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I doubt I’d want my child in regular Bible debates in front of the class (especially without proper preparation from the WOL). I also wouldn’t want my kid being taught “the bible” by a non-witness. On the other hand, as kids grow, not only will they have their own questions but they’ll also have to give a defence of our beliefs to schoolmates and possibly even teachers at times (although the power imbalance in that situation might be less fair). As with anything, there are risks and potential rewards. If they had a junior apostate in their class it could be very dangerous.

Most of the founders believed in God but had no use for state-sanctioned religion. Thomas Jefferson famously created his own version of the Bible by removing all references to miracles. Many were influenced by Deism but were nominally Unitarians. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Founding-Fathers-Deism-and-Christianity-1272214 I found this comment by a historian on another website regarding the founding fathers: "When the United States was founded, most states had some form of established religion at the state level. This often included restrictions on non-Christians holding public office at the state level; in some cases it also restricted franchise only to Christians. Most states criminalized blasphemy. In New England, tax dollars supported Protestant churches and paid the salaries of clergy. The last state to abolish its religious establishment was Massachusetts, which did so in 1833. This means that for over half a century of U.S. history, there was an "official" religion at the state level in most places. Restrictions on non-Christians holding higher office persisted; New Hampshire, for instance, only allowed Jews franchise in 1877. A coalition of deistic intellectuals and members of dissenting churches (particularly Baptists) vigorously opposed religious establishments. In Virginia this coalition was led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Madison's 1785 Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments might be the kind of document you're seeking. It argues against any state support or even recognition of religion. Thomas Jefferson's Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom was enacted in 1786, disestablishing religion in Virginia. Virginia is something of an outlier in the United States, though; it disestablished religion fairly completely and comparatively early. At the federal level, the Constitution is an interesting document. The document itself (excluding the Bill of Rights) only makes one clear reference to religion, forbidding religious tests or oaths for office. This was controversial at the time, and many of the ratification debates included discussion of this provision. Historian Denise A. Spellberg has a fascinating article about how the hypothetical prospect of a Muslim being president was often used in these discussions. In reality, these abstract debates about Muslims were used to deal with the fact that most Americans were really more concerned about Catholics being President than Muslims. These debates might be interesting in reflecting on to what degree the U.S. was or wasn't a Christian country. The First Amendment, which was included in the Bill of Rights, obviously addresses religion: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". It seems to forbid the federal government from establishing a national church, but the wording is a bit ambiguous. I think most scholars would agree that it was also intended to leave intact existing state establishments. This is why it's worded that Congress should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Congress was not supposed to make laws about religion because it was a state matter. This was a compromise that was essentially worked out between those New England elites who supported state establishments and those who wanted to eliminate them. Congress did support religion in other ways - it had legislative chaplains, for example. It's important to note that the free exercise clause of the First Amendment did not apply to the states until 1941, when in Cantwell v. Connecticut the Supreme Court suggested that the First Amendment protected an individual's religious expression from both the federal government and the states. In 1947, in Everson v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court held that the establishment clause applied to the states. Ideas of church-state separation evolved considerably in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I would caution against overemphasizing the importance of Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli. No comment from the debate about the treaty survives, so it's hard to say what Congress thought of it or if they even read it closely. Its author, Joel Barlow, was an polarizing figure, probably the first atheist in the United States. Article 11 was attacked in the contemporary press. Opponents of church-state separation are also keen to point out that while the Treaty of Tripoli might be law, the Supreme Court has equally ruled the U.S. was a Christian nation in the 1892 case Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States. In summary, the federal government never had an established religion. Religion was largely the concern of states, some of which did have established religions. Recommended Readings: Hamburger, Philip. Separation of Church and State. Harvard University Press, 2004. Hutson, James H. Church and State in America: The First Two Centuries. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Sehat, David. The Myth of American Religious Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Spellberg, D. A. “Could a Muslim Be President? An Eighteenth-Century Constitutional Debate.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 39, no. 4 (July 31, 2006): 485–506. Witte, John Jr., and Joel A. Nichols. Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment. Third Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2011. You do understand that just because reading the Bible is legal in certain schools, this does not mean that kids will be learning the truth?

Of course I have no idea but since they are implementing more advanced encrypting methods in recent versions, I guess they need to resend the data using that better encryption. In the previous version, if you remember, it required to send a lot of data too, most publishers data.

What was that? Do you mind sharing?

All of us updated yesterday. Everyone is used to our coordinated updates and all were updated before 10:00 am. We had 2 brothers out of town so we just disable their sharing until they return and then restore it when they get back. This way brothers that need to edit or add data can do it and everyone is on the same version. I was greeted with send app data: Publisher Reports 7463. It goes up and down every month but we have about 165 publishers. I think it was just a system adjustment to carry everything over from 8.1 to 8.2. We have had no issues updating to 8.2 and it did fix one persistent bug we had been experiencing.

By that time all kids, not to mention all adults, may be having readings of the new scrolls! 😁

🤔 60 is a factor or divisor of 120 so I still think it might have something to do with sending and maybe receiving 24 months of publisher reports? The numbers just seem to all fit too nicely to be coincidence.

Dear Sam, Please don't get offended by my direct reply. Personally, I have never liked the idea of charging for something I do for my brothers and sisters - I don't even want donations. And using "specialty" forums like this one is - in my opinion - almost as bad as making a sales pitch in the KH. Eryk

We studied stories from the Hebrew Scriptures when I was in my first year of middle school. I remember being the only one who could answer the teacher’s questions during class Can’t remember if we also studied the Greek Scriptures

Hi! Thanks for sharing this. It looks like you've put a lot of thought and effort into creating a dedicated note-taking app for the 2026 convention. I especially like the idea of automatically recognizing scripture references and opening them in JW Library, that's a nice touch. I do have a few questions before I would consider purchasing it: Are all notes stored locally, or are they synced to a cloud service? If cloud storage is used, are the notes encrypted and private? Can notes be exported (for example to PDF or Markdown) after the convention? Will the app continue to receive updates for future conventions? One thing I also wondered about is the pricing. €12 per device isn't unreasonable for software, but there are already excellent free note-taking apps like OneNote, Apple Notes, and Google Keep. So I think the real question is whether the convention-specific features provide enough added value to justify the price. Overall, it looks like a useful project. I wish you all the best with it, and I'm looking forward to hearing more feedback from people who use it during the convention.

Hi, Jules, sounds a bit formal, but let me just add that I guess there may be many who have concerns about the implication of such a system, throughout the education system. There have been many 'deeply religious men' in the past, as today, who did not and do not worship Jehovah. Why do the government officials really want to take this step, with a book most don't seem to believe anyway.

Can't wait to read

And even if we didnt see ads ... your data itself is used to profile you to show ads somewhere else. Harvesting personal data is part of WA for years. Agree for recommendation about Signal. TG lacks e2e encryption in a lot of ways imho.

Well… they’re bringing ads to that so I’d suggest switching to Telegram or Signal. But good on you for not having a Facebook or Instagram account.

Easy A grade for all the JW kids

Michael, it’s not supposed to be religious education. As far as I know, they are simply going to be assigned the reading. I have not heard that they will be receiving a certain teaching re: the stories. In any case, the law doesn’t take effect until 2030.

The ability to link a saved picture with its place of origin so I can click a saved picture of Armageddon and be taken to the WT.

Nope. We are 60 publishers.

Are you about 120 publishers? If so the 2900 would be 24 months of reports.

We did the same. As administrator I asked everyone to do any of their scheduling tasks before 3:00 pm Sunday. Then I updated nd gave the all clear for everyone else to do so. So far 8.2 working ok. One weird thing though, after I updated it sent nearly 2900 publisher records, so I haven’t figured that one out yet.

So young 😭

Same here. I had requested that all the shared Brothers wait until today so we could all update at the same time or at least on the same day. But one brother updated yesterday for whatever reason. So when I logged on yesterday I was greeted with the same message you mentioned and I was forced to update if I wanted to use the app. Thankfully nearly all of us are now updated to version 8.2 except for one brother who is on vacation.

I see the wisdom in staying off social media if one can afford to. Myself, it was barely a week ago or so that I deactivated my X (Twitter account), and I am not on Tiktok, Facebook, Telegram or Instagram. A few days ago, I saw the whiteboard animation about social media come up on JW Library, and I could relate to the points discussed, as those were the very reasons for which I had earlier decided to stay off X (Twitter) and the likes. I ended up thanking Jehovah and the Slave in my heart, as it truly was food at the proper time for me. The only social media resources I have now are WhatsApp and JWTalk (if one can refer to those as social media), and I'm okay with those. So if one can afford to stay off, by all means!

Monday, June 29 To the extent we have made progress, let us go on walking orderly in this same course.—Phil. 3:16. After reviewing the qualifications to serve as elders, some ministerial servants might feel that they could never qualify. But remember that neither Jehovah nor his organization expects you to display these qualities perfectly. (1 Pet. 2:21) And it is Jehovah’s powerful spirit that helps you to develop these qualifications. (Phil. 2:13) Is there a particular quality that you would like to improve on? Pray to Jehovah about it. Research the topic, and ask one of the elders for suggestions on how to improve. Reach out! Ask Jehovah to train and mold you to be even more useful in serving him and the congregation. (Isa. 64:8) May Jehovah richly bless your efforts to qualify to serve as an elder. w24.11 25 ¶17-18