How Neutral is Neutral? Part 1
Jehovah’s Witnesses take great pride in remaining neutral in worldly political affairs. This article on the Watch Tower Society’s website highlights the neutral stance Jehovah’s Witnesses took in Nazi Germany. In this article the Watch Tower Society boldly claims that they were among the very few in Germany who spoke out against Hitler’s Nazi party.
Yet, the following was printed in the 1934 yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses;
“It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther from the truth. Up to this hour there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to our work by Jews. We are the faithful followers of Christ Jesus and believe upon Him as the Savior of the world, whereas the Jews entirely reject Jesus Christ and emphatically deny that he is the Savior of the world sent of God for man’s good.
This of itself should be sufficient proof to show that we receive no support from Jews and that therefore the charges against us are maliciously false and could proceed only from Satan, our great enemy. The greatest and the most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire. By that is meant the British Empire, of which the United States of America forms a part. It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations. This fact particularly applies to the cities of London and New York, the stronghold of Big Business.
This fact is so manifest in America that there is a proverb concerning the city of New York which says: The Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills….The present government of Germany has declared emphatically against Big Business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nations. Such is exactly our position….Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely for such principles, and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus will bring about the full realization of these principles and will give to the people peace and prosperity and the greatest desire of every honest heart….
A careful examination of our books and literature will disclose the fact that the very high ideals held and promulgated by the present national government are set forth in and endorsed and strongly emphasized in our publications and show that Jehovah God will see to it that these high ideals in due time will be attained by all persons who love righteousness…Let us remind the government and the people of Germany, that it was the League of Nations compact that laid upon the shoulders of the German people the great unjust and unbearable burdens. That the League of Nations compact was not brought forth by the friends of Germany.”
On the face of it, it appears that Jehovah’s Witnesses supported the ideals and principles of the Nazi party, making it clear that they ‘stand squarely’ for them, pointing to the League of Nations as being at fault and even justifying the rise to power of the Nazi party.
This is obviously an embarrassment to the Watch Tower Society and they address the above statements in the article linked to at the outset. There they say;
“Some have claimed that Jehovah’s Witnesses shared the hostility toward the Jews that was commonly taught in the German churches at the time. This is absolutely untrue.”
It is one thing to say something is ‘absolutely untrue’, it is quite another to provide corroborative evidence. The same article attempts to provide such evidence;
“By their literature and conduct during the Nazi era, the Witnesses rejected anti-Semitic views and condemned the Nazi mistreatment of the Jews.”
Sadly, a search for such literature among the Watch Tower Society publications archive available on CD Rom format does not give any results; they Society does not make publications prior to the 1950s available to Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is therefore impossible for an honest hearted person to validate the Society’s ascertion and check the facts for themselves.
The Society also state the following;
The Witnesses upheld certain high ideals, and these happened to be publicly espoused also by the German government. Among these were family values and religious freedom.
Yes, but among those ‘high ideals’ were the persecution and genocide of millions of men, women and children who did not, in the estimation of the Nazi party, ‘stand squarely’ for these political ideals.
It is easy to say that the actions of the Watch Tower Society in the 1930s was simply error, the fruitage of imperfect men. Yes, imperfect men do indeed oversee the Watch Tower Society and as a result mistakes will be made, some small, some big. But isn’t that true of all religions? Don’t they all have imperfect men who make the mistakes of imperfect men?
However, the Watch Tower Society makes the claim that, among all religions on earth, only they truly have Jehovah God’s backing. Is it reasonable then to point to the mistakes made by other religions as a sign that they do not have God’s backing, while at the same time ‘write-off’ the mistakes made by your own religion?
Yes, there’s no questioning the fact the Jehovah’s Witnesses suffered persecution in Nazi Germany. But it’s also a fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses were not among the few who publicly spoke out against the Nazi party.
In part 2 we will talk about Mexico and the fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses for decades in that land did not pray, sing Kingdom Songs or use the Bible at their meetings.
