Posts by darkspilver

60

Stephanie Fessler v Watch Tower - Trial on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 in Pennsylvania

by AndersonsInfo in

http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.

stephanie fessler v watch tower.

stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.

darkspilver

Looks like WT offered $100,000 to settle?....

Below is an 800 word article - plus 23 pages of court documents.

http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/02/jehovahs_witness_spring_grove.html

Did Jehovah's Witness elders fail to report sexual abuse? Trial starts Tuesday

Steve Marroni - February 07, 2017 at 6:00 AM, updated February 07, 2017 at 9:25 AM
When she was a teenager, Stephanie Fessler was sexually abused by a member of her York County church.
It was a place where she was supposed to feel safe, but it was the authorities within that church who not only failed to protect her, but they covered up the abuse, she claims.
And according to a lawsuit Fessler filed against the Jehovah's Witness church in Spring Grove, had church elders contacted the authorities as they were legally obligated to do, she would have been spared more sexual assaults from the same woman.
While her abuser, Terry J. Monheim, pleaded guilty back in 2012 in York County Court, a lawsuit Fessler filed against Monheim and the church is going to trial Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Her goal in filing the suit, besides personal justice, is to remove the secrecy within the denomination that allowed her abuse to continue after it was reported to church elders, her attorney, Jeffrey Fritz, said Monday.
"Her main motivation is exposing that the policies of the Watchtower and the Jehovah's Witnesses are not following mandatory reporting laws in Pennsylvania," he said Monday. "That's what led to this happening to her, and continuing to happen to other victims within the religion, as well."
http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/02/jehovahs_witness_spring_grove.html
The above link also includes the court documents at the bottom.

63

2017 Circuit Assembly: Lesbians at school demonstration

by darkspilver in

jw
friends

steve2: is there some way this can be presented so that it is crystal clear what was actually in the demonstrations and what was added?

i guess some will think it should be obvious - but this is where misunderstandings arise because we end up wrongly attributing something to jw organization that was never said.. circuit assembly theme: maintain love for jehovah!.

note to speaker: warmly encourage young ones to prove their friendship with jehovah by observing his commandments and defending his standards.

darkspilver

steve2: Is there some way this can be presented so that it is crystal clear what was actually in the demonstrations and what was added? I guess some will think it should be obvious - but this is where misunderstandings arise because we end up wrongly attributing something to JW organization that was never said.

Circuit Assembly Theme: Maintain Love for Jehovah!

2.30pm - Young Ones – Prove That Jehovah Is Your Best Friend (15 minutes)

Note to speaker: Warmly encourage young ones to prove their friendship with Jehovah by observing his commandments and defending his standards

TWO-PART DEMONSTRATION (2 minutes)

Note: Please adhere closely to the script. Rehearse thoroughly so that the demonstration will be natural and conversational, neither comical nor overly dramatic. The Witness teenager should avoid a self-righteous tone in the second portion of the demonstration. Select participants who are appropriate for their parts in age, manner, and appearance. Both participants should be exemplary in defending their faith. Participants may use their real names if preferred

[A Witness teenager named Hannah and a non-Witness classmate named Emily are standing and talking after school]
Emily: I think it’s so cool that Ashley and Jessica have come out as being lesbian, don’t you?
Hannah: [Grimaces] Actually, I think they’re disgusting.
Emily: Wow, Hannah, that sounds so prejudiced! Is that you talking, or just your religion?
Hannah: [Abruptly] It’s what the Bible says, Emily. Lesbians are disgusting.
Emily: [Sarcastically] Whatever.
Speaker: [Interjects] Could Hannah have done a better job of expressing God’s standards, doing so in a way that made them clearer and more appealing to Emily? Let’s give her another chance.
Emily: I think it’s so cool that Ashley and Jessica have come out as being lesbian, don’t you?
Hannah: [Calmly] Well, I respect Ashley and Jessica, but I can’t say I approve of what they’re doing.
Emily: Wow, Hannah, that sounds so prejudiced! Is that you talking, or just your religion?
Hannah: It’s my view, Emily, but it’s based on the Bible. You know, some people think that the Bible says things about how homosexuals should be treated that aren’t actually there.
Emily: What do you mean?
Hannah: For example, the Bible says that we should respect all people, regardless of their sexual preference.
Emily: But I thought you were prejudiced against gays and lesbians.
Hannah: Not at all — I reject homosexual conduct, not people.
Emily: I don’t get it.
Hannah: Well . . . [Pauses] I also choose not to smoke. In fact, I find the thought of it sickening. But suppose you were a smoker. I wouldn’t be prejudiced against you for your view, just as you wouldn’t be prejudiced against me for my view — right?
Emily: I guess so.
Hannah: It’s the same with our differing views of homosexuality. Everybody has the right to choose. Based on what I’ve learned from the Bible, I’ve made a lifestyle choice to reject homosexuality, and I appreciate those who respect my right to make that choice.
Emily: I never thought of it that way.
[Participants exit; speaker resumes]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwqmWMK7dwtlQ1REY0hfSXpoWm8/view

19

Watchtower alternative fact - JWs were among the first to expose concentration camps

by slimboyfat in

i am currently reading the new history of the holocaust by british historian laurence rees and it reminded me of a comment in the awake!

magazine i read years ago and trusted as factual.

i quote both passages without comment.

darkspilver

Does the newspaper it cites actually state, "...done to death..."?

Yes, the article published in The Guardian Friday 20 September 1935, page 13 under the heading: "Nazi Concentration Camps Not Improved" uses the expression "done to death" twice with regard to Dachau, including in the very last sentence: "The total number of prisoners known to have been done to death in Dachau is 44."

The article notes that the deaths, which happened between 12 April 1933 and 22 May 1935, included 15 who they list as being Jewish.

As a side point - I note that the article also states that Dachau holds around 1,600 prisoners, explaining that: "The Jews include thirty who returned to Germany this year, thinking it to be safe, and were sent to Dachau."

It is the above article that is referred to in The Golden Age 8 April 1936 which featured articles regarding the situation in Germany over the first 14 pages of the magazine.

19

Watchtower alternative fact - JWs were among the first to expose concentration camps

by slimboyfat in

i am currently reading the new history of the holocaust by british historian laurence rees and it reminded me of a comment in the awake!

magazine i read years ago and trusted as factual.

i quote both passages without comment.

darkspilver

Just because something is/was reported, doesn't mean people know about it - why?

"I had been taught growing up that Americans didn't know and couldn't have known about the Holocaust while it was happening. I was curious about why and how I could be taught that Americans didn't know when it was in the mass media... The murder went on as if nothing peculiar was happening. Most people were indifferent to it."
"It was reported. It was reported accurately. It was reported in detail. It was reported in a timely fashion but it was for the most part buried inside the newspaper in a way that would make it difficult for readers to find the information."
Laurel Leff (Buried By The Times - see links below)

"Americans, including many American Jews, were largely unaware of what we now call the Holocaust while it was going on; the nation was preoccupied with defeating the Axis."
Peter Novick (The Holocaust in American Life)

Reporting on The Times - How The New York Times and the American public managed to ignore the Holocaust

http://reportingonthetimes.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buried_by_the_Times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1LxXDjkN44

The New York Times: Turning Away From the Holocaust
AND then there was failure: none greater than the staggering, staining failure of The New York Times to depict Hitler's methodical extermination of the Jews of Europe as a horror beyond all other horrors in World War II -- a Nazi war within the war crying out for illumination.
Only six times in nearly six years did The Times's front page mention Jews as Hitler's unique target for total annihilation. Only once was their fate the subject of a lead editorial. Only twice did their rescue inspire passionate cries in the Sunday magazine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/14/news/150th-anniversary-1851-2001-turning-away-from-the-holocaust.html

What is interesting is that, following Laurel Leff's comments above, perceptions are now changing - thanks to modern technology and crowd sourcing that was unavailable 20 years ago when the OP WT quote was written.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is leading the way with a forthcoming major exhibition due in 2018:

History Unfolded: U.S. Newspapers and the Holocaust
What could Americans have known about the Nazi threat from reading their local newspapers in the 1930s and 1940s? You can help. Join our team of citizen historians whose research will be shared with scholars, curators, and the public.
https://newspapers.ushmm.org/

60

Stephanie Fessler v Watch Tower - Trial on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 in Pennsylvania

by AndersonsInfo in

http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.

stephanie fessler v watch tower.

stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.

darkspilver

According to the following webpage:

(which is a 'fund-raising' website for which I have no involvement or knowledge, and this is not a recomendation or suggestion to donate, and I can not vouch for the varacity of the fund-raising campaign.)

https://fundly . com/thenewsystem

Stephanie is fighting this case alone as her entire family has shunned her due to her sexual orientation.

19

Watchtower alternative fact - JWs were among the first to expose concentration camps

by slimboyfat in

i am currently reading the new history of the holocaust by british historian laurence rees and it reminded me of a comment in the awake!

magazine i read years ago and trusted as factual.

i quote both passages without comment.

darkspilver

I don't think in that 1995 quote that the WT is saying in that were the only ones highlighting what was happening in the concentration camps. Nor that they where the first.

They are highlighting that regular readers, particularly from early 1936, would have been much more familiar with the horror that was going on in Germany through the numerous articles they published which included both first hand experiences, and references to newspaper articles such as in The Guardian. True, it would appear that the WT was not as 'graphic' or 'in-depth' as The Guardian.

In fact you could apply the WT quote to The Guardian as well (but that does not make the WT quote in itself wrong) - BUT I believe the Guardian was notable for being one of the VERY few newspapers to consistantly expose, and in some depth, what was happening in Germany at that time.

But also remember that The Guardian was (is) a very small circulation newspaper - only around 50,000 daily copies in the mid-1930s (the top five newspapers where doing over 1,500,000 daily copies each) - and The Golden Age was doing over double The Guardian's numbers that at the time - and The Golden Age was international.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_Kingdom_by_circulation

1936 Yearbook, page 43: 1935 production of Golden Age = 2,659,800 copies / 24 = 110,825 copies each issue. (it should be noted that there were different 'versions' of The Golden Age being printed in different languages at the time - I think the above figure may actually just be for Brooklyn, not world wide)

13

AUST: QLD Cairns Post - Tablelands police charge former JW with offences against children

by darkspilver in

i believe this has appeared into today's edition of the cairns post print newspaper (saturday 4 february 2017) at the top of page 4 under the headline: "indecent charges for man" - the actual text of the article is apparently the same as the online version below:.

cairns post - saturday 4 february 2017. tablelands police charge former jehovah’s witness with offences against children.

an elderly tablelands man and former jehovah’s witness member will appear in court this month amid allegations he molested three young girls from the church more than 25 years ago.

darkspilver

jwleaks: More coverage.

No. Afraid not.

That article is the same newspaper print article I refered to in the OP - though I admit I made a slight error calling it the 'Cairns Post' which is the name of the weekday Monday to Friday edition - the article, as I stated, appeared at the top of page 4 of the Saturday 4 February 2017, which is the weekend edition and is called 'Cairns Weekend Post' - sorry for the confusion.

I've also had it confirmed that the story on the top of page 4 of today's edition of The Cairns Post - Monday 6 February 2017 - is a totally unrelated story regarding "Wet season hammers Cairns with big totals" which is a lead on from the front page big picture headline.

So, despite the interesting Royal Commission angle.... no others news outlets seems to have picked it up (yet)??...

39

UK: Paul Shields "abused girls after luring them with video games"

by darkspilver in

fyi from north-east england:.

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/johovahs-witness-abused-girls-after-12538877.

jehovah's witness abused girls after luring them with video games, court told.

darkspilver

UPDATE Monday 6 February 2017

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/jehovahs-witness-tells-how-family-12560536

Jehovah's Witness tells how family shunned him under church orders after allegations

Paul Shields said he had not spoken to his 80-year-old mother for two years after being accused of abusing young girls: He denies the allegations

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/jehovahs-witness-tells-how-family-12560536

60

Stephanie Fessler v Watch Tower - Trial on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 in Pennsylvania

by AndersonsInfo in

http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.

stephanie fessler v watch tower.

stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.

darkspilver

This is a report from the York Dispatch from May 2013:

York victims of sexual assault struggle for peace

She looks pretty tough now, sporting big hoop earrings and a spiked, two-toned faux hawk.
But 20 years ago, Stephanie Fessler was a vulnerable 4-year-old girl told she was to blame for being sexually assaulted by a male congregation member at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses.
She was 14 the second time it happened. This time, it came at the hands of a 50-year-old woman from the church. Fessler said she was given the same punishment as her abuser.
"I was publicly reproved (disgraced) at a church meeting," Fessler said Thursday after speaking about the abuse in public for the first time. "Because she was a woman, I should've known better. It was against the church ..."
https://culteducation.com/group/1267-jehovah-s-witnesses/11498-york-victims-of-sexual-assault-struggle-for-peace.html
http://www.silentlambs.org/YorkVictims.htm
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/ci_22961227/york-victims-sexual-assault-struggle-peace

26

Jalessa Castillo, a Jehovah Witness Pioneer, who joined The Orlando Times Team, maintains a 3.75 Grade Point Average at Valencia College.

by no password in

http://www.orlando-times.com/the_journey_of_jalessa_526.html.

the orlando times.

home.

darkspilver

Is the college she attends a community college? Some places they call it Junior college?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencia_College

Valencia College is a public state college in Orlando, Florida, United States. In 2011, it was named the top community college in the United States by the Aspen Institute.
The college was founded in 1967 as "Valencia Junior College," taking the name "Valencia Community College" in 1971. In December 2010, Valencia's Board of Trustees voted to change the name to "Valencia College," because the academic scope of the school had expanded to include bachelor's degrees. Valencia has several campus locations in Orlando with additional campus locations in Winter Park and Kissimmee.

http://valenciacollege.edu/aboutus/facts.cfm

Valencia was named the best community college in the nation as the inaugural winner of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.