This book is founded on a simple premise: that Jehovah’s Witnesses are a crucial litmus test for tolerance.
When Witnesses do not enjoy basic freedoms to practice their faith, scholars should consider what their treatment reveals about the broader state of tolerance and respect for religious pluralism and religious minority groups. They should also examine how the Witnesses’ struggle for acceptance has shaped religious freedom and the protections enshrined in law in many modern states in the twenty-first century.
This is what the authors call the ‘Jehovah’s Witness test’.
The contributors have run the ‘JW test’ across a range of countries, from Egypt and Mexico to Russia and South Korea, addressing religious, political and medical opposition and their outcomes for modern states and societies. They bring to their conclusions a wealth of perspectives; among them are medical experts, sociologists, political scientists, historians, anthropologists, and representatives of the Witness community.
Taken together, this volume is a call for scholars to look to the treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses as a barometer for the overall health of religious tolerance and basic civil liberties in our contemporary world.
Introduction The ‘Jehovah’s Witness Test’ as a Measure of Religious Tolerance, Emily B. Baran (Middle Tennessee State University, USA) and Zoe Knox (University of Leicester, UK) Part I: Legal Perspectives 1. Religion and Taxation: Registration Regimes and Religious Tolerance, James T. Richardson (University of Nevada, Reno, USA) 2. Minority Religions and the US First Amendment: Landmark Legal Cases, Timothy Zick (William and Mary Law School, USA) 3. The European Court of Human Rights and Religious Minorities, Marcella Ferri (University of Florence, Italy) 4. Banning: Does it Work?, Emily B. Baran (Middle Tennessee State University) USA and Zoe Knox (University of Leicester, UK) Part II: Global Case Studies in Social Tolerance 5. Religious Minorities and Christianity in the Islamic World, Eren Tasar (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA) 6. Religious Minorities and Genocide: the Rwanda case, Timothy P. Longman (Boston University, USA) 7. Competing Christianities in South America, Edgar Zavala-Pelayo (El Colegio de México, Mexico) 8. Minority Religions and Conscientious Objection: the South Korea case, Kwan Suk Yoo (Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica) Part III: Contemporary Controversies 9. The Blood Refusal and the Ethics Revolution, Ruth Townsend (Charles Sturt University, Australia) 10. Government Commissions, Minority Religions, and Minors, Shaun Francis Peters (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA) 11. Tolerating the Intolerant: The Challenge of Conservative Religious Minorities, Joseph Webster (University of Cambridge, UK) 12. The Unwelcome Knock on the Door: the Limits of Proselytism, Effie Fokas (The American College of Greece, Greece) Conclusion How Including Witnesses into the Analysis Changes the Way We Approach A Lot of Things, Emily B. Baran (Middle Tennessee State University, USA) and Zoe Knox, (University of Leicester, UK) Bibliography Index
Zoe Knox is Associate Professor of Modern Russian History at the University of Leicester, UK. Emily B. Baran is Professor of History at Middle Tennessee State University, USA.
Reviews for Minority Religions and Religious Tolerance: The Jehovah’s Witness Test
One of the best introductions to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, suitable for both the specialists and a general audience. While many believe they know the Jehovah’s Witnesses, misunderstandings still abound. This book helps overcoming them. * Massimo Introvigne, CESNUR, Italy * The Jehovah’s Witness Test is an ingenious and remarkably effective means of assessing government and social reactions to religious minorities that peacefully persist in placing their understanding of God’s Law above accepted practices and the law of the land. Anyone with even the slightest interest in the vagaries of religious toleration should read this wide-reaching, informative and thought-provoking volume. * Eileen Barker, London School of Economics, UK *
