WATCHTOWER DENIES CHANGE
IN BLOOD TRANSFUSION DOCTRINE

A news report first appearing in the Times of London stating that Jehovah’s Witnesses have changed their position on blood transfusions “is incorrect” according to Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn. The June 14 Times article was carried by the BBC News with the headline “Jehovah’s Witnesses drop transfusion ban” and stated: “Leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses movement have revoked a strict ruling that their members automatically face excommunication if they accept blood transfusions.” The Times made its report based on comments told to them by a London Bethel Watchtower representative.

According to the report, the “controversial decision” to change its doctrine came “at a secret meeting in New York, following years of recrimination from ex-members and non-Jehovah’s Witnesses over the ban.” The Watchtower organization immediately issued a letter to its “Hospital Liaison Committee” members, reiterating several points of the sect’s blood transfusion beliefs and repeatedly charging that its “position has not changed.”

Critics of the Watchtower blood doctrine, including some Watchtower members in good standing, argue that the leadership’s rebuttal statements are “disingenuous.” Addressing the HLC correspondence, a statement from the web site of “Associated Jehovah’s Witnesses for Reform on Blood” contends “the letter thrice reminds HLC members that the WTS position has not changed when it clearly has as anyone vaguely acquainted with Jehovah’s Witnesses realizes.”

The primary change, it appears, comes not to the doctrine itself but in the Watchtower’s treatment of its members who permit or accept a blood transfusion. The AJWRB group noted “that JWs who accept blood transfusions would no longer be subject to investigation by congregation judicial committees.” Heretofore, a member who received blood would be subject to a hearing by a judicial committee (made up of Jehovah’s Witness elders) and promptly disfellowshipped from the sect. The BBC News report states that the new procedure establishes that, “If a member has a transfusion, they will, by their actions disassociate themselves from the religion” rather than undergo a disfellowshipping hearing.

The AJWRB believes “that this procedural change coupled with the WTS new blood policy as announced in the June 15, 2000 Watchtower is a strong indication that the WTS has in fact decided that the policy is in error and is taking steps to reform the policy, minimize the death toll and limit liability.”

These internal critics also conclude that, “It is also possible that the WTS is attempting to deflect some of the criticism it has been receiving in medical journals in recent months over the contradictions and inconsistencies in the policy and improve its position with some European governments who feel that the WTS is a dangerous sect.”

—MKG

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