Posts by AngryXJW

5

Richard C. Are You Here?

by AngryXJW in

if your name is richard c., and you are married to a jw, but have never been a jw yourself, and you live near "siler" and "gray", please check-in.

we have something in common!!

!

When an organization arrogates to itself un-Scriptural powers and authorities and then threatens people who do not submit to it with un-Scriptural punishment, then that organization becomes a racket. --Fred Franz (1943)

15

SATURDAY: 3 LATEST SILENTLAMBS NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

by AngryXJW in

allegations along the watchtower .

by elisa batista .

2:00 a.m. may 25, 2002 pdt .

AngryXJW

Friday, May 24, 2002

Abuse charged
Church elders wouldn't believe us

By TED CZECH
Dispatch/Sunday News

Baltimore County Police have charged a Felton-area man with molesting three girls over the course of 10 years at both a Baltimore County home and a Maryland State park.

David Raymond Shumaker, 39, of 13597 Glessick School Road, North Hopewell Township, was arrested Jan. 23 and charged with one count of attempted second-degree rape, two counts each of child abuse and perverted practice and three counts of third-degree sex offense. A trial was set for July 15 in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

Shumaker was released the next day from the Baltimore County Detention Center on $100,000 bail.

Baltimore County Police Cpl. Ron Brooks, a public information officer, said the women contacted police in January and separate interviews were arranged.

The three -- two now 30 years old and one now 31 -- say Shumaker molested them between 1974 and 1984.

One told police Shumaker had threatened her if she told anyone about the incidents, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

"I would tell him that I was going to tell," the woman said in the affidavit.

"He would twist my arm and tell me that no one would believe me, and that I liked it. He also said he would kill me if I told."

Members of same church: According a May 21 story in The Baltimore Sun, the women and Shumaker belonged to the same Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in Chase, Md. The women reported the abuse to the church's all-male elders in the mid-1980s, but the three said the elders did not believe them and banished them from the congregation, according to the Sun's account.

All of the women have since quit the church, after years of being ostracized by the congregation for making the allegations, the Sun reported.

"They had this rule that you need a corroborating witness," one of the women told The Sun.

"How are you going to have a witness to sex abuse? It was like no one wanted to believe us."

During the time of the alleged molestation, Shumaker was a ministerial servant in the church, the Sun story said, referring to court documents.
Shumaker could not be reached for comment last night -- a phone number for him was disconnected.
Brooks said the scope of the investigation did not include the church, but centered around the allegations of molestation; he said Shumaker knew the three through circumstances other than the church.

Abuse described: According to the affidavit, the first woman told police she was 5 when Shumaker started molesting her. The abuse began with touching and progressed to oral sex when the she was 7 or 8, about the same time Shumaker married.

The incidents took place in a house and a shed at a home in Baltimore County, the affidavit says, and stopped in 1984 when her friend made an allegation against Shumaker.

"But no one believed her," she said, according to the affidavit.

"It stopped because my parents kept me away from him."

Police said the second woman said she was 5 or 6 when the molestation began. Shumaker forced her to perform oral sex at the same residence where he had molested the first victim, according to the affidavit. Shumaker was about 18, the woman told police.

"It would have stopped in 1980 because that is when I moved to Pennsylvania and did not see him anymore," she told police.
According to the affidavit, the third woman told police that when she was 12 or 13, her family and Shumaker's were at a state park in Baltimore County when Shumaker sexually assaulted her. She said this was the only incident.

"I recall that I told a short time later, six months to a year," she told police.

"After he was confronted, he called me at home. He said that he just wanted to talk to me. He said that what happened was an accident, that I was confused about what happened, and he still wanted to be a friend. I just told him OK," the affidavit said.

A county detective spoke with Shumaker on Jan. 22. At first, he agreed to talk, but he called back four hours later, saying his attorney had told him not to talk with police, the affidavit shows.

Shumaker was arrested the next day.
. http://63.147.65.16/S-ASP-Bin/ReformatSQLIndex.ASP?puid=2752&spuid=2752&Indx=1477184&Article=ON&id=2

When an organization arrogates to itself un-Scriptural powers and authorities and then threatens people who do not submit to it with un-Scriptural punishment, then that organization becomes a racket. --Fred Franz (1943)

15

SATURDAY: 3 LATEST SILENTLAMBS NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

by AngryXJW in

allegations along the watchtower .

by elisa batista .

2:00 a.m. may 25, 2002 pdt .

AngryXJW

Allegations Along the Watchtower

By Elisa Batista
2:00 a.m. May 25, 2002 PDT

Between the ages of 4 and 11, Erica Rodriguez was raped once a week by a member of her Jehovah's Witness congregation in Othello, a bucolic town of 5,800 in central Washington state.
Rodriguez's story and others like hers are posted on Silentlambs.org, a website launched by an ex-Jehovah's Witness who was dismayed at the lack of action taken by the congregation against members he claims are sexual predators.

"Silentlambs offers them a place to put up their stories," said William H. Bowen, the website's founder. "To put it on paper is a form of healing."

Most recently, Bowen has accused the Jehovah's Witnesses of excommunicating members whose stories were posted on Silentlambs.org.

The Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian sect of 6 million worshippers worldwide. Commitment is exhibited through a strict regimen of door-to-door evangelism and adherence to rules against blood transfusions, the celebration of secular holidays and displays of patriotism, such as saluting a flag.

The congregation denies Bowen's allegations but it has recently been in the spotlight over some of the child-abuse accusations presented on Bowen's website. There are currently two outstanding lawsuits against the congregation ?- Jehovah's Witnesses do not call their religious institution a church -- for intentionally harboring child molesters.

Other religious denominations are also feeling the heat, especially the Catholic Church, which has admitted to shuffling around priests accused of sexual abuse.
Those who say they've been abused and their attorneys contend the current attention paid to sexual abuse in religious institutions is due to the courage of victims to come forward ?- and not from information on websites such as Silentlambs.org, Survivorsnetwork.org, Factnet.org and Thelinkup.com. But they also say the websites have been instrumental in victims' healing.

The websites, run by people claiming abuse, offer personal and mostly anonymous stories, news articles on the current scandal in the Catholic church, legal advice, discussion boards and tips on where to go for therapy.

Silentlambs.org asks for monetary donations to help victims.

Silentlambs sent Rodriguez a plane ticket from Sacramento, California, to Washington state to appear in court.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which runs the Survivorsnetwork.org site, holds informal therapy sessions ?- similar to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings -? in various cities across the country.

"Those two websites (Survivorsnetwork.org and Silentlambs.org) have been enormously instrumental in giving refuge and information to survivors looking desperately for resources they can trust," said Jeffrey R. Anderson, an attorney in St. Paul, Minnesota, who has pursued 500 sexual abuse cases against churches of all denominations in the last 20 years.

Anderson is currently suing the Jehovah's Witnesses on behalf of Rodriguez.

"The sad thing is our mainline institutions -- the churches -- have not been victim-friendly," he said.

Anderson said he doesn't actively recruit clients from the websites, although its readers are often encouraged to take legal action. He has, however, found witnesses on them.

He recently subpoenaed Bowen, of Silentlambs.org, to testify in Rodriguez's case.

"He has a key understanding of the inner workings of Jehovah's Witnesses," Anderson said, referring to Bowen.

The Jehovah's Witnesses congregation, with headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, denies it has excommunicated members who have contributed to Bowen's website.

But David Semonian, spokesman for the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, admitted the group sometimes looks at the website "when necessary." He also said it attempts to "readjust (the) thinking" of those who post material critical of the religion on the Web.

"This is what the Bible directs," Semonian said. "If someone is writing or causing dissension, we would meet with them -- two elders (congregation leaders) usually -- and discuss the matter. If indeed, he were causing dissension as the book of Ecclesiastes describes it, we'd 'readjust the man in a spirit of mildness.' You'd calmly discuss it together so you can bring them back to their senses. There is no automatic excommunication. We want to keep our members."

Semonian declined to comment on Rodriguez's case.

Rodriguez, 22, recalled reporting what she claimed was regular abuse to two elders. She said they promised to "take care of it" and told her that if she told anyone else she'd be "disfellowshipped" or excommunicated.

No action was ever taken by the congregation against her perpetrator, Manuel Beliz, an elder.

A few years ago, Rodriguez reported the abuse to Sacramento police. Beliz was tried and convicted of raping her. He is currently serving an 11-year sentence in a Washington prison.

Rodriguez is now seeking damages against the Jehovah's Witnesses, charging it knowingly harbored a child molester, she said. Anderson said the Othello congregation violated a mandatory child abuse reporting law in Washington.

"A lot of pain and suffering could be prevented if they would forget about the church's image, take sexual abuse seriously and start reaching out to the victims," Rodriguez said.

. http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,52484,00.html

When an organization arrogates to itself un-Scriptural powers and authorities and then threatens people who do not submit to it with un-Scriptural punishment, then that organization becomes a racket. --Fred Franz (1943)

2

NEED HELP TO EMAIL JWs ABOUT DATELINE

by AngryXJW in

i have an email list of 10 or so jw relatives and ex-friends who i would like someone to send an email about dateline.

some of these people are ip-address-wise, and would recognize, or at least suspect, me even if i used an anonymous account.

any volunteer must promise not to keep a record of the email addresses.. i would like the email to contain a link to the dateline schedule webpage, as well as the schedule page copied/pasted.. no additional commentary please!!!.

AngryXJW

I have an email list of 10 or so JW relatives and ex-friends who I would like someone to send an email about DATELINE.
Some of these people are IP-Address-wise, and would recognize, or at least suspect, me even if I used an anonymous account.

Any volunteer must PROMISE not to keep a record of the email addresses.

I would like the email to contain a link to the DATELINE schedule webpage, as well as the schedule page copied/pasted.

NO ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY PLEASE!!!

Only KNOWN, REGULARS with open email boxes should reply.

Multiple volunteers requested, since others may want to do the same, and different people will have different comfort levels with different volunteers.

THANKS!!!

When an organization arrogates to itself un-Scriptural powers and authorities and then threatens people who do not submit to it with un-Scriptural punishment, then that organization becomes a racket. --Fred Franz (1943)

5

Richard C. Are You Here?

by AngryXJW in

if your name is richard c., and you are married to a jw, but have never been a jw yourself, and you live near "siler" and "gray", please check-in.

we have something in common!!

!

AngryXJW

Try again.

5

Richard C. Are You Here?

by AngryXJW in

if your name is richard c., and you are married to a jw, but have never been a jw yourself, and you live near "siler" and "gray", please check-in.

we have something in common!!

!

AngryXJW

If your name is Richard C., and you are married to a JW, but have never been a JW yourself, and you live near "Siler" and "Gray", please check-in. We have something in common!!!

5

ANOTHER TENNESSEAN EXPOSE' - DISFELLOWSHIPPING

by AngryXJW in

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/05/17731339.shtml?element_id=17731339.

monday, 05/20/02 .

disfellowshipping described as 'worse than death' .

AngryXJW

Everyone should take the time to send a "Thank You" email to this Tennessean Staff Writer for this article, as well as the others.

. http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/05/17731339.shtml?Element_ID=17731339

Monday, 05/20/02

Disfellowshipping described as 'worse than death'

By BRIAN LEWIS
Staff Writer

Running afoul of Jehovah's Witnesses teachings cost Kelsey Graham his friends, his faith and his peace of mind.

''I've lost relatives to death, death I can handle,'' said Graham, a Nashville man disfellowshipped from the Jehovah's Witnesses.

''This is something that's worse than death.''

Graham, 47, was disfellowshipped, or excommunicated, 20 years ago for reasons he says remain unclear. The businessman thinks it is because he questioned church doctrine and procedures.

For Jehovah's Witnesses, a close-knit, proselytizing Christian organization known for door-to-door evangelism, disfellowshipping means being cut off from virtually the only people they know and starting over in a new and unfamiliar world. (Biblical basis for disfellowshipping)

''I thought everybody that wasn't a Jehovah's Witness was just in debauchery,'' Graham said, whose previous impression was that ''it's just one big orgy and one big back-stabbing world.''

Disfellowshipping, a form of discipline by Witnesses, has been in the news recently because a Tullahoma woman faces the possibility of excommunication on charges of ''disrupting the unity of the congregation and undermining the confidence of the brothers in Jehovah's arrangement.''

Barbara Anderson told reporters from the television news show Dateline that Jehovah's Witnesses have covered up sexual abuse.

Anderson had a hearing May 10 but has not been notified of any disciplinary action. A New Jersey man and wife interviewed by the show have already been disfellowshipped, and a Kentucky man is awaiting a judicial hearing.

One reason that disfellowshipping is such a harsh punishment is that Jehovah's Witnesses are very much a closed society. Members are discouraged from developing relationships outside the organization, former Witnesses said. When people are excommunicated, they lose almost all of their friends.

In rare cases, people choose to leave by writing a letter of disassociation. The results are the same as disfellowshipping: The person is no longer a Witness and loses all privileges of membership.
After he was disfellowshipped, Graham said his parents and siblings continued to treat him like a relative but didn't discuss religion, he said. He no longer had any friends. If he wanted to phone somebody and say, ''I've got a headache, I don't feel well,'' Graham said he couldn't do it.
The loss begins immediately once the elders announce a disfellowshipment at the church, he said.

''The people that greeted you before the meeting, if you decided to go, are not going to even make eye contact with you afterwards,'' Graham said.

''At the time that you most need spiritual uplifting is when this happens and you have no place to turn.''

A person can be disfellowshipped for being unrepentant about serious sins such as adultery, theft, drug abuse or an attempt to create dissension in the congregation, said David Semonian, a spokesman in the denomination's Brooklyn, N.Y., headquarters.

While outsiders may view the punishment as harsh, Semonian said, members have a different perspective.

''It's direction from God's word,'' he said. ''It actually is very loving. What the shunning does, it protects the congregation from unwholesome influences of those who blatantly disregard Bible influences.''

Semonian said that it also serves to make those who have been excommunicated aware of how they've messed up.

''This person blatantly wanted to do what's wrong. By shunning him, it impresses upon him to come back in a right relationship with God.''
Sometimes, however, that thinking backfires.

Tiffany DiDomenico of Smyrna left the Witnesses because she felt the elders' expectations of her were unreasonable. People are expected not to sin, but that's not possible, she said, and if they fail, there's a public disciplinary process.

''It's humiliating,'' she said.

''It's very humiliating. My relationship with God should be between me and God, not me and the congregation.''

She also developed serious doubts about church teachings that church elders never answered to her satisfaction. Although she neither wrote a letter of disassociation nor was disfellowshipped, the result was the same, she said. Friends and family shunned her.
One day she saw friends in Wal-Mart. But after making eye contact with her, she said, they looked away and acted as if she wasn't there. At that point, she said, she knew she'd been right to leave the faith.

''It made me very angry, and it hurt me. But more than anything, it reaffirmed my decision that leaving was the best thing I could have done for myself,'' she said. ''I had always been told that my true friends were the Witnesses, that they were my true family. Now my supposed true family was turning their backs on me.''

In addition, her father and her stepmother stopped talking with her. Calls to her father's residence were not returned.

Ironically, DiDomenico had previously somewhat shunned her mother after she left the Witnesses and told DiDomenico negative information about the religion.
DiDomenico said she is now a born-again Christian.

Graham, the Nashville man who was disfellowshipped, said he hasn't returned to organized religion.

He said his thoughts at the time of his disfellowshipment were: ''I'm spiritually dead, I'm a doomed man, I have nothing to live for.''

When he was first disfellowshipped, he felt certain he would perish at the battle of Armageddon, he said, which he thought would be relatively soon. Now, he has studied many religions but doesn't feel the desire to join.

''I believe in God.'' he said.

''But I think … the most important aspect of that faith is not doctrine but is love.''

Brian Lewis covers faith, values and religion. Contact him at 259-8077 or [email protected].

© Copyright 2002 The Tennessean
A Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper Use of this site signifies that you agree to our terms of service (updated: 08/01/2001).

Associated Press content is Copyrighted by The Associated Press.

29

JR Browns live interview

by Pureheart in

hey guys,.

did not connect the way it was suppose to.

sorry.. pureheart

AngryXJW

Listeners should try to place themselves in the shoes of members of the general public who know nothing as to the details/specifics of JW teachings, and then ask yourself whether such a listener really received an honest, straight-forward understanding of such JW teachings from the WTS's main spokesperson.

Then ask yourself whether JR Brown most closely imitates Jesus Christ or the "Angel of Light"?

Used Car and Snake Oil Salespersons could use this tape in training sessions.

JR Brown's responses reminded me of the many recent interviews of various Palestinian spokespersons who NEVER provide the interviewer with a direct, completely truthful answer.

This tape should be given prominent distribution as an example of the WTS's DECEPTIVE MEANS of delivering their message.

Any JW that could listen to this tape, and then refuse to acknowledge that their main spokesperson intentionally deceived his audience, has not an honest bone in their body.

How do the angels resist "bitch-slapping" this sorry piece of scum?

JWs Are Exemplary Citizens Especially Re Children

by AngryXJW in

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/130/metro/owners_of_van_company_saw_a_good_deed_go_bad+.shtml.

owners of van company saw a good deed go bad.

by corey dade, globe staff, 5/10/2002 .

AngryXJW

. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/130/metro/Owners_of_van_company_saw_a_good_deed_go_bad+.shtml

Owners of van company saw a good deed go bad

By Corey Dade, Globe Staff, 5/10/2002

Leon and Lula Mae Johnson had run their children's shuttle service to meet the needs of working parents and, when they could, do God's work of helping people turn around their fortunes.

No one seemed more in need than Franklin Speed, who by age 27 had a long history of drug dealing, assault, and gun possession, but now wanted to follow a straighter path. Speed was about to be a father and wanted to make an honest living.

The Bible says a man deserves a second chance, the Johnsons, who are Jehovah's Witnesses, believe.

''We normally don't hire anyone with a criminal record. But I thought about that young judge on TV,'' said the company's owner, Leon Johnson, referring to Judge Greg Mathis, a gang member as a teen who was later elected to the bench in Detroit before starring in his own courtroom television show. ''Somebody gave him a chance. Somebody pulled him up.''

So Speed went to work for the Johnsons as a driver, but on his second day on the job, disaster struck.

A Johnson and Johnson Transportation Co. van, driven by Speed, careened across Cummins Highway in Roslindale and plowed into an oncoming car, killing Myrna Skerritt, 36, of Hyde Park, and her 19-month-old daughter Jaelle.

Today, 10 days after the accident, Speed is scheduled to appear in West Roxbury District Court, where a clerk-magistrate will decide whether to charge him with vehicular manslaughter.

If he is charged, prosecutors said, they could upgrade the alleged crime to felony manslaughter.

Overcome with shock and guilt, the Johnsons fear that their efforts to give someone a chance at redemption could be their undoing.

On Tuesday, as they sat in the dining room of their attorney's Dorchester home, they appeared fatigued and said they feel betrayed.

What the Johnsons had taken as honesty from Speed about his criminal past turned out to be only partly true. Speed had supplied documents indicating he had a clean criminal record since 1998, encouragement enough for the Johnsons that he had mended his ways.

In fact, his criminal record was spotless for nearly four years because he was behind bars at the time for assault with intent to kill, among other offenses. The Johnsons said Speed never told them he had been released from state prison six months before applying for the job.
''I wouldn't have hired him if I'd known he'd just come out of jail,'' Leon Johnson said.

As the Johnsons reflect on their decision to place children in the care of a habitual criminal who lacked a commercial driver's license, their business has stalled. Immediately after the accident, the Registry of Motor Vehicles seized the license plates of their fleet of five vans.

And the state Office of Child Care Services suspended Lula Mae Johnson's license to operate her at-home day care pending an investigation, though she said she had closed her business last year.
Several obstacles confront the Johnsons' return to business. Only three of their five vans had the school bus plates necessary for vehicles to legally carry children. Some of the vans lack flashing lights or ''School Bus'' markings the state requires. The Registry of Motor Vehicles has started inspecting the Johnsons' vans.

Looming is a wrongful death lawsuit expected to be brought by Dalton Skerritt, the widower of Myrna Skerritt and Jaelle's father, which could endanger the family's personal assets. There is also the possibility of criminal charges.
The Suffolk district attorney's office is considering impaneling a grand jury to determine if Johnson and Johnson Transportation Co. can be held criminally responsible for the accident.

After his auto parts business failed, Leon Johnson started his transportation company eight years ago out of the family's Mattapan home. From transporting about 20 children a week, Johnson and Johnson expanded to 80 children.

Police are still trying to dermine the cause of the accident. Investigators also are inspecting the Ford van Speed was driving the morning of May 1. Skerritt died at the scene. Jaelle, strapped in a car seat, died the next day at Children's Hospital.

By coincidence, Lula Mae Johnson happened past the accident scene and spotted the red van, flipped onto its side. She thought the van looked familiar but didn't have time to stop because she had children to drop off. ''I saw a baby chair and somebody was standing over the seat,'' she said. ''I assumed they were giving CPR because that's the way we would do it.''

Lula Mae Johnson picked up her cellphone and contacted her husband, suggesting that he check the whereabouts of his other vans.

''I picked up the two-way radio and I started calling for Mr. Speed to pick up,'' said Leon Johnson, who was behind the wheel of another van. When Speed didn't answer, ''I just had a gut feeling that it's got to be my van,'' he said.
Johnson hurried to Cummins Highway. He asked Speed how he had lost control of the van. ''He said he really didn't know,'' Johnson said. ''Then he started saying something about how the brakes were bad,'' he said. ''I know the brakes weren't bad because my daughter drove it the night before.''

On Monday, Skerritt, a former nurse and native of Arquin, Haiti, and Jaelle were buried in Fairview Cemetery in Hyde Park.
Dalton Skerritt has hired Boston attorney Daniel P. Munnelly and has refused interview requests. Through Munnelly, Dalton Skerritt released a statement on Tuesday saying, ''persons responsible for taking the life of my wife and daughter will be brought to justice.''

''I want to know why an improperly licensed operator and vehicle was on the road,'' the statement said. ''I want to know how children's day care and children's transportation businesses can operate without background checks and oversight. I want to know why this happened.''

Even though he isn't legally required to do so, Johnson said he has all job applicants provide state criminal background checks. The criminal search on Speed revealed only a fraction of his more than 20 convictions, the earliest from a pair of drug cases when he was 17. The list, reviewed by the Globe, showed the most recent assault conviction in 1998, but omitted the four-year sentence he received.

However, a separate criminal background check requested by the Globe from the state showed all his convictions and his most recent incarceration.

''Why wouldn't they give us that on the record?'' said Lula Mae Johnson. ''There was no way for us to know.''

Before hiring him, Leon Johnson said he sat with Speed and ''talked with him a long time. His girlfriend was having a baby. He said he changed in four years, was getting himself together. He mentioned no one was giving him a chance.''

Speed was hired for a 90-day probationary period, though he didn't have the necessary 7D license for transporting children. State law mandates employers to ensure drivers possess the license before taking the wheel. Johnson said he expected Speed to obtain the license in his first three months on the job.

Drivers also are supposed to be certified in CPR.

The Johnsons said they didn't know if Speed had such training.

Corey Dade can be reached at [email protected].

This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 5/10/2002.

25

DATELINE TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, MAY 28

by AngryXJW in

i hope that dateline reconsiders airing this program on the evening most frequently used for book studies.

AngryXJW

I hope that Dateline reconsiders airing this program on the evening most frequently used for Book Studies.