Sign this petition - Investigation On Jehovahs Witnesses Religious Policy That Violates Human Rights and Abuses Religious Freedom

by TJ Curioso 170 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Simon

  What's interesting is if you look at something like corporal pinishment applied to children.

  It's still legal in many countries and many states of the US for someone to physically assault your child and as a parent you have no recourse. Not only is it legal, it's practiced regularly - especially in the more religious states of the US.

  That seems a far more clearcut violation of a basic right and the description of what is deemed to contravene it than someone simply refusing to talk to someone else or invite them to a family event. i.e. it's an actual act, rather than the absense of an act.

  And yet it's not against the law and happens hundreds of thousands of times a year and with a disproportionate number of the either disabled or an ethnic minority.

  Are we really to believe that the world is going to be bothered about a minority of people suffering some emotional harm in comparison?

  Some links:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_corporal_punishment

  http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934191.html

  http://www.thenation.com/blog/174664/prevalence-corporal-punishment-us-schools#

  http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/10/23/09spanking_ep.h33.html
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  Simon

  BOTR - how does that work? Do the petitioners have to state on the petition 'Band On The Run' is not involved?

  That's probably not going to happen, but I think there is value in making it clear that the group does not speak for everyone and is not representing 'us' just in case anyone gets the wrong impression.
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  OUTLAW

  I think there is value in making it clear that the group does not speak for everyone and

  is not representing 'us' just in case anyone gets the wrong impression.....Simon

  

  .................................................................OUTLAW
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  EndofMysteries

  on simon's post about corpreal punishment, was it legal in the state or flight path of the old man who slapped somebody elses screaming kid on an airplane and sentenced to 8 months jail?
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  OUTLAW

  Man gets eight months in prison for slapping toddler on plane

  By David Beasley, Reuters

  ATLANTA — A former aerospace executive who slapped a crying toddler on an airplane and used a racial slur against the child, who is black, received an eight-month prison sentence on Monday for an incident his attorney blamed on his alcoholism.

  Joe Rickey Hundley, who apologized in court to the child's mother, was accused of striking the 19-month-old boy in the face on board a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta last February.

  Hundley pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge in October. Prosecutors had sought a six-month prison sentence, but the federal judge opted for a stiffer punishment.

  "I'm very sorry," Hundley told the child's mother during the court hearing in Atlanta. "I made the most terrible day in my life much worse for myself and others."

  Hundley's attorney has said her client had flown to Atlanta to remove his dying son from life support after an insulin overdose and was emotionally distraught. She also blamed his alcoholism for his behavior on the flight.

  The child's mother previously said Hundley was belligerent and seemed intoxicated during the flight. He used a racial slur when the child started crying as the plane descended.

  The baby is black and his adoptive mother, Jessica Bennett of Minneapolis, is white. Hundley also is white.

  Hundley was fired from his executive position at AGC Aerospace & Defense after the slapping incident, his attorney said.

  .........................................................................

  ................................. ...OUTLAW
• 

  Simon

  on simon's post about corpreal punishment, was it legal in the state or flight path of the old man who slapped somebody elses screaming kid on an airplane and sentenced to 8 months jail?

  Not unless he was a teacher of the child during school hours in a state that hasn't outlawed it yet. I would assume from the 8 month jail sentence that no, it was not legal.

  It is a little bizzarre isn't it that of course, a stranger shouldn't be able to assault a child ... but a teacher could, even one you haven't met (so still a stranger).

  It does show the difference between clear, legislated acts and vague ideals. The ideals need to be codified into law in order to be actionable.

  By all means, campaign to have a law created to cover the damaging actions. But don't imagine you can complain about something that is still just an ideal. And if campaigning to make something law, it has to be well thought-out ... not something that would contradict many more already established and supported pieces of legislation or be so far reaching that half the country would immediately be guilty in one form or another.
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  Las Malvinas son Argentinas

  I wonder if AAWA would mind if people used aliases to sign their petition?
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  Band on the Run

  If the petition were considered, there could be a huge backlash against former Witnesses. Not everyone has a war going on agaist religion. Living in a Bible belt even temporarily, I can't overstate the people's devotion to their local church. It is a very nuanced action that few will appreciate. Atheists don't care. Whatever happened to living a good life as activism? The sayings is "Living well is the best revenge." This is getting dragged into very dangerous territory.

  oh, well. Another strike against former Witness being mature and sophisticated.
• 

  adamah

  LMSA said-

  I wonder if AAWA would mind if people used aliases to sign their petition?

  Heck, I don't see why not, since it's an online petition, without any verification of anyone's status (there are those living in foreign countries signing it).

  It's not like signing a ballot initiative, where you must be a registered voter in the State in order to get a proposition placed on a ballot, or your signature gets thrown out.

  BOTR said-

  If the petition were considered, there could be a huge backlash against former Witnesses.

  I wouldn't worry about it, since even IF it's delivered to the Justice Dep't, it'll likely end up in the circular file (after making it thru mail room distro).

  I see it more as a step in the wrong direction by emphasizing the pain of shunning, with people willing to play the role of victim and giving the GB a HUGE WIN, thus confirming that their shunning policy is still having an effect on ex-JWs since it hurts all us so badly that some are driven to suicide, etc. Self-pity at it's finest (or worst?).

  As I say in my article on shunning, any initiative that focuses on communicating the pain of the shunnee is a non-starter, since no Spit, Sparlock: that's WHY they do it! Instead, such initiatives really should focus on the pain and injury that JWs who engage in shunning are causing to themselves by their blind obedience to authority figures, under what is actually self-inflicted psychological duress based on your family's fear of in turn being shunned...

  It takes more morality and the possession of a sense of right and wrong to stand up to the peer pressure of "friends" than it does to throw one's relative under the bus to save one's own skin: the latter is hardly noble or ethical.

  Adam
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  Band on the Run

  I said if it were considered.....No administration, Democratic, Republican, or Independent is going to actually consider it. There is no way I am going to read the latest petition. The first one gave enough reason to hire English teachers for all Americans. Once before someone mentioned a White House petition process that I did research. If you achieve so many signatures, the administration will consider it. Consider it means the it is placed in the circular files. I wonder if the White House petitions process is a way to collect email addresses. It is embarassing to me.