RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Russian news source posts anti-Jehovah's Witnesses propaganda

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES PAY FINE FOR THEIR EXTREMIST ACTIVITY

Govorun26, 5 July 2016

 

The editorial staff of the Govorun26 news agency has learned from its own sources in law enforcement agencies that recently there has been noticed increasingly active missionary activity by members of the foreign religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) for spreading their teaching among the population. According to our information, they use widely a powerful tool for influencing the personality and depriving an individual of his own judgments and conviction, leading to mind control, surrender of free will, and imposition of a system of values and taboos promoted by the JW.


At the same time, the ministry of adherents of the sect is evaluated in accordance with their evangelistic activism (they take into account details of "door-to-door ministry" and involvement of citizens in all regions, in monthly audits), and the practical activity of the leaders and activists is evidence of their striving for financial and material enrichment, including by means of obtaining use of the property of rank-and-file members of the organization.


At the same time, local branches of JW do not have the right to make independent decisions, as they are a transmission point for implementing the decisions of the administrative center of the organization.


Informational materials of the Jehovah's Witnesses have an extremist character and to a great extent they encourage citizens to refuse to perform civic duties and to perform other illegal acts. Jehovah's Witnesses forbid blood transfusion, even in cases of the necessity of saving life, and they also do not permit participation in elections and referendums, service in the army, respecting state emblems, and acknowledging the government. They strongly recommend not to engage in public and educational activities, because they interfere with evangelism. JW often violate existing Russian laws, as evidenced by a number of criminal cases and judicial verdicts on Russian territory. At the present time, cells of JW have been liquidated by judicial procedure in the cities of Taganrog and Samara.


This religious movement is characterized as sectarian by specialists of the Russian Association of Centers for the Study of Religions and Sects. The deceptive recruitment by JW consists in not telling an individual about the goals, methods, and duties of the organization, that is, its true essence is concealed and sometimes even its name. The methods of mind control are concealed and often they are silent about the name and country of origin of the leader of the structure. Thus, the constitutional right of citizens to reliable information is violated, without which nobody can make a free choice.


Mind control comprises a set of methods by which the psychological destabilization of an individual is achieved in order to suppress free will, eliminate critical thinking, and impose the system of values of this sect, which violate the common human system of values and morals generally accepted in society, to achieve the complete and unqualified submission of the convert.


The main efforts of destructive religious organizations of a number of foreign states are aimed at the all-round weakening of the Russian federation, all the way to the destruction of sovereignty. Special attention is devoted to the radical change of the constitutional structure and political course of Russia. At the present time, foreign forces are placing a fundamental bet on the potential of the newly created local religious associations of various denominations.

 

Thus, on 25 March 2016, as the result of joint activity of the Center for Combating Extremism of the Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Stavropol territory at the site of the so-called Kingdom Hall of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, located in the city of Stavropol, on Vasilev Street, building 43a, religious literature was discovered and seized, which is included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian federation. The materials obtained were sent to the prosecutor's office of the Promyshlenyi district of the city of Stavropol for the enactment of measures of prosecutorial response.


As a result of the examination conducted with respect to the local religious organization of JW in the city of Stavropol, an administrative procedure was initiated on the basis of article 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Violations of Law of the RF, "production and distribution of extremist materials." On 24 June 2016 the Promyshlenyi district court of Stavropol held the local religious organization of JW of Stavropol administratively accountable in the form of a fine of the sum of 100,000 rubles. (tr. by PDS, posted 6 July 2016)


Background articles:
Jehovah's Witnesses in south Russia were framed
April 19, 2016
Jehovah's Witnesses in southern Russia at risk of liquidation
April 18, 2016

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