For as long as I can remember, brethren have repeated many of the standard jokes concerning the prejudice of religious peoples. It has hardly occurred to some that we might also aptly fit into the category of the prejudiced.

As editor of the Southeast Sower, the bulletin of the congregation with which I work, I have had occasion to witness the extreme prejudice which is displayed by some brethren. These are those who not only refuse to consider the possibility that they might be wrong about a matter, but they also refuse to even read literature which expressed a view different to their own. If a paper is mailed to them which contains something contrary to their preconceived notions, they either throw it away or else write "Refused" on it and send it back.

From personal experience, I have found that the number of pieces of literature refused by brethren is about thirty times greater that that which is refused by the Catholics. Think of it! If this is an accurate cross-section, it means that our brethren are thirty times more prejudiced than the Catholic folks whose lives are dominated by the authority of a hierarchy. Hearts waxed gross, ears dull of hearing, eyes closed .... Matthew 13:15 . . . . "Refused."

Truth Magazine IX, 4: p. 1a
January 1965