According to police reports, they isolate their member from society. They respond that they only teach the Bible.
The Jehovah's Witnesses, who habitually knock on doors to announce the soon coming end of the world, appear in the list of cults that are a danger to society, turned in on Wednesday by a special commission of the Chamber of Deputies to the Minister of Justice.
The members of Parliament on the Commission of Religious Cults--that studied the charges against the Tibetan Center of Studies--received reports and testimonies from the police that motivated suspicion that some 26 organizations can have a harmful profile.(see list at end of article).
The deputies requested that Jose Antonio Gomez, Minister of Justice, order an investigation and, if the antecedents were proved, to cancel the legal registration of these organizations.
According to the information obtained, police reports exist that arrived at Parliament characterizing the Jehovah's Witnesses as a group that isolates its members from society (forbidding the reading of novels, newspapers and magazines, not allowing them to watch television, amongst other forms of communication) and foments the rejection of patriotic symbols such as the flag and the national anthem. Plus, their members consider the honoring of these symbols to be pagan rituals.
The reports suggests that punishments exist for whomever transgresses these norms. Besides this, it comments on some of their characteristics, such as falsely announcing the end of the word in 1914, 1925 and 1975; their refusal of blood transfusions and a wide variety of celebrations, such as birthdays and Christmas.
“We are not a cult”
Yesterday, the legal representative for the Witnesses, Pedro Lobato, refuted the mention of their group in this category. We are not a cult, our focus is the Bible. We believe that it is not God's will to take everybody to Heaven, only the meek. We are 60,000 Witnesses in Santiago and 200,000 in the whole country, he briefly commented.
He pointed out that they will not have a formal opinion about their inclusion in the list of cults until they receive an official notification from the Department of Justice.
At their Congregation in Cerrillos, the Witness member Rebeca Jara responded very upset: Cults are satanic and we don't even believe in spiritism like evangelicals, who scream and jump, and the Catholics. Our job is to help people to learn about the Bible. We don't have any rituals and we don't harm anyone. Jara added that the Elders (pastors) guide the congregations.
Concerning the religious association Our Lady of Fatima, which at first had connected them to the list of cults, the leader at their headquarters in Santiago, Felipe Lecaros clarified that “we are a laic organization, with pontifical rights, recognized by the Holy See as well as the Archbishopric of Santiago.”
Our Lady of Fatima, or Heralds of the Gospel received the approval of the Pope February 28th of last year, after a ceremony at Saint Peter's Church.
Suspects
Unification Church (Moon cult)
Church of Scientology
Children of God/The Family
Church Universal of God
New Acropolis
Universal Christian Gnostic Center
Osho-Bhagwcan Rajneesh
Nchiren Soshu Soka Gakkai
Saja-Yoga
International Association for Krishna Consciousness
Transcendental Meditation movement
Jehovah's Witnesses-Watchtower Editorial
Lumen Dei
Neocatecumenal Way
Supreme Truth
Revolutionaries for Christ
Revolutionary Movement of Jesus Christ-Theocratic Movement and Martin Luther King
Tamntrical Circle of the Supreme Ecstasy of the Divine Union
Hare Krishna
Church of Scientology
Nevara or the Consecrated to God
Amanda Marga
The Holy Ones
Followers of Satan
The Mission
Spiritual Congregation of Peace and Love