Have you ever wondered about the table with the big “JW” sign on it that appears every Tuesday in front of the Mountlake Terrace building? Do you have questions about who they are, or what they’re promoting? You’ve come to the right place.

Every Tuesday, a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses volunteers set up a table, canopy, and religious literature on Edmonds Community College’s campus. At the table were Elaine Huffman, Corrine Powers and a woman who asked for her name to not be included in the story. They view themselves as harmless, only interacting with people who approach them first.

“We’re peaceful people,” said Huffman. “We don’t force our beliefs on people,” said Powers.

When asked what her personal goal for doing this was, Huffman responded “To help people to know what God’s purpose is.”

I talked with the women for approximately half an hour, during which they explained to me just what they were trying to do here, as well as what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in. They talked extensively about the pamphlets they give out to people who approach them, all of which are free. “They’re designed to help us learn from the Bible. We are Bible teachers,” said Huffman. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are adamant about sharing their teachings with everyone, which is why their literature is available in so many languages. Over 900, according to Powers.

“We want it to be available to everyone,” said Powers.

But what do these pamphlets say?

I was given the pamphlet called “Good News from God.” To summarize it, the pamphlet encourages readers to serve and obey God, read the Bible, and follow the laws of their “one true religion.”

The number of people approaching the table fluctuates, especially so at the beginning of each quarter. “At the beginning of each semester we have a lot [of people] especially foreign people,” said the woman who wished to remain anonymous. “It’s so nice to see the diversity of people that come and go,” said Powers.

“One day there was this young man who came and stopped by the table,” said Huffman, “and he said ‘It’s in my language!’ [she imitated him clinging the pamphlet to his chest.]”

But why set up tables and have so much literature about the Bible? “Many people go to church and they don’t get the chance to ask the questions they have,” said Huffman. “[W]e answer the question with the Bible’s answer… Most religions teach the Our Father prayer … So you would get the answer to that,” said Huffman.

For those unfamiliar, the prayer goes “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Huffman goes on, “The answer is in order to make God’s name hallowed, we’d have to know his name.” As one of the many pamphlets they gave me reveals, “he has only one name… In English it is usually pronounced ‘Jehovah.’”

“That kingdom is going to bring about peace to Earth and peace to men,” said Huffman, who then brought out a Bible and asked me to read Matthew 24:14 aloud. Matthew 24:14, which means the 14th line in the 24th chapter of the book of Matthew in the Bible, goes “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

“That doesn’t mean the end of the Earth, it means the end of the system,” said Huffman.

According to their pamphlet, “Suffering will end only when God clears the earth of bad people… Current events indicate that God’s time to act is close… Jesus will lead God’s angels and destroy all who oppose God.”

However, this statement is also made in their pamphlet: “May millions of people who are dead in the grave will return to life on earth. Even some who did not know God and who practiced bad things will be resurrected.”

So according to their pamphlet, those who oppose God now will be “destroyed,” however some of the dead people who “practiced bad things” will be resurrected.

According to Wikipedia, the following actions some of the ones deemed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses to be “serious sins.”:

• abortion

• anal or oral sex

• encouraging the celebration of birthdays or other prohibited celebrations

• blood transfusions

• boxing

• cybersex or phone sex

• celebrating religious and national

• holidays

• homosexual activity

• hypnotism

• interfaith activity

• joining the military

• murder

• political activities

• polygamy

• hardcore pornography

• remarriage “if adultery and rejection by the innocent mate had not occurred”

• spiritism

• subversive, antigovernment activity

• the use of tobacco

• verbal abuse

• voting in political elections

What interested me in my discussions with the women, as well as in the research I did, was the misalignment between government laws and religious laws.

The pamphlet said, “Bible principles are fundamental truths. Laws, on the other hand, may be for specific circumstances.”

The pamphlet refers to Deuteronomy 22:8 for this statement, which says “When you build a new house, you must build a railing around the edge of its flat roof. That way you will not be considered guilty of murder if someone falls from the roof.” (New Living Translation)

“Jehovah is a God of order. That’s why we’re orderly and obey laws, unless it conflicts with God’s laws,” said Powers.

A couple weeks after my initial interview, I found myself back at the JW tent. When our photographer had gone up to ask for a picture for the story, he was refused. I had to come to the tent and explain that the picture was needed so readers would be able to know who we were talking about in my story, and they agreed to have a picture taken as long as none of them were in it.

As I explained the need for a picture, I was told by a new face, (a man who had not been there when I originally interviewed them) that it wouldn’t be a good idea to do interviews, and that they had media people who I could talk to. However, since I had already gotten quotes from the women, they had given explicit permission for me to put them in the paper, and as of writing this I have not heard that they would not like to be quoted in the paper, I went ahead with the story.

There was however the one woman who at the time we asked for the photograph asked for her name to not be included in the paper.

College campuses are hives of diversity, where students are exposed to many different walks of life, especially because of free speech laws. This first amendment in the constitution of the United States states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” This is what allows this paper to exist, and it also allows religion, and whatever they promote, to be advertised on our campus.