Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is about the legal battle Jehovah's Witnesses waged, in the 1930's and 1940's, to secure their constitutional rights to practice their beliefs in the midst of the hysteria that consumed the USA in the years leading up to and into the Second World War. The author, Shawn Francis Peters, is not one of Jehovah's Witnesses nor is he sympathetic to their beliefs. However, he does believe in their right to think, proclaim, and act in harmony with their beliefs.

If you are interested in American, legal, or religious history this book will be of interest to you. What I particularly enjoyed was the background material he gives. The Witnesses, their persecutors, the police and judges. He helps us to see what motivated each group. He takes us behind the scenes of the Supreme Court. There we see that there were not just dry legal deliberations that went on but the beliefs of the Justices caused them to become emotionally involved as well.

The book is full of many firsthand accounts. So we get a sense of what it felt like to be living during that time. We feel the anguish of the Witnesses, as they endure their trials, facing discrimination and prejudice from what may be called 'petty officials'. We see policeman, sheriff, mayor, governor, and the U.S. Justice Dept basically ignore their pleas for help against their persecutors. They finally realized that "their only recourse was the Courts".

We, also, see that there were others who could see that if the actions against Jehovah's Witnesses were allowed to stand then the rights of all minorities would be at stake. So various groups such as the ACLU, the Christian Century magazine, liberal clergymen and numerous journalists, while always making clear that they did not share the Witnesses religious beliefs nonetheless supported their rights to have and share such beliefs without being persecuted.

The author has done a good job in bringing back to public attention an episode of American life that few people are familiar with. It is a story that deserves to be remembered. As he says in his introduction: "Largely forgotten for the past fifty years, their simple but eloquent voices tell a remarkable story, one that lays bare the extremes of cowardice and courage so often found in nations engrossed by war."

The author is not one of Jehovah's Witnesses nor is he sympathetic toward their beliefs. (Which he makes clear in various comments throughout the book.) However, he does support their legal right to have such beliefs, to proclaim them, and to act in harmony with them.

What I liked about the book was the background the author gives to the legal cases. He doesn't just give you the legal facts but he gives you the story of the Witnesses, their persecutors, the police officers, and the judges. He tries to help you see why each group acted the way they did. He shows how the persecution affected the private lives of the Witnesses. I particularly enjoyed the behind the scenes look into the Supreme Court. What the Justices thought in private and how they wrangled with one another before making their decisions.

Mr. Peters has done a good job in bringing back to public attention a momentous period in legal history that helped to shape in a significant way the legal environment of our present time. A time in which even hated minorities can look to the courts with a certain amount of confidence that their legal right to think, proclaim, and act in harmony with their beliefs will be protected.

I picked up this book after learning that it had been a finalist for the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel and had won the Scribes Book Award for legal writing. I'm glad that I did because it turned about to be one of the best books on law I've ever read. (I've read a lot of them, by the way, because I teach both law and history.) The author manages to combine compelling narrative elements (stories about the people involved in the cases) with lucid scholarly analysis of why the cases matter. The result is a rare breed -- a book you could assign in a constitutional law class or recommend to a non-specialist friend. I was floored by it.

I have been privileged to be one of Jehovah's witnesses since the time I was a teenager. I have made it a point to read anything I could regarding the unprecedented series of Supreme Court decisions in the late 1930's and early 1940's brought about by the activities of, and opposition to, Jehovah's witnesses. This is by far the most enlightening of these works, for several reasons. First, the author has thoroughly researched this work and included a great deal of information regarding the often ignored decisions of the lower courts. In many cases the eloquence of the lower courts and their grasp of the constitutional issues involved surpassed that of the majority of the Supreme Court. Second, the role of those courageous enough to champion the witnesses' civil rights was given a prominence I have not seen in other works. The ACLU, certain liberal clergymen, and the editorials of the Christian Century were given a prominence that has been downplayed or ignored in other works. In addition, the brilliance of the witnesses' legal team, Hayden Covington in particular, in orchestrating their strategy is acknowledged. Third is the author's uncomfortableness with, and in some cases dislike of, the teachings and practices of Jehovah's witnesses. Although I found some of the comments regarding the witnesses unnecessary (weird, odd, obstreperous, etc.), it made his acknowledgement of the witnesses contributions to freedom in this country all the more meaningful. Finally, the role that this series of decisions played in shaping the Supreme Court for its role as the guardian of civil liberties in the 1950's and 60's is explained in a way that makes me swell with pride to be a part of the group that helped to guarantee the freedoms that at one time in the not too distant past were in danger of being suppressed.

I bought Judging Jehovah's Witnesses not knowing what to expect. I didn't know if the author would bash the JWs or would, so to say, over glorify them as martyrs for their cause. To the authors credit, they stayed almost completely neutral. I have only read a few chapters in the book, but what I have read thus far is extremely good. They author, however, when discusing the history of the JWs uses sidely biased resources. Most references the author chooses are from opponants of JWs (not to say that that is a bad thing) but I feel that to be fair, equal attention should be payed to books published by JWs themselves. With that aside, the book is worth buying. Even with its many faults I would still rate it a 5 because it one of very few books that has been written to demonstrate the kind of persecution JWs have had to endure. Most people will hear persecution and JWs in the same sentance and say that JWs have a "martyrs complex" thinking that every time a door is slamed in their face they are being persecuted. This, however, is not the case. The author discusses many Supreme Court cases that JWs have fought and won that helped establish the current understanding of the 1st Admendment and the 14th. This is a recomended read for all those interested in the history of the JWs. This portion of their history your not likely to find in many apologetics books against the JWs.

First, let me state I'm neither a legal scholar nor a Jehovah's Witness. I just like to read different books about different subjects. This book is a great read, very interesting background about the witnesses and the U.S. legal system.

I couldn't seem to stop reading and "had" to finish this book. Peter's style, although noticeable in the beginning, disappears after about 30 pages and the book becomes totally captivating. To me, this indicates a Very well written book.

I would easily recommend Judging Jehovah's Witnesses to friends.

I read this book based on a review in USA Today, but it was not what I had expected. I expected a dull review of multiple court cases, but I was pleasantly surprised by a look at life in the mid-USA during the 1940's through the eyes of Jehovah's Witnesses. I especially liked the fact that Peters included interviews with some of the people directly involved with these cases and what life was like for them.

The objectivity of the author is very evident throughout the book. He presents information about the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and the opinions of some of their opponents. As well, he provides an interesting view of Americans' reaction to the unknown, based upon fear and insecurity during World War II. Peters is careful not to draw the reader to conclusion about the subject or about the ultimate decision of the courts.

I've already recommended this book to our community library.

As a history major and a Jehovah Witness I ound this book to be absolutely amazing. The book discusses in detail the facts leading up to the presecution of JWs in America, and also the persecution itself. I was amazed to lean how lil "freedom" there was in America at that time, as will all readers. If it was not for the JWs who knows what the US would have been able to do to people if the people themselves did not rise up, as this book shows the JWs did.

5 stars great history book for anyone who likes history of the US, religion, or JWs.

Very accurate chronology of the Supreme Court cases that not only spotlighted a religious group, that could have destroyed them; however, the court's visible determination to protect the Constitution turned the situation around to protect freedom of speech and religion for everyone.

Many people believe that religous persecution has rarely or not occured in twentieth century U.S. This book makes it clear that there has been alot of religous persecution in the United States during the twentieth century. I found it very interesting that the Ku Klux Clan not only persecuted certain ethnic groups, but Jehovah's Witnesses as well, regardless of thier racial background. However the Author does not have an accurate view of certain Jehovah's Witnesses practices such as disfellowshipping. He should have researched further.