Should Jehovah's Witnesses be taken to court for the practice of shunning?

[Caribbean Man]

As others have said the law cannot force persons to associate with other persons. I don't think you can sue someone for refusing to associate with you. However I think a case can be made against the organization for teaching members that they are not to communicate with their own relatives.

A person who is being shunned by his own family can perhaps put forth the argument that this cruel treatment is not born of his family's own free will but they are doing it under a form of psychological and emotional duress resulting from the organization's teachings, and the threat of being ostracized themselves if they do not comply.

I think the closest parallel to this kind of argument holding the organization accountable for its teachings would be existing laws in many countries that criminalize hate speech or inciting hate. The organization's teachings does, in essence, incite a person's family to treat him badly - to treat him in a way they otherwise would not treat him had they not been thus incited by the organization's teachings.

It would still be a somewhat difficult case to make given the competing interest of freedom of religion. One of the ironies of our modern justice systems being more tolerant and respectful of religious freedom is that it at times gives religions the freedom to punish others harshly for asserting their own religious freedom. Laws that were once established to enable others freely practice their religion are being used to assert the right of religious organizations to severely punish individuals for asserting their individual religious freedom.

The laws are, as is often the case, lagging behind the collective moral zeitgeist. There may be laws in the future outlawing the inciting of persons to shun his own family on religious grounds. All our consciences clearly testify to this being a cruel and immoral practice. The problem is that some like the JWs allow the fear of man and a misguided fear of God to overrule the proddings of their conscience.