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Judging Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution
While millions of Americans were defending liberty against the Nazis, liberty was under vicious attack at home. One of the worst outbreaks of religious persecution in U.S. history occurred during World War II when Jehovah's Witnesses were intimidated, beaten, and even imprisoned for refusing to salute the flag or serve in the armed forces.
Determined to claim their First Amendment rights, Jehovah's Witnesses waged a tenacious legal campaign that led to twenty-three Supreme Court rulings between 1938 and 1946. Now Shawn Peters has written the first complete account of the personalities, events, and institutions behind those cases, showing that they were more than vindication for unpopular beliefs-they were also a turning point in the nation's constitutional commitment to individual rights.
Peters begins with the story of William Gobitas, a Jehovah's Witness whose children refused to salute the flag at school. He follows this famous case to the Supreme Court, where he captures the intellectual sparring between Justices Frankfurter and Stone over individual liberties; then he describes the aftermath of the Court's ruling against Gobitas, when angry mobs savagely assaulted Jehovah's Witnesses in hundreds of communities across America.
Judging Jehovah's Witnesses tells how persecution—much of it directed by members of patriotic organizations like the American Legion—touched the lives of Witnesses of all ages; why the Justice Department and state officials ignored the Witnesses' pleas for relief; and how the ACLU and liberal clergymen finally stepped forward to help them. Drawing on interviews with Witnesses and extensive research in ACLU archives, he examines the strategies that beleaguered Witnesses used to combat discrimination and goes beyond the familiar Supreme Court rulings by analyzing more obscure lower court decisions as well.
By vigorously pursuing their cause, the Witnesses helped to inaugurate an era in which individual and minority rights emerged as matters of concern for the Supreme Court and foreshadowed events in the civil rights movement. Like the classics Gideon's Trumpet and Simple Justice , Judging Jehovah's Witnesses vividly narrates a moving human drama while reminding us of the true meaning of our Constitution and the rights it protects.
Determined to claim their First Amendment rights, Jehovah's Witnesses waged a tenacious legal campaign that led to twenty-three Supreme Court rulings between 1938 and 1946. Now Shawn Peters has written the first complete account of the personalities, events, and institutions behind those cases, showing that they were more than vindication for unpopular beliefs-they were also a turning point in the nation's constitutional commitment to individual rights.
Peters begins with the story of William Gobitas, a Jehovah's Witness whose children refused to salute the flag at school. He follows this famous case to the Supreme Court, where he captures the intellectual sparring between Justices Frankfurter and Stone over individual liberties; then he describes the aftermath of the Court's ruling against Gobitas, when angry mobs savagely assaulted Jehovah's Witnesses in hundreds of communities across America.
Judging Jehovah's Witnesses tells how persecution—much of it directed by members of patriotic organizations like the American Legion—touched the lives of Witnesses of all ages; why the Justice Department and state officials ignored the Witnesses' pleas for relief; and how the ACLU and liberal clergymen finally stepped forward to help them. Drawing on interviews with Witnesses and extensive research in ACLU archives, he examines the strategies that beleaguered Witnesses used to combat discrimination and goes beyond the familiar Supreme Court rulings by analyzing more obscure lower court decisions as well.
By vigorously pursuing their cause, the Witnesses helped to inaugurate an era in which individual and minority rights emerged as matters of concern for the Supreme Court and foreshadowed events in the civil rights movement. Like the classics Gideon's Trumpet and Simple Justice , Judging Jehovah's Witnesses vividly narrates a moving human drama while reminding us of the true meaning of our Constitution and the rights it protects.
- GenresHistory
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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About the author
Shawn Francis Peters
12 books23 followersAn internationally-recognized expert on religious liberty issues, Shawn Peters has been featured by CNN, PBS, Court TV, Time magazine, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of four books and has twice been recognized by the American Society of Legal Writers for outstanding achievement. He currently teaches in the Integrated Liberal Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 21, 2024
A MARVELOUS SURVEY OF PERSECUTION DURING THE 1940s
The author explains in the Introduction to this book, "I make no attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the Witnesses' history or their sometimes puzzling doctrines... I focus on a narrow and troubling chapter in the Witnesses' history---their persecution throughout the United States in the early and mid-1940s---and gauge its formidable impact on American law."
Here are some quotations from the book:
"Targeted largely because they refused to salute the American flag, Witnesses throughout the United States were pummeled in situations ranging from riots ... to scuffles..." (Pg. 8)
"But as one scholar has noted, the Witness cases as a group nonetheless had a 'profound impact on the evolution of constitutional law' by helping to bring minority and individual rights... out of the shadows and into the forefront of constitutional jurisprudence." (Pg. 13)
"Supreme Court decisions are often criticized, and some are disobeyed, but few have ever provoked as violent a public reaction as the 'Gobitis' opinion." (Pg. 71)
"...the Court decision has served to kindle mob violence against Jehovah's Witnesses." (Pg. 84)
"Overzealous proselytizers ... sometimes broke the law, by refusing to leave private property after they had been asked to do so by a homeowner or tenant. Although the Constitution protected (JW's) rights to speak and worship freely, it did not give them license to trespass." (Pg. 117)
"What followed was an unfortunate example of the type of crisis that so often resulted from the Witness' penchant for confrontation." (Pg. 139)
"For every Witness who gained a minister's exemption or successfully challenged his draft classification in court, hundreds failed." (Pg. 277)
"Although they were still viewed by many as nuisances, Witness proselytizers began to see the wisdom of employing less aggressive tactics when they distributed literature in public... Under the stewardship of Nathan Knorr, who succeeded Joseph Rutherford as Watch Tower leader in 1942, the faith inched closer to the mainstream..." (Pg. 294)
The author explains in the Introduction to this book, "I make no attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the Witnesses' history or their sometimes puzzling doctrines... I focus on a narrow and troubling chapter in the Witnesses' history---their persecution throughout the United States in the early and mid-1940s---and gauge its formidable impact on American law."
Here are some quotations from the book:
"Targeted largely because they refused to salute the American flag, Witnesses throughout the United States were pummeled in situations ranging from riots ... to scuffles..." (Pg. 8)
"But as one scholar has noted, the Witness cases as a group nonetheless had a 'profound impact on the evolution of constitutional law' by helping to bring minority and individual rights... out of the shadows and into the forefront of constitutional jurisprudence." (Pg. 13)
"Supreme Court decisions are often criticized, and some are disobeyed, but few have ever provoked as violent a public reaction as the 'Gobitis' opinion." (Pg. 71)
"...the Court decision has served to kindle mob violence against Jehovah's Witnesses." (Pg. 84)
"Overzealous proselytizers ... sometimes broke the law, by refusing to leave private property after they had been asked to do so by a homeowner or tenant. Although the Constitution protected (JW's) rights to speak and worship freely, it did not give them license to trespass." (Pg. 117)
"What followed was an unfortunate example of the type of crisis that so often resulted from the Witness' penchant for confrontation." (Pg. 139)
"For every Witness who gained a minister's exemption or successfully challenged his draft classification in court, hundreds failed." (Pg. 277)
"Although they were still viewed by many as nuisances, Witness proselytizers began to see the wisdom of employing less aggressive tactics when they distributed literature in public... Under the stewardship of Nathan Knorr, who succeeded Joseph Rutherford as Watch Tower leader in 1942, the faith inched closer to the mainstream..." (Pg. 294)
May 17, 2017
Excellent read. Very informational on constitutional law on the first amendment as it evolved during WWII. Very well written, easy to understand despite its complex legal jargon. Eye opening on the disparities of what happens when our government condemns a certain group of people.
July 4, 2017
If you really want to go into detail as to Jehovah's Witnesses and their impact on the civil rights movement during the 20th century in the US, this is the book for you.
February 3, 2010
A very interesting book by one of my favorite non-fiction writers.
May 21, 2016
Excellent book. Non-lawyers may have a hard time understanding the legal aspects but worht the effort.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews