The legal battles of Jehovah's Witnesses in western Pennsylvania laid the foundation for religious liberties

[Bible Speaks]

The legal battles of Jehovah's Witnesses in western Pennsylvania laid the foundation for religious liberties

In 1939, the tranquility of a Palm Sunday morning in Jeannette broke with the arrival of more than 100 people from outside the city.

They parked their 25 cars outside the city limits and set up a makeshift headquarters at a local gas station with a pay phone, just in case there was a problem.

The people, who called themselves Jehovah's Witnesses, descended on Jeanette from 9 a.m., as the residents prepared for Palm Sunday services, and knocked on doors. It was not long before the phone started ringing in the police office, according to the court record.

Twelve of the 13 cases were in his favor, an unprecedented victory for the small and troubled sect, making that day 75 years ago a seminal one not only for Jehovah's Witnesses, but also for anyone who invokes the guarantee of religious freedom of the First Amendment, experts say.

GIVE FORM TO THE LAWS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Jeannette's cases, especially those of Murdock, helped shape the body of law that continues to define the scope of free religious practice to this day, said Holly Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

"In the development of the religious freedom law, Jehovah's Witnesses have had a disproportionate impact compared to their relatively small size," said Hollman. "These cases represent many propositions that are still important for religious freedom."

Witnesses are credited with having won at least 30 major cases involving issues of religious freedom since 1938. Recently, in 2002, the Supreme Court, in Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of NY Inc. v. Village of Stratton (Ohio), reaffirmed 8-1 its finding in Murdock that allows requirements for religious scrutiny door to door violates the First Amendment.

Peters, 79, of Delmont, said local Witness children who were expelled from public schools for not saluting the flag ended up going to an ad hoc United Kingdom School in the village of Gates in German Township, county Fayette

Meanwhile, the adult Witnesses were despised by the communities for their alleged lack of patriotism and methods of evangelistic confrontation, including the use of record players and "wagons" that carry the message in the neighborhoods.

"There were several who were arrested and imprisoned," Peters said. "Several of those who spoke told me that they used to take the toothbrush with them (to testify) because they knew that they would spend the night in jail."

'A BATTLE COSTS UP'

The outbreak of violence in the 1940s was "one of the worst episodes of religious persecution in the history of the United States," said Shawn Francis Peters (no relation), author of "Judging Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious Persecution and the revolution of rights. "

"Religious minorities always face an uphill battle in this country, even though this country was founded on religious freedom," he said.

Peters begins the book by recounting the disturbances of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Imperial, Allegheny County, in the summer of 1942. The incident, documented by the American Civil Liberties Union at that time, resulted in several Witnesses being beaten and their properties damaged. when they refused to salute the flag.

Such incidents were repeated in dozens of communities as the country, preparing to enter World War II, feared a "fifth column" of homegrown Nazi sympathizers, he said. By the time the Supreme Court overturned his controversial Minersville decision in 1943, the violence had diminished.

"(Murdock) has a modern viability, it's not just a relic of history," said lawyer Paul Polidoro of Atalaya Legal. "The Supreme Court made it clear in 2002 that it still controls the law."

Hollman said that in the 1930s, Jehovah's Witnesses developed an assertive legal strategy to match their assertive evangelistic practices, practices that were often misunderstood and challenged, even attacked.

"He is more likely to have a clash with government policy if his practice is not familiar," he said. "The clashes between people who practice their religion and the government more often come from religious minorities."

Those confrontations became violent in 1940, when Jehovah's Witnesses were attacked for refusing to pronounce the oath of allegiance or to salute the American flag. Strengthened by the case of the Supreme Court Minersville v. Gobitis, which confirmed the flag greeting requirement of the Schuylkill County School District, communities resorted to violence against Witnesses and their Kingdom Halls.

"There is no doubt that between the 1930s and the 1940s, there were people who tried to make it appear that our ministry was criminal, illegal, even subversive," said Don Peters, an elder from the Greensburg Kingdom Hall.

In all, 21 Witnesses were arrested for violating a city ordinance of 40 years that requires applicants to obtain a permit before going door to door. Among them was a man named Robert L. Douglas.

Faced with a fine of up to $ 100 or a jail sentence of up to 30 days, Douglas appealed his conviction, arguing that the city's permit requirement was an unconstitutional violation of his First Amendment rights. In 1943, the appeal had reached the Supreme Court under the name of Douglas v. City of Jeannette.

The wave of arrests on Palm Sunday did not deter the Witnesses from returning to Jeannette the following year. Encouraged by years of hostility from local authorities and the general public, Jehovah's Witnesses were nothing if not tenacious in their approach to evangelization. This time, eight people, including Robert Murdock Jr., were arrested.

Your legal challenge, entitled Murdock v. Pennsylvania, reached the Supreme Court at the same time as the Douglas case of the previous year. In May, the judges issued four decisions, consolidating 13 cases related to the rights of Jehovah's Witnesses to proselytize and disseminate literature.

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