In what can only be described as a case of double standards, the society now has two versions of its erroneous blood doctrine in force.

The situation has developed after the society signed a legally binding document, in the European Court of Human Rights in March.

There it agreed that Jehovah’s Witnesses, in Bulgaria, could ignore its 37 year-old prohibition on blood and will, in future, be allowed to receive blood without fear of being disfellowshiped. Meanwhile fellow Witnesses, throughout the rest of the world, will still face being shunned.

The court case came after the society took the government of Bulgaria to court because the east European country regarded the cult as a "threat to public health" and banned it from holding meetings (see last issue of Concern).

But now, even though the society has agreed to the lifting of the blood ban in Bulgaria, the society has no intention of telling Jehovah’s Witnesses in other countries, of the change.

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