i thought i read that wrong but nope

elizabeth wrote: The JW's are a peaceful religion.
I don't see how they are a threat and no offence but they work hard to spread God's word and they don't oppose education.

That may be true. But there's a darker side to the JW's, as my wife's family had to painfully experience. First of all, they tend to milk their members dry financially. And second, while they may not oppose education, they do oppose modern medical treatment. My wife's aunt was a JW. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, the group didn't permit her to seek adequate treatment. She left the group before she died in order to get urgent medical care but by then it was too late. Her husband later also left.

Also, I don't like it when people show up on my doorstep on a regular basis with a message I don't care for.

So personally I'd understand if the group were denied the right to evengalize on other people's private property. But banning worship would go too far (if it actually happened). Members are there voluntarily so if they know the consequences and still decide to remain, that's personal choice and the state shouldn't be involved.

There are other groups that can inflict considerable harm on their members and their families, but again: as long as members are there voluntarily, I find it hard to support bans, no matter what countries are involved.

But this country the state IS involved I think. Tough stuff . Gotta know the rules before you play the game Kinna deal hu?

Carlos.Martinez3 wrote: But this country the state IS involved I think. Tough stuff . Gotta know the rules before you play the game Kinna deal hu?

Yes Master its like us starting to go door to door in a Jedi Robe in a country where there is only one religion allowed or none

Carlos.Martinez3 wrote: But this country the state IS involved I think. Tough stuff . Gotta know the rules before you play the game Kinna deal hu?

Possibly - but Jehova's Witnesses were already banned in the Soviet Union and are also banned in other countries (such as Spain). The reasons vary, though - in Spain they're banned because their members refuse to serve in the armed forces.


EDIT: the ban in Spain was lifted when the country abolished draft.

It's all over the news now - the organisation has been banned in Russia for (allegedly) being extremist and all assets have been seized by the government.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/world/europe/russia-bans-jehovahs-witnesses.html?_r=0
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/20/524906703/top-russian-court-bans-jehovah-s-witnesses-under-anti-extremism-law
http://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2017-04/russland-zeugen-jehovas-verbot-beschlagnahmung-besitz-extremismus

And directly from the horse's mouth (although the final ruling hasn't been commented on yet):

https://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/by-region/russia/

Do you have a link to confirm that the story is not made up? Because the Russian supreme court seems to know nothing about this, still. Heck, the Russian version of the JW homepage hasn't even been updating the story for two weeks. You would think that the English translations would come after the original articles by Russian contributors to the organization's news blog, but no. The story is originally from Time Magazine and has yet to reach the people it is allegedly about.

I don't - but at this point, I doubt it. On the JH's website they've confirmed that it's being debated by the supreme court, so much is relatively certain, so it would be somewhat weird if they made up the rest - despite the tendency to produce fake / propaganda news

Never mind, I found the confirmation.

http://www.supcourt.ru/moving_case.php?findByNember=%C0%CA%CF%C817-238

Gisteron wrote: Never mind, I found the confirmation.

https://www.supcourt.ru/moving_case.php?findByNember=%C0%CA%CF%C817-238

So it's true - not a good day for religious freedom. Despite the fact that I'm more than critical, I think banning them is not the right thing to do.

Thanks for the research Gisteron

It doesn't look like the hearing protocols are open for public review. If anyone can find at least the original plaint and the final verdict we could review what legal grounds exactly the organization was banned on. I'd also like to stress that the Russian constitution does not permit bans of thoughts, or feelings, or ideas, or confessions, or private harmless practices. The JW were banned probably because of illegal activities, like despite warning continuing to distribute pamphlets containing what falls under "extremist" (I believe the US analogue is "hateful") messages, which is most of what they were seriously charged with before. There will be no police visiting homes of citizens to make sure that they do not pray to Jehova.