Judging Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution - Hardcover

Peters, Shawn Francis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0700610081 ISBN 13: 9780700610082

Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas, 2000

Synopsis

Peters (journalism and mass communication, U. of Wisconsin- Madison) depicts how the multiple attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses during the 1930s and 40s (for their unwillingness to salute the flag or enter the military) and the Witnesses' resultant responses in the courts, provided a necessary precursor to the American civil rights movement. He explores the roles of the ACLU and many individual Witnesses to illustrate the politics and personalities behind their efforts to gain 1st Amendment freedoms. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

About this title

About the Author

Shawn Francis Peters has taught writing and rhetoric at the universities of New Hampshire and Iowa and is currently with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

From the Back Cover

"A vivid depiction of the hysterical and brutal suppression of the Witnesses during the 1930s and 1940s and how their legal resistance transformed the civil liberties of all Americans. A story of cowardice and courage, well told."--Norman Dorsen, Stokes Professor, NYU, and president, ACLU, 1976-1991

"This marvelous and long-needed book illuminates how vital Jehovah's Witnesses have been in strengthening the fundamental constitutional rights of all Americans."--Nat Hentoff, author of Living the Bill of Rights

"An excellent and refreshing reminder that not a single legal doctrine matters at all except as it comes to bear on the lives of flesh-and-blood people."--Kenneth Karst, author of Belonging to America

"A fine work. Thoroughly researched, smoothly written, and a genuine pleasure to read. Sure to be the definitive account of the Witnesses' significant impact on American constitutional law."--Tinsley Yarbrough, author of Judicial Enigma: The First Justice Harlan

Reviews

Peters captures the color and humanity of the Witnesses . . .

A fast-paced study of a little-known episode in American religious history. Say Jehovahs Witnesses, and most Americans will conjure up pictures of door-to-door evangelists who want to give you tracts and pamphlets. But at mid-century the sectarian group was known for something elserefusing to salute the US flag. Jehovahs Witnesses insisted they were patriotic and meant no disrespect, but they could not saluteit was a violation, they said, of Exodus 5, which instructs believers to have no other Gods before Me. In the tense and suspicious atmosphere of WWII, however, many Americans were troubled by the Witnesses refusal to salute: was this a sign of some greater disloyalty? In sleepy towns like Richwood, West Virginia, and Litchfield, Illinois, anti-Witness violence became commonplace, with Witness houses of worship being looted and graffitied and Witnesses themselves stoned like characters from the Old Testamentby 1940 there were 236 such episodes. Workplace discrimination, Peters tells us, was especially pervasive: Witnesses were often fired or forced to resign. Daniel Morgans sons, high school students in Fort Lee, New Jersey, refused to salute the flag in 1939; Morgans boss at the Motor Vehicle Department urged Morgan to pressure his sons to capitulate, and when Morgan refused, he was fired. When he applied for a job at the Bergen County Board of Freeholders, he was told that his refusal to salute the flag disqualified [him] for a civil service position, even though he was a veteran. With the aid of the ACLU, Morgan sued, and in 1944 the state supreme court ruled in his favor. The story of Morgan v. Civil Service Commission highlights another theme of the book: the Witnesses willingness to sue when their civil liberties were abridged. Peterss attempt to position this litigation as an early manifestation of the civil rights revolution is a bit strained, however. History and religion buffs will relish this tale. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

With a journalistic eye, Peters (student service coordinator, Sch. of Journalism and Mass Communications, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison) presents the convergence of nationalistic paranoia, the distrust that erupted into violence, and palpable religious bigotry against the Jehovah's Witnesses during the 1930s and 1940s. Their desire to avoid idolatry in any form--including refusing to salute the flag or serve in the armed forces--was perceived by many as treason. During the war years of the 1940s this belief marked them as cowards at best, Nazi subversives at worst, and led to persecution. Ironically, while they fought a very public battle for their Constitutional rights, in their interior organization, theirs is one of the most theologically rigid and ideologically inflexible traditions. This legal history, in the vein of Harold Berman's Law and Revolution, tells us as much about the intricacies of jurisprudence as it does our own shameful past. This engrossing study depends primarily on firsthand testimony, ACLU documents, and legal briefs. Light on analysis but chock-full of primary resources, this is recommended reading for American and religious historians as well as for those interested in the history of persecution.
-Sandra Collins, Univ. of Pittsburgh
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0700610081
• ISBN 13: 9780700610082
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 342