After several years of legal battle, the government decided in 2019 to give Jehovah's Witnesses state subsidies.
The decision has been criticized - even by the authority responsible for the payments.
See the report:
The scars from Jehovah's - SVT Play
According to Swedish law, only religious communities that "contribute to maintaining and strengthening the basic values on which society rests" shall be granted grants.
But from within what has been identified by many as a sect comes alarms that Jehovah's Witnesses stand for the opposite.
- They work with structures that actually undermine our free society, says former member Erik Engelv, who was expelled after he came out as gay.
Threat of exclusion
Assignment review has interviewed 44 former members from various congregations around the country.
Among them are so-called "elder brothers" who are responsible for checking that members comply with the regulations.
Together, they talk about rock-hard rules - and the high price you have to pay if you do not follow them.
A Jehovah's Witness is politically neutral.
Whoever becomes a member promises never to vote in political elections and says no to military service.
Sex before marriage is not allowed and witnesses are not allowed to receive blood transfusions - not even if they risk losing their lives.
Anyone who does not follow the rules risks being excluded.
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Hear Markus about the farewell letter to his children.
Photo: SVT
Jehovah's Witnesses did not want to be interviewed for the Mission Review but wrote in an email:
.
- Exclusion is something that can be used in many different contexts, also in other organizations.
But Jehovah's Witnesses take it a step further and include a social exclusion.
It is the one that is so brutal because you lose your entire social network, says former member Karoline.
Jehovah's Witnesses: “A Declaration of Love”
Common to all the 44 former members that Assignment Review interviewed is that they have been excluded from the congregation.
The Jehovah's Witnesses' website states that the exclusion is a declaration of love, as it can be a way to get the lost person back on track, and that "when a person is excluded, we break contact and stop talking to him or her."
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Hedda fell in love with a guy outside the church - lost contact with the family.
Photo: SVT
Jehovah's Witnesses write to the Mission Review that "no one is compelled to be a Jehovah's Witness" and that "criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses is often based on incomplete or prejudiced information."
They maintain that they contribute to maintaining and strengthening the fundamental values on which society rests.
Following the granting of state subsidies to Jehovah's Witnesses, the government now wants to introduce new legislation.
- All denominations that are now within this system will be reconsidered against the new legislation, says Nina Andersson (S), State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture.