'Delivered to the courts'

Supreme Court cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses by country

ArmeniaEdit

On July 11, 2011, the Grand Chamber issued a ruling for Bayatyan v. Armenia; Armenia was found to be in violation of ECHR Article 9 (right to freedom of religion or belief) in the conviction of Mr. Vahan Bayatyan, a Jehovah's Witness and Armenian national, for draft evasion.^[2]

CanadaEdit

The Supreme Court of Canada has made a number of important decisions concerning Jehovah's Witnesses. These include laws that affected activities of Jehovah's Witnesses in the 1950s and more recent cases dealing with whether Witness parents had the right to decide what medical treatment was in the best interest of their children based on their faith.

On November 15, 1955 (Chaput v Romain [1955] S.C.R. 834), one of Jehovah's Witnesses successfully brought action against police officers for disrupting a religious meeting and seizing articles. The entry and the seizure were made without a warrant. No charge was laid against any of the participants including the appellant and the items seized were not returned.^[3]

On January 27, 1959, the Supreme Court of Canada found that Maurice Duplessis, the premier of Quebec, wrongfully caused the revocation of Frank Roncarelli's liquor licence. Roncarelli, one of Jehovah's Witnesses, was a restaurant owner in Montreal who offered bail security for members of his faith arrested by the Municipality. The Witnesses were frequently arrested for distributing magazines without the necessary permits under a city by-law. The Chief Prosecutor of the city, Oscar Gagnon, overwhelmed by the number of Witnesses being arrested and then released as a result of Roncarelli's intervention, contacted the Premier who spoke to Edouard Archambault, Chairman of the Quebec Liquor Commission. Extensive testimony showed the government actors believed Roncarelli was disrupting the court system, causing civil disorder, and was therefore not entitled to the liquor licence.^{[citation needed]}

On June 26, 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a 6-1 decision saying courts must take into account the maturity and decision-making capacity of minors before ruling on enforced medical treatment. The case involved a young Jehovah's Witness, identified only as A.C., who was admitted to a hospital inWinnipeg with internal bleeding as a complication of Crohn's Disease. Doctors sought a blood transfusion, but A.C. and her parents refused on religious grounds; child welfare officials moved to take her into care and a court ordered that she be given the transfusion. The judge said he was satisfied she was competent, but since she was under 16 the judge felt that her competence was immaterial to existing law.^[4] Justice Rosalie Abella wrote for the majority, "A young person is entitled to a degree of decisional autonomy commensurate with his or her maturity."^[5]

FranceEdit

On October 5, 2004, the Court of Cassation—the highest court in France for cases outside of administrative law—rejected the Witnesses' recourse against taxation at 60% of the value of some of their contributions, which the fiscal services assimilated to a legal category of donations close to that of inheritance and subject to the same taxes between non-parents. The court ruled that the tax administration could legally tax the corporation used by Jehovah's Witnesses if they received donations in the form of dons gratuits and they were not recognized as associations cultuelles.^[6]

On June 30, 2011, the European Court of Human Rights found France to be guilty in violation of ECHR Article 9 (religious freedom) in regards to the 60% tax levied on all donations received from 1993-1996. The Court found that the tax assessment represented a cut in the association's operating resources sufficient to interfere with the free exercise of its members' religion in practical terms.^[7] By 2011, the Government of France sought the Association to pay a sum of 58 million Euros. A representative of Jehovah's Witnesses in France stated that "no other major religion in France was subjected to this tax" and that "the Court saw that this was not a legitimate effort to collect revenue, but rather an attempt to use taxation as a means of restricting the worship of Jehovah's Witnesses."^[8]

GermanyEdit

In December 2000, Germany's Supreme court ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses did not have to pass a test of "loyalty to the state".^[9][10][11]

The Federal Constitutional Court held that transfusing blood to an unconsciousJehovah's Witness violated the person's will, but did not constitute a battery.^[12]

IndiaEdit

In July 1985, in the state of Kerala, some of the Jehovah's Witnesses' children were expelled from school under the instructions of Deputy Inspector of Schools for having refused to sing the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. A parent, V. J. Emmanuel, appealed to the Supreme Court of India for legal remedy. On August 11, 1986, the Supreme Court overruled the Kerala High Court, and directed the respondent authorities to re-admit the children into the school. The decision went on to add, "Our tradition teaches tolerance, ourphilosophy teaches tolerance, our Constitution practices tolerance, let us not dilute it".^[13]

JapanEdit

In 1998, The Watchtower reported that, "On March 8, 1996, the Supreme Court ofJapan [ruled that] ... Kobe Municipal Industrial Technical College violated the law by expelling Kunihito Kobayashi for his refusal to participate in martial arts training."^{[14][non-primary source needed]}

According to Awake!, "Misae Takeda, a Jehovah's Witness, was given [a] blood transfusion in 1992, while still under sedation following surgery to remove a malignant tumor of the liver." On February 29, 2000, "the four judges of the Supreme Court unanimously decided that doctors were at fault because they failed to explain that they might give her a blood transfusion if deemed necessary during the operation, thus depriving her of the right to decide whether to accept the operation or not."^[15]

PhilippinesEdit

In 1993, the Supreme Court of the Philippines held that exemption may be accorded to Jehovah's Witnesses with regard to the observance of the flag ceremony out of respect for their religious beliefs.^[16]

In 1995 and 1996, the Supreme Court of the Philippines granted an exception to laws regarding marriage to a practicing Jehovah's Witness because enforcement of those laws would have inhibited free exercise of religious beliefs.^[17][18]

RussiaEdit

After the fall of the communist bloc of nations in Eastern Europe and Asia, Jehovah's Witnesses were allowed to worship freely in those nations for the first time since World War II. However, in recent years political resistance to minority religions has prompted several court cases in the Moscow courts that have led to the denial of registration for Jehovah's Witnesses in the Moscow district.^[19][20] Jehovah's Witnesses won a favorable verdict in the European Court of Human Rights on June 10 2010 in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses of Moscow v Russia.^[21]

United StatesEdit

In the United States, numerous cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses are now landmark decisions of First Amendment law. In all, Jehovah's Witnesses brought 23 separate First Amendment actions before the U.S. Supreme Court between 1938 and 1946. Supreme Court Justice Harlan Fiske Stone once quipped, "I think the Jehovah's Witnesses ought to have an endowment in view of the aid which they give in solving the legal problems of civil liberties."^[22]

The most important U.S. Supreme Court legal victory won by the Witnesses was in the case West Virginia State Board of Education vs. Barnette (1943), in which the court ruled that school children could not be forced to pledge allegiance to or salute the U.S. flag. The Barnette decision overturned an earlier case,Minersville School District vs. Gobitis (1940), in which the court had held that Witnesses could be forced against their will to pay homage to the flag.

The fighting words doctrine was established by Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire(1942). In that case, one of Jehovah's Witnesses had reportedly told a New Hampshire town marshal who was attempting to prevent him from preaching "You are a damned racketeer" and "a damned fascist" and was arrested. The court upheld the arrest, thus establishing that "insulting or 'fighting words', those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediatebreach of the peace" are among the "well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech [which] the prevention and punishment of...have never been thought to raise any constitutional problem."

On January 15, 1951, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision of a lower court in convicting two Jehovah's Witnesses lecturers of disorderly conduct of conducting public speeches in a city park of Harford County in Maryland without permits. The Supreme Court stated that the initial conviction was based on the lack of permits that were unconstitutionally denied, therefore convictions were not able to stand. The initial conviction was declined for review by the Maryland Court of Appeals under its normal appellate power, and further declined to take the case on certiorari, stating that the issues were not "matters of public interest" which made it desirable to review. Chief Justice Fred Vinsondelivered the opinion of the Court, stating that rarely has any case been before this Court which shows so clearly an unwarranted discrimination in a refusal to issue such a license. It is true that the City Council held a hearing at which it considered the application. But we have searched the record in vain to discover any valid basis for the refusal.^[23]

On March 9, 1953, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned and remanded the Supreme Court of Rhode Island's affirmation of the conviction of an Ordained Minister of Jehovah's Witnesses for a violation of holding a religious meeting in a city park of Pawtucket. The opinion of the court was that a religious service of Jehovah's Witnesses was treated differently from a religious service of other sects. That amounts to the state preferring some religious groups over this one. The court stated that the city had not prohibited church services in the park as Catholics could hold mass in the same park and Protestants could conduct their church services there without violating the ordinance.^[24]

In a more recent case, Jehovah's Witnesses refused to get government permits to preach door-to-door in Stratton, Ohio. In 2002, the case was heard in the U.S. Supreme Court (Watchtower Society v. Village of Stratton — 536 U.S. 150 (2002)). The Court ruled in favor of Jehovah's Witnesses, holding that making it a misdemeanor (to engage in door-to-door advocacy without first registering with the mayor and receiving a permit) violates the first Amendment as it applies to religious proselytizing, anonymous political speech, and the distribution of handbills.

In the Nazi years, about 10,000 Witnesses were imprisoned in concentration camps, most of them of German nationality. After 1939, small numbers of Witnesses from Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland (some of them refugees from Germany) were arrested and deported to Dachau, Bergqn-Belsen, Buchenwald, Sachsen-hausen, Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, Mauthausen, and other concentration camps. An estimated 2,500 to 5,000 Witnesses died in the camps or prisons. More than 200 men were tried by the German War Court and executed for refusing military service.

During the liberation of the camps, Jehovah’s Witnesses continued their work, moving among the survivors, making converts.

On conditional immortality,Pros and Cons II

On conditional immortality:Pros and Cons

On conditional immortality

exodus36-40ASV

Exodus 36 ►

American Standard Version The Tabernacle Underwritten 1And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise-hearted man, in whom Jehovah hath put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Jehovah hath commanded. 2And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Jehovah had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: 3and they received of Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, wherewith to make it. And they brought yet unto him freewill-offerings every morning. 4And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought. 5And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Jehovah commanded to make. 6And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. 7For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. The Construction Proceeds (Exodus 26:1-6) 8And all the wise-hearted men among them that wrought the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the skilful workman, Bezalel made them. 9The length of each curtain was eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains had one measure. 10And he coupled five curtains one to another: and the other five curtains he coupled one to another. 11And he made loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the second coupling. 12Fifty loops made he in the one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling: the loops were opposite one to another.13And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to another with the clasps: so the tabernacle was one. The Curtains of Goats' Hair (Exodus 26:7-14) 14And he made curtains of goats hair for a tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them. 15The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of each curtain: the eleven curtains had one measure. 16And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. 17And he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which was outmost in the second coupling. 18And he made fifty clasps of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one. The Covering of Skins 19And he made a covering for the tent of rams'skins dyed red, and a covering of sealskins above. The Boards and Sockets (Exodus 26:15-30) 20And he made the boards for the tabernacle, of acacia wood, standing up. 21Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board. 22Each board had two tenons, joined one to another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle. 23And he made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side southward. 24And he made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons.25And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards, 26and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 27And for the hinder part of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. 28And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the hinder part. 29And they were double beneath; and in like manner they were entire unto the top thereof unto one ring: thus he did to both of them in the two corners. 30And there were eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; under every board two sockets. The Bars 31And he made bars of acacia wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, 32and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the hinder part westward. 33And he made the middle bar to pass through in the midst of the boards from the one end to the other.34And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. The Veil (Exodus 26:31-35) 35And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim, the work of the skilful workman, made he it. 36And he made thereunto four pillars of acacia, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; And he cast for them four sockets of silver. The Curtain for the Door (Exodus 26:36-37) 37And he made a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; 38and the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold; and their five sockets were of brass.    Exodus 37 ► American Standard Version Constructing the Ark (Exodus 25:10-16) 1And Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it: 2and he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about. 3And he cast for it four rings of gold, in the four feet thereof; even two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. 4And he made staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. 5And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. 6And he made a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. 7And he made two cherubim of gold; of beaten work made he them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat; 8one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end: of one piece with the mercy-seat made he the cherubim at the two ends thereof. 9And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy-seat were the faces of the cherubim. The Table of Showbread (Exodus 25:23-30; Leviticus 24:5-9) 10And he made the table of acacia wood: two cubits was the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof: 11and he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereto a crown of gold round about. 12And he made unto it a border of a handbreadth round about, and made a golden crown to the border thereof round about. 13And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that were on the four feet thereof.14Close by the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table. 15And he made the staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the table. 16And he made the vessels which were upon the table, the dishes thereof, and the spoons thereof, and the bowls thereof, and the flagons thereof, wherewith to pour out, of pure gold. The Lampstand 17And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick, even its base, and its shaft; its cups, it knops, and its flowers, were of one piece with it: 18and there were six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof: 19three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower, and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower: so for the six branches going out of the candlestick. 20And in the candlestick were four cups made like almond-blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof; 21and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of it. 22Their knops and their branches were of one piece with it: the whole of it was one beaten work of pure gold. 23And he made the lamps thereof, seven, and the snuffers thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, of pure gold. 24Of a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof. The Altar of Incense (Exodus 30:1-10) 25And he made the altar of incense of acacia wood: a cubit was the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, foursquare; and two cubits was the height thereof; the horns thereof were of one piece with it. 26And he overlaid it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it: and he made unto it a crown of gold round about. 27And he made for it two golden rings under the crown thereof, upon the two ribs thereof, upon the two sides of it, for places for staves wherewith to bear it. 28And he made the staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. 29And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer.    Exodus 38 ► American Standard Version The Altar of Burnt Offerings (Leviticus 1:1-17; Leviticus 8:18-21) 1And he made the altar of burnt-offering of acacia wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof, foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof. 2And he made the horns thereof upon the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of one piece with it: and he overlaid it with brass. 3And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basins, the flesh-hooks, and the firepans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass. 4And he made for the altar a grating of network of brass, under the ledge round it beneath, reaching halfway up. 5And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grating of brass, to be places for the staves. 6And he made the staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with brass. 7And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, wherewith to bear it; he made it hollow with planks. The Bronze Basin 8And he made the laver of brass, and the base thereof of brass, of the mirrors of the ministering women that ministered at the door of the tent of meeting. The Tabernacle Courtyard 9And he made the court: for the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, a hundred cubits; 10their pillars were twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. 11And for the north side a hundred cubits, their pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. 12And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver. 13And for the east side eastward fifty cubits. 14The hangings for the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three; 15and so for the other side: on this hand and that hand by the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. 16All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen. 17And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars, and their fillets, of silver; and the overlaying of their capitals, of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. 18And the screen for the gate of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.19And their pillars were four, and their sockets four, of brass; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, and their fillets, of silver. 20And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass. The Cost of the Tabernacle 21This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. 22And Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that Jehovah commanded Moses. 23And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skilful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen. 24All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. 25And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was a hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:26a beka a head, that is , half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that passed over to them that were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men. 27And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; a hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. 28And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five'shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their capitals, and made fillets for them. 29And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. 30And therewith he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, and the brazen altar, and the brazen grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar, 31and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.    Exodus 39 ► American Standard Version The Ephod (Exodus 28:6-14) 1And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 2And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 3And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, the work of the skilful workman. 4They made shoulder-pieces for it, joined together; at the two ends was it joined together. 5And the skilfully woven band, that was upon it, wherewith to gird it on, was of the same piece and like the work thereof; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 6And they wrought the onyx stones, inclosed in settings of gold, graven with the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the children of Israel. 7And he put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel; as Jehovah commanded Moses. The Breastpiece (Exodus 28:15-30) 8And he made the breastplate, the work of the skilful workman, like the work of the ephod; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 9It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being double. 10And they set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle was the first row; 11and the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; 12and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 13and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jaspar: they were inclosed in inclosings of gold in their settings. 14And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, every one according to his name, for the twelve tribes. 15And they made upon the breastplate chains like cords, of wreathen work of pure gold. 16And they made two settings of gold, and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. 17And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. 18And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains they put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, in the forepart thereof.19And they made two rings of gold, and put them upon the two ends of the breastplate, upon the edge thereof, which was toward the side of the ephod inward. 20And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in the forepart thereof, close by the coupling thereof, above the skilfully woven band of the ephod. 21And they did bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be upon the skilfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as Jehovah commanded Moses. Additional Priestly Garments (Exodus 28:31-43) 22And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue.23And the hole of the robe in the midst thereof, as the hole of a coat of mail, with a binding round about the hole of it, that it should not be rent. 24And they made upon the skirts of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen . 25And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the skirts of the robe round about, between the pomegranates; 26a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, upon the skirts of the robe round about, to minister in; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 27And they made the coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, 28and the mitre of fine linen, and the goodly head-tires of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined linen, 29and the girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 30And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like the engravings of a signet, HOLY TO JEHOVAH.31And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten it upon the mitre above; as Jehovah commanded Moses. Moses Approves the Work 32Thus was finished all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting: and the children of Israel did according to all that Jehovah commanded Moses; so did they. 33And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the Tent, and all its furniture, its clasps, its boards, it bars, and its pillars, and it sockets; 34and the covering of rams'skins dyed red, and the covering of sealskins, and the veil of the screen;35the ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy-seat; 36the table, all the vessels thereof, and the showbread; 37the pure candlestick, the lamps thereof, even the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for the light; 38and the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen for the door of the Tent; 39the brazen altar, and its grating of brass, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base; 40the hangings of the court, its pillars, and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court, the cords thereof, and the pins thereof, and all the instruments of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting; 41the finely wrought garments for ministering in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office. 42According to all that Jehovah commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. 43And Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it; as Jehovah had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them    Exodus 40 ► American Standard Version The Tabernacle Set Up (Exodus 25:1-9; Hebrews 9:1-10) 1And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 2On the first day of the first month shalt thou rear up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. 3And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and thou shalt screen the ark with the veil. 4And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. 5And thou shalt set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. 6And thou shalt set the altar of burnt-offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. 7And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and shalt put water therein. 8And thou shalt set up the court round about, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court.9And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the furniture thereof: and it shall be holy. 10And thou shalt anoint the altar of burnt-offering, and all its vessels, and sanctify the altar: and the altar shall be most holy. 11And thou shalt anoint the laver and its base, and sanctify it.12And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tent of meeting, and shalt wash them with water. 13And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments; and thou shalt anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.14And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them; 15and thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office: and their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.16Thus did Moses: according to all that Jehovah commanded him, so did he. 17And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. 18And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up its pillars.19And he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 20And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy-seat above upon the ark: 21and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 22And he put the table in the tent of meeting, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the veil. 23And he set the bread in order upon it before Jehovah; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 24And he put the candlestick in the tent of meeting, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. 25And he lighted the lamps before Jehovah; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 26And he put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil: 27and he burnt thereon incense of sweet spices; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 28And he put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. 29And he set the altar of burnt-offering at the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered upon it the burnt-offering and the meal-offering; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 30And he set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water therein, wherewith to wash.31And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat; 32when they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 33And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. The Glory of the Lord (Numbers 9:15-23) 34Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. 35And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. 36And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys: 37but if the cloud was not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of Jehovah was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

If the science is so settled why are Darwinists going 'cruisin''?

Chicken or Egg? More Flirting with Lamarck

Evolution News & Views July 3, 2015 4:19 AM

Here's a cute paper, "The Lamarckian chicken and the Darwinian egg," inBiology Direct, by a couple of Israeli researchers. It's open access so you can read the whole thing.

The Abstract is concise:

"Which came first, the Chicken or the Egg?" We suggest this question is not a paradox. The Modern Synthesis envisions speciation through genetic changes in germ cells via random mutations, an "Egg first" scenario, but perhaps epigenetic inheritance mechanisms can transmit adaptive changes initiated in the soma ("Chicken first").

More:

In this commentary paper we wish to use the well-known "Chicken and Egg" paradox as a gateway for discussing different processes of evolution. While in the biological sense this is not a paradox at all, the metaphor is still useful because it allows examining of the distinction between Lamarckian and Darwinian evolution, and specifically, since it enables us to raise an important and unsolved question: "Can the phenotype affect the genotype?" or in other words, "can epigenetics translate into genetics"?

What makes speculative articles such as this ultimately disappointing is the absence of supporting data (i.e., evidence) for the mechanisms being proposed.

From a philosophical standpoint, however, the speculations are fascinating -- because they indicate what researchers are willing to try, in the face of the supposed "highly confirmed" status of textbook evolutionary theory.

If the current Darwinian theory were in such good shape, why do so many people keep wandering off into heresy?