https://nixlaw.com/news/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-turn-over-internal-documents-related-to-childhood-sexual-abuse/.
judge orders jehovah’s witnesses to turn over internal documents related to childhood sexual abuse.
april 12, 2018. .
Bobby: Because there is a fundamental principle that governs all civilized societies; INNOCENT until PROVEN guilty.
The presumption is always that of innocence.
Well, that is handy
The one being accused holds the "proof" and they won't let that "evidence" be accessible.
Good gig if you can land it.
That would be like the thief who locks up all his stolen merchandise and then jumps up and down saying "I am innocent!"
the video invitation for the 2018 convention is just creepy.
i thought it was some parody at first as it seems 'dark'.it begins with a young man being pushed whilst standing at his locker and the voice over says that 'in critical times we need courage more than ever'.
next, comes a clip of a male putting his hand on the shoulder of a female worker, the look she gives him would be enough to give him nightmares for the next year.
The org has no shame
Two social issues in the news this past year and they use that to promote their cult
Pfffttt...the metoo movement and school bullying
As though being inside the org offers a solution. Huh. One of the most dangerous places for a woman is inside the JW cult and I don't even want to talk about why school bullying has been in people's minds this past year
http://abc7ny.com/health/heres-how-to-find-out-if-youve-been-exposed-to-measles/3376832/.
two tourists from europe sparked a local measles scare.new york state health officials say anyone who visited the following locations may have been exposed:- kingdom hall of jehovah's witnesses in brooklyn (april 15th)- watchtower facilities in orange and putnam counties (april 16th and 17th)health officials say the risk of developing measles is low for anyone who has been vaccinated or is immune.symptoms include fever, rash a cough and runny nose.anyone who thinks they may have been affected should call their doctor if they experience symptoms.. this is the second measles exposure at wt locations in ny.
the last one occurred 2 months ago:.
Shirley: what's up with foreign JWs and the measles?
I don't think it is just JWs.
Measles has spiked dramatically in European countries:
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-43125242
Europe has seen a big surge in measles cases in 2017, which the World Health Organization says is a tragedy after a record low of 5,273 cases in 2016.
Cases increased four-fold, with more than 20,000 people affected and 35 deaths.
Fifteen European region countries, including the UK, had large outbreaks. Measles cases were highest in Romania, Italy and Ukraine.
People shunning vaccination is part of the problem, say experts.
Although research published 20 years ago about a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism has been discredited, the scare it created damaged some people's trust of the vaccine.
Measles is a highly infectious viral illness that can be deadly.
The MMR vaccine can prevent it.
http://abc7ny.com/health/heres-how-to-find-out-if-youve-been-exposed-to-measles/3376832/.
two tourists from europe sparked a local measles scare.new york state health officials say anyone who visited the following locations may have been exposed:- kingdom hall of jehovah's witnesses in brooklyn (april 15th)- watchtower facilities in orange and putnam counties (april 16th and 17th)health officials say the risk of developing measles is low for anyone who has been vaccinated or is immune.symptoms include fever, rash a cough and runny nose.anyone who thinks they may have been affected should call their doctor if they experience symptoms.. this is the second measles exposure at wt locations in ny.
the last one occurred 2 months ago:.
http://abc7ny.com/health/heres-how-to-find-out-if-youve-been-exposed-to-measles/3376832/
Two tourists from Europe sparked a local measles scare.
New York State health officials say anyone who visited the following locations may have been exposed:
- Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Brooklyn (April 15th)
- Watchtower facilities in Orange and Putnam Counties (April 16th and 17th)
Health officials say the risk of developing measles is low for anyone who has been vaccinated or is immune.
Symptoms include fever, rash a cough and runny nose.
Anyone who thinks they may have been affected should call their doctor if they experience symptoms.
This is the second measles exposure at WT locations in NY. The last one occurred 2 months ago:
i have noticed some posters (with frustration) asking for information regarding the nwt in various language editions.
here is a list of some of the nwt revised language editions published so far:.
albanian; arabic; armenian; chinese traditional 2017; danish 2017; dutch-netherlands 2017; estonian; haitian creole; italian 2017; korean 2014; modern greek 2017; norwegian 2017; portuguese 2015; romanian; russian; swahili 2017; swedish 2017; ukrainian; vietnamese.. not yet published: .
Slim: Languages with more than 100,000 JWs that have no new Bible include: Spanish, French, German, Polish,Russian, Japanese, Tagalog.
Several copies of the Russian translation of the JW Bible can likely be found is a warehouse someplace near the Finnish-Russian border.
We know the org did a Russian translation of their Bible because 2,016 copies were seized back in 2015 when the org shipped them to Russia and last year, the JW bible was banned in Russia. It was the new translation because one of the contentions was the insertion of "Jehovah" in the NT.
in some european countries, "church tax" is levied against members of certain religions.
how each country handles this differs depending on each country's tax laws.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/church_tax.
in germany, a member of a religion that has "public law" status pays an additional 8 or 9 percent on their tax assessments.
fastjehu: I don't know this. The churches do not have to make their tax returns public.
That's too bad. Canada and the UK do publish abbreviated returns that give some financial information.
I am going to take a shot in the dark and speculate that the org does have to reconcile the assessed tax amount with the amount reported for donations in lieu of levying tithes/tax on its membership in Germany and possibly other European countries that levy a form of church tax on church members.
That would account for the large sum of money transferred from the UK branch over to Germany around the same time that the org got their public law status in Germany. It is possible that Germany had to come up with a substantial amount to cover the expected tax/donations they had to show on their tax return.
Which would also explain the upping of pressure for donations everywhere. What could be happening, depending on how much the org is getting assessed for church tax in European countries, is that the rest of the world is ending up bailing out JWs in Europe who would rather not pay the church tax that has been levied against them, especially if there are certain JWs who have considerable income.
Maybe the European church taxes are draining money off the rest of the org. Maybe there are JWs with money in those countries that are using the org to pay the tax for them. Which would be JWs who don't have the luxury of declaring themselves no longer JWs because they have built their careers around their JW reputation.
Maybe.
And, then, once all that church tax money ends up in Germany, the org would have to do something with the money that has landed there - they would likely have a disbursement quota of around 80% (that is what Canada has for charities) - and that is why the printing etc has been re-located to Germany and goodbye to all those plans for the UK expansion.
in some european countries, "church tax" is levied against members of certain religions.
how each country handles this differs depending on each country's tax laws.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/church_tax.
in germany, a member of a religion that has "public law" status pays an additional 8 or 9 percent on their tax assessments.
fastjehu: My fortune teller glass ball says, that the org will NOT do this
I agree.
It is most likely that the org has opted for #2: to be the collector of that compulsory church tax from their membership. Which means that the org would submit a list of their members, the tax office would assess how much tax is owed that the org must collect, and the org is given just a flat figure of collectible tax.
My question is this: Do you know if the org, when they submit their tax returns to the tax office, has to show an accounting of those "taxes"/donations? Would they have to reconcile that tax amount?
Because if they do....that opens up a whole barrel of worms
in some european countries, "church tax" is levied against members of certain religions.
how each country handles this differs depending on each country's tax laws.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/church_tax.
in germany, a member of a religion that has "public law" status pays an additional 8 or 9 percent on their tax assessments.
fastjehu: "Does church tax give the church the amount of my income?
No, because the tax offices, which determine the church tax by tax assessment on behalf of the church, transfer the church tax monthly as a total amount to the church entitled to tax. The church tax payers thus remain anonymous."
Thanks for that information, fastjehu. That makes sense. The "church" would have to know how much was "owed" to them in taxes by their parishioners in some way and that would mean that the church would have to submit a membership list so that the tax offices would know who to assess, and this would keep the income of each individual confidential and not accessible to the church.
Thank you
In Germany you can leave any registered religion (also the JWs) by visiting the Registry office or District Court and paying 30 Euro fee.
I have done this and have now an official paper, that I left the JW religion.
You are likely not alone
in some european countries, "church tax" is levied against members of certain religions.
how each country handles this differs depending on each country's tax laws.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/church_tax.
in germany, a member of a religion that has "public law" status pays an additional 8 or 9 percent on their tax assessments.
Just thinking some more about this "guarantee financiation" in Austria.
That means that the org will be required to show donations/contributions equal to the church tax that would normally be collected on JWs in Austria.
That would mean that the more wealth in the upper echelons in Austrian JWdom, the more contributions the org would have to show.
Has the Austrian branch been able to "guarantee" those financiations" from Austrian JWs or did they require a bailout from the Mother Org?
in some european countries, "church tax" is levied against members of certain religions.
how each country handles this differs depending on each country's tax laws.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/church_tax.
in germany, a member of a religion that has "public law" status pays an additional 8 or 9 percent on their tax assessments.
Wonder: It seems the Austrian law of JW is a mastermind for the worldwide organisation.
I totally agree, Wonderof You
I haven't taken the time to read through the links you provided, but I will.
I had just been thinking about this very thing (except I was thinking more about Germany, forgetting about the Loesch/Austrian connection...but I did have a certain someone in mind that has his base in Austria), speculating on several things that indicate a shift in power base and how European tax laws are influencing many of the changes occurring in the org. (Lol! I was composing a "Slim" speculation response - but was a bit nervous that it would be labelled "conspiracy"...thank you for your post, Wonder)
This I find interesting:
Should the case occur that the funds are not sufficient enough to guarantee financiation of the religious society the branch office is allowed to stipulate temporarily or permanently a contribution and ist allowed to determine the regulations for such a contribution.
Do you remember a couple years ago when the UK branch started transferring large sums of money over to Germany? I wonder if the same thing applies to Germany as it does to Austria and the org had to bail out the German branch because their contributions weren't high enough to "guarantee financiation".
No wonder the org has been pushing so hard for contributions.
What was the name of this lawyer quickly?
Is it The Doctor you are speaking of? Or one of his cronies?
