Posts by Mephis

40

Update on Royal Commission

by umbertoecho in

paedophiles repeatedly promoted to positions of authority in jehovahs witness church royal commission told.

1 hour ago july 27, 2015 12:45pm.

counsel assisting the royal commission, angus stewart sc has told the royal commission that church elders could now face criminal charges.

Mephis

Just to clarify something which seems to be confusing people, the 1006 refers to individuals against whom allegations have been made and not individual cases or the number of allegations.

From the opening address.

"During the investigation of this case study, Watchtower Australia produced some 5,000 documents pursuant to summonses issued by the Royal Commission on 4 and 28 February 2015. Those documents include 1,006 case files relating to allegations of child sexual abuse made against members of the Jehovah’s Witness Church in Australia since 1950 – each file for a different alleged perpetrator of child sexual abuse"

[Bolding mine]

And, as others have said, these are the ones which made it onto a file.

40

Update on Royal Commission

by umbertoecho in

paedophiles repeatedly promoted to positions of authority in jehovahs witness church royal commission told.

1 hour ago july 27, 2015 12:45pm.

counsel assisting the royal commission, angus stewart sc has told the royal commission that church elders could now face criminal charges.

Mephis

Imagine instead a town of 20,000 people slowly growing to over 60,000 over 65 years, and having 15 new child sex offenders reported each and every year. That would raise a lot of questions about just what the authorities in that town were up to with their safeguarding policies.

56

The Australian Royal Commission hearings on the JWs handling of child abuse begins here in the US later today. It will be streamed.

by AndersonsInfo in

the royal commission hearing starting on monday, july 27, 2015 - australian day and date - (and it could go on until august 7th depending on how many witnesses testify) regarding jehovah's witnesses handling of child abuse is supposed to be streamed.. it could be that the hearing will only be audio not video although we were informed it will be streamed.

we'll find out in a few hours.. i live in the central time zone of the us and right now here it is sunday, 3: 45 pm.

in sydney, australia, it is 15 hours ahead of us.

Mephis

The 'different procedures now' was covered in the proceedings today. The judge and QC kept referencing them back to the Shepherding book and asking them why their instructions were exactly the same as before and, at one stage, the judge asked the CO directly to give an example of how they have changed. The CO couldn't give one. The CO, right at the end of today's proceedings, introduced the idea of letters from HQ changing things, so it's there to be followed up on. To me though what stands out is the direct evidence of it not having changed - what happened in Australia with regards to the victims being forced to confront their abusers also happened just last year in Manchester, UK - and is one of the reasons why they are being investigated here too.

56

The Australian Royal Commission hearings on the JWs handling of child abuse begins here in the US later today. It will be streamed.

by AndersonsInfo in

the royal commission hearing starting on monday, july 27, 2015 - australian day and date - (and it could go on until august 7th depending on how many witnesses testify) regarding jehovah's witnesses handling of child abuse is supposed to be streamed.. it could be that the hearing will only be audio not video although we were informed it will be streamed.

we'll find out in a few hours.. i live in the central time zone of the us and right now here it is sunday, 3: 45 pm.

in sydney, australia, it is 15 hours ahead of us.

Mephis

LostGeneration - yeah, he did. He said that their publications were support for victims of abuse. He also said someone abused could speak to a 'mature sister', and then got hammered about how that squared with him warning people about gossiping and how that effectively left the poor girl without anyone to turn to for support.

56

The Australian Royal Commission hearings on the JWs handling of child abuse begins here in the US later today. It will be streamed.

by AndersonsInfo in

the royal commission hearing starting on monday, july 27, 2015 - australian day and date - (and it could go on until august 7th depending on how many witnesses testify) regarding jehovah's witnesses handling of child abuse is supposed to be streamed.. it could be that the hearing will only be audio not video although we were informed it will be streamed.

we'll find out in a few hours.. i live in the central time zone of the us and right now here it is sunday, 3: 45 pm.

in sydney, australia, it is 15 hours ahead of us.

Mephis

At least 125 known to have had allegations against them in Australia did not go to judicial committee because of the two witness rule. (source: opening statement pdf).

56

The Australian Royal Commission hearings on the JWs handling of child abuse begins here in the US later today. It will be streamed.

by AndersonsInfo in

the royal commission hearing starting on monday, july 27, 2015 - australian day and date - (and it could go on until august 7th depending on how many witnesses testify) regarding jehovah's witnesses handling of child abuse is supposed to be streamed.. it could be that the hearing will only be audio not video although we were informed it will be streamed.

we'll find out in a few hours.. i live in the central time zone of the us and right now here it is sunday, 3: 45 pm.

in sydney, australia, it is 15 hours ahead of us.

Mephis

This elder is being absolutely skewered here on how grossly inadequate the policies he's been told to follow are. He can clearly see just how bad it is having to answer these questions.

12

How do jw's explain vestigial organs in humans?

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

i only recently became aware of cases of people being born with tails.

having looked into it this is a evolutionary leftover and we have many other examples within each one of us like the appendix, wisdom teeth, and muscles to move the ears.

plus many more, this seems to me to prove evolution completely.

Mephis

I don't recall it being cited from a WT, but the explanation I was given was that the Bible forgot to mention god playing about with human internal organs around the time of the flood. Or words to that effect. Something to do with us needing to be changed from vegetarians to omnivores so body bits needed some rejigging to allow it. I once tried to get a reasonable answer on evolutionary hangovers (snakes' legs, I was curious about the whole punishment of being made to wiggle on their bellies thing) during the time the Creation book was the Tuesday night staple, but was effectively told not to worry my little head about it and to ask in the new system instead.

50

The Report - BBC Radio 4 about Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Sexual Abuse can now be heard

by AndersonsInfo in

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0612hjs.

the report about child abuse and jehovah's witnesses is now live.. jehovah's witnesses handle child abuse cases.

jehovah's witnesses and child sexual abuse, the report - bbc radio 4 .

Mephis

It's very powerful reporting. Damning of the policies they follow.

I'm uploading to youtube (should be available soon), should anyone not be able to listen to this via the BBC.

https://youtu.be/t_aCNB3toPo

28

Did you know WTBTS applied for Holocaust compensation?

by umbertoecho in

did you know that the wtbts applied for these compensation funds?

i had no idea and if this has already been addressed then so be it.

i find it interesting due to the fact that so much is made of the jws being in camps during ww2 and nothing else is expressed about the other millions who died in these camps.

Mephis

From what I recall, it was for both themselves as an organisation and to help JWs who'd suffered too. Both were within the terms of various holocaust compensation schemes. I'd question some of the things they suggest in that letter of application (asking to be considered as heirs for those who died without them, and the educational aspect I'd be concerned about given their exceptionally narrow focus), but they were banned, probably did suffer losses as an organisation which would entitle them to some compensation etc.

I just hope that their arrangements for survivors has never put inappropriate suggestions to those in receipt of compensation just for signposting them to it. There were complaints over the secrecy not permitting proper monitoring of what was happening.

eg http://www.swissbankclaims.com/documents/doc_74.6_hsp_4.pdf

(NB: note that the JWs didn't give a stuff if you'd suffered because of being a JW but were no longer one in the early 2000s....)

45

People should learn more about the Bible flaws

by opusdei1972 in

i have noted that the main problem for those who are seduced by the watchtower society is their ignorance about the bible itself.

people who believe that the bible is the word of god usually ignore the studies on textual criticism and how scientific criteria forbid absurd stories like that of the global flood.

so, i strongly believe that students in schools need at least an obligatory course on "the bible" through the point of view of science and the textual criticism.

Mephis

Oh Lars. No. If you can overturn orthodoxy convincingly, you get tenure. In the sciences, it puts you in for a Nobel prize. In history, it takes longer to filter through but new ideas, supported by evidence, do percolate and shift prior views. (My own field has seen massive changes in accepted views since the 70s, all because one academic asked a question no-one had thought to ask before - though I'd expect the History channel not to have caught up for another 10 or 20 years yet!). Questioning is encouraged - in fact, it's part of the academic process of comparing and contrasting arguments and weighing up the evidence. And dishonesty is harshly penalised when discovered to have been intentional. One simply cannot equate religion and higher education. Although I do take the point that there can be politicisation of some things which taints research. I've seen academic papers given in one language missing critical conclusions available in others. It happens at times and says more about humans and politics than it does about higher education. The truth will out...