scholarly journals The state of the late Protestant denominations

2008 ◽  
pp. 302-331
Author(s):  
Petro Yarotskiy
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Soviet Rule ◽  
Jehovah’S Witnesses ◽  
Jehovah's Witnesses ◽  
Ideological Criticism ◽  
State Security ◽  
Right Of Return ◽  
Western Ukraine ◽  
The Right ◽  
Protestant Denominations

Late Protestantism - Baptists, Pentecostals, Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses have existed in Ukraine for over a hundred years. Under Soviet rule, these denominations were under constant administrative pressure, subject to party-ideological criticism, atheistic propaganda. The Pentecostals were virtually banned and non-registrable, since they were forcibly annexed by evangelical Baptist Christians after the August 1945 state agreement initiated by the Moscow authorities. From the very beginning of the establishment of Soviet power in Western Ukraine (1939), Jehovah's Witnesses were declared an "anti-Soviet sect" and were therefore banned. In March 1951, an act of genocide was committed against Jehovah's Witnesses: according to the "Memorandum Note of the USSR Ministry of State Security", approved by J. Stalin's personal signature, all Jehovah's Witnesses, together with their families (7650 persons), were sent from Ukraine to eternal settlement in Siberia. without the right of return to Ukraine, and their homes and property were confiscated by the state.

scholarly journals Jehovah's Witnesses in the Modern World and Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuriy Kireyev ◽  
Konstantin Berezhko
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
The State ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Jehovah’S Witnesses ◽  
Jehovah's Witnesses ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Registration ◽  
The Right ◽  
First Time

This article highlights the history of Jehovah's Witnesses as a Christian religion in Ukraine from its occurrence on the territory of Ukraine in the early 20th century to the present day. The response of the Witnesses to the massive attempts of the Nazi and Soviet regimes to marginalize and suppress their religious manifestations is described separately. In particular, the biblical nature and confessional content of one of the fundamental teachings of the Witnesses – neutrality – is analyzed and explained. It includes the information about what it means and what it does not mean for believers. This makes it possible to better understand the current display of the neutrality of the denomination members when it comes to compliance with certain requirements of the local government. The growth statistics of the denomination members throughout history are given, which indicate the failed attempts of the totalitarian governments repressive system to eradicate the faith in the controlled territories. For the first time, information is published from the memoirs of Witnesses who tried to obtain state registration in 1949 when under the communist regime and the reaction of the government officials to believers’ attempts to be recognized by the state and society. There is a link between the recognition of the state through state registration and the increase of confessional activity, by which the Witnesses actually disprove the myths and labels produced and imposed on society by totalitarian regimes for decades. Emphasis is placed on the Witnesses’ current activities, which gives an idea of their attitude towards Ukrainian society and their role in strengthening and affirming Christian values among fellow citizens. Their publishing activity, evangelization work, religious and family values, public worship, educational programs, charitable and social work, attitude to representatives of other religions are analyzed. The view of health care is particularly examined. It describes the principles of a reasonable balance that Witnesses follow between the right to make informed treatment choices (including the refusal to use blood) and the attitude toward life and health as one of the highest human values. The significant contribution of Jehovah's Witnesses to the development of alternative nonblood treatments in world medicine is acknowledged. Therein are recorded the conclusions from numerous religious studies of Ukrainian and European institutions regarding the social and pedagogical value of materials published and distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses through their periodicals and official online resources. The involvement of Jehovah's Witnesses in providing charitable assistance to civilians during the conflict in Donbas is highlighted. The activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in the context of their attitude to the culture, history, and traditions of the local people are considered. In particular, the part of the tourist program for fellow believers, who come from abroad to join in the ministry or assemblies, is to get familiar with Ukrainian monuments and the historical heritage. Witnesses publish and distribute Bible publications in 14 languages spoken by small indigenous communities in Ukraine. The social significance of biblical teaching, which is meant to meet the spiritual needs of Ukrainians with hearing and visual impairments as well as those who currently remain in places of correctional centers is outlined. For the first time, significant decisions of higher courts in Ukraine and other countries regarding Jehovah's Witnesses are considered. In recent years, the issues of military service and the right for alternative (non-military) service have been considered in higher domestic and foreign courts; denomination’s compliance with the requirements for the provision of state subsidies guaranteed to recognized religions; the right to build and use their places of worship, and proper assessment of religious hate crimes against Jehovah's Witnesses by law enforcement agencies. The decisions of the courts in the above-mentioned cases show that states consider Jehovah's Witnesses to be a recognized religion with the right to exercise freedom of conscience and religion.

scholarly journals The Right to Family Life and Religious Freedom Versus the States‘ Interests

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-159
Author(s):  
Bianca-Codruța Băra
Keyword(s):  
Family Life ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The State ◽  
Parental Authority ◽  
Jehovah’S Witnesses ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Jehovah's Witnesses ◽  
The Right

Abstract The right to family life and religious freedom rejoice an universal recognition. The right to family life involves the prerogative of exercising parental authority in accordance with the religious beliefs of the parents. The right of parents to decide on behalf of their children is not an absolute one. Interference by the states must justify a legitimate aim and must be proportionate to that purpose. The states have to maintain a balance between the right to family life and religious freedom and its interests in safeguarding the lives and health of its citizens. The difficulty of maintaining this balance was also found in the jurisprudence of the courts. The most common cases arose as a result of the refusal of parents who belonged to the Jehovah's Witnesses religion to allow blood to be transfused for their children, risking their lives. Although the courts have explicitly recognized the right of parents to raise their children in accordance with their beliefs, they have shown that rescuing life and ensuring the physical and mental integrity of children are issues of national concern, so that the rapid intervention of public authorities, when these values are jeopardized, becomes not only a right of the state but also an obligation

Unfulfilled Promise: Palestinian Family Reunification and the Right of Return

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-39
Author(s):  
Nabila El-Ahmed ◽  
Nadia Abu-Zahra
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Family Reunification ◽  
The State ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Successor State ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Right Of Return ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Right

This article argues that Israel substituted the Palestinian refugees' internationally recognized right of return with a family reunification program during its maneuvering over admission at the United Nations following the creation of the state in May 1948. Israel was granted UN membership in 1949 on the understanding that it would have to comply with legal international requirements to ensure the return of a substantial number of the 750,000 Palestinians dispossessed in the process of establishing the Zionist state, as well as citizenship there as a successor state. However, once the coveted UN membership had been obtained, and armistice agreements signed with neighboring countries, Israel parlayed this commitment into the much vaguer family reunification program, which it proceeded to apply with Kafkaesque absurdity over the next fifty years. As a result, Palestinians made refugees first in 1948, and later in 1967, continue to be deprived of their legally recognized right to return to their homes and their homeland, and the family reunification program remains the unfulfilled promise of the early years of Israeli statehood.

scholarly journals Eyes on You while Your Eyes Are on God: State Surveillance of Religion in Ghana under the Provisional National Defence Council Regime

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-409
Author(s):  
Smith Oduro-Marfo
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The State ◽  
Jehovah’S Witnesses ◽  
Jehovah's Witnesses ◽  
State Surveillance ◽  
Religious Sects ◽  
National Defence

This paper discusses Ghana’s erstwhile Religious Bodies Registration Law (PNDC Law 221) passed by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) in 1989 and the associated bans placed on the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormon sects. First, the paper analyzes how the state’s surveillance moves engendered lateral and anti-surveillance practices. Second, Eric Stoddart’s concept of (in)visibility is used as an analytical framework to track how both the surveilling entity (the state and community surveillers) and the surveilled (religious bodies and their members) actively partook in constructing the visibility and invisibility of the surveilled. The paper concludes that the state’s theoretical ambition of religious surveillance was not fully matched in practice, as implementation was mediated by a pragmatic blend of “seeing” and “unseeing.” Also, the response of the religious sects to the surveillance involved a strategic pursuit of simultaneous visibility and invisibility.

scholarly journals Land, Memory, and Identity: The Palestinian Internal Refugees in Israel

Refuge ◽  
2003 ◽  
pp. 6-13
Author(s):  
Hillel Cohen
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Right Of Return ◽  
The Right ◽  
As If

This article describes and analyzes the processes the Internal Refugees have experienced since the establishment of the state till this day from the perspective of the struggle over the “refugee identity.” While the state has tried to undermine this identity as part of its policy against the Right of Return, activists from the refugees’ communities have done their best to preserve it. In the late 1980s it looked as if the state’s goal of uprooting the refugee identity was achieved, but the last decade witnessed an awakening of this identity. This has a lot to do with the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but also, it is suggested here, with the very nature of “refugee identity,” which has two components, of which one is positive (“my roots are there”) and one is negative (“I am not from here”).

Patient Focus

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Metcalfe ◽  
Harveer Dev
Keyword(s):  
Medical Practice ◽  
Blood Substitutes ◽  
Cell Salvage ◽  
Jehovah’S Witnesses ◽  
Jehovah's Witnesses ◽  
Liaison Committee ◽  
Good Medical Practice ◽  
Foundation Programme ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
The Right

As a junior doctor, you are constantly pulled in different directions by multiple competing interests. These include those of your immediate bosses (possibly multiple consultants, a registrar, and an SHO), Educational Supervisors (Clinical Supervisor, Foundation Programme Director), fellow FY1 doctors, other healthcare professionals (nurses, physiotherapists), ancillary services (laboratory, radiology), patients’ relatives, representatives of the Trust (infection control, human resources, information technology), and many others. In amongst all of these is a patient, if not many, for whom all of these individuals are also working. It will not come as a surprise that Good Medical Practice (2013) states early on that you must ‘make the care of your patient your first concern’ and ‘treat patients as individuals and respect their dignity’. In addition, Good Medical Practice requires that you: ● listen to, and respond to, their concerns and preferences ● give patients the information they want or need in a way they can understand ● respect patients’ right to reach decisions with you about their treatment and care ● support patients in caring for themselves to improve and maintain their health. One challenge is when patients reach decisions that are contrary to the best available medical advice. The archetypal case in point is that of a Jehovah’s Witness at risk of life- threatening haemorrhage but refusing a blood transfusion. In such cases, remember that: ● you should never assume what someone’s beliefs are just because they come bearing a particular religious label. It is always right to ask the patient what they believe and what they will accept under different circumstances. For example, some Jehovah’s Witnesses will accept cell salvage and some blood substitutes ● seek advice early, particularly if the stakes are high (e.g. active bleeding). Your own seniors (SpR, consultant, etc.) and the on- call haematology team are good places to start. They may direct you to other resources that you might contact (with the patient’s consent) such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Hospital Liaison Committee ● document all conversations (with the patient and colleagues) carefully ● ultimately, an adult patient with capacity has the right to refuse treatments— however much you disagree and even if this ultimately results in their death.

Jehovah's Witnesses, Pregnancy, and Blood Transfusions: A Paradigm for the Autonomy Rights of All Pregnant Women

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joelyn Knopf Levy
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Blood Products ◽  
World War ◽  
Jehovah’S Witnesses ◽  
Jehovah's Witnesses ◽  
Physical Constraints ◽  
The Sacrifice

The liberty of the woman is at stake in a sense unique to the human condition and so unique to the law. The mother who carries a child to full term is subject to anxieties, to physical constraints, to pain that only she must bear. That these sacrifices have from the beginning of the human race been endured by woman with a pride that ennobles her in the eyes of others and gives to the infant a bond of love cannot alone be grounds for the State to insist that she make the sacrifice. Her suffering is too intimate and personal for the State to insist, without more, upon its own vision of the woman's role ….For years, Jehovah's Witnesses have posed a challenge to the medical profession. Bound by religious belief to refuse blood and blood products, they can frustrate physicians who, since World War II, have utilized transfusions when indicated in the course of treatment.

scholarly journals The right of Jehovah's witnesses to refuse and to accept blood transfusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 137-137
Author(s):  
Milos Radovanovic ◽  
Igor Koncar ◽  
Aleksandra Vujcic ◽  
Lazar Davidovic
Keyword(s):  
Blood Transfusion ◽  
Jehovah’S Witnesses ◽  
Jehovah's Witnesses ◽  
The Right
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