Have you ever heard of an abuse victim being disfellowshipped, then barred from coming to the Kingdom Hall or to a convention? This threat has been made to a good friend of mine here in the U.S. Can they (the elders) really call the police to have someone removed who is just sitting there quietly?
Has anyone been barred from K.H. or convention?
by lilacs4everr 6 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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Elsewhere
I attended my sisters wedding and told to stay in a corner and away from everyone... yeah right.
I was then booted out of the reception... aparently it is against their religion to eat with the likes of me.
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Hamas
Here in England, they can't.
Law dictates they can do nothing about it... don't know about the US.
I'd threaten to kill each and every elder if they ever made such a claim to me.
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Gadget
Can they (the elders) really call the police to have someone removed who is just sitting there quietly?
would this not be the same as in pubs/clubs etc where 'the management reserves the right to refuse entry....'? Kingdom halls are basically private property so I would have thought they could refuse entry if they wanted to, but if the person is sitting quietly and not disrupting the meeting then I can't see why they would 'give a bad witness' by calling the police to evict them. The assembly's might be different because they wouldn't normally own the property.
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avishai
Kingdom halls are basically private property
Not in the US, as a church w/ tax free status, they count as public property. You can be booted for making a disturbance, but legally, I don't think they can have you removed for just sitting there quietly.
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ChileanRick
Here in Chile isn't possible to stop anyone from coming to the meetings, all the KH are public places, but of course if someone is trying to disturb the meeting, the police can take him away.
ChileanRick
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blondie
Where I live in the US, the attendants at the KH are instructed not to touch someone who is disruptive unless the disruptive person hits them first. Law enforcement must be called immediately. The attendants are not law enforcement. I'm sure the KH insurance would not cover any injuries either.
Even when someone is a known apostate, they cannot remove them unless they are disruptive. They may follow them everywhere though, including the toilet.
Some JWs that have restraining orders against them may be forbidden by secular law from attending a certain KH, usually the one the person they have been harassing attends.
Convention sites are usually under County or City Ordinances. KHs are under the law enforcement jurisdiction of the city, town, village the land resides in.
Conventions are probably easy to attend if you are quiet and nondisruptive since it is a larger group and usually non-JW security guards/even law enforcement personnel are already on site.
KHs are trickier. Some elder(s) will disregard the law and bar someone who has a legal right to enter. To insist at that point may get disruptive and who will be on your side when you say you weren't disruptive?
Blondie