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Jehovah's witnesses face lone campaigner

This is Olga Lindberg, of St Petersburg in Washington State, US. She is embarking on a lone campaign against Jehovah's Witnesses, approaching  shoppers with a photo of her grandson Dennis,  who died of leukaemia at 14 although he had a 70 per cent chance of being saved by a blood transfusion (forbidden to Witnesses, see earlier post). She shows them his photograph and explains what happened.  "I know it's wrong" she says, but remains determined to padlock the tragedy of his death firmly to the sect, which threatens those who use 'sacred' blood with excommunication and damnation.   

Jehovah's Witness blood death

Sad sad story today of the Jehovah's witness who died in childbirth rather than breach the sect's strict rule against blood transfusion.  This happens from time to time and perhaps it is important to try and understand the theology behind it, however bewildering or perverse it seems to most of us.

There has been a long controversy about it but this is the basic thinking: it stems from a sense of sacredness.  They cite Genesis : 9 vs 3-4  "Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for YOU. As in the case of green vegetation, I do give it all to YOU. Only flesh with its soul—its blood—YOU must not eat." Also Leviticus  17 vs 14 " Consequently I said to the sons of Israel: “YOU must not eat the blood of any sort of flesh, because the soul of every sort of flesh is its blood".    Which can be interpreted merely as hygiene regulations of the ancient world.   

Paedophilia and the Elders

The Crown Prosecution Service is to review the sentence of Michael Porter, the elder in the Jehovah's Witnesses who was sentenced to a mere three years' community rehabilitation after admitting abusing little boys (one a baby of 18 months) over 14 years.  The leniency of this sentence caused outrage at the time .  It also focused attention- as in some other churches'  cases in the past - on the dangers religions run when encouraging undue reverence for senior figures.  There is a likelihood , if abusers hold such power and respect,  of children being less willing to tell and parents to believe.  In Canada another elder in the church has pleaded guilty to abuse of a minor; and a recent BBC investigation  for Panorama (transcript here) claimed that the rules in the Witness community lead to cover-ups, as initial reporting is to their own legal desk not the police.   I can find no comment on the Watchtower website about the Porter case, or policy on this subject,  but a page of warnings against internet chatroom predators.