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Sons of Jehovah’s Witnesses return from war without welcome

AP, via The Beacon Journal, USA
Nov. 5, 2005
www.ohio.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Sunday November 6, 2005

CANTON, Ohio – Jason and Johel Woodliff came back from Iraq with their comrades in a Marine Corps battalion that lost 48 members, greeted by a mile-long parade attended by thousands of strangers.

But not by their family.

Thomas and Mia Woodliff, who are devout Jehovah’s Witnesses, were so upset by their sons’ decisions to join the Marine Reserves that they did not meet them at the airport upon their return last month.

“I begged my mother to come, but I knew she wouldn’t,” Johel Woodliff, 20, told The (Canton) Repository for a story Saturday.

The parents say they respect their sons’ choices but can’t reconcile them with their beliefs.

“Our two sons were taught to be peace-loving followers of Jesus Christ,” the couple said in a statement. “Instead, they have chosen a different path. We respect their right to choose whatever lifestyle they wish. And we hope one day for reconciliation so that we can be a united family again.”

The parents are behaving according to the doctrines of their faith, said a spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses headquarters in New York.

“As Christians, we’re neutral with respect to the conflicts that nations have,” said J.R. Brown, director of public information for the Watchtower Bible Tract Society. “Our neutrality is just in regards to conflicts of men. This doesn’t mean we’re adversaries. We try to (convey) that to the person as best we can, but because they’re usually partisan, they think we’re against them.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses who volunteer for military service have essentially opted to leave the church and abandon neutrality, Brown said. Such a move can mean the end of their relationships with other church members, even family, he said.

Jason Woodliff, 23, said he was kicked out of the house for telling his parents he wanted to join the Marines.

“I was 18 years old, living by myself in a trailer,” he said. “I haven’t had a conversation with my dad in five years. For him, it’s 100 percent about the religion.”

Johel Woodliff said his parents reacted similarly when he announced plans to turn down a college scholarship and enlist.

“When they found out I wanted to join, they were very upset about it. I let them know that as I grew older, I had done some research on the religion, and that it didn’t abide with my beliefs,” he said.

The brothers say they consider themselves nondenominational but still fervently believe in God. Johel Woodliff carries a camouflage Bible and wears a medallion of St. Michael, the warrior angel, on a chain with his dog tags.

“War shouldn’t be necessary, but war has existed since the beginning of man,” he said. “The Bible speaks of war constantly. King David was one of the greatest warriors. It shouldn’t be a necessity, but it’s a reality.”