Vicar fury at new home for Jehovah's Witnesses
Friday, September 9, 2011 at 7:54AM 
A VICAR’S passionate plea for councillors to reject the Jehovah’s Witnesses plans for a new place of worship has fallen on deaf ears.
The religious group has been given permission to relocate from the Kingdom Hall in Tweedmouth’s West End to Scremerston.
Rev Matthew Knox, Vicar of Tweedmouth and priest in charge of St Peter’s Church in Scremerston, argued the plan should be turned down because it is not a place of Christian worship as stated in the application.
He said: “This is not a Christian denomination and so it is misleading to use the phrase ‘Christian place of worship’ in its application.
“This new religious movement, adopting its name in 1931, departs from key traditional Christian doctrines and practices and disassociates itself from all main Christian denominations.
“It is not part of Churches Together in Berwick, it has its own translation of the bible and to my knowledge discourages independent thinking with the real threat of members being shunned by all other members if they dispute their governing body’s official doctrine.
Reader Comments (1)
Some news papers allow for public letter responses. If you have the time, fire off a letter to the THE BERWICK ADVISER explaining to them and, especially the vicar what it actually means to be a Christian. You never know, they might publish it.