Concern Over Sect that Demonizes State
ROME, (ZENIT) - The Italian government is studying the possibility of signing an agreement with the Jehovah's Witnesses, the third largest religious group in the country. If nothing else, the decision is controversial, since many Witness doctrines tend to isolate members from society, such as the prohibition on blood transfusions, rejection of military service, and other legal dispositions.
A number of Italian judges have even overruled Witness parents in their refusal to consent to blood transfusions for their children. The Witnesses, who have been in Italy since 1903, consider the State to be a product of Satan, and in certain cases urge their followers to disobey laws.
Since 1976, this group has the status of an Institute of Worship in Italy, with all the prerogatives such status implies: their ministers can preside at civilly valid marriages, can carry out their prison apostolate, and have freedom to visit homes and spread their doctrine.
In a recent article in the Jesuit magazine "Civiltà Cattolica," Fr. Giuseppe De Rosa wrote that Jehovah's Witnesses "are not Christians" because they have falsified Sacred Scripture; they do not have "a truly religious" life and, perhaps worse, as an organization, they suffer from "a form of mental conformism" that leads to breaking all human relations with those who are not members of the organization. All these are characteristics of a sect or destructive group.
In an article in today's issue of the Italian newspaper "Avvenire," Elio Bromuri says that the Italian government would do well to reflect before signing an agreement with a group that "interferes in a negative or contrary way with the rules of civil life."
"The liberty of conscience that the government must guarantee cannot be in contradiction with the safeguarding of other human and civil rights, which must also be guaranteed to all citizens, including the members of these communities or congregations, and their spouses and children," wrote Bromuri. "The government must not act lightly on a matter that could be full of deceit, suffering and impositions."
For some time now, there have been a number of observation groups and study and investigation committees in Europe on new religious movements and sects. These organizations have compiled extensive documentation. Bromuri said the Italian State should study the situation well by making use of these commissions, which include lawyers, psychologists, and experts in the religious field, to avoid crimes and abuses being committed with its support.