recently, i saw an issue of despertad!
sitting around in a public place and leafed through it idly.
at the back of it, on the inside page opposite back page, was something like 'family fun' and a connect-the-dots game of joshua, or something like that.
Recently, I saw an issue of Despertad! sitting around in a public place and leafed through it idly. At the back of it, on the inside page opposite back page, was something like 'family fun' and a connect-the-dots game of Joshua, or something like that. My questions:
Is this in the English language Awake! issues also?
How long has a child game been in the publication?
and finally,
Is this really theocratic? LOL
suppose a small group of people in the united states decide that they want to start a religion.
does united states law and the constitution give them this right?
after thinking about it, i'm not so sure.. they can certainly meet and talk about the bible or religion.
I grew up in NY in JWs, and went to graduate school and became a lawyer after I left the JWs, for the record I never really fell for it, I was pressured into it as a child--BUT, growing up I knew a practicing lawyer who was an elder. I think he had avoided going to law school under a very old exception allowing him to sit for the Bar based on an apprenticeship with other lawyers. The Society legal department msy have had a hand in his sponsorship, funidng etc, but the iront is that, while he may have been serving as occasional outside counsel for WT legal, his principal practice was divorce/family pratice.
I think any lawyer working for WT (or a practicing lawyer as an adult also functioning as an elder etc) must engage in an Orwellian doublethink, allowing them to use normal logical and legal thinking while at work, but suspend all disbelief when it comes to WT. Then again I suspect a lot of people keep those two things separate in their minds on a regular basis.
suppose a small group of people in the united states decide that they want to start a religion.
does united states law and the constitution give them this right?
after thinking about it, i'm not so sure.. they can certainly meet and talk about the bible or religion.
What State are you in Band on the Run? I practice immigration law in Missouri--now that's what we call a narrow practice--but it's something to do. Sorry to hear about your disability, hope you get on the uptick soon. I too have a long loyalty with the Beatles, in fact I was born in liverpool UK but grew up in NY myself. So put those together, AND ex-JW, weird huh?
suppose a small group of people in the united states decide that they want to start a religion.
does united states law and the constitution give them this right?
after thinking about it, i'm not so sure.. they can certainly meet and talk about the bible or religion.
Band on the Run are you a McCartney and Wings fan, and, are you a law student or lawyer?
life's like a mayonnaise soda .
and life's like space without room .
and life's like bacon and ice cream .
Thank you Lou Reed.
i have never in my life wished my mother a happy birthday.
largely because i know she would find it offensive.
and raised in that poisonous environment, i to this day loathe other people knowing when it is my birthday and feel strange when if they do, or even family do wish me a happy birthday.
I have never in my life wished my mother a Happy Birthday. Largely because I know she would find it offensive. And raised in that poisonous environment, I to this day loathe other people knowing when it is my birthday and feel strange when if they do, or even family do wish me a happy birthday. I thank them, I don't resent it, but I know that there is no way I can say this to my mother. In fact, she is so skittish about it that if I were to even call her on the day--meaning today (we speak very little) she would believe that I was calling her ONLY because it was her birthday, and then she would take that the wrong way and find a way to be offended.
The JWs have nullified the last refuge of the negligent friends and family, the ones who, for personal reasons, or distance, or life's tribulations, still feel it is better to wish someone happy birthday, or send a Christmas holiday card, just to say, thinking about you, I haven't forgotten.
suppose a small group of people in the united states decide that they want to start a religion.
does united states law and the constitution give them this right?
after thinking about it, i'm not so sure.. they can certainly meet and talk about the bible or religion.
From the ABA review here:
" Roberts said the ruling was confined the facts of the case—a fired minister who could not sue for employment discrimination because of the ministerial exception. “We express no view on whether the exception bars other types of suits, including actions by employees alleging breach of contract or tortious conduct by their religious employers," he said."
OK, so let's all drop the runaway panic over religion protected from all sorts of tortious conduct by this ruling--not in the least.
http://news.yahoo.com/court-judges-cannot-involved-church-dispute-152559467.html.
I think it is important not to read into these things other than the narrowly tailored set of facts and the Justice's decision on the question rendered--can a person functioning as a religious employee bring a suit under the ADA against their religious organization employer for employment discrimination? And the answer was, clearly, No. It would open a ridiculous floodgate of litigation wherein doctrinal differences get morphed into acts of alleged discrimination. The Justices don't want to have to decide, or have courts decide, who is a true believer and who isn't, who best represents leadership in a particular church, etc. Look, when you work for a religious origanzation in a religious capacity you ought to have your eyes wide open as to who and WHAT you are working for--you work for them at their pleasure to reflect their organization and probably proselytize, or at least espouse their organization's beliefs. Should I be able to sue the Synagogue for not hiring me to be a Rabbi because I'm not a Jew? Puh-lease.
People are free to create whatever religious affiliations they want, and like anything, it is a balancing act with the law--if something becomes criminal, or even a contractual violation, then there likely will be remedies for it. You can cook up hypotheticals about (money) conversion, embezzling of funds, oral agreements about investments, etc., this doesn't give "religion" a free ticket to anything of the sort. Look, every person investing their money in ANYTHING should "put it in writing!" I don't believe THIS case has a lot to say about it, quite frankly. And yes, I AM a lawyer.
suppose a small group of people in the united states decide that they want to start a religion.
does united states law and the constitution give them this right?
after thinking about it, i'm not so sure.. they can certainly meet and talk about the bible or religion.
"The founders might sign agreements about how the rights and investments of its members will be protected, but they likely won't be able to count on any court to enforce those agreements"
OK, I'm going to interject here 1) as an ex-JW and 2) as a lawyer. Legally binding contracts are just that--there is a large body of law that governs what will happen if there is a breach of this contract. A person or group cannot use the designation of 'religion' to invalidate contractually binding legalities. I think many have misapprehended the recent cases on the Court's unwillingness to intrude into an 'internal' matter of a religion exercising it's policies among its voluntary membership. For example, not ordaining women as priests will not be construed as a violation of a constitutionally protectable right of a woman* seeking to be a member of the Catholic clergy--we get that, right? Justice Scalia himself has said that where there is a square conflict between the church and the law, the church will not prevail. Before we let our imaginations go running wild on what a person could or couldn't do and have something called a "religion" avoid legalities, let's remember one important lesson from the JW past about tax sheltering proceeds from the sales of literature--remember when these things cost money to the householder? Then when the IRS said, o no, that is a taxable event going on there, it is a sale of literature, where is the sales tax, then all of a sudden, these from now on will be GIFTED to people, although the JW membership still cough up for them, I understand. They just can't sell them, not directly, anyway.
*even though the constitutional protection against discrimination based on gender is really describing discrimination from the government in the form of laws, etc, not from a private group or person--again, a large and complex topic
paradise!.
live forever!.
as jw's we were taught that things, money, posessions, cannot make you happytm.
Really needed this today, than you so much. Like your analogy of the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere--you get out of this cult and you begin to wonder about the point of anything, or where it's going to come from--an amotivational person's worst nightmare! Then you have to summon the courage to look inside, and not be afraid of yourself, because they teach that too, man's broken, sinful, evil, fallen nature, etc. Yes, we must DARE to be happy, in spite of their perverse indoctrination.
I remember like yesterday, when my mother said to me, disparaging and pessimistic, it would be a steady downhill decline for me once I left the organization, and that was 23 years ago! (since then I went on to FIND a career, an education, etc, one or two families, LIFE, in short). They teach and reinforce FEAR, fear of everything and everyone OUTSIDE in the WORLD, where SATAN rules and is destroying everyone, because God "hands over" to wickedness those who leave the WT. Cause/effect question? How much UNhappiness does WT Cause, or even once you leave, still feel the residual Effects of them, persistent Sadness at all those still there, self-deluded, abused, etc. In a different post someone alluded to "12 year-old Johnny mumbling through his Awake presentation at the door"--that made me really sad! I was there, I had to go through that, the systematic destruction of weekend mornings by knocking on doors for an hour or two, to peddle this preposterous literature! To this day I WILL NOT go up to stranger's doors withoutt a DAMN good reason, I DON'T canvass for anyone or anything--that was the worst feeling ever.
Well this turned into my own vent session, I apologize, but thank you again for a really nice post, it helps.
