They stood on a busy corner in Sweetwater, Texas, just across from the courthouse square with their satchels of “Watchtower” magazines.
I didn’t know it at the time, but it had been illegal until recently for them to be there promoting their Jehovah’s Witnesses faith.
July 4, 1918 . . . or Thereabout
During World War I, when their group was fairly new, law officers broke up their public meetings because they were considered a threat to the nation. Guest speakers brought in to lead services were run out of town.
Folks with this strange religion were considered traitors because they refused to salute the flag or say the pledge or go to war. They had to take their appeal all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court before they were free to stand on that corner in Sweetwater.
July 4, 2017 . . . or Thereabout
The Witnesses have had trouble in other countries. They were outlawed in the old Soviet Union but enjoyed freedom in Russia until recently. Now the hammer has dropped again. Russian leaders are closing down Kingdom Halls, driving many congregations to meet quietly in homes. It’s illegal to go door to door with their “Watchtower.”
Eight-year-old children of Jehovah’s Witnesses homes are humiliated in front of classmates in school. Adult Witnesses get punched in the face because their religion is banned by the government.
As a Baptist, I have little in common theologically with the Witnesses. But I share one essential belief with them: Jehovah’s Witnesses in this country should have the same freedom of religion that I have. Unless Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses and atheists have religious freedom, then freedom for Methodists and Baptists and Pentecostals and Catholics is not secure either.
May you and they have a happy Independence Day.
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