Dear David Parker,

My understanding is that the Jehovah's Witness religion is incorporated as a charity, and therefore receives tax exemption, and possibly other benefits.
However, I believe the Jehovah's Witness religion does not deserve to hold the position as a charity, as they do not benefit the community in any way. The way their organisation is set up, it is basically a revenue-making system that enriches the top few leaders in the US. Only a small amount of the New Zealand donations given to this religion goes back to New Zealand communities or even local Jehovah's Witnesses. In fact, a few years ago, the ownership of all properties formerly owned by local members was transferred to the religion's leaders.

The reason I know these facts is that I grew up in a Jehovah's Witness household and have now left. I suffered many difficulties because of this and I know personally and online many tens of thousands of other people who have also suffered as a result of having grown up in this cult or from being in contact with it to some degree or another. Jehovah's Witnesses hold beliefs that can be very detrimental.

For example, as Jehovah's Witnesses believe the end of the world is coming imminently, they do not prepare themselves or their children to finish high school or go to university. Many times, they actually encourage their children to leave school as soon as possible and take on part-time work doing manual labour. Obviously, this is detrimental to a child's development and ability to provide for themselves as adults in the future.

Another issue is that Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions. They will even allow themselves and their children to die as a result of this belief. These children many times have been subjected to years of psychological manipulation to the point that they believe that their stance on blood transfusions is correct. I would argue that children should recieve whatever medical treatment they need in order to survive, rather than having their chances of survival diminished because of the beliefs of their parents.

Another issue is that of child sexual abuse that is commited by members of this religion against minors. These actions are routinely and institutionally covered up by the leadership of this religion. I have seen this happen first hand to other people, although I have not suffered abuse in this manner myself. Many people have ended up with mild to severe mental health issues because of the abuse they went through, not just with their abuser, but from the treatment they received from the local leadership of their church. On top of this, the procedures for determining if a case of abuse has happened is severely lacking and in fact detrimental to the victim, with victim-blaming being very common, on top of doing their best to not report these matters to the police.

Another issue that the Jehovah's Witness religion creates for itself is from their belief that they must shun anyone who has left their religion. I personally face this even to this day. My family basically do not talk to me at all, unless there is some emergency that requires them to speak to me. For me, this does not affect me too much anymore. But when I first wanted to leave, I had to face the very real possiblity of losing my job, my house, as well as all my friends and family. I could easily have ended up on the street. And many are not as lucky as I was. Many people, including teenagers, are kicked out of their homes, with nothing. Because of this, they deal with physical issues (like being homeless, not having enough to eat or drink, a lack of adecuate clothing, etc) and with mental health issues by themselves, often leading to self-harm, drug-use and suicide.

One of the reasons that this shunning can be forced on someone is if they do not fit the heterosexual mold that Jehovah's Witnesses are supposed to be in. If someone is homosexual, transexual, bisexual, etc. Jehovah's Witnesses will mistreat and discriminate against these people. If a person wants to live non-heterosexually, they will be shunned by all members of this religion. Because of this, many LGBQT+ people have faced serious implications, like those mentioned in the previous paragraph, namely, homelessness, mental health issues, suicide, drug-use.

As a precedent, action has already been taken against this religion in other countries, like Australia, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, the US and others. Norway is the most recent country to take action against the Jehovah's Witnesses. The Jehovah's Witness organisation was receiving millions of Kroner each year because it was classified as a religion. But, as the Norwegian Government decided that, basically, this religion was too detrimental to its members in a few specific ways, it was refused its funding for the first time in 2021. In 2015, the Australian Royal Commission uncovered 1,800 child sexual abuse cases, none of which were reported to police.

I request that a Royal Commision needs to be implemented in order to assess the abuse that this religion has caused in New Zealand.

I also request that this religion is disallowed to receive a tax exemption and any other benefits that are awarded to a charity, until such time as this religion actually acts in a way that benefits its members and the communities it exists within.

For brevity, I have not included any sources or very much specific information. Please get in contact with me for more information.

Yours faithfully,
Marcel Luc

Dear D Parker (MIN),

I think I should clarify the paragraph that I begun with in my first message, as it does not give a completely accurate idea of the situation.
The leaders of this religion do not personally own or control all the properties or receive donations from the members. The organisation, commonly called 'Watchtower', owns and controls these properties. However, indirectly, the leaders of the organisation benefit from the lack of transparency of the donations, investments and assets given to Watchtower. They have the potential ability to use donated funds for their personal use and they can buy or sell property at their own discretion. Almost every activity must be approved by the leadership, so even if they are not personally making the decisions, usually the decisions are at least accepted and cleared by them.
This is an issue, because basically all Jehovah's Witnesses are under the impression that their donations are going to the organisation to pay for the printing of literature, the making of religious videos, helping people in developing countries to build churches, helping in local communities, etc.

However, this is not always the case. Donated funds do go towards these causes, however, these funds also go towards paying for lawsuits and settlements of child sexual abuse cases and potentially towards the personal expenses of the leadership, among other things that are virtually unknown to most rank and file Jehovah's Witnesses. These funds do not very often go towards helping local Jehovah's Witnesses or anyone in local New Zealand communities.
This organisation does not do "charitable" acts. It uses its members as a means of income.

Yours sincerely,

Marcel Luc