Czechia: Five ministerial reprimands: Jehovah’s Witnesses under scrutiny by the Ministry of Culture, Risk losing their registration

Headquarters of the Czech Jehovah’s Witnesses in Stodúlky, Prague, Czechia | Photo: Photo: David Čížek (adapted by AvoidJW.org) | Source: iROZHLAS.cz

The Ministry of Culture is considering the possible cancellation of the religious registration of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Religious Society. In response to public complaints, it has sent the organization a call to desist from illegal activities. It mentions damaging social ties, failure to provide adequate health care to children, and concealing some parts of its teachings. The Witnesses are resisting the ministry’s actions and denying any illegal actions.

Original Report by David Čížek, published on iRozhlas in Czech, Feb 3, 2025.

The religious society strongly objects to the Ministry of Culture’s actions. “There is no legal or doctrinal reason for canceling the registration of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” David Kulla, director of the public relations department of the Religious Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW)The Religous Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Náboženské společnosti Svědkové Jehovoviare in Czech) is abbreviated to NSSJ in Czechia. For English readers, we refer to them simply as JW.*, told iROZHLAS.cz.

“Such a step would be discriminatory, illegal and would mean a gross interference in the religious life of thousands of peaceful citizens of the Czech Republic,” the spokesman claims. According to the latest census, there are 13,298 members. The society speaks of 30,000 witnesses and sympathizers.

In practice, deregistration does not mean a ban on practice. However, thanks to the consecration from the ministry, the Jehovah’s Witnesses can use a special legal entity – a church organization – to teach in its own theological schools and exercise other special rights. These include performing marriages, preaching in prisons, or the state-recognized secrecy of confession.

*Note from AvoidJW.org: The Religous Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Náboženské společnosti Svědkové Jehovoviare in Czech) is abbreviated to NSSJ in Czechia. For English readers, we refer to them simply as JW.

Five offenses against the law

The Ministry of Culture took the first step against the organization in September 2024, when it sent it an official notice to cease and desist from illegal activities. This is permitted by church law if the ministry believes that a church or religious society is violating applicable regulations through its teachings or activities.

The document shows that the Ministry of Culture, led by Martin Baxa (Civic Democratic Party (ODS)), accuses the Witnesses of five offenses that they were supposed to correct within three months. Both parties involved confirmed to iROZHLAS.cz that no corrections were made.

The three complaints by the office concern alleged damage to social ties between individuals and families. They are based on the doctrine that if someone leaves a religious community, other Witnesses must significantly limit, and often completely cease, social contact with them.

Another point accuses the organization of preventing minors from receiving adequate medical care. Among the better-known teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses is the refusal of blood transfusions, even in cases of life-threatening conditions.

Dispute over the secrecy of teachings

The ministry also sees the problem of concealing some parts of its teachings, which is prohibited by church law. The appeal specifically states that “the JW refuses to provide the ministry with clear answers to questions about its teachings. In some statements, it has provided the ministry with false or misleading information.” As an example of a lie, the office cites Witnesses’ claims that after a member is expelled, “the normal life of the immediate family continues, its members show love and spend time together.”

The religious organization claims that the ministry has withdrawn this accusation. “It thereby acknowledged that the JW was transparent towards the ministry,” states a document titled “Summary of Facts: The Czech Republic Follows Russia and Attacks Jehovah’s Witnesses,” which the iROZHLAS.cz server received along with written answers to questions.

However, the Ministry of Culture refutes this claim. “The Ministry did not drop the fifth point of the appeal. It deleted the sentence ‘Furthermore, the NSSJ conceals parts of its teachings from its members’ from the justification for this point, because based on communication with the JW, it found that this information is unfounded,” replies Jana Malíková, spokesperson for the Ministry of Culture. According to her, the rest of the text of the fifth point and the entire appeal remains valid.

According to the Ministry of Culture, what laws are the Jehovah’s Witnesses breaking?

Restriction of the freedom to change one’s religion or belief or to be without a religion.
Restricting the right of relatives, as well as persons socially close to the child, to contact the child, and restricting the child’s right to contact these persons.
Restricting personal freedom by using psychological pressure to create a dependency that leads to psychological harm to individuals or their family members, or to damage to their social ties.
Preventing minors from receiving health care appropriate to their health needs.
Secrecy of some parts of the teachings of a religious society.

Non-compliance is punishable

Jehovah’s Witnesses have vehemently denied the agency’s allegations of wrongdoing. “We were shockedJehovah’s Witnesses’ claim to be ‘shocked’ is false because they are well aware that governments have a duty to protect public safety and individual rights, and when religious practices—such as shunning, refusal of life-saving medical treatment for minors, or secret policies on handling various matters—come under scrutiny, it is often because they raise legal or ethical concerns.* that the ministry would accuse us of this simply because they clearly disagree with some of our religious beliefs,” said David Kulla, director of communications for the NSSJ. He argues that the ministry has not submitted any court decisions or complaints to the police or other authorities.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses respect the right of every person to change their religion or belief or to have no religious affiliation. They believe that the Bible directs believers to limit or cut off social contact with a person who has chosen to renounce their beliefs by separating themselves from the congregation. However, they do not force individual believers to follow this Scriptural direction, and congregation elders do not control anyone in this regard,” Jehovah’s Witnesses state.

This also contradicts information from the Ministry of Culture, which writes in the appeal that the religious community punishes failure to comply with the rules regarding the interruption of intercourse. The same should be done if a believer receives a blood transfusion.

“Parents, not religious communities, are solely responsible for the health of their minor children. When children need medical care, Jehovah’s Witness parents immediately take them to a doctor or hospital and strive to provide them with the highest quality medical care,” the company said. They simply ask doctors to treat their children using medical procedures that do not involve blood transfusions.

*Note from AvoidJW.org: Jehovah’s Witnesses’ claim to be ‘shocked’ is false because they are well aware that governments have a duty to protect public safety and individual rights, and when religious practices—such as shunning, refusal of life-saving medical treatment for minors, or secret policies on handling various matters—come under scrutiny, it is often because they raise legal or ethical concerns.

What about property?

If the Ministry of Culture were to cancel the registration of Jehovah’s Witnesses, it would mean the liquidation of their church organization and, consequently, all of its assets. This mainly concerns 148 Kingdom Halls, places where believers meet for worship.

The funds obtained from the liquidation, very likely in the hundreds of millions of crowns (100 million Czech Koruna = 4 million American Dollars), would be legally required by the state to use to support other church organizations.

iROZHLAS.cz contacted Zdeněk Vojtíšek, a religion expert who studies sects and new religious movements, for a statement. He was also the first to report on the case of the threat of deregistration in December last year on the professional website Náboženský infoservis, of which he is also the editor-in-chief.

Vojtíšek has previously pointed out that until the administrative proceedings are initiated, the NSSJ can dispose of its property as it wishes, for example by transferring it to an association. The Witnesses reject this procedure, claiming that they are not doing anything illegal.What is suggested here by Vojtíšek is similar to what the Jehovah’s Witnesses attempted to do in Russia – they tried to move their assets to members of the congregations but it was ineffective. Russia still conviscated their properties and other assets.*

But the religionist speculates that it may be a leverage against the ministry: “If the Witnesses’ property were transferred to another religious society, as the law requires the liquidator to do, it would rightly be perceived as a huge injustice on an international scale.”

In that case, according to Zdeněk Vojtíšek, it would not be very important whether the witnesses could or could not transfer their real estate.

*Note from AvoidJW.org: What is suggested here by Vojtíšek is similar to what the Jehovah’s Witnesses attempted to do in Russia – they tried to move their assets to members of the congregations but it was ineffective. Russia still confiscated their properties and other assets.

Following the example of Norway

The deregistration of a church in the Czech Republic is unprecedented. Since the Jehovah’s Witnesses have not made any corrections by the set deadline, the Ministry of Culture can initiate administrative proceedings to cancel their registration. However, the law does not set any time limit for this, and the ministry has not yet started the proceedings.

“The ministry is currently evaluating the documents it received from the NSSJ members carefully and is thoroughly investigating the situation, which will leave no reasonable doubt,” the ministry said through a spokesperson.

Zdeněk Vojtíšek hopes that the dispute will not end with the organization being removed from the church register. “In 2024, the doctrine regarding what could possibly be classified as a disruption of social ties under church law changed. This is something that could restore some trust between state authorities and the religious community,” says the religious scholar.

Abroad, deregistrations have already occurred for similar reasons. Jehovah’s Witnesses lost their church registration in Norway in 2022. Unlike in the Czech Republic, they received an annual state subsidy of 16 million Norwegian Kroner, or about 1.4 million American Dollars, for their activities. The legal battles over the revocation of registration continue, and the appeal of the Witnesses will be heard by a court in Oslo in February. As in the Czech Republic, state authorities were primarily interested in the separation of former members from their families and friends.

But the religious community often compares the Czech situation to Russia, which has banned the teachings and labelled the organization extremist. Believers there must practice in secret, otherwise they face severe penalties. According to data from the US government’s Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2020, the Russian state imprisoned ten Witnesses, held 38 in custody, and sent 26 to house arrest. The accused receive long sentences, and human rights organizations draw attention to the mistreatment of prisoners.

They turned a blind eye

Jehovah’s Witnesses were granted registration in the Czech Republic in 1993, and the process was not without controversy. Specifically, it involved lying to authorities about three questions. These are similar allegations that the Witnesses are facing in their current dispute with the ministry.

As religion expert and co-founder of the Society for the Study of Sects Prokop Remeš explains, the authorities considered the refusal of civilian service to be the main problem. The ban on transfusions and military service was also not liked, but after consultations, the ministry wanted to turn a blind eye to the transgressions.

“It was assumed that if they answered that they taught it, they would get the registration anyway,” Remeš describes. “To their great shock, they wrote on all three questions: ‘No, the NSSJ does not teach this.’ Everyone knew that they taught it. Up until then, they had preached how important it was not to lie and not to deny one’s faith, and suddenly they turned a blind eye,” the religionist recalls his surprise at the time.

However, the ministry eventually approved the entry into the church register. Procopius of Reims points out that persecution benefits this religious society, and their lying, on the contrary, outrages ordinary believers. “In the congregations themselves, this caused great disillusionment with the leadership, which told them that they would rather go to prison than lie,” explains Remeš. “In 40 years of totalitarianism in our country, the number of their members has increased fifteenfold. A large number of people left the Witnesses because of the lies, and because they are not persecuted, they have had practically the same number of members since 1995.”

For this reason, he is not a fan of the idea that the organization should now lose its registration. “Once they lose their registration, they will start acting like martyrs again and attracting people,” he notes.