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Ordination
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===Jehovah's Witnesses=== Jehovah's Witnesses consider an adherent's [[Baptism#Jehovah's Witnesses|baptism]] to constitute ordination as a [[minister (Christianity)|minister]].<ref>"Beliefs—Membership and Organization", ''Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses'', [http://jw-media.org/beliefs/membership.htm As Retrieved 2009-09-01] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826010609/http://www.jw-media.org/beliefs/membership.htm |date=26 August 2012 }}, "Jehovah's Witnesses have no clergy-laity division. All baptized members are ordained ministers"</ref> Governments have generally recognized that Jehovah's Witnesses' full-time appointees (such as their "[[Organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses#Regular pioneers|regular pioneers]]") qualify as ministers<ref>For example, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] case [[Dickinson v. United States]] found that Dickinson should have been considered a minister by his draft board because of his ordination by baptism as a Jehovah's Witness and his continued service as a Jehovah's Witness "pioneer". [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=346&page=389 Online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010528013058/http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE%26court=US%26vol=346%26page=389 |date=28 May 2001 }}</ref> regardless of sex or appointment as an [[Organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses#Elders|elder]] or [[Organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses#Ministerial servants|deacon ("ministerial servant")]]. The religion asserts [[ecclesiastical privilege]] only for its appointed elders,<ref>"Russian Federation Federal Law", Chapter 1, Article 3, Paragraph 7, as cited by ''Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses'', [http://www.jw-media.org/region/europe/russia/english/moscow/e_law.htm As Retrieved 2009-09-01] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107040201/http://www.jw-media.org/region/europe/russia/english/moscow/e_law.htm |date=7 January 2009 }}, "Ecclesiastical privilege is protected by the law. A clergyman may not be prosecuted for refusal to testify on circumstances that became known to him during confession."</ref><ref>"Who Are Jehovah's Witnesses?", ''Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses'', [http://www.jw-media.org/people/who.htm As Retrieved 2009-09-01] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228211205/http://jw-media.org/people/who.htm |date=28 February 2009 }}, "Who Are Jehovah's Witnesses?...The worldwide organization is directed by an unpaid, ecclesiastical governing body serving at the international offices in Brooklyn, New York."</ref> but the religion permits any baptized adult male in good standing to officiate at a baptism, wedding, or funeral.<ref>"Question Box", ''Our Kingdom Ministry'', November 1973, page 8, "Weddings and funerals may be conducted by any dedicated, baptized brother as permitted by law."</ref>
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