Febuary 21 2012 We could make a difference,if we want to. A World Wide Campaign sending letters to Govt. officials,newspapers, to Victoria Australia

by smiddy 92 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  ABibleStudent

  Hi Azazel. Please post your letter to help others to write their own. Also, how should a foreigner (me) politely ask a Victorian politician/official to influence the Public Prosecutors Office of Victoria to take over cases from Steven Unthank. I was thinking of writing something like:

  Dear politician/official:

  I respectfully request that you influence John Champion SC, Director of Public Prosecution of Victoria to have the Public Prosecutors Office of Victoria to take over prosecution of 5 cases from Steven Unthank versus the Watchtower Bible & Track Society (WB&TS) in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court of Victoria in Gippsland, Australia and retain Steven Unthank as a subject matter expert. Although I am an American citizen and do not wish to adversely influence Australian politics and prosecutions, I feel compelled as a Christian to respectfully request Australian Authorities to expose the WB&TS as the dangerous international cult that it is.

  Two years ago I was almost deceived into believing that the WB&TS was a religion, but now I believe that the WB&TS is a dangerous publishing and distribution cult that enslaves its members with thought reform techniques to almost completely control their thoughts and behaviors. . . .

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
• 

  Azazel

  Thx Abiblestudent im only saying my opinion here but for anyone outside Australia i would suggest taking the approach of commending the State of Victoria for having the Working with Children Act 2005. State the real protection this law can mean for innocent children and how you support the Law and would like your country/state to enact similar laws.

  Now express your concern that the WTS in Australia has ignored this law and children have been sexually abused since that law was enacted.Encourage the member of parliment to take an interest in the upcoming court case on 21st Feb2012 in the Latrobe Magistrates Court. Your not asking them to intervine (because they cant etc) just to be aware that a religion /org in Victoria has ignored the Law to protect children.

  Word it however you like, as a concerned parent, concerned member of that religion, interest in protecting children.

  If you go to the web link for the Vic Parliment( posted previously ) you can get all their email addresses. Every contact is an opportunity to raise awareness.Remember politicians are not too concerned with losing the vote of JW's.

  Please do what you can for the protection of children.

  Az
• 

  smiddy

  We need to be careful how we word our enquirey , it`s not our place to try to influence the courts one way or another.Just that we are interested in the proceedings.After the court case`s are finalised then we could be more direct in our comments either for or against.

  If you look at the web link for the Vic.Parliment you can get, not only all the information regarding a member ,but also how to address a letter or e-mail to a sitting member.it is very helpful.

  smiddy
• 

  Azazel

  Yes Smiddy the point should be to praise the state for a good law .Point out this law is being tested in court. For them to be aware of this issue.

  Ive gotten another 60 done but will send them at the end of the month as parliment sits on the 2nd week of feb.

  Thanks Smiddy for getting this rolling.

  Az

  Letters need to be done individually to make a better impression.
• 

  ABibleStudent

  I sent an email to Steven Unthank asking him what politicians he would recommend contacting and how to write to them. I thought that it would be a good idea to ask an expert in the case who were the best people to contact and how to phrase the emails. It appears that Steven Unthank is in agreement with recent posts by smiddy and Azazel about thanking politicians/prosecutors for the work that they have done. Here is my email to Steven Unthank:

  From: Robert
  To: Steven Unthank <[email protected]>
  Sent: Sunday, January 1, 2012 12:30 PM
  Subject: Happy 2012 New Year!! Hi Steven, Happy 2012 New Year and I hope that you are successful in prosecuting your cases against the Watchtower in 2012. I was wondering which Victorian politicians you would recommend writing to about either enforcing Victorian child protection laws, about the Public Prosecutor of Victoria taking over your cases and retaining you as a subject matter expert, about reviewing how effective the current laws are, and how to strengthen those laws by requiring all organizations to immediately notify the police when laws are broken. I am asking you because of your knowledge and experience with the Victorian government and because some members on a forum that I visit requested that everyone start writing news organizations, politicians, and prosecutors about exposing the Watchtower's abuses in the thread: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/219999/1/Febuary-21-2012-We-could-make-a-difference-if-we-want-to-A-World-Wide-Campaign-sending-letters-to-Govt-officials-newspapers-to-Victoria-Australia. May you and the children in Victoria, Australia have a very Happy 2012,
  Robert

  Here is Steven's response to my email that I'm posting. I replied to Steven's email and I obtained his permission to post his email on JWN. Steven is very concerned about not jeopardizing the cases, so I want to make it very clear that I asked for his help to insure that any letter writing to promote prosecution of the WTBTS does not backfire and hurt those cases.

  From: Steven Unthank <[email protected]>
  To: robert
  Sent: Monday, January 2, 2012 7:29 PM
  Subject: Re: writing to politicians Robert,
  
  I followed the link you sent me and read through the forum posts on writing to politicians about the current court case and I understand the interest that many people have in the case.
  
  Firstly, politicians are prevented from commenting on cases before the courts and protocol prevents them from getting involved once a court case commences. Also keep in mind that Victorian politicians represent Victorian citizens only.
  
  Secondly, the Office of Public Prosecutions and the Director of Public Prosecutions have a strict code of conduct and practice (and laws) that prohibit them from entering into discussion about cases they are prosecuting. At present they are officially acting as "facilitator" in relation to the cases and are not yet actually prosecuting them so they can not make any comments in relation to cases they are not prosecuting. Either way they rarely comment, except through their media office.
  
  I have received emails from people informing me that they have contacted the following people and shared their thoughts:
  Someone suggested that residents of Australia who have concerns about what is going on in their community should write (not email) to all of their State Senators and request that the senate hold a public inquiry into [the cause of their concern] and that they would like to make a submission to such a senate inquiry.
  
  http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/senators/homepages/index.asp?sort=state Some people have suggested that Victorian citizens personally written to the Victorian Child Safety Commissioner, Bernie Geary, and have asked him why he did nothing to protect the children within the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, as it was his responsibility and he has fully known about the situation since late 2008.
  
  http://www.kids.vic.gov.au/contact.htm A few people have left comments on Derryn Hinch's web site or written to him.
  
  http://www.humanheadline.com.au/
  
  http://www.humanheadline.com.au/Your-Say/Question-2#reply Some have written to the Herald Sun newspaper which first covered the story.
  
  [email protected] On the other hand, I do have a list of politicians and officials who have helped out, even if in a small way, in relation to my campaign or case. It would be nice to send these people a thank you email for their tireless work and in trying to protect the children in the Victorian community.
  
  These are members of parliament are:
  
  Neale Burgess and staff (helping regularly since 2008)
  http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members/id/1629
  
  Premier Ted Baillieu (helping since Dec. 2009 following his election win. Also set up the Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children inquiry in which Steven Unthank made his public verbal submission on breaches of the law by Jehovah's Witness) http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members/id/58
  
  
  Attorney-General Robert Clark (wrote letter confirming that the Jehovah's Witnesses were notified of their obligations under the Working with Children law by the Department of Justice)
  http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members/id/75
  
  
  Colleen Hartland and staff (made official complaint to the police over the failure of the Jehovah's Witnesses to comply with the laws and questioned government officials over what measures they are taking to protect the Jehovah's Witness children)
  http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members/id/1682
  
  
  Frank McGuire (recommended that Steven Unthank make a submission to the Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children inquiry )
  http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members/id/1728
  
  
  Andrew Katos (offered continual support)
  http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members/id/1713
  
  
  James Merlino (offered continual support and spoke to government department heads over why nothing is being done to enforce to child protection laws.)
  http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members/id/1579
  
  Russell Northe (ongoing support which included letter writing to members of parliament over child protection.)
  http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members/id/1693
  
  
  
  
  
  Steven Unthank

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
• 

  smiddy

  BTTT
• 

  Azazel

  Yes i agree wholeheartedly with the above.

  What we are seeking is a general awareness of what is going on with respect to the Working with Children Act of 2005 and JW.

  I have finished all my letters to every sitting member of the Vic parliment. Im planning to post these later this month.

  As i live in another state i have commended Victoria for having this law and hope other states follow their lead in child protection.

  I draw their attention to a serious breech's of this law by the WTBTS of Australia , and in the interests of children would they follow the progress of the upcoming court cases.

  I hope that all our combined efforts help to save children from harm. Even if it saves one child its worth it!

  regards to all

  Az
• 

  smiddy

  ABible Srudent

  Thx for posting your e-mail to Steven Unthank and his response it is very interesting

  Perhaps that needs to be put on a thread of its own as this one seems to have run its course,xcept for you me and Azazel

  smiddy
• 

  ABibleStudent

  Hi Smiddy. I don't feel that posting Steven's letter in another thread would interest other members of JWN. I feel that a lot of ex-JWs are very apathetic and burnt out about helping others. I sometimes wonder how people who were so passionate about helping people by going D2D to get into paradise for 10 to 20 hrs a month for years, will not spend 2 hrs to mail 5 to 20 short letters/emails to thank politicians/officials for helping Steven Unthank to prosecute the WTBTS. Steven Unthank spent about an hour typing his email to me in addition to working, prosecuting the WTBTS, updating www.jwNews.net, and writing to other people.

  I would suggest that people continue to post who they write to and what they write to in this thread so that this thread is continually bumped to the top of the most active list. I feel showing others how easy it is to be involved, may inspire others to get involved.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
• 

  ABibleStudent

  @ smiddy and Azazel do you feel that the following email to Neale Burgess is ok to send. According to what Steven Unthank wrote, I thought that the following email would be complimentary as well as offer a few additional ideas for future legislation.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert

  [email protected]

  Mr Neale Burgess (and staff):

  Thank you and your staff for working tirelessly to support Steven Unthank’s prosecution of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society’s (WB&TS) leaders and organizations for not complying with Victoria’s child protection laws. Although I am not an Australian, many members of Jehovah Witness (exJWs) support forums like www.jehovahs-witness.net , www.jwsupportforum.com , and other forums are very interested in the outcome of these cases.

  From my personal experience of being exposed to the WB&TS’s doctrines and practices, I hope that more politicians and government officials will learn about societal costs of dangerous cults like the WB&TS and enact/revise appropriate laws. The WB&TS is a dangerous cult that enslaves members to print and/or distribute literature and is not a religion, as WB&TS's public literature tries to convince potential converts. I hope that the Public Prosecutors Office of Victoria will use its full resources to prosecute the WB&TS leadership and organizations to the maximum extent of the Victorian child protection laws. I also hope that Steven Unthank’s cases will inspire revising (or creating) laws to strengthen compliance with child protection laws as well as revise tax laws to exclude dangerous cults like the WB&TS from receiving tax exemption status or qualifying for government programs for charitable organizations.

  Thanks again for supporting Steven Unthank, and protecting children in Victoria.

  Sincerely,

  Robert