behemot
JoinedPosts by behemot
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17
Help this girl
by behemot inhttp://www.yiyu.us/this-is-going-to-sound-really-dumb-to-jehovahs-witnesses-only/.
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Russia: JW leader (Alexander Kalistratov) on trial
by behemot inmoscow (ap) the religious group jehovah's witness says their local leader is being persecuted in russia under a vague anti-extremism law.. the group said monday that alexander kalistratov is going on trial in the siberian town of gorno-altaisk for alleged "incitement of religious enmity and hatred.".
the group's spokesman robert warren said the trial is part of a "larger problem" that jehovah's witnesses have been facing in russia and called the trial a "misapplication" of russia' 2002 anti-extremism law.. human rights advocates claim that law is used to crack down on dissidents and religious groups that russia's dominant orthodox church disapproves of.. in september 2009, a court in the southern city of rostov-on-don banned a regional branch of jehovah's witness and outlawed dozens of its publications.. google_ad_section_end(name=article) copyright 2010 the associated press.
all rights reserved.
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behemot
MOSCOW (AP) — The religious group Jehovah's Witness says their local leader is being persecuted in Russia under a vague anti-extremism law.
The group said Monday that Alexander Kalistratov is going on trial in the Siberian town of Gorno-Altaisk for alleged "incitement of religious enmity and hatred."
The group's spokesman Robert Warren said the trial is part of a "larger problem" that Jehovah's Witnesses have been facing in Russia and called the trial a "misapplication" of Russia' 2002 anti-extremism law.
Human rights advocates claim that law is used to crack down on dissidents and religious groups that Russia's dominant Orthodox Church disapproves of.
In September 2009, a court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don banned a regional branch of Jehovah's Witness and outlawed dozens of its publications.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Read the JW side of the story here:
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JW paid 13-year-old girl to keep quiet about sex abuse
by behemot ina man who sexually abused a 13-year-old girl and took obscene photographs of her has been jailed for three years four months.. liverpool crown court heard that 54-year-old geoffrey massey would pay the teenager after molesting her at his home in an attempt to keep her quiet.. but his crimes eventually came to light after he confessed to his daughter, who told other relatives.. in april, following the revelations, his young victim took an overdose and had to be treated at hospital.. jailing 54-year-old massey, who is a jehovah's witness, judge adrian lyon said i have regard for the totality of the offences and in particular the last count, which dealt with a number of photographs you took of the child, aged 13, on your behalf.. there seems to have been a number of occasions on which you engaged in sexual activity with this child.. when the girl was interviewed by police she initially denied massey had done anything wrong.
she told officers he had given her the money for cleaning work.. but after officers re-interviewed her after getting more information, she revealed what had been happening, saying she had felt too foolish to admit it.. massey, of twickenham drive, leasowe, admitted sexual activity with a child, two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one further offence of making indecent photographs.. the pictures were never discovered because he had deleted them from his computer.. lee bonner, defending, said once his client had begun the abuse he was too scared to stop for fear his victim would expose his crimes.. essentially, once he had begun he found it very difficult to stop, not because of any particular sexual satisfaction, but because once it had begun and he had begun to give her money he feared the complainant might tell people when the flow of money stopped.. mr bonner told how massey, who had no previous convictions, had left his family, but had been the subject of a hate campaign in his community.. source: http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/8718393.jehovah_s_witness_paid_13_year_old_girl_to_keep_quiet_about_sex_abuse/.
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behemot
A man who sexually abused a 13-year-old girl and took obscene photographs of her has been jailed for three years four months.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that 54-year-old Geoffrey Massey would pay the teenager after molesting her at his home in an attempt to keep her quiet.
But his crimes eventually came to light after he confessed to his daughter, who told other relatives.
In April, following the revelations, his young victim took an overdose and had to be treated at hospital.
Jailing 54-year-old Massey, who is a Jehovah's Witness, Judge Adrian Lyon said “I have regard for the totality of the offences and in particular the last count, which dealt with a number of photographs you took of the child, aged 13, on your behalf.
“There seems to have been a number of occasions on which you engaged in sexual activity with this child.”
When the girl was interviewed by police she initially denied Massey had done anything wrong. She told officers he had given her the money for cleaning work.
But after officers re-interviewed her after getting more information, she revealed what had been happening, saying she had “felt too foolish” to admit it.
Massey, of Twickenham Drive, Leasowe, admitted sexual activity with a child, two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one further offence of making indecent photographs.
The pictures were never discovered because he had deleted them from his computer.
Lee Bonner, defending, said once his client had begun the abuse he was too scared to stop for fear his victim would expose his crimes.
“Essentially, once he had begun he found it very difficult to stop, not because of any particular sexual satisfaction, but because once it had begun and he had begun to give her money he feared the complainant might tell people when the flow of money stopped.”
Mr Bonner told how Massey, who had no previous convictions, had left his family, but had been the subject of a “hate campaign” in his community.
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Italy: deacon commits suicide after failing to become a catholic priest
by behemot inorvieto, 1 dec. (aki) - a 29-year-old man committed suicide by throwing himself from the city walls in the medieval central italian city of orvieto, apparently because the vatican refused to ordain him as a priest.
in a suicide note found in his room, typed on his computer, luca seidita, said he killed himself because the vatican had blocked his ordination on 7 december.. .
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behemot
Orvieto, 1 Dec. (AKI) - A 29-year-old man committed suicide by throwing himself from the city walls in the medieval central Italian city of Orvieto, apparently because the Vatican refused to ordain him as a priest. In a suicide note found in his room, typed on his computer, Luca Seidita, said he killed himself because the Vatican had blocked his ordination on 7 December.
"I wanted to be a priest, and dedicated my whole life to this goal, but it was denied me," Seidita, who was from Lecce in southern Italy.
Seidita, who was a deacon, took his own life late on Tuesday - after the Holy See intervened directly to stop his ordination from going ahead on 7 December.
The body was found by an Orvieto resident walking his dog. His body showed injuries consistent with having fallen 30 metres, but no signs of foul play. Magistrates were due to decide on Wednesday whether to order an autopsy.
The Vatican does not intend to comment on Seidita, its spokesman Federico Lombardi told Adnkronos. Nor does it intend to state why it blocked his ordination, Lombardi said.
"We are talking about one of the sacraments and the Holy See cannot provide any explanations," he said. "We are not saying anything," he added.
The diocese of Orvieto-Todi on Tuesday informed Seidita in writing that his ordination had been stopped "due to the direct intervention of the Holy See".
"The reasons for this will soon be subject to clarification... we pray that don Luca may soon recover from this great test," the Orvieto-Todi diocese wrote.
In November, a 51-year-old priest named in reports as S.R. committed suicide on a railway line near the northern city of Bergamo. He had been exposed by Italian investigative TV show 'Le Iene' in April over his alleged sexual abuse of young boys in the Bergamo area.
The priest had been undergoing psychological and spiritual therapy after he was removed from his post by the bishop of Cremona.
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Has anyone heard of Tulsi Giri and do you think he is a witness?
by DJPoetech injust ran into this article while doing some other reasearch.... will post here and provide link... he seems to be making waves in the hindu world.... .
jehovah's witness is key advisor to the king of nepal.
posted may 17, 2005. .
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behemot
It seems confirmed here:
http://www.nepalstory.com/engelsk/e-02-17.html
It's part of a report on a trip made by JWs in Nepal in 2005.
Behemot
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Mario Monicelli, Italian Director, Dies at 95 (suicide)
by behemot inpeace to you, mario ... a great man .... mario monicelli, an enormously popular director and screenwriter whose bittersweet films, notably big deal on madonna street and the great war, blended humor and tragedy to create a new genre known as italian-style comedy, died on monday in rome.
he was 95.. enlarge this imagefilippo monteforte/agence france-presse getty imagesthe oscar-nominated director and screenwriter mario monicelli in 2009.. he jumped from a fifth-floor balcony of the san giovanni hospital, where he was being treated for prostate cancer, the associated press reported.. mr. monicelli, who directed more than 60 films and wrote more than 70 screenplays, often drew comparisons to balzac for the richness of his social canvas and for his sensitivity to the miseries and joys of italian life.
the foibles of ordinary italians provided him with inexhaustible material in a career that lasted more than six decades and drew acclaimed performances from a galaxy of actors that included marcello mastroianni, vittorio gassman, alberto sordi and monica vitti.. his best-known film, big deal on madonna street (1958), about a robbery gone wrong, included all the elements that characterized his finest work.
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behemot
PEACE TO YOU, MARIO ... A GREAT MAN ...
Mario Monicelli, an enormously popular director and screenwriter whose bittersweet films, notably “Big Deal on Madonna Street” and “The Great War,” blended humor and tragedy to create a new genre known as Italian-style comedy, died on Monday in Rome. He was 95.
Filippo Monteforte/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter Mario Monicelli in 2009.
He jumped from a fifth-floor balcony of the San Giovanni Hospital, where he was being treated for prostate cancer, The Associated Press reported.
Mr. Monicelli, who directed more than 60 films and wrote more than 70 screenplays, often drew comparisons to Balzac for the richness of his social canvas and for his sensitivity to the miseries and joys of Italian life. The foibles of ordinary Italians provided him with inexhaustible material in a career that lasted more than six decades and drew acclaimed performances from a galaxy of actors that included Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, Alberto Sordi and Monica Vitti.
His best-known film, “Big Deal on Madonna Street” (1958), about a robbery gone wrong, included all the elements that characterized his finest work. A ragtag gang of thieves, trying to break through an apartment wall to rob a pawn shop, trigger a cascade of comic mishaps, but in the process, the pathos of their constrained, poverty-stricken lives comes to the surface.
“I always look at a group of people who want to attempt an enterprise greater than their means,” Mr. Monicelli said in a 1999 interview. “They begin on this enterprise and they fail.”
For Mr. Monicelli, the lack of a happy ending, seemingly antithetical to comedy, defined Italian humor. “The themes that make one laugh always stem from poverty, hunger, misery, old age, sickness, and death,” he said. “These are the themes that make Italians laugh, anyway.”
Mr. Monicelli explored a similar tension between comedy and tragedy in “The Great War” (1959), about two friends, played by Sordi and Gassman, who do their best to avoid serving in World War I and, when thrust into the front lines, show a determined lack of bravery until fate intervenes. The film won the Golden Lion Award for best film at the Venice Film Festival.
Both popular and prolific, Mr. Monicelli directed a long list of box office and critical successes. These include “The Organizer” (1963), with Mastroianni as an idealistic professor who incites workers in Turin to strike; the medieval satire “For Love and Gold” (1966), with Gassman as a pompous knight leading a hastily assembled armed band; and “My Friends” (1975), about five middle-class men in a provincial town who indulge in practical jokes to combat their sense of desperation.
“The Italian-style comedy was able to talk about social problems and still be popular,” said Peter Bondanella, the author of “A History of Italian Cinema” (2009). “It was a way of having a dialogue about what was going on in Italy, of addressing questions that were not being discussed in the government.”
In the highly acclaimed film “An Average Little Man” (1977), Mr. Monicelli pushed the premises of Italian comedy to the limit in the harrowing tale of a minor civil servant, played by Sordi, whose son is accidentally killed by terrorists and who embarks on a fruitless search for revenge.
Mario Monicelli was born on May 15, 1915, in Viareggio, a Tuscan seaside town. His father, Tomaso, was a well-known journalist who committed suicide in 1946.
While studying history and philosophy at the University of Milan, Mario directed a short film based on Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Soon after that he directed a 16-millimeter feature, “The Boys of Paul Street,” based on a novel by Ferenc Molnar. It won a prize at the 1935 Venice Film Festival.
After moving to Rome, he concentrated on screenwriting and worked as an assistant to various directors, including Raffaello Matarazzo, Mario Camerini and Pietro Germi. In the late 1940s he collaborated with the director and screenwriter Stefano Vanzina, known as Steno, on a series of farces with the popular comic actor Totò.
Already, Mr. Monicelli was bending comedy in a darker direction, and in his first solo outing as a director, “Totò and Caroline” (1953), cast his lead actor as a policeman who comes to the aid of a young woman who has been seduced and abandoned. The subject was deemed so disturbing that censorship problems delayed its release for two years.
“Italian comedy took the stock characters of the commedia dell’arte and, using these phenomenal actors — any great actor alive and breathing appeared in Monicelli’s films — expanded them in darker ways,” Mr. Bondanella said. “They were comedies, but nobody was laughing a lot by the end of the film.”
“Casanova ’70” (1965), a sex farce with Mastroianni, was resolutely silly-minded, but Mr. Monicelli returned to form in “The Girl With a Pistol” (1968), with Monica Vitti as a dishonored Sicilian woman who tracks her lover to London, and “We Want the Colonels” (1973), a sharp political satire based on an attempted coup in Italy in 1970, with Ugo Tognazzi playing a power-mad right-wing deputy.
“Let’s Hope It’s a Girl” (1986), a feminist comedy with Liv Ullmann, Catherine Deneuve and Philippe Noiret, took dead aim at male supremacism, depicting a world in which men make a mess of things and women come to the rescue.
Mr. Monicelli remained active as a director and writer into his 80s and beyond. His last film, “Desert Roses,” an acidic look at the Italian campaign in Libya, was released in 2006.
He appeared in the 2003 American film “Under the Tuscan Sun,” with Diane Lane, in which he played an old man who places flowers each day at a roadside shrine to the Virgin Mary.
He is survived by his companion, Chiara Rapaccini, and their daughter, Rosa, as well as two daughters from his first marriage, Ottavia and Martina.
In a 1999 interview Mr. Monicelli was asked if he considered any subject off-limits for comedy. “No,” he said. “If the eye is sensitive enough, all is possible.”
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/movies/30monicelli.html?_r=1&ref=movies
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Survey on religion's positive/negative impact
by behemot in.
source: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50157000/gif/_50157199_religion_good_bad_464.gif.
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Survey on religion's positive/negative impact
by behemot in.
source: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50157000/gif/_50157199_religion_good_bad_464.gif.
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Soliloquy
by behemot inin recent years the assemblies started to feature a new kind of demonstration on stage: the soliloquy, where inner thoughts and reasonings of the character are uttered aloud for the benefit of the audience.
usually the plot is something like this:.
1. the character (a brother, a sister, a youngster) starts with indulging in a selfish/materialistic/unspiritual thought/plan.
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behemot
In recent years the assemblies started to feature a new kind of demonstration on stage: the soliloquy, where inner thoughts and reasonings of the character are uttered aloud for the benefit of the audience. Usually the plot is something like this:
1. the character (a brother, a sister, a youngster) starts with indulging in a selfish/materialistic/unspiritual thought/plan
2. reminds bible principles which run counter to his thought/plan
3. comes to his senses
4. makes the "right" decision (happy ending)
It's kind of a self-sheperding call.
It's true soliloquy is (has been) "a device often used in drama" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliloquy), but the authors of the script not being Shakespeare and the actors not being Sir Laurence Olivier makes it kind of weird.
How do you feel about soliloquies at the assemblies?
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Do religious people make easy targets for scams?
by behemot in(rns) convicted ponzi schemer bernard madoff bilked billions of dollars out of thousands of fellow jews, including charities like the elie wiesel foundation and steven spielberg wunderkinder foundation.
other major frauds exposed by federal investigators in recent years have targeted jehovah's witnesses, baptists, black churches and other denominations, from $190 million lost in a three-year scam promoted by a christian radio host in minnesota to an estimated $1.4 billion conned from thousands of utah mormons.
now three pakistani immigrants -- two believed to have fled the u.s. -- are accused of swindling $30 million from hundreds of chicago-area muslims with an investment plan they promised complied with islamic law.
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behemot
(RNS) Convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff bilked billions of dollars out of thousands of fellow Jews, including charities like the Elie Wiesel Foundation and Steven Spielberg Wunderkinder Foundation.
Other major frauds exposed by federal investigators in recent years have targeted Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, black churches and other denominations, from $190 million lost in a three-year scam promoted by a Christian radio host in Minnesota to an estimated $1.4 billion conned from thousands of Utah Mormons.
Now three Pakistani immigrants -- two believed to have fled the U.S. -- are accused of swindling $30 million from hundreds of Chicago-area Muslims with an investment plan they promised complied with Islamic law.
Is it simply too easy for con artists to prey on people of faith?
"We've seen where it's an outsider who has come into the fold, and we've seen some where it's a person who has been a member of the community for decades," said Lori Schock, director of investment education and advocacy for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
"We've had cases where people quote Scripture, that the Lord wants you to make money. And when the house of cards comes crashing down, the victims sometimes lose more than just their money -- sometimes they lose their faith, and it's extremely sad."
Why do religious groups make such easy targets? For one, a swindler who professes the same faith, or belongs to the same congregation, has an easy time of earning trust, however misplaced. Duped investors, meanwhile, also hesitate to suspect or report on one of their own, Schock added.
Although the FBI's Utah Securities Fraud Task Force has issued a warning to members of the Church of Latter-day Saints, the SEC hasn't examined whether religious groups are more susceptible to "affinity fraud" -- scams that target specific demographics, whether evangelical Christians or the elderly.
But researchers say it's a question worth considering.
Harvard scholar Robert D. Putnam and Notre Dame's David E. Campbell found a connection between religiosity and trust in others in their new book, "American Grace: How Religion Unites and Divides Us."
Based on Harvard's 2006 Faith Matters Survey, Putnam and Campbell conclude religious people are viewed as more trustworthy by both religious and nonreligious Americans, and also tend to be more trusting of others.
In an interview, Campbell said the strong social networks found in some faith communities, such as "the tight bonds among Mormons," seems to make them especially vulnerable to fraud.
"The underlying issue, I think, is the question of mutual trust," agreed Nancy Ammerman, a Boston University professor of religion and sociology. "These schemes rely on and exploit that trust, and people within religious communities tend to have high levels of trust for others within their community."
There's also ease of access, Ammerman said.
"Conversations are easy to strike up, and everybody's got a directory or an e-mail list or at least people they talk to at coffee hour. The social connections are there, and that makes it easier for someone with something to sell to get new customers."
Anson Shupe, an Indiana University sociologist and author of several books on faith-based fraud, said his own research indicates evangelicals, Mormons and black churches are most susceptible, while Catholics are relatively protected by a dense, hierarchical network of clergy supervision.
"Protestants and Mormons tend to believe that there is a sort of straightforward relationship between keeping the tenets of the faith and contributing financially to it, and then reaping rewards in the here and now," he explained. "Some pastors preach a one-to-one relationship between worldly prosperity and attendance to matters of faith."
Members of these groups also believe that God wants them to prosper, and that God wouldn't allow them to be ripped off -- especially not by someone who shares their beliefs, he added.
But Earl L. Grinols, a Baylor University economics professor, believes any correlation between faith and fraud stems from a "mistaken" perception that religious people as easily misled. That prompts con artists to disproportionately target them, along with the elderly and the newly affluent.
"It's the ease of identifying and finding people in the group to scam, and that the perpetrators have a misperception that these members are more naive," he said. "They may tend to view (Christians) as more simple, maybe more easily led."
Schock said potential investors should check with the regional SEC office before handing money over to potential con artists, whether it's a longtime congregant in good standing, a religious leader who has been endorsed by fellow clergy, or someone who promotes an investment that appears faith-friendly, such as church bonds or Islam-compliant loans.
"Trust, but verify," she said. "If something sound too good to be true, it probably is." source: http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2010-11/do-religious-people-make-easy-targets-scams
