by dgp 32 Replies latest watchtower medical
They found no concrete current examples of it being plainly stated ( in the offical publications and
rule books, WTF those are) that a person that gets a BT will be "shunned" and for every ex-JW they could find that said YES, there were current that would say NO.
They mustn't have been very good researchers then. Nor did they understand the power of cult speech.
They mustn't have been very good researchers then. Nor did they understand the power of cult speech.
They were Top level, believe me, IF there was anything that the WT could be "nailed on" they would have since MANY have tired in regards to this issue.
Fact is, the courts view it as a personal decision and the only time they chime in, here at least, is when minors are involved.
Like I said, when I did the tour at Bethel here in Georgetown, that it was a matter of personal concience was what I was told.
WE KNOW that is not the case, but proving it in a court of Law is something else.
I found a reference to this case in a board for Spanish-speaking former and active Jehovah's witnesses (EXTJ.COM). There, the posters are speculating with an awful possibility, to which they don't really have an answer. Maybe the hospital was only trying to give her haemoglobin, which would be an accepted "fraction", and maybe the girl ignores this. But, like I said, there is no proof that this is the case.
Sizemik wrote:
there is growing public intolerance toward JW's in a number of South American countries. Brazil for example, has had a number of public protests in recent years over the shunning policy of JW's.
I think that here we're getting into a whole different matter, but one that is related to this girl's death. And I think this point very much highlights how different my mindset is in this regard.
I happen to have read about those protests in Brazil. I translated a few things about Sebastião Ramos and his legal action there. You can find those threads here:
Sebastián Ramos and his campaign in Brazil: how can they claim a right to shun you?
In Brazil, no religion is above the law (which was published on Freeminds):
I also translated something about an anti-cult act in Argentina:
http://www2.jehovahs-witness.net/social/current/206763/1/Anti-cult-Act-passed-in-Argentina
I would kindly ask everyone who has had an interest in this discussion to read what is stated there. The protests organized by Sebastião Ramos and the anti-cult act are not acts of intolerance. Much to the contrary. They represent the fact that society at large is beginning to understand something they should have never forgotten: that the leaders of your religion cannot claim a "right" to do you harm.
I would also like to say that in Brazil and in Mexico there are government offices meant to protect minority religions from harassment and intolerance. Those two countries being among the largest Catholic nations in the world, what church do you guys think that is being effectively constrained?
Here is the website of the"Centro de Referência de Promoção e Defesa dos Direitos Humanos para a Diversidade Religiosa", or "Reference Center for Promotion and Defense of Religious Diversity Human Rights". The link I am adding is precisely about the protests by Ramos:
http://www.dhdiversidadereligiosa.com.br/noticias/not090.htm
In Mexico, the Comisión Nacional para Prevenir la Discriminación (National Commission for the Prevention of Discrimination) is in charge of protecting the rights of religious minorities. As I am sure you know, Jehovah's witnesses are particularly numerous in Mexico, and, if I'm not mistaken, they are the third largest religious group there.
Here is the website:
I think it would be a very sad mistake if former Jehovah's witnesses, or people at any stage of their leaving the cult, were to think that this amounts to religious persecution, intolerance or discrimination. Much to the contrary. Just as the right of Jehovah's witnesses to exist is protected, their imposing shunning on people is questioned. Rightly so.
Mr. Ramos's protests were important because for the first time in Brazil an authority understood that things such as shunning are NOT choices.
