Watchtower Instructs Followers to Breach Professional Confidentiality

Author:

David A. Reed

Article ID:

DJ350

Updated: 

Jul 21, 2023

Published:

Jun 9, 2009

This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 10, number 2 (Fall 1987).


 

“Mary works as a medical assis­tant at a hospital. One requirement she has to abide by in her work is confi­dentiality. She must keep docu­ments and information pertain­ing to her work from going to unauthorized persons. Law codes in her state also regulate the disclosure of confidential in­formation on patients ….”

So begins a September 1, 1987, Watchtower magazine article that goes on to instruct Jeho­vah’s Witnesses (J.W.’s) to “breach the requirements of confidentiality because of the superior demands of divine law.” In spite of solemn oaths and laws to the contrary, the four-page article instructs J.W.’s to ‘bring a matter to the attention of the elders” in the Witness congregation, even if they learned of the matter in a con­text of professional confidence.

“Mary” in the article is a hypothetical case, but the newly enunciated policy is already making itself felt in concrete terms in the lives of Watchtower followers around the world. And it has stirred con­siderable controversy in the press over public concern that confidentiality will be shattered in hospitals, law offices, tax accounting firms, and other sen­sitive fields where Jehovah’s Witnesses are employed. The Los Angeles Times (Aug. 27, 1987) devoted 28 column-inches to the subject, including quotes from a telephone interview with Watchtower headquarters spokesman William Van De Wall. According to the Times, Van De Wall said that individu­als “who seek out an attorney or doctor would know if they were of the same religion. If a Witness wanted to avoid telling him something, he would seek someone else.” This fails to take into consideration, though, the possibility that a J.W. secretary, typist, or clerk working for a non-Witness professional might also be in a position to leak con­fidential information to sect leaders.

For example, one disgruntled Witness known to Christian Research Journal, who had been secretly purchasing Christian literature from an ex-J.W. ministry, now finds that checks he had written are being offered as evidence against him as he is called to stand trial before an internal Watchtower “judicial committee.” Did a J.W. work­ing at his local bank turn the records over to the sect? Or had the Watchtower sent a loyal follower to work at the bank where the ex-J.W. ministry’s funds are kept, to keep track of who might be contributing? The victim of this breach of bank secrecy does not know who informed on him, but he does know that continued contact with life-long friends and fam­ily—and even his marriage— could be terminated depending on the outcome of the closed-door “trial” where the checks are presented as evidence.

“The objective would not be to spy on another’s freedom but to help erring ones and to keep the Christian congregation clean,” the Watchtower article insists. These “erring ones,” though, could include not only Witnesses receiving medical treatment for venereal disease, AIDS, or pregnancy out of wed­lock, but also individuals sub­scribing to forbidden publica­tions (such as Christian Research Journal), donating blood, or receiving a transfu­sion — all of which actions would be viewed as error threatening the “cleanness” of the J.W. congregation.

Other information on Wit­ness patients/clients likely to be reported by fellow Witnesses having access to records include:

  • Donating sperm or an ovum to a fertility bank
  • Artificial insemination (which the Witnesses view as adultery)
  • Use of tobacco
  • Contributing to the cam­paign fund of a political candidate
  • Receiving income from a military or religious organization
  • Receiving income from gambling
  • Giving birthday or Christ­mas gifts
  • Receiving a speeding ticket or other fine
  • Divorce proceedings on grounds other than adultery

Since the official policy of breaking professional confiden­tiality was promulgated only a few months ago, it is yet too soon to see lawsuits from the victims of such invasion of pri­vacy. But some newspaper arti­cles appearing on the subject see this as an inevitable fallout, with employers reaping poten­tial problems from violations by their Jehovah’s Witness employ­ees. Long viewed by many as exemplary workers, the Wit­nesses may gain a different reputation in the work place as they begin to obey their organi­zation’s new instructions to break oaths and laws protecting client/patient confidentiality.

—David A. Reed

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