Hi Sabastious,

I am not a lawyer, but as I understand libel and slander the test for the courts is twofold: (1) harm done and (2) truth test. So on (1) did the statement bring material harm to the subject, can that be proven? On (2) is the statement in question a false or biased statement?

On the surface it would appear JWs are in the clear since the statement is as simple as one can get in order to transmit a truthful statement.

But... and here is where you and I both see a broader issue. The statement "So and so is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses" is a truthful statement about anyone who does not preach door to door for a given month. Any irregular or inactive publish is technically not of of Jehovah's Witnesses since this is how the membership is counted.

Thus... the official statement "So and so is no longer of of Jehovah's Witnesses" I would argue in court is a coded messages that is understood by the membership to imply a much broader statement of a person's character. As such it has clear and provable impact on the reputation of the target among the membership. As such it is in fact slander (and if written libel) with malicious intent to bring harm. This is so because once decoded the actual message is this:

"So and so has unrepentantly done one or more of these things: committed fornication, adultery, bestiality, pedophilia, murder, blasphemed God, was unfaithful or disloyal, etc. As such no decent God-fearing person should associate with such an unrepentant wrongdoer until he/she is ashamed, seeks repentance and is reinstated into God's favour. Until such time, anyone who even says 'Hello' to such an individual has in effect joined them in the wrongful despicable course".

This is the real message and the real harm. Since an appeal on this issue has been turned down ( The Watchtower, April 15, 1988 ) we now wait for another test case. I believe JWs could stand their ground on the issue for anyone seeking association with a congregation after being disfellowshipped. However, if JWs were to reach out into the community and DF a former member who had already left and was not seeking to be part of the faith, their case would I believe get much shakier.

Article 18 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all have the right to change their religion. Jehovah's Witnesses seek to apply this to members leaving other faiths to join the JW ranks, but they seek to deny this right their own members who wish to leave with dignity and not face shunning by friends and family members who remain in the faith. Will this one day become an issue for them? I hope so!

Cheers,
Rawe