It comes as no surprise that American law provides that children are to be raised in the religion chosen by their parents until they are old enough to make their own decisions.

We wouldn’t sit still for people trying to entice, persuade, or pressure our children into abandoning our religion and adopting theirs instead.

To the contrary, we expect other people to respect our rights when it comes to the religious upbringing of our own children, and we need to show that same respect to Jehovah’s Witness parents as well.

But if you have contact with Jehovah’s Witness children, your heart will go out to them.

Many are required to do door-to-door witnessing alongside adults. I know several Witnesses who had to begin their “field service” work before they turned five. They dreaded going to the houses of their classmates.

Additionally, because of the Watchtower worldview, doctrines, and control, Jehovah’s Witness children are not allowed to:

  • Celebrate their own birthdays.
  • Participate in birthday parties of their friends.
  • Recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school.
  • Rise for the playing of the national anthem
  • Engage in holiday activities (including Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).
  • Become involved in patriotic observances such as on the Fourth of July.
  • Participate in competitive sports.
  • Engage in many other normal childhood activities.

They are also strongly discouraged from developing close friendships with classmates or with other “worldly” people (that is, non-Witnesses).

The Watchtower trains them to expect persecution from you (“the world”) because of their religion. Often, any open disagreement is seen as persecution.

Because of these restrictions, many—perhaps most—Jehovah’s Witness children feel ostracized.

Because they are minors and under the authority of their parents, you are very limited in what you can do. The most important thing is to make sure that neither you nor your children feed this negativity by your words, attitudes, or actions.

If you are a teacher who has Jehovah’s Witness students, don’t try to force, shame, or cajole them into engaging in activities their religion forbids.

Don’t accuse them of being unpatriotic or antisocial, and don’t allow the other children to denigrate them for obeying their parents.

In fact, I recommend that teachers who have Jehovah’s Witness students try to meet with their parents so they can educate you on what they will or won’t allow their children to do.

Ask the parents for suggestions on how to avoid problems.

For example, what would they like their children to be doing when the other children are celebrating someone’s birthday or engaging in patriotic celebrations?

Go out of your way to make clear that you respect their rights, that you value their children, and that you don’t want to do or say anything that would cause their children to feel persecuted or disrespected because of their religion.

This type of concern might well shock the parents in a good way. It doesn’t fit the expectations of persecution the Watchtower has given them, and it might give you opportunities to show them genuine Christian love.

In whatever situation you have contact with Jehovah’s Witness children, I recommend that you go out of your way to let them know that you understand that their family’s religion has restrictions, that you know they have to abide by them, and that you realize that can be hard to deal with at times. Ask them to alert you to any acceptable alternative activities in which they would like to participate.

Let them know that regardless of these issues, you will always consider yourself to be their friend and that you are more than willing to listen if at any time they would find it helpful to talk any of this over with you.

Consider talking with their parents to ask them how best to handle these situations so that their children are neither feeling pressured to join in activities that their religion forbids nor feeling ostracized if they are not invited to participate.

 

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