BREAKING NEWS: Watchtower's Charitable Status UNDER THREAT in Britain !

by raymond frantz 37 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  raymond frantz

  There is an article today in DAILY MAIL one of the largest UK NEWSPAPERS about the Plymouth Brethren that should worry every thinking Jehovah's Witness.

  The Charities Commision in Britain is threatening the charitable status of a small offshoot of the Aglican Church the Plymouth Brethren .The reason ? They don't perform enough charitable work for their local community . At a time where the tax avoidance of large businesses such as Google ,Ebay,Amazon and Starbucks is under serious question in Britain ,the Charities Commision's investigation into this little church's charitable status comes as no surprise .The 2006 Charities Act forced charities, often at high cost, to 'demonstrate' value to society .So far being a Christian Church automatically exempt you off taxes ,this is not the case anymore . There is a war waging at the moment between Christian-hating Secularists and the last Torry MP's who believe that Religion is a force for good .

  The question is :If Plymouth Brethren's Charitable Status is under question ,a church that is known for handing soup to the poor ,how easy would it be for the Watchtower to prove that they are a "giving" charity ? value for the community ?

  This is a test case but definetely a sign for things to come ...

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2234113/MPs-savage-quango-s-anti-church-bullies.html

  

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2234284/So-Christian-charity-Plymouth-Brethren-lose-battle-tax-relief-theyre-doing-public-good.html#comments
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  ThomasCovenant

  About time.
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  cedars

  Raymond - thanks for bring this issue to the fore. It's long baffled me how the Watchtower has managed to cling to its charitable status in the UK. In my view it's nothing short of a scam. The documents submitted to the Charity Commission are deeply misleading when it comes to demonstrating public benefit. I truly hope the Society comes under similar scrutiny to the Plymouth Brethren and/or loses its status, but I'll believe it when I see it.

  http://jwsurvey.org/general-information/where-is-the-public-benefit

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gu-cjPHx7M

  Cedars
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  cantleave

  Lets see what happen
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  Calebs Airplane

  But the Watchtower has been very successful in explaining away their charitable shortcomings by simply saying: "We provide the most important charitable service of all the earth. We offer Bible studies FREE of charge".

  So far, this has worked for over 130 years in most countries, so I doubt that this situation with the Plymouth Bethren will have any impact on the WT...
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  Chariklo

  It's very good that 50 Members of Parliament have signed a motion calling on the Charity Commission to think again, and are asking for them to be investigated. One says "there is something rotten in the Charity Commission.

  People here could have told them that. We've known for some time that the CC is either a wimpy bulldog with no teeth, or...I hesitate to say it and am choosing my words carefully...there is something very very wrong with them.

  Two and a half years ago, upon the death of the founders of a charity that cared for the elderly and vulnerable locally, the trustees a rbitrarily and without good cause closed the care facility that had been founded nearly forty years a go and diverted the money to another local charity. A local petition signed my a good percentage of the population here was submitted to them, and a strong documented case was made for its immediate re-opening. Money was found to support and maintain the facility. However, the trustees refused to change their mind and...most significantly...the Charity Commissioners turned a deaf ear and a blind eye despite the strong active support of the local MP, the local BBC and the local press.

  Because this part of the country is a long way from the centre the issue never made the national press though it did get into the regional press. The campaign continued for two and a half years and is not over but realistically there is no chance now of saving the facility, or really the original charity, and the fault lies with the CC who ignored representations by very senior figures including public and household names. It needs a judicial review but this would have to be paid for by those requesting it.

  Everyone in the country thinks that the CC is the last resort of protection against fraud within charities. I am here to tell you this is emphatically not the case. There is indeed, as MP Robert Halfon says, "something rotten in the Charity Commission."
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  raymond frantz

  Considering the election results this week ,there is a good chance the next goverment will be Labour ,who are almost in their entirety Secularists and "policily correct " inclined .This argument won't go away it will only grow ...
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  Chariklo

  Remember that this covers all charities, whatever their origin and purpose. It is nothing to do with religious or secularist.

  While our own local battle was at its height the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 covered a not dissimilar case to ours, a small charity caring for injured animals or some such, I forget its exact remit. The CC treated them in the same way, totally failing to support the original terms of the charity and allowing a third party to get away with what sounded on the radio very much like misappropriation and diversion of funds, eg embezzlement and fraud. In both cases, theirs and ours the police were involved but because the CC stood with their head firmly down in the sand the police decided in each case that it wouldn't succeed in court.

  One suspects wheels within wheels and corruption at the heart of it all.
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  cedars

  I've submitted a comment on this Daily Mail article criticizing the author for failing to do his research into cults posing as charities. I hope it gets published.

  Cedars
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  raymond frantz

  there is an underground attack on Christianity in Britain that can be found on many levels of society and goverment today :

  1. Homosexual interests are promoted and supported hidden behind equality rights

  2. Laws are passed that allow for higher scrutiny of religious groups that hide behind charitable status

  3.Free Speech is threatened by new Censorship Laws

  I don't think this is a coincidence but a taste of things to come