by Nicklas Calvert • Alberte Linde
On March 4, 2024, Oslo Tingrett approved the decision of the Norwegian state to depriving Jehovah’s Witnesses of recognition as a religious community in Norway.
The Crown witness in the previous trial was 47-year-old Norwegian Jan Frode Nilsen. He is a former member of Jehovah’s Witnesses and has been a key witness from the start of the trial.
According to the protagonist himself, the case has required a lot of courage and many stressful hours, in which he had to disprove all of the organization’s claims.
Jan Frode Nilsen is a former member of Jehovah’s Witnesses. After his exclusion, he has played a key role in the fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses have now lost recognition in Norway and thus lost several million kroner in state aid.
Now he tells his story to Ekstra Bladet.
Out of Watchtower’s grip
Jan Frode Nilsen was born, married and has had three children in the witness religion.
After more than 35 years in Jehovah’s service, I had nothing left. Jan was admitted to the psychiatric ward for a month after his experiences in Jehovah’s Witnesses.
– I never came back after I was hospitalized. My marriage also ended during that period. That’s why I just stopped. I told Jehovah’s Witnesses that I would never come back to a meeting and that I was finished with them,” Jan Frode Nilsen told Ekstra Bladet.
He left his congregation in 2016 but did not resign from Jehovah’s Witnesses. He was expelled from his congregation in 2020.
This happened because in 2019 he came forward in Norwegian media, where he told what was going on in the organization.
It was important for him to give the outside world a right picture of what was going on behind closed doors. He didn’t think an organization that expels children and divides families should receive support from the state.
Why they won in Norway
The Norwegian legislation on religious communities states in paragraph 6.
“If a religious community or people acting on behalf of the faith community uses violence or coercion, makes threats, violates children’s rights, violates legal prohibitions against discrimination, or otherwise seriously violates the rights and freedoms of others, then they can be denied support.”
The paragraph caused Jehovah’s Witnesses great trouble.
Jehovah’s Witnesses received millions more in state aid until 2021 because they were a recognized religious community, but they did not live up to Section 6, according to Jan Frode Nilsen.
Therefore, he helped the Norwegian state in court, where he told about the major consequences that are included when you want to leave the faith community.
The price you pay to get out of Jehovah’s Witnesses makes it almost impossible to go. For many years I found myself in a dilemma where I didn’t belong anywhere. I was stuck, it was terrible, you lose your family and all your friends. Therefore, many remain in Jehovah’s Witnesses, even though they do not believe in it, says Jan Frode Nilsen.
Jan Frode Nilsen also says that the personal stories helped a lot in the Norwegian trial.
“There were a lot of people who came forward, especially in the last trial. Young women with horrific stories of abuse, sexual assault and abusive marriages stepped forward in court, and it made a difference, says Jan Frode Nilsen
He states that when you have an organization with public harassment of children and the threat that if you do something wrong, you become excluded and lose your family, it goes against legislation and reason. Jan made the Norwegian state aware of this.
Kåre Sæterhaug sits on the Watchtower society’s board of directors here in Denmark, but he was one of the key witnesses of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Norwegian trial. However, he had to see himself beaten by Jan Frode Nilsen and the Norwegian state. Photo: Erlend Berge
Many stressful hours
When you turn to Jehovah’s Witnesses, they do not answer the phone, but only answer in writing. There is a good reason for this if you ask Jan Frode Nilsen.
– They use their own language, and therefore they only reply in writing because it eliminates the possibility of follow-up questions. They articulate things in a way that they are consciously hard to understand. I have decoded these texts for several years now. Every time Jehovah’s Witnesses respond to authorities or come out with messages, I respond immediately.
Whether it was the answer to the Norwegian state, or things on their own website, they couldn’t get rid of Jan’s response.
I’ve probably written 10-15 letters in response to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Every time they published something, I wrote a response and translated what Jehovah’s Witnesses really meant. You have to, laugh said Jan Frode Nilsen.
Call to Denmark
The legislation in Norway was one thing that felled Jehovah’s Witnesses, but several people came forward with strong personal stories about what it was like to be in the religion.
Therefore, Jan also states the importance of daring to come forward with stories in order to illuminate what is happening behind closed doors.
– I have told my Danish friends that things are not happening by themselves from now on, even though the case has received attention. You have to work, be honest and dare to share yourself if that’s what you want. It’s not just the big voices that move, it’s also the little ones.
Supervision case on the neck
In the past month, Ekstra Bladet has described several critical conditions in Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Ekstra Bladet’s revelations have led to the church minister Morten Dahlin having initiated a supervisory case against the religious community to investigate whether the principles of religion are contrary to Danish law and thus contrary to being a recognized religious community.
Not done yet
Jehovah’s Witnesses have appealed the case in Norway, so even though five years of work has gone as well as Jan could hope for, it is far from a finished battle.
It also makes perfect sense that the verdict is appealed, because there is a lot of money at stake.
In 2022, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Norway had about 12,500 members. It would have given them 16 million kroner in state aid, but it is now also gone along with the recognition in Norway.