Just saw this on Facebbok, by Barbara Anderson, Disfellowshiping cancelled by "worldly" Court !

by Phizzy 12 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  Phizzy

  Excuse the translation to English not being perfect ,

  Barbara Anderson

  33 mins ·

  " IMPORTANT NEWS FROM ITALY in English
  Posted Jan. 25, 2020 on a personal blog.

  "HISTORICAL JUDGMENT IN ITALY- THE JUDGE OVERTURNS THE DECISION OF A JUDICIAL COMMITTEE OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES"

  Perhaps what we will tell you is the first case in which the disfellowshipping of a Jehovah's Witness is canceled.

  The lawyer Vito Pucci is a Jehovah's Witness who held high-level positions within this association.

  For years he has also been a legal point of reference for the Italian Body of Jehovah's Witnesses.

  It was until the requests for defense began to collide with his self and his morals, the way in which this institution asked to deal with the debates and the complaints about the crimes of pedophilia led him to make evaluations.

  These evaluations and these choices cost him the expulsion or disfellowship that took place with a judicial committee (an internal body of Jehovah's Witnesses).

  The Pucci thanks to his experience as a lawyer has appealed to the ordinary courts to invalidate the decision of the judicial committee.

  The judge confirmed the argument of lawyer Pucci by effectively canceling that disfellowshipment, declaring it in fact illegitimate.
  In the next few days, the lawyer Vito Pucci will explain the whole process he has undertaken.

  ATTENTION The court order referred to, dating back to June 2004 (almost sixteen years ago!) Was canceled by Judge Francesco Cassano with Ordinance of 6/12/04. The Cause continued until 19/5/2010, the date on which it was merged with the similar Cause promoted in 2005 by dr. Luigi Fallacara against the same legal entity Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.

  After years of postponements and negative judgments of the first, second and third-degree, in 2018 the Fallacara case finally came to the EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS COURT based in Strasbourg. Even if exhausted by the lengths of the judgments indicated above, we are all waiting to know the date of the discussion and the consequent decision. Together with prof. adv. Nicola Cipriani, we are evaluating the opportunity to have the tens/hundreds of sisters and brothers illegally disfellowshipped and discriminated against intervening in the Cause.
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  The News is a personal blog, whose purpose is not only to report LOCAL - NATIONAL - INTERNATIONAL news and facts but also to comment on them freely and independently.

  The in-depth blog/newspaper is enriched with increasingly professional figures for topics related to legality with the professional figure of Elda Laudisa, an expert lawyer in the field."
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  road to nowhere

  Can the court force association? This is a slippery slope because then they can dictate all our lives.

  As for the rest, he will be shunned as the troublemaker, get no parts, or be called on. It may cause a few to think but will not change things for the rank and file.

  My bet is he walks away after having made his point
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  Gayle

  Hope for the best for Vito Pucci. Maybe he will use his expertise someday for full exposure of Watchtower organization!
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  Simon

  Do not rejoice at "human rights tribunals" telling people how to live, even on the rare occasion when you agree with the result based on personal interest - they are frequent tools of extremists and often do more harm than good.

  Governments have no business telling people who they should or should not associate with.
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  Anony Mous

  No, the court cannot force association. But the legal entity and its rules falls under jurisdiction of the courts (same goes for the US) and it's not uncommon for disputes within an organization, even non-profits and churches, to be adjudicated in court (eg employment issues - you can't fire someone on illegal grounds such as religion even if you're the Catholic Church)

  The rules of the JW organization can be adjudicated by a "worldly" court and often are in, for example, child custody cases. In my case elders were disallowed from disfellowshipping me because it would be prejudicing and damaging to the relationship between me and my child.

  There are a number of cases where the actions of the JWs get limited, eg you can get a restraining order against the Watchtower entities from their representatives contacting and visiting you. As long as the court does not limit the constitutional protections, which would be the case of a blanket ban on preaching in a geographical area, civil cases in courts can and do result in all sorts of sanctions on the WTBTS, but the WTBTS often can and does get gag orders in place as well, especially if they end up settling rather than litigating.
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  DATA-DOG

  No one should be allowed to be cruel in the name of “religion”, and if the courts can shed a spotlight on abhorrent behavior then I’m all for it.

  Even if the ruling is overturned it’s better to bring attention to the harmful behavior that these so-called “Christian” and “Charitable” organizations are causing while not paying taxes and hoping for the destruction of the Government.

  DD
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  neat blue dog

  Governments have no business telling people who they should or should not associate with.

  The same is true of judicial committees. Of course individuals can still decide, but religious organizations shouldn't. The sooner governments start taking away financial incentives to "charitable" organizations that engage in this, the better.
  
  
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  Half banana

  I'm with you NBD, where the purpose of a religion is to feather its own nest and not for genuine charitable reasons, why shouldn't they pay tax like any other business? Of course the slimy JW org is already actively calling themselves a charity. In reality, in the case of natural disasters, they are not so much looking after their own but far more importantly looking after their own properties.

  Back to the main point of bringing a d/f case before the court. Any social club can have rules -- break them and you no longer qualify. Unless the rules are totally unreasonable and cause immense handicap or financial loss, the court is not the place to deal with it. I suggest that to go to court dignifies the JW judicial committees with power that it does not have. Better surely to simply ignore the idiots and get on with life?
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  StephaneLaliberte

  There are two scenarios I can think of here:

  1) He was disfellowshipped for something that should be allowed based on basic human rights. I'm thinking of the concept of disfellowshiping someone on the mear grounds that he associates with dissfellowshipped ones.

  2) He was disfellowshiped with the JWs failing to obey their own rules (I'd see this as an agreed upon contract). As some have pointed to on this site, you can be disfellowshipped for any reason upon which 3 elders agree and appel commitee rarely reverse the first judgement.

  Perhaps this is what happened here.

  While this will likely have no impact on how the members of the religion view him, this may bring about legal consequences for future members who will suffer the exact same scenario.
  
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  cha ching

  Governments make laws regarding human rights. Should there be slaves? At one time there were slaves. Fortunately, the government changed over time and made it illegal. They were challenged, they changed.

  Human rights. Churches make rules regarding human rights. Should they be allowed to? Who can challenge them? They claim god-given rights.

  At one time, according to the Bible, they sacrifice children in fire to Molech. That is what their 'god' required of them.

  Mormons use to claim the 'god-given right' to have many wives. They were challenged by government, human rights laws were changed. Other religions allow men to marry very young girls.

  Should humans have the right to change religions? Can religions be challenged without penalty?

  When JWs testify against illegal action by WT, they get disfellowshipped, lose their business, their families. If this happened in a business setting (a corporation fired an employee for testifying against their illegal actions) the employee could sue for illegal dismissing.

  Teachers, nurses, doctors and more must report even a SUSPICION of child abuse. Churches claim "clergy penitent privilege" ... even when an abuse victim comes to them for help.

  Why do religions have rights that businesses don't? Rights that enable destructive, harmful behavior.