Has anyone ever been taken to court in connection with beliefs?

Ms_ladyblue

Well-known member
I was baptized in 1982, almost two years after the unexpected death of my first husband. I was left with 2 children, a son 7 years old and daughter 4 years old. Meanwhile, their paternal grandparents ( not witnesses) were able to visit with the kids and they were able to visit with them… No problem right…
More than a year later I married my now deceased husband and about three years after that something happened that lead to my being taken to court…by my former in-laws.

Like I said, my ( first ) two children would visit with their grandparents but this one particular Sunday they visited, the grandparents had kids from Sunday school come over to play. After my kids came back home they were telling me how bad the kids were, cursing and throwing rocks and all sorts of things…unchristian conduct. So, my reaction to this was to phone the grandparents, letting them know that I didn’t want the kids visiting if they were going to have other kids like that over to visit and that if they wanted to visit with the grandkids I would have to be present.
Well, as you would expect, that didn’t go over well…at all. And right away they said that they would be taking me to court over grandparents visitation rights…and there was already a precedent set for that.

Now, the day I had to appear in court was very intimidating, to say the least. I was 30 years old and had never been in a court room. Then I had to get on the witness stand and answer this lawyer’s questions like, what was the problem with me allowing my children to visit their grandparents without me being there…so I told them what had happened. Then I was asked about my beliefs to which I replied what our beliefs were…not celebrating holidays etc. Then the judge speaks up and says, “let’s try not to bring up religion into this.” Which was really ironic because that was what this whole thing was centered around. Then after answering a few questions, one of his last questions was, “can you tell us the difference between the God you worship and the God we worship?”
I could only answer by saying, we worship only one God, Jehovah, and they ( or y’all) worship three gods in one or a trinity god.”
At that point, I looked at the judge and I could see him chuckling. 🤭

As it turned out, the grandparents only got visitation one weekend day a month. That was even less than what they got not having gone to court. Btw the grandparents hated witnesses in the first place which is probably what prompted this whole thing. So, if they would have just waited a day or so for things to calm down I’m sure we could have settled things differently.
Anyway, the court‘s decision didn’t last too long due to the fact that the grandparents realized how futile it was, not to mention an inconvenience because of the second weekend day visits we might have something planned like assemblies or having to go out of town for other reasons.
I don’t think the visitation schedule lasted 9 months.
Oh…the irony of it all!
But at least I was able to give a witness in that courtroom about Jehovah, albeit wasn’t grand or spectacular, it made me feel good knowing I was able to, in some small way give a witness about Jehovah. 😊


So, if anyone else has something to share concerning having been taken to court for anything connected with our beliefs, please share…
 
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Nomex

Well-known member
So, if anyone else has something to share concerning having been taken to court for anything connected with our beliefs, please share…
Well...about the only similarity to what you have relayed is, and this is going back maybe 20 years I guess, is we had these two "fleshly brothers" who'd defrauded the federal government, neither of which were baptized, but were raised "in the truth", the one brother had devised a scheme to sell some kind of government contract to whoever was buying, and therefore had defrauded the government of a sizable chunk of change. While i don't remember the figures, it was government figures...substantial figures. The one "brother" was in my book study group, and I think he was about to get baptized, but they asked me to go to court as a support person, or whatever, and during the court proceedings, the judge asked for comments from the audience, and I came very close to telling and explaining to the judge that when this happened these two were NOT baptized Jehovah's Witnesses. And that Jehovah's Witnesses do not condone criminal behavior yada yada...


I don't remember exactly why I chose not to speak out... but I remember I was okay with either decision! In other words, I don't feel bad I did not speak my mind, but I also don't feel like I regret not speaking my mind!
 

Jim

Well-known member
I was baptized in 1982, almost two years after the unexpected death of my first husband. I was left with 2 children, a son 7 years old and daughter 4 years old. Meanwhile, their paternal grandparents ( not witnesses) were able to visit with the kids and they were able to visit with them… No problem right…
More than a year later I married my now deceased husband and about three years after that something happened that lead to my being taken to court…by my former in-laws.

Like I said, my ( first ) two children would visit with their grandparents but this one particular Sunday they visited, the grandparents had kids from Sunday school come over to play. After my kids came back home they were telling me how bad the kids were, cursing and throwing rocks and all sorts of things…unchristian conduct. So, my reaction to this was to phone the grandparents, letting them know that I didn’t want the kids visiting if they were going to have other kids like that over to visit and that if they wanted to visit with the grandkids I would have to be present.
Well, as you would expect, that didn’t go over well…at all. And right away they said that they would be taking me to court over grandparents visitation rights…and there was already a precedent set for that.

Now, the day I had to appear in court was very intimidating, to say the least. I was 30 years old and had never been in a court room. Then I had to get on the witness stand and answer this lawyer’s questions like, what was the problem with me allowing my children to visit their grandparents without me being there…so I told them what had happened. Then I was asked about my beliefs to which I replied what our beliefs were…not celebrating holidays etc. Then the judge speaks up and says, “let’s try not to bring up religion into this.” Which was really ironic because that was what this whole thing was centered around. Then after answering a few questions, one of his last questions was, “can you tell us the difference between the God you worship and the God we worship?”
I could only answer by saying, we worship only one God, Jehovah, and they ( or y’all) worship three gods in one or a trinity god.”
At that point, I looked at the judge and I could see him chuckling. 🤭

As it turned out, the grandparents only got visitation one weekend day a month. That was even less than what they got not having gone to court. Btw the grandparents hated witnesses in the first place which is probably what prompted this whole thing. So, if they would have just waited a day or so for things to calm down I’m sure we could have settled things differently.
Anyway, the court‘s decision didn’t last too long due to the fact that the grandparents realized how futile it was, not to mention an inconvenience because of the second weekend day visits we might have something planned like assemblies or having to go out of town for other reasons.
I don’t think the visitation schedule lasted 9 months.
Oh…the irony of it all!
But at least I was able to give a witness in that courtroom about Jehovah, albeit wasn’t grand or spectacular, it made me feel good knowing I was able to, in some small way give a witness about Jehovah. 😊


So, if anyone else has something to share concerning having been taken to court for anything connected with our beliefs, please share…
You did take a stand for your faith and Jehovah. I have had to at times as well. It makes you feel good inside when all is said and done. I do believe that these recent vaccines should be a personal choice and never would criticize someone for their choice in this matter. But it wasn't right for me. I won't say why, but it would have violated my conscience. My witness aunt now refuses to see me. My own witness mother said to me "Well if you die, you die". I had a battle to keep my job and get an exemption. But I made the right decision, for me. and my conscience.
 

Ms_ladyblue

Well-known member
I love it, Lady Blue. Well done!

Sad to hear you have been twice widowed. :cry:
Thank you brother King, I appreciate you saying that. Yes, it’s been a hard road…twice…but so much harder this time, not only losing my husband but at the same time finding out the truth about the organization.

It’s a strange thing because before I lost my first husband I was studying, and then a brother was making arrangements to have a study with him right before his death.

Then before losing my husband recently we learned the truth about WT.
 
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