Excommunication: Looking for a Balance of Interests Between Opposite Freedoms
The Ghent Court decision declaring shunning as practiced by Jehovah’s Witnesses illegal ignores European and Belgian precedents, and is clearly wrong.
Jehovah’s Witnesses
The Ghent Jehovah’s Witness Decision: Anomaly or a New Reality?
In an unprecedented ruling, judges turned the long-standing interpretation of articles 9, 10, 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights on its head.
Jehovah’s Witnesses: Disfellowshipping, Shunning, and the Ghent Ruling
Many do not understand how shunning exactly works. Erroneous representations of the practice may have influenced the Ghent judges.
Operation North: When Stalin Deported the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Seventy years ago, 9,793 believers were taken from their homes in Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and sent to Siberia.
Jehovah’s Witnesses: How the Ghent Decision Subverted the Idea of Liberty
Declaring that shunning “apostates” is a crime implies accepting the ideology that surrendering our freedom to an organization is always suspicious.
The Ghent Case Against the Jehovah’s Witnesses: A Chronology
The criminal investigation that got into the spotlight earlier this year did in fact start in 2015.
The Ghent Jehovah’s Witnesses Decision: Big Brother Is Watching You
The Belgian court adopted an intrusive view of the powers of the state, incompatible with democracy—and with common sense.
![On July 27, 1656, philosopher Baruch Spinoza was disfellowshipped by the Jewish community of Amsterdam. The herem ordered that “no one should communicate with him, not even in writing, nor accord him any favor nor stay with him under the same roof nor [come] within four cubits in his vicinity” (from Twitter).](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Baruch-Spinoza.jpg)
The Ghent Jehovah’s Witness Decision: Dangerous for All Religions
Suggesting that current members do not associate with “apostate” ex-members has been historically common in many religions.
The Ghent Jehovah’s Witnesses Decision: Dangers for Religious Liberty
Contrary to other courts in several countries, the Belgian judges dangerously intruded into the internal organization of a religious group.
