home field for the famous football club called the Racing Club de Lens.
Shortly after this interview Mr. Delelis ceded his position as mayor of the City of Lens to Mr. Guy Delcourt. Mr. André Delelis had been re-elected repeatedly as mayor of Lens, deputy in the National Assembly, as minister, and as senator. He is friendly, out-going, and a true humanist. He had a remarkable political career. He held numerous posts during his long political life and remained loyal to the socialist party.
He granted us this interview without hesitation at a time when minority religious groups were opposed by the socialists and we thank him for that. (*)
Secularist, atheist and tolerant
From the laïcité [secularism], I retain that which was taught to me by its founding fathers as well as that which I learned from democratic socialism and humanism. I have always been tolerant toward everyone.
I am an atheist. My parents brought me up that way and I have never joined a religion. I have been, however, a mayor open to all religions. I had a mosque made available for the Muslims. I had church buildings renovated. They are municipal churches as the city bears the full cost of maintaining these buildings. I had Catholic churches renovated that had been built long ago by the local mining companies. To this end, I asked for subsidies meant to be used to keep the region alive after the mines closed.
I have always allowed use of the city’s meeting rooms with the approval of the town council. My assistants and I meet every week and we allow use, without discrimination, by every organisation including those of a religious nature. There is no charge for whatever facilities they desire. We do this because we always considered it our duty as elected officials to serve everyone without regard to origin or opinion, whether political, unionist, or religious. Having been elected by all, it is our duty to protect all those who want to worship however they please.
Guy Mollet used to say, “I am an agnostic, but I will fight for the right of catholics, of protestants, and of all others to be able to enter into places of worship.”
‘Anti-sect’ movement ADFI
We have always believed that the associations to which we lent our community meeting rooms should be associations that had not been legally banned.
I have always responded to the association of Mrs. Charline Delporte, the Association for the Defense of Families and Individuals of Lille: « Madam, when you have managed to have the Jehovah’s Witnesses legally banned by French law, they will no longer be allowed to use the Bollaert stadium. So long as this association is not banned, it will be allowed to use it as they want and in accord with the stipulations we will determine. There is no doubt about it. Have them banned, and after that we will implement the laws of the French Republic. ».
I have heard the arguments from all sides. I have listened to them in my office. I have read the book by Charline Delporte and her followers. Her books only repeat old arguments: complaints by adult children against their parents after leaving the movement.
The ADFI once held a demonstration in front of the town hall. The one that yelled the loudest was the Front National party candidate for the office of mayor. I don’t have to obey Madam Deporte.
Freedom of conscience and of thought in the limits of the law
Once children of legal age freely choose on their own what they want to do with their future life, it is not my business. Nor is it my business if some parent cannot accept after a divorce that his child joins the Jehovah’s Witnesses, nor that the Jehovah’s Witnesses abstain from voting in the elections (2).
“You must admit, Madam, that you cannot accuse me of electioneering, I told Mrs. Delporte. If they ban the giving or transfusion of blood, it is their problem, not mine. In my role as mayor, I have no right to challenge the choices of the citizens under my authority. They can do what they want, and so long as what they do is not banned by the laws of the Republic, I have no right whatever to oppose whatever they do. ».
I gave the same answer to those who asked me to ban posters promoting the use of condoms for the sake of the children, or to ban the showing of pornographic films in the theatres of Lens, etc. I have always replied: «It is not my duty to be the watchdog of the city—or to check the billboards and the cinemas. Anything that is not banned by the law is not my responsibility; personally it is none of my business. That is the business of each person’s conscience.
In the city council I have only one assistant that disagrees with what we have been doing, even though he himself is a secular socialist. He may think as he wants. I respect his opinions, but he did not present enough strong arguments to convince me that I should renounce my ideas of tolerance.
I do not want to argue about the way the Jehovah’s Witnesses use the Bollaert stadium. I give credit to the Jehovah’s Witnesses for their spirit of organization and the extreme care with which they make use of our facilities. They return it in better condition than when they take it. Everything is clean, everything is tidy, everything in good condition, and back in its place. In addition, they make a rental donation that increases every year. Compare that with problems we have with some of the other people.
I also observe that the inhabitants of Lens who fight against the Jehovah’s Witnesses represent fewer than a dozen people, and one of them was a candidate of the Front National political party. The others in my opinion have an outlook which ought to lead them to vote for the Front National. It is their right to oppose the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is their right to demonstrate at the gates of the stadium when the Jehovah’s Witnesses are there. I have just asked the Jehovah’s Witnesses to respect the demonstrators and not to mock those on the other side of the fence, to simply turn their backs and to avoid provocation. I do not want this event to become a battleground between both parties.
The right of assembly exists in our country; the right to demonstrate also exists. I must say that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have always followed my recommendations.
What is a sect? A question but no satisfactory answer
Some people say to me, « But the Jehovah’s Witnesses are a sect! » and I always challenge them to tell me what is a sect, because I don’t know what is a sect. No one has ever managed to tell me what a sect is.
I have read the parliamentary report on sects. I have listened to my assistant, and he was like me. He said, « I have not learned anything from the parliamentary report. They have not succeeded in defining what a sect is. »
Opponents never succeeded in bringing convincing testimonies against the Jehovah’s Witnesses to cause them to be banned, although they have parliamentarians on their side, including the communist deputy-mayor of the Paris region Mr. Brard, who have the power to make laws.
Mr. Brard was a member of the commission. He seemed to me extremely objective. He wrote to me: “You give your stadium to Jehovah’s Witnesses. What considerations bring you to take that decision? I am worried about the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and I have not managed yet to make my own opinion.” I answered, and it seems he was satisfied with the arguments that I have developed before because he never came back to me. I suppose that he continues to think about this question.
People often compare the Jehovah’s Witnesses with other sects that I call the “blood-stained sects,” the ones that are blamed for crimes. I have never found any similarity, or any points of comparison between them.
France honors itself in respecting any and all religions, when they have done no wrong. The people of the OTS (Order of the Solar Temple) were criminals, and that’s not to be tolerated.
About the Catholics and the Muslims
Now, there are here in Lens organisations linked to the Catholic Church. There is a handful of fundamentalists. We have the congregation la Source [The Well]. We have people that take some distance from the Church while still believing in its dogmas. I have studied their cases. I have seen them. I have questioned them. They have invited me. They have received me kindly. They have explained me their positions. I have nothing to say except that if the Catholic Church cannot manage to keep its members, it is up to the Church to conquer them back, because these people have left the Church in order to practice their religion.
I had the same problem with the Muslims. In gratitude for our having provided them with a place of worship, they invited me to the mosque. When the leaders of the city met with the Imam, it became evident that in the community there was a fundamentalist minority that required us to take off our shoes and that did not want the delegation to include the elected women.
I told them “You can take it or leave it. If you want us to visit you, then we are not going to take off our shoes and we will come with all the elected officials. If not, we won’t go. We are not going to visit you to adopt your religion, your dogma and your practice. You need to receive us as elected officials. We will make a friendly visit because we want to promote good relations between you and those who do not believe as you do.”
We have been elected as members of a left-wing party, as socialists, as secularists, as republicans whatever our personal beliefs. Our role is to bring citizens together and to avoid antagonisms, and we work with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and all the others.
Relations between the municipality and Jehovah’s Witnesses
What bothers some is that the Jehovah’s Witnesses pay us large amounts to rent the Bollaert stadium. One day they published the amount that they paid, and we immediately received letters from citizens of Lens saying that the Jehovah’s Witnesses were giving money to the Racing Club of Lens. How could a club that has a lot of money accept money from the Jehovah’s Witnesses? I replied that it was reimbursement for service. What is disturbing is that the amount comes to about thirty thousand euros. Some said that it was laundered money, money that had been wrongfully acquired by people who owed millions in taxes to the French revenue service.
Several other towns have contacted us because they also let Jehovah’s Witnesses use their stadiums. With the exception of Strasbourg, we worked out a common policy. As to Strasbourg, it’s up to them. If a city council experiences pressure from intolerant people, that’s the business of the town council concerned. We continue our policy calmly and peacefully, and we explain it to whoever asks.
The citizens of Lens share our point of view, and with the exception of fewer than a dozen individuals, they have never made any reproaches. If it were the case, we would not change our position. We are elected for a six-year term, and if people do not approve what we do, they can have their say at the ballot box.
I am proud of what I have done. I say to my assistant who is the principal of a school, that he is not showing a good example. “I am a secularist. It is your duty to teach your students tolerance and secularism.”
There is no betrayal of values for a city to allow churches to use public facilities. I do not see how that we would thereby be failing to fulfill our mission. These facilities were paid for by the taxes of all the taxpayers. Even if the Jehovah’s Witnesses choose not to vote, they are still taxpayers like everyone else and they have the right to use community facilities.
Any prohibition would be some form of exclusion, and our mission is to fight against all exclusions, whatever their nature. The ADFI has tried to influence our policy but that’s the way we think.
Exhibition on the deportation of Jehovah’s Witnesses by the Nazis
I have always fought against any form of totalitarianism. No one contested that exhibition. I saw it and I saluted the resistance of Jehovah’ Witnesses with respect because I have read their history. The Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted by the Nazis in the same way as the Jews, the Gypsies, the Free Masons, the Communists, and many other people. Personally, I respect their sacrifices.
(*) The interview taken by Regis Dericquebourg was recorded and faithfully transcribed. Mr. Delelis authorised us to share it.
Notes
(1) Guy Mollet was an active member of the French Socialist Party between WW I and WW II. He joined the French Army in 1939 and was taken prisoner by the Germans. Released after seven months, he joined the resistance and was three times arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo. He was minister and Vice Prime Minister in several governments after WW II.
(2) After 1998 Jehovah’s Witnesses have been allowed to follow their own conscience as far as participating in elections. Mr. Delelis was not yet aware of that.
After the sunday meeting we associate. (Proverbs 25:25) As cold water upon a tired soul, so is a good report from a distant land.
Peterborough. U.K.
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A quick walk around the Kingdom Hall after the Watchtower study. (Romans 1:12) or, rather, that there may be an interchange of encouragement among YOU, by each one through the other’s faith, both YOURS and mine.
The 2nd day of the District Convention of jehovah’s Witnesses in Quezon City, Philippines. Here is song number 204 in the tagalog tongue. Nov. 11, 2006 …
Kingdom Song 204 in tagalog
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Here is a video of the baptism on the 2nd day of our Deliverance at Hand District Convention. There’s a hidden pool on the stage. A lot of brothers were baptized…an ever growing number of witnesses for Jehovah!! Nov. 11, 2006
Baptism Part 1
Baptism Part 2
Baptism Part 3
It’s lunch time! I went to buy something at 7-11 store so on my way back to the assembly hall, I took a video of the place. It’s a very spacious space! It looks like paradise inside the compound! Nov. 11, 2006 …
This is Pohnpei Congregation in Kolonia, Pohnpei State, Micronesia. It’s good to hear the music on a different language! I sang the song using of course my English Song Book. Feb. 4, 2007
Kingdom Song 92 in Ponapean Language
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Here is the Kingdom Hall in Kolonia, Pohnpei State FSM. The public talk and watchtower study had just ended so I took a video of the hall along with the local brothers and sisters. Feb. 4, 2007 …
Here is the 2nd house we moved at in the early 90′s where I grew up as a kid. This is in Nanpohnmal in Pohnpei State. This is the house where I first got in contact with Jehovah’s Witnesses and have started to study the Bible. It’s also the house where I came to have the conviction that Jehovah is the true God. It’s a place filled with memories. I took a video of just about every corner of the area, although i was not able to go inside the house since it is now a residence of one of the locals. I was very happy to see these houses. The place has changed a lot but definitely the memories left is something I’d treasure for life. FEb. 5, 2007 …
2nd house in Pohnpei State Part 1
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Continuation of the other video. There is a Japanese Tomb at the very front of our frontyard quite a distance from the house where I used to just hang out when I was a kid. I used to play around that area, even playing with the cracks on top of the tomb. Seeing the cracks and touching them again after years gave me a feeling that no words can describe. Sometimes I’d wish that I have the power to go back to the past and change the decisions I made that I later regretted. Seeing these places where I grew up and seeing the changes reminded me that we all need to learn from our mistakes, and that I need to move forward. It’s not an easy thing to do, but my childhood memories and how I came in the truth and how I fought for it are memories that are embedded in my heart and is what keeps me moving forward in Jehovah’s service. I believe Jehovah God purposed that I return to visit Pohnpei State after nearly 10 years from the last time I was on the island, for me to reminisce my childhood memories which could possibly be the only thing left for me to hold on to in keeping strong in my faith in Jehovah. Feb. 5, 2007.
2nd house in Pohnpei FSM Part 2
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Continuation of the other video. These are scenes of the backside of the house, a place where I also spent considerable time when I was a kid. Feb. 5, 2007 …
2nd house in Pohnpei State Part 3
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We were late for the 2nd day of the Deliverance At Hand! district convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I guess better late than absent. Here is how the Metro Manila Assebly Hall looks like. There is a Kingdom hall near the gate entrance but the assembly hall is situated on the other side of the compound. Nov. 11, 2006 …
Amee Enriquez/Asianjournal.com
Even without meeting him in person, one gets the sense that Filipino American Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon Manuel Estioko is precise and exacting. When asked a question, he explains in detail. He rarely uses medical terms and he speaks slowly, making sure his listener follows.
He wastes no time because he is a busy man. For the past 30 years, Dr. Estioko, currently medical director at St. John’s Transfusion-Free Medicine and Surgery Center in Santa Monica, California, has performed surgeries on high-risk heart patients from all over the world, specializing in repeat operations and multiple valve surgeries.
He is also a well-known advocate and practitioner of “bloodless” heart surgery, a technique of open-heart surgery without blood transfusions. In fact, Estioko is recognized as one of the pioneers of the technique, earning wide notice and acclaim while a young surgeon at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York.
“Estioko’s employment of a ‘no-blood’ approach in the management of Jehovah’s Witnesses (whose religion absolutely forbids use of donor blood or blood products) referred for CABG or other cardiac surgery quickly led to Mount Sinai being designated as a regional referral cardiac surgical center for this religious group,” wrote Robert
Litwak, M.D., in a 2003 paper on cardiothoracic surgery, published in the Mt. Sinai Journal of Medicine.
Estioko’s interest in the technique started in the 1970s during his early days as a surgeon at Mt. Sinai. At the time, he says, transfused blood was used in most open-heart surgeries. Blood transfusions provided the surgeon with a margin of safety during operations and was also used as prime in large heart/lung machines necessary in keeping patients alive during the procedure.
Using blood was problematic because commercial blood bank donors were unreliable. They included drug addicts, alcoholics and those with hepatitis, for which no tests were available at the time. In fact, studies conducted by Estioko and his colleagues revealed that18 out of 100 open-heart patients contracted hepatitis from the blood.
“We considered it unacceptable and that’s how I got started in trying to find ways and means on how you can do open-heart surgery without blood transfusion,” Estioko explains.
Over time, improvements in the heart/lung machine, as well as technological advances that lessened the use of blood as prime made bloodless heart surgery possible. However, due to the higher level of skill and precision needed for the technique, few surgeons practice it. Estioko was an early proponent and practitioner.
“This is a higher level of surgical technique,” Dr. Estioko stresses. “Not everybody can do this type of operation. In fact, many surgeons who are not so good, they don’t even attempt it because it is more exacting, more demanding. It really attracts those who have more expertise in the field.”
Aside from doing away with blood transfusions, the technique aims to minimize blood loss by relying on efficiency of cuts to prevent bleeding problems. Originally an option for religious groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, bloodless heart surgery has emerged to be an alternative procedure to combat blood-borne disease. Recent studies also reveal faster recovery time for patients who choose bloodless heart surgery.
Estioko spent 11 years in New York, where he was also professor at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. In 1990, he moved to California to be part of the Kay Medical Group in Los Angeles in 1990, a cardiac surgery group where he stayed for 14 years before moving on to St. John’s Health Center.
Apart from his surgical work, he has also collaborated on papers published in prestigious medical journals related to heart surgery like Chest (the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians) and Circulation (journal of the American Heart Association), among others, firmly establishing his reputation as an expert in his chosen field.
Arsonist Targets Jehovah’s Witnesses Building in Nizhny Novgorod
A Jehovah’s Witnesses building was targeted by an arsonist in Kuybyshev, Russia (Nizhny Novgorod region), according to a February 5, 2007 report by the RIA Novosti news agency. A security guard reported seeing a young man run up to the building and throw a Molotov cocktail at it before fleeing. Police are investigating the incident; it’s not clear from the report how much damage the arson caused.
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