Those who have abandoned Jehovah’s Witnesses are considered “apostates” by the sect, and adherents cut off all contact with them, even if they are part of their own family.
Originally published on November 7, 2022 in Spanish on Aleteia by Luis Santamaría*.
On November 8, the Court of 1st Instance of Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) will host the start of an unprecedented process. Jehovah’s Witnesses – whose legal status is that of a religion registered in the Registry of Religious Entities of the Ministry of the Presidency – have sued an association that brings together former followers, victims and those affected by a movement they consider a cult.
From the Spanish Association of Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses (AEVTJ), which is precisely the defendant group, they explain that “it is the first time in Spain that a ‘religion’ sues an association”; and they clarify that the reason is an alleged “smearing of honor”.
The matter will be settled in the courts of Torrejón de Ardoz because this municipality corresponds to the place where Jehovah’s Witnesses have their national headquarters, called Bethel (a name from the Old Testament that means “house of God” in Hebrew). They consider it a branch of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, a corporation that is behind the cult.
Members of the board of directors of the AEVTJ reveal that Jehovah’s Witnesses “have used their entire organizational structure to locate the people who can do us the most harm, touching even our own family.”
And they give some concrete examples: the daughter of one of them will testify against her father, who was expelled from the organization 17 years ago; while in other cases it will be co-workers or “brothers” from the congregation who will be in charge of “proving” the alleged defamation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
We must not forget that the presence of the cult has already been a century in this country – its first “missionary” arrived in 1920 –; and the cult claims to have about 120,000 members who meet in 782 “Kingdom halls” distributed throughout the national territory; reasons that have led to being recognized as a “religious entity of well-known roots” by the Spanish State.
On the part of the AEVTJ, the judicial process is awaited with some concern. According to one of its directors, “we are concerned because Jehovah’s Witnesses often make claims that are false; especially when the name of the organization is at stake. They usually give very extended answers, where in the end you don’t know what they have said or what they have wanted to say.”
Specifically, the letter received by the AEVTJ, and which has originated the judicial process whose sessions are scheduled for November 8 and 22 and December 1 and 15, informed them of a lawsuit for violation of the right to honor.
With this, Jehovah’s Witnesses refer to all the outreach and preaching work that has been done by the association; since it was created in 2019 (and then registered in the National Registry of Associations of the Ministry of the Interior).
As Aleteia reported at the time, the AEVTJ has underlined in its public appearances (and in its presence in the media and social networks) the treatment inflicted by the cult on followers who abandon it or who are expelled. They consider them “apostates”; and, as can be seen in the indoctrination materials, there is pressure to cut off all relationship with them; which includes estrangement from their own families.
Another element highlighted by the defendant association is that “Jehovah’s Witnesses advise against and discourage parents regarding their children’s university studies”; which often means “weighing down the economic life of these young people when they are adults.” The cult’s strategy for the trial will consist of “bringing witnesses who are university students and who will claim not to have had any problems in their congregation.”
The statement of claim is nominally directed against the president of the AEVTJ, who is accused of “illegitimate interference… in the right to honor of the Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses religious confession” (its official name in Spain, even though it is not a Christian community).
And, next, he is asked to stop “disseminating comments or similar information through any means”; also that “comments be withdrawn” made on a YouTube video.
And not only that. To support this attempt to seriously restrict the free expression of the former Jehovah’s Witness who presides over the victims’ association, they demand “compensation for damages for said violation in favor of the Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses religious confession”; that the defendant publishes the verdict of the sentence (which they presume to be guilty, obviously) and that they pay the costs of the trial. The demand, which is not wasted, occupies 50 pages.
Despite the concern that we have pointed out, the truth is that from the AEVTJ they face this appointment in court with hope. Last week they pointed out on their social networks, showing the Court of Torrejón de Ardoz: “Justice will be done here.”
* Luis Santamaría is a member of the Ibero-American Network for the Study of Sects (RIES)
