and for the rights of others to be able to stand up, also. and i'm not very articulate in speaking, but i'm just overwhelmed at how much this has meant to me and has meant to everyone, all the children over the years that have not had to fight the fight that we did. and i was able to help them in some way. >> ladies and gentlemen, from go by this to barnette.

i am privileged to introduce the keynote speaker, he is general counsel for jehovah's witnesses and he will be presenting on the topic jehovah's witnesses, canaries in the coal mine if human rights. ladies and gentlemen, phil brumley. >> it is a privilege to be here to commemorate the 75th anniversary of this victory of west virginia versus barnette and of course you want to thank

mr. peterson for what they've done and for the office of public information in collaborating with the jackson center. as mentioned, the title of our consideration is jehovah's witnesses, canaries in the coal mine if human rights. mining is a very dangerous job and you hear of mining collapses all the time, but did you know that they face another danger and that is poisonous gas that they are not aware of. as recently as 1980 coal miners had the custom of carrying canaries with them as they worked in the earth. because of their anatomy, canaries received one dose of oxygen and they breathe in and another dose of oxygen when they breathe out. as a result, they get a double dose of air and that means that canaries are more susceptible to toxic gases like carbon monoxide and methane. so they knew that if the canary

started to show signs of distress, they had to get out, and if they did not get out, it could cost them their lives. as those minors depended on canaries to save their lives, when it came to human rights is i'm going to explain, jehovah's witnesses are the canaries in the coal mine of human rights. in the following minutes i want to discuss four questions with you and respond to them. first, are jehovah's witnesses social activists? if not, why are they engaged in so much litigation? and why are the legal struggles of jehovah's witnesses, the canaries of the coal mine if human rights of interest to you and to me? and, finally, how have the victories obtained by them enhanced human rights not just here in the u.s., but worldwide? so let me tell you a story.

some time ago a small group of jehovah's witnesses gathered together to study the bible and they weren't meeting at the kingdom hall, but rather at a private home. this evening something unusual happened. three men knocked on the door and asked if they could join the small group in the study of the bible. so the group was surprised and invited them in and gave them a bible and a publication they were studying. what the witnesses did not know is that these men were government agents and they had come to spy on the small group and later at trial they testified against this group and as a result, four of the witnesses were convicted of sedition and sentenced to three years in prison. as i told you that story, what country comes to mind? would that be russia? maybe china? saudi arabia? no, this happened in 1918 in

san bernardino, california. the people arrested were these four people. what was the crime? what have they done to deserve sentencing to prison? they were using a copy of a mystery in connection with their study of the bible. earlier that same year, the leadership of the international bible students association, as they were known then, were convicted of espionage for having written and distributed this mystery. these gentlemen were sentenced to 20 years in the federal penitentiary for having produced that book, which leads to the obvious question, what was so dangerous about this book? with remarkable clarity that publication documented the failings of the catholic church during the middle ages. unable to challenge the

accuracy of what was in that book, the church used the political influence to convince federal authorities that they were nothing more than agents of the german government helping germany when the first world war. it wasn't just the catholic church that went after them. protestant leaders went in as well. one reverend said this in a newspaper that was produced in brooklyn. one of your patriotic duties that confronts u.s. citizens is the suppression of the international bible students association with headquarters in brooklyn. they have, under the guise of religion, been carrying on german propaganda. just one year later after the leadership had spent less than a year in prison, the actual ludicrousness was seen to all and the leadership of jehovah's witnesses were released and set free. one year later, 1920, the four

witnesses i spoke to about earlier went to prison, even after the leadership had been released. they went to prison in may 1920 and were sentenced to three years. three of them went to make the island federal penitentiary and back then california did not have a federal penitentiary for women so emma martin was sentenced to san quentin state penitentiary. on june 20, across the united states, jehovah's witnesses sent telegrams to president wilson condemning what had happened and the very next morning, monday, june 21, wilson pardoned all four and they were immediately released. so what i just described for you this morning are the first two legal battles of jehovah's witnesses. these are certainly not the last. the last time we were in front

of the supreme court of the u.s. was in 2002 and that had to do with litigation between jehovah's witnesses and the town of stratton, ohio. during the 1990s the municipal authorities had insisted that jehovah's witnesses obtain written permission from the municipal authorities before they could go door-to-door. efforts were made to resolve the conflict, but to no avail and the matter was taken to court. jehovah's witnesses lost in the district court and on the circuit court as well and then took the case to the supreme court. on july 17, 2002, the supreme court ruled in favor of them. judge rehnquist was the only dissenter. in the days following the decision, uniformly across the board legal scholars raised supreme court or what it had done. let me share with you one quote. this is from the senior scholar

of the first amendment center. he said, jehovah's witnesses have done it again. they have chopped up the 48th supreme court victory -- he missed two, the number is 50 -- an extraordinary line of cases that have significantly expanded first amendment protections for all americans. notice what he added. we all owe the jehovah's witnesses a debt of gratitude no matter how many times they are insulted, run out of town, or physically attacked, they keep on fighting for their and our freedom of religion and when they win, we all win. so that is legal history of jehovah's witnesses. since 1918 through 2002. that leads us to the first question. are they social activists? do you know that the numbers could suggest so. jehovah's witnesses worldwide

have obtained 371 supreme court victories in 63 countries. that includes 50 victories here in the u.s. and 62 favorable decisions before the european court of human rights. but that leads us to the second question. why are jehovah's witnesses involved in so much litigation? to answer this question we have to go back to the bible to understand a little bit about the beliefs of jehovah's witnesses. just as a foundation they believe that the bible is the word of god and you have to obey what is written in the bible. so one of the standards in the bible is found in romans 13:1. let every person be in subjection to the superior authorities for there is no authority except by god. the existing authority stand placed in the relative positions by god.

so a general standard followed by jehovah's witnesses is that to have god's approval, you should be a loyal, honest citizen. so do you remember when judith gobitas klose went to trial and the attorney asked do you believe in being loyal to your country? answer, yes. do you obey the regulations?>> yes. is saluting the flag the only regulation you had difficulty with? yes. so she wanted to be obedient and a loyal citizen as far she could. but do remember in romans 13:1, they use the word relative authority. so there is an exception to the standard and that is one secular laws conflict with divine mandates. so let me share one of those divine mandates with you. this is found in matthew and

this is after the resurrection of jesus and he approaches his followers and the versus read like this. jesus approached and said to them all authority -- i'm going to pause here -- all authority, that meant according to jesus authority in heaven and authority on earth -- he said all authority has been given me in heaven and on earth. go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations teaching them to observe all the things i've commanded you and i am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things. so there was a divine mandate to talk to others about their faith and the early christians did just that. not months after the ascension of jesus to heaven the apostles were called in before the high court in jerusalem because they had been talking about jesus. the high court said to the apostles, we strictly ordered you not to keep teaching on the basis of this name and yet you

have filled jerusalem with your teaching and what was their response? these are famous words. in answer peter and the other apostles said, we must obey god as ruler rather than men. so you may not agree with the beliefs of jehovah's witnesses and you may not understand all the beliefs of jehovah's witnesses, but these are the principles that motivate their conduct. to be law-abiding as far as possible and to be loyal citizens, but when push comes to shove and the secular authorities demand something of them that conflicts with what they understands the bible to teach, there is no discussion and no debate. jehovah's witnesses have to follow what is written in the bible. so let me answer those first two questions. are they social activists? the answer is no. they view litigation as a

solution of last resort. but why are they before the courts so often? well, they resort to litigation only on those few occasions when subjection to secular law would bring them into conflict with divine mandate. now, i get down to the question you are interested in. why should all of this matter to you? many of you are not jehovah's witnesses. so what relevance does this have in your life? you woke up yesterday. the younger ones went to school and others went to work and maybe you had household chores to take care of or maybe yesterday was a day of leisure and you could relax and take it easy. but as you went around your life yesterday, you did what you did without thinking most likely about the fundamental freedoms, the fundamental right to enjoy. for example, it ever crossed your mind that if you wanted to

talk to your neighbors that you would first have to go downtown and get written permission from a municipal authority to go talk to your neighbors. that would not come into your mind. it never came into your mind that you could be forced if you were in school to say something you didn't believe or that if you have children in school, that your children could be forced to say something that they didn't believe. and it certainly did not come into your mind that if you talked to someone about your faith or if you are an atheist and wanted to talk about the fact that you were an atheist and others should be an atheist as well that you could go to jail just for saying those things. here's the point. at crucial turning points in the history of the united states groups of people, notably jehovah's witnesses stood up and challenged the authorities when those rights were challenged or threatened.

so when it comes to human rights, jehovah's witnesses are the canaries. history and current events confirmed that worldwide jehovah's witnesses are one of the first groups to be threatened with the loss of civil and fundamental rights. the second point, history and current events also confirm that when the rights of jehovah's witnesses or threatened, the rights of others will soon be undermined as well and conversely, history and current events confirmed that when they are successful in defending their rights, the rights of the majority are similarly benefited. let me give you two historical examples of this. you know that they go door to door and talk to people about their faith and maybe on saturday morning they ring your doorbell and you wondered who was bothering you at that hour. and maybe it was irritating to you that they came in one talk to. so why do they go door to door

and what did the courts have to say about this? during the 1920s and the 1930s a real effort was made to talk to others about their faith and as a result of this to talk to others about their faith. as a result of this it was not uncommon for jehovah's witnesses to be arrested. this was just one example. the journalists had a little bit of fun with the j. 76 jehovah rights jailed in joliet. that's a little town in chicago. when they would come to town and the municipal authorities would round them up and put them in jail just as fast as they could. as a result of this the case is started winding their way through the courts. frankly, ladies and gentlemen, the supreme court started drowning in jehovah's witnesses appeals. in 1939 the supreme court had rendered five decisions all confirming the right of free speech and freedom of religion that witnesses could do just

that they were doing. in spite of these victories municipal authorities continued arresting jehovah's witnesses. the supreme court thought what can we do to stem this tide of jehovah witness appeal. in 1940 they found what they thought was the ideal case. does involve new and jesse and russell cantwell in new haven, connecticut. they were arrested and the case found its way to the supreme court. may 20, 1940, unanimously the supreme court held in favor of the cantwell family. let me read you one sentence that shows you a turning point in the progression of american jurisprudence. the court said this. the first amendment declares that congress shall make no war restricting the free exercise of religion. up until cantwell the supreme

court had interpreted the first amendment as protecting people in the united states from wrongs committed by federal authorities. who was arrested jehovah's witnesses? not the federal authorities? it was the municipal authorities. and a landmark turnaround the supreme court added this sentence. the 14th amendment has rendered the legislatures of the state in connecticut as incompetent as congress to enact such laws. this was a shift that significantly expanded the protection of the first amendment. as an american today you are protected under the first amendment not just by wrongs committed by federal authorities but wrongs committed by state and municipal authorities. who won that right for you? jehovah's witnesses. just two weeks after this unanimous decision the supreme court handed down the crushing

defeat that we have talked about this morning. you know the issue. can young skills children before so pledge allegiance when doing so would violate their religious beliefs. the state fought vigorously to the effect that the government had the authority and had to do what they were doing. the state said this. such a demonstration of disrespect as refusing to salute to the government will influence and affect other people's and the school and respective communities and ultimately the nation itself will be shaken and demoralized. do you get the point there in common english? the state was saying if we let children of jehovah's witnesses refuse to salute the flag that could infect other students and in turn infect their parents and in turn infect the feeling

of patriotism across the united states. we might even lose the war. that was a very powerful argument. by and 8-1 margin the court agreed with the state. they said this. a society which is dedicated to the preservation of freedom may and self protection. the courts have basically to protect our very survival we are going to obligate these students to say something they don't believe. when the case came down as you have heard from the fine ladies that spoke this morning it was not just an esoteric decision about whether or not to salute the flag. the message received in the united states as a result of the decision was that jehovah's witnesses are bad because they are a threat to the survival of the united states. this unleashed a wave of persecution during the early 40s the likes of which have never

been seen since. there was a short video clip describing what happened. >> on june 3, 1940 the supreme court ruled 8-1 against jehovah's witnesses. a ruling that would rock the country. within days of this decision kingdom hall in kennebunk, maine was torched. in illinois a mob attacked witnesses as they were preaching turning over their cars and destroying their literature. in texas a man was attacked by a mob the mob that was determined to make him as salute the flag. >> by now they had the flag

there. they would hold up my hand in this fashion and that made them very angry. >> the mob through the rope over a pipe and then pulled him up. he woke up in jail and near death. >> the next thing i knew a doctor was bringing me to pick up the marshal said he is the most stubborn devil i have ever seen in my life. so i knew then that i have not compromised.

>> soma target others and others would run out of town. several were castrated. this was not just from one or two communities but literally from maine to california and washington to georgia. >> not just this clip but as you have heard from the professor last night and in the program this morning as a result of the mob violence against jehovah's witnesses the country started to take notice of what was happening. one historian said this. the legal, meaning the police helped, and illegal, meaning the police did not interfere persecution of jehovah's witnesses from 1941 to 1943 was the greatest outbreak of religious intolerance and 20th- century america. an interesting little factoid. during these same three years of intense persecution jehovah's witnesses in the

united states grew by an average of 15% per year from 48 to 72,000 over the same three years. this takes us to west virginia versus barnett. as was demonstrated this morning the mistreatment of jehovah's witnesses hit the conscience of every honest hearted american. the supreme court also had a conscience and realized it had made a big mistake. so much so that when walter barnett brought his case to court the district court ruled in favor of the family. of course, the matter went all the way to the supreme court. this resulted in the famous decision that we are commemorating 75 years later. the supreme court said as has been mentioned those who begin the elimination and decent sin find themselves the exterminating dissenters. compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard. ladies and gentlemen, i want

you to take a step back for a moment. put this issue on the shelf for a moment. barnett also stands for something very big and different. in this decision justice frankfurter had argued strenuously back government have the right to compel the flag salute and went government obligated people to do something people should obey. his thought was at that time that this was required in order to save the unanimity of the government. but as was said in the barnett decision the very purpose of the bill of rights was to withdraw certain subjects from political controversy. the basic point being that the courts did stand in the place to protect individual rights. the shift was if you do not like what the law is so in a new legislature. that is how you change things.

the barnett case said minorities will never be able to win an election, will never be able to protect themselves and the legislature. it is up to the courts to protect religious freedom and minorities. this is what phil donahue said earlier this morning. the barnett decision was uniformly positive. christians set this. this court has cleared up a whole range of cases involving freedom of conscience. all of them an outgrowth of activities of jehovah's witnesses. the constitutional guarantees of religious liberty have been affirmed. you know you have an occasion like this and you tend to overstate things and you might even think this program is really excellent but didn't they all kind of go over the top. let me tell you categorically. the legalist dollars recognized barnett as the single most important decision of the supreme court.

for example a professor from harvard set this. he was asked to select the five most important supreme court decisions and of those five which five was the best. he said this. if we had to preserve just one opinion to show some other civilization what american constitutional law is all about i would pick the barnett case. he is not alone. a professor from the university of oklahoma said this. barnett ranks among the most important and enduring supreme court cases in terms of free speech and jurisprudence. i would deem it without question the most important case in supreme court history. a fixed star in the constitution. let me go back to my third question. what does all of this have to do with you? particularly if you are not jehovah's witness. without any kind of pride to say what history brings out jehovah's witnesses have stood up at important times in the history of the united states to

fight for their rights. in so doing they guaranteed the rights for all americans. before concluding i want to make two points. i really hope that you take this to heart. the point is that fundamental freedoms can be won and they can be lost >> reporter: the second point, the battle continues. can i underline that? for example when barnett was decided as a result of that the supreme court in argentina, canada, costa rica, ghana, india, the philippines, and rwanda all followed it. they all ruled in favor of schoolchildren in those countries. for example in canada in 1945 children before the canada supreme court ruled in favor of them had been sent to foster homes and some parents were sentenced to jail. in argentina in 1979 the

supreme court handed down a decision exonerated jehovah's witnesses for their refusal to salute the flag. do you know what is fascinating about this? at the time that the argentina supreme court handed down this decision the worship of jehovah's witnesses in argentina was under band. said the supreme court said even though it is illegal to be a jehovah's witness if he happened to be one the state cannot obligate you to solidify. now that case not only resulted in a favorable ruling for alejandra wilma but over 1000 other jehovah's witnesses who were facing trial in argentina because of their beliefs. i will wrap up with one episode that i really hope you listen to me about this. there are a and a half-million jehovah's witnesses around the world and it is not easy to be one of them. there are 230 jehovah's witnesses in prison right now.

53 are in jail. three of them for over 25 years. there's also jehovah's witnesses in jail. 117 in south korea. nine in singapore and over 40 in russia. 11 and turkmenistan. i want to just wrap up by telling you about jehovah's witnesses in russia. this is what i am talking about when i say that the battle continues. there's 175,000 jehovah's witnesses in russia. many of them are third and fourth generation witnesses. records confirm that they started worshiping in russia in 1891. they had legal status for a while until the russian revolution in 1917. they were under band. from then on 1917 until 1991 to be a jehovah's witness meant

you could go to a communist gulag like this. literally tens of thousands of jehovah's witnesses lived their lives in siberia because they refused to relent with their faith. in 1991 with the collapse of the soviet union they gained legal status again. during this time there was a peaceful era for a time. the orthodox church went after them and the soviet authorities backed the orthodox church. as a result in 2017 jehovah's witnesses were once again band. let's just pause a minute. have at the russian constitution guarantee freedom of religion? how do you ban 175,000 people. they started by saying this. the literature that they have is extremist because it says that you have to obey the bible. some of the things in the bible the government does not agree with. does that sound familiar.

it is the same thing that was happening in the united states as what is happening in russia today. the literature was declared extremist and those who produce and distribute the literature were declared extremist. on that list is al qaeda. the russian authorities equate being one of jehovah's witnesses to being a member of al qaeda. if you happen to meet and gather to read this literature you are also an extremist. what is happening to jehovah's witnesses in russia today. let me show you.

>> jehovah's witnesses were persecuted in the fascist era. there were not persecuted for being extremist. on the contrary they were persecuted for being pacifists. and not wanting to cooperate in the military is a sin of society. in a way they were persecuted for being pacifists. it is quite ridiculous. >> many of these were for some other threat that was not religious but political.

often later it is quite unexpected. >> it is what russia is doing to jehovah's witnesses is illegal on the basis of the convention that they subscribed. >> it means that at least the adult jehovah's witnesses may potentially be criminally prosecuted. there is not a single democratic country with this kind of a mechanism. >> you think that fundamental freedoms exist and always will but this was happening to the

largest religious minority in russia as we speak. when we get back to that point jehovah's witnesses if the global community does not stand up for jehovah's witnesses in russia what will happen to the rights of others in russia? the rights of jehovah's witnesses are undermined in russia? what about the rights of others. think about what you have heard today. the wonderful decision in barnett. please don't put this down as just an interesting historic fact. something that does not have a lot of relevance in your life. it has quite a lot of relevant in your life but as we mentioned the battle continues. [applause] saturday on book tv starting at noon eastern coverage of the 12th annual savannah book festival from savannah, georgia. this year's authors include chris with every man a king.

larry loftus and his book codename leaves. and charles graber on his book the breakthrough. immunotherapy on the race to cure cancer. sunday night at 9:00 eastern jason from the washington post will recount the 544 days he was held in an iranian prison in his book reason or. is interviewed by democratic congressman jared huffman. >> you recounted that dan a lot of detail and it was a terrible day. you were blindfolded and driven to one of the most notorious prisons in the world separated from your wife. >> that is about as bad as it has gotten for me. i will tell you on that day i still assume that this would get worked out quickly.

that the goal of these people. at that will point we were unclear about which faction of the apparatus and taken over the home. at some point the goal was to scare us and this would end. this weekend american history tv looks back 50 years. it was ruled that students do not lose their first amendment rights on school grounds. two of the students involved in the case mary beth and john tinker talk about their experiences and take questions from students during an event hosted by the state historical society of iowa. >> how many cases does the supreme court take? not very many. they take about 80 cases out of

10,000. this was an important case because it had to do with students piece rights. >> it was also split because it was a 7-2 split. >> it 8:00 american history tv will continue the discussion as they take your questions and comments about their experience. much american history tv this weekend on c-span three. two teams of litigators contribute to a competition answering questions about the history of the u.s. supreme court. the event is hosted by