International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) http://www.icsahome.com/
Excellent organization. I've spoken at two of their conferences.
Barbara
surviving and moving on after a high-demand group experience: a workshop for second-generation former members.
when: friday 4:00 pm april 4, 2014 to sunday 2:00 pm april 6, 2014. where: guest house retreat & conference center, 318 west main street, chester, ct 06412. guest house is a delightful retreat and conference center in the scenic connecticut river valley.
it offers spacious guest rooms with private bathrooms, superb cuisine, and amenities that range from a grand piano in the lobby to wireless internet in every room.. .
International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) http://www.icsahome.com/
Excellent organization. I've spoken at two of their conferences.
Barbara
marci a. hamilton is a professor of law at cardozo school of law, and the author of justice denied: what america must do to protect its children, which was just published in paperback with a new preface.
she also runs two active websites on issues she writes about frequently, www.sol-reform.com and www.rfrafolly.com.
her email address is [email protected].. - see more at: http://verdict.justia.com/2014/01/09/2013-year-review-child-sex-abuse-victims-access-justice?utm_source=justia+law&utm_campaign=a5e00662f3-summary_newsletters_jurisdictions&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_92aabbfa32-a5e00662f3-406007289#sthash.rfedrlpf.dpuf.
Yes, Jerry Brown is Catholic who has close ties to the Jesuits and is a Latin scholar and one-time almost priest.
Barbara
marci a. hamilton is a professor of law at cardozo school of law, and the author of justice denied: what america must do to protect its children, which was just published in paperback with a new preface.
she also runs two active websites on issues she writes about frequently, www.sol-reform.com and www.rfrafolly.com.
her email address is [email protected].. - see more at: http://verdict.justia.com/2014/01/09/2013-year-review-child-sex-abuse-victims-access-justice?utm_source=justia+law&utm_campaign=a5e00662f3-summary_newsletters_jurisdictions&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_92aabbfa32-a5e00662f3-406007289#sthash.rfedrlpf.dpuf.
Marci A. Hamilton is a professor of law at Cardozo School of Law, and the author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children, which was just published in paperback with a new Preface. She also runs two active websites on issues she writes about frequently, www.sol-reform.com and www.RFRAfolly.com. Her email address is [email protected].
2013: The Year in Review for Child Sex Abuse Victims’ Access to Justice
Blind Justice Child sex abuse victims, their families and friends, and, frankly, everyone except perpetrators and those who enable them, should be pleased about the progress toward victims’ access to justice in 2013. This past year, the pace of the movement quickened remarkably. Sadly, though, religious groups have gone back to the drawing board to find new ways to protect themselves from the law, so there is also a cloud on the horizon for victims as well.
We need civil-rights advocates, children’s advocates, and survivors and their communities to work hard to make 2014 even better than 2013, and if we all work together, the prospects of our doing so are good.
A Progress Report on Statute of Limitations (SOL) Reform in 2013
We made more progress in opening up abuse victims’ access to justice in 2013 than at any point in history. The artificial deadline that has blocked victims from pressing charges against perpetrators and institutions and from filing civil lawsuits—imposed by the various statutes of limitation (SOLs)—were pushed back in a number of states.
Sixteen states introduced bills to increase victims’ access to justice by scaling back the SOLs. Half made progress, which is extraordinary. The opposition to victims’ access to justice, like the Catholic bishops, are losing traction, which should hearten every victim.
Minnesota led the pack with a new SOL window and the elimination of the civil SOL. Largely due to the efforts of pioneer child-sex-abuse litigator Jeff Anderson, Minnesota is now experiencing an unprecedented release of facts and documents informing the public about decades of abuse by clergy, teachers, coaches, schools, churches, and other persons and institutions.
Minnesota is the best laboratory we have seen so far to show the direct link between SOL window legislation and public enlightenment about the ugly truth of child sex abuse in a state. We did not see the same immediate payoff in California, unfortunately, because the courts there permitted defendants to delay such releases for years. Not so in Minnesota, where there seems to be a new court order and release of information virtually every day.
Meanwhile, Hawaii’s SOL window remained open, with important lawsuits having been filed, including one against Jay Ram, who is accused of obtaining many boys through the foster-care system and then sexually abusing them, and Father Gerald Funcheon, who has been accused of abuse by three Hawaii men and more than two dozen men on the mainland.
Next in line, and also representing a huge step forward, Illinois eliminated both its civil and criminal SOLs. In record time, Arkansas eliminated its criminal SOL. Indiana extended its civil and criminal SOLs, while Nevada, Vermont, and Washington extended their criminal SOLs.
We did have our share of losses in 2013 as well. The California legislature passed a new SOL window to make up for the victims left out of the 2003 window, but Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it, for suspect reasons, as I discuss here, leaving many California survivors still locked out of the courthouse.
In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, the Catholic bishops and the representatives who have carried their water in Harrisburg succeeded in bottling up pending SOL legislation. In other states, like New Jersey and Massachusetts, bills made progress, even if they did not achieve passage yet.
There is reason for hope in states where bills did not receive action in 2013. For example, the sponsor of an excellent bill pending in the Massachusetts Senate (S. 633), Sen.William Brownsberger, has been appointed as the Senate Chair of the Joint Judiciary Committee, a key committee on these issues, which last year did not permit any SOL bills to advance to the floor. Many members of the New Jersey legislature also appear more receptive than in years past.
There is also talk in a number of states of considering a formula that Sen. Brownsberger spearheaded in his bill, a retroactive extension with an age cap, as opposed to a window. This sort of innovation reveals a movement that is not only active but also supple! For those interested in joining this movement, check out my site, www.sol-reform.com, which tracks
developments in all 50 states and the federal government.
The New Barriers Appearing in Some States for Clergy Abuse Victims
While survivors break down barriers to justice for all victims in many states, there is a disturbing new development spreading across the country like a cancer that threatens the clergy sex abuse victims: Religious believers are lobbying to build barriers around themselves and their institutions so that they can operate autonomously from the law.
As I have discussed in many columns, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) is sheer folly, and the state versions of the legislation are no better. They give religious actors who otherwise would be liable for breaking the law a defense that makes it easier for them to violate just about any law they prefer to ignore. (As I discuss in this column, the federal RFRA is the operative law in the contraception mandate cases pending at the Supreme Court.)
New iterations of the state RFRAs are even worse than the original versions. In the vast majority of the state RFRAs, believers at least have to show that a law imposes a “substantial burden” on their religious exercise. That has been a standard that has made it unlikely that they can overcome every law they challenge.
Courts have read the word “substantial” as though it has meaning, which means believers have not always won under the RFRAs. That has not satisfied the apparently insatiable demand by believers to be laws unto themselves. In new iterations, therefore, religious lobbyists have removed “substantial.” So any burden, however minor, could trigger the right to overcome the law. Kentucky actually passed such a misguided bill over the saner veto of its Governor. For good reason, this version of a state RFRA got no traction in Texas. Other states are considering it, though. Currently, in Ohio and Maine, the state legislatures are considering similar legislation that would create a new RFRA without the requirement of the term “substantial” modifying “burden.” This reduction in the burden on the believer would increase litigation, endanger the vulnerable, and further lead United States religious believers down the dangerous path of the Me-Me-Me generation I described in this column.
There seems to be no limit on the creativity of religious lobbyists in this era to find new ways to permit religious groups to break the law; there is yet another new and troubling RFRA mutation pending in Tennessee. This bill would build even higher walls around religious believers intent on breaking the law.
Under the typical RFRA, if the believer succeeds in proving that the law imposes a “substantial burden” on religious conduct, the burden shifts to the government to prove that the law serves a “compelling interest” by the “least restrictive means.” That is an extremely difficult burden for the government to carry, which means if the believer prevails in proving his or her burden, the odds are high the believer will not be required to abide by the law, no matter what the law is. The new Tennessee RFRA bill would pile yet another requirement onto the government: It would also have to satisfy its heavy burden with “clear and convincing evidence.” This is a formula for religious groups to simply ignore all state laws.
These new additions to these extreme religious liberty bills will make religious organizations and believers virtually bulletproof from the claims of the victims of clergy abuse in these states. Make no mistake about it: religious lobbyists fighting for RFRAs believe that believers belong above the law, and don’t want to talk about the vulnerable who are inevitably hurt by such regimes.
The harm arising from RFRAs doesn’t stop with child-sex-abuse victims, though, as these extreme state RFRAs will also open doors to immunize religious believers (whether they are parents, or institutions like churches, schools, or camps) from medical-neglect and child-abandonment claims, and a host of other crimes and torts. The sponsors of the legislation in each state appear to be sincerely interested in doing good, but in fact, they are paving the way to extraordinary harm and evil, and the last people who will explain to them what religious believers have done and can do to children and others are those lobbying for the RFRAs.
In sum, 2013 was a good year in a number of states where child sex-abuse victims will find it easier to get to court in the future. 2014 should be even better. The remaining concern, though, is that once clergy-sex-abuse victims get there, extreme religious liberty statutes will immunize believers and their institutions from being legally responsible for the crimes that they have committed and the harm they have done. For this and other reasons, there is still much work to be done by good people.
Marci A. Hamilton is a professor of law at Cardozo School of Law, and the author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children, which was just published in paperback with a new Preface. She also runs two active websites on issues she writes about frequently, www.sol-reform.com and www.RFRAfolly.com. Her email address is [email protected].
surviving and moving on after a high-demand group experience: a workshop for second-generation former members.
when: friday 4:00 pm april 4, 2014 to sunday 2:00 pm april 6, 2014. where: guest house retreat & conference center, 318 west main street, chester, ct 06412. guest house is a delightful retreat and conference center in the scenic connecticut river valley.
it offers spacious guest rooms with private bathrooms, superb cuisine, and amenities that range from a grand piano in the lobby to wireless internet in every room.. .
Surviving and Moving On After a High-Demand Group Experience: A Workshop for Second-Generation Former Members
When: Friday 4:00 pm April 4, 2014 to Sunday 2:00 pm April 6, 2014
Where: Guest House Retreat & Conference Center, 318 West Main Street, Chester, CT 06412. Guest House is a delightful retreat and conference center in the scenic Connecticut River Valley. It offers spacious guest rooms with private bathrooms, superb cuisine, and amenities that range from a grand piano in the lobby to wireless Internet in every room.
More Information: http://www.icsahome.com/events/workshopsgas
As increasing numbers of people born or raised in cultic movements have reached adulthood, the International Cultic Studies Association has developed a program that addresses their special needs.
Second-Generation Adults (SGAs) do not have a “precult identity” to which they can return. Raised in fringe subcultures, they frequently have educational and other skill deficits that interfere with adjustment to mainstream culture. Having grown up in high-demand, high-control groups, SGAs struggle with issues of dependency, self-esteem, and social conflict. They often have to deal with the trauma of physical and/or sexual abuse. SGAs have difficulty getting help because they tend to lack finances and be wary of other people, including helpers. Meeting annually since 2006, this workshop addresses the needs of SGAs through presentations by specialists and former members, including discussions in which attendees may participate according to their comfort levels. Special attention is paid to the need of SGAs for privacy, reflection, and working at their own pace. This workshop has been made possible by special donations and the willingness of facilitators to volunteer their time. Without the dedication of these people, registration fees would be much higher than they are. Donations cover a substantial portion of the total cost.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movie-guide/review+miraculum/9558074/story.htmlreview: miraculum .
non-linear narrative gets the strong ensemble cast it deservesby brendan kelly, the gazette february 28, 2014. .
louise turcot and julien poulin play casino workers engaged in a torrid love affair in miraculum.photograph by: seville picturesmiraculum.
By BRENDAN KELLY, THE GAZETTE February 28, 2014
Miraculum
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Xavier Dolan, Marilyn Castonguay, Robin Aubert, Anne Dorval, Julien Poulin, Gabriel Sabourin, Louise Turcot, Jean-Nicolas Verreault
Directed by: Podz
Running time: 104 minutes
Parental guidance: dark themes, sex scenes
Opens Friday, Feb. 28 in French with English subtitles at: Cinéma du Parc; in French at: Angrignon, Beaubien, Boucherville, Brossard, Colossus, Dorion, Longueuil, Marché Central, Pont Viau, Quartier Latin, St. Bruno, St. Eustache, StarCité cinemas
There is much to like in Miraculum, the latest film from Podz, a.k.a. Daniel Grou.
It starts with a very strong screenplay from screenwriter and actor Gabriel Sabourin, a thought-provoking drama that swings back and forth in time. Then there’s the assured direction of Podz, who shows his usual visual finesse and ability to tell a story in non-traditional fashion.
But what I like most in this ensemble film is the ensemble. Podz has always been an actor’s director — think of Claude Legault in Les 7 jours du talion, young Robert Naylor in 10½ and Marc-André Grondin in L’Affaire Dumont. Podz seems to get the best out of his thespians, and that’s the case once again in Miraculum.
They’re all good, notably director/actor Xavier Dolan, who’s playing against type as a buttoned-down electrician and Jehovah’s Witness; Julien Poulin as a casino barman; Louise Turcot as the coat-check woman at the same casino; Robin Aubert as a high-powered man with gambling issues; Anne Dorval as his unhappy wife, who’s drowning her sorrows in alcohol; and Sabourin as a tortured guy who’s working as a drug mule, bringing dope back from Latin America.
But good as they are, the one you won’t forget any time soon is Marilyn Castonguay. This is a multi-story film where there isn’t one main star in terms of screen time, but her luminous presence is what holds it all together.
Castonguay rose to prominence with a standout performance as a determined single mother who comes to the defence of a man wrongly accused of rape in L’Affaire Dumont. Here she plays Julie, a nurse who’s also a Jehovah’s Witness. She’s engaged to Dolan’s Étienne and is freaking out because he’s dying of leukemia and refusing a blood transfusion, since it’s against his religious principles. At the same time, she has become obsessed with the lone survivor of a terrible plane crash and will have to make a major decision about blood transfusions herself.
Three other stories are told at the same time. There’s the sad-sack goings-on of the miserable couple played by Aubert and Dorval, the torrid romance between the barman and coat-check woman played by Poulin and Turcot, and Sabourin as Simon, who’s smuggling drugs and dealing with a brother (Jean-Nicolas Verreault) who doesn’t want to know about him.
It’s a mighty impressive feat of writing and filmmaking, with the drama effortlessly flashing back and forth, before and after the plane crash, and moving from character to character. But as is often the case in these sorts of films — the same thing happened in Babel, which had a similar structure — some of the stories and people are more interesting than others.
I was wrapped up in the moral dilemma of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and it’s impossible not to be swept away by the gritty love affair between the casino staffers. But I never really cared much about the bourgeois couple who are gambling and boozing, and oddly enough, given that he’s the author, Sabourin’s drug runner never really came to life for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd3lQ4ocB5M Trailer in French
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/flash.aspx/288677#.ux9165ao7l9.
court rejects missionary lawsuit against netanya schools for voiding leasethe tel aviv magistrates court has rejected a claim by a missionary group, saying that the school they had been renting space in unlawfully voided their contract , and asking the court to instruct the school to pay nis 108,000 in compensation and mental anguish, as well as legal expenses.. it began when a missionary group, via a non-profit organization called "mitzpe l'yisrael", rented space at the raziel school in netanya to conduct daily afternoon activities.
shortly after signing the rental agreement , the school authorities discovered that the group was, in reality, the notorious missionary sect of "jehovah's witnesses".
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/288677#.Ux9165Ao7L9
The Tel Aviv Magistrates Court has rejected a claim by a missionary group, saying that the school they had been renting space in unlawfully voided their contract , and asking the court to instruct the school to pay NIS 108,000 in compensation and mental anguish, as well as legal expenses.
It began when a missionary group, via a non-profit organization called "Mitzpe L'Yisrael", rented space at the Raziel school in Netanya to conduct daily afternoon activities. Shortly after signing the rental agreement , the school authorities discovered that the group was, in reality, the notorious missionary sect of "Jehovah's Witnesses". The school immediately announced it was cancelling the contract. In response, the missionary group turned to the courts, demanding that the school carry out the contract and pay the NIS 108,000 in damages.
The Magistrates Court rejected the sect's suit, saying they (the missionaries) knew no school administration would ever have agreed to enter into an contract with them had they not used another organization as a front.
http://www.snapnetwork.org/pa_jehovah_witness_predator_escapes_consequences .
pa--jehovah witness predator escapes consequences .
posted on snap website by barbara dorris on march 01, 2014 flag .
http://www.snapnetwork.org/pa_jehovah_witness_predator_escapes_consequences
Posted on Snap Website by Barbara Dorris on March 01, 2014 · Flag
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, [email protected])
We are grateful that an Oklahoma prosecutor plans to appeal a devastating ruling that lets a Jehovah's Witness elder escape consequences for his heinous child sex crimes by exploiting a legal technicality.
http://m.mcalesternews.com/mcalester/pm_113000/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=xXt2Ng1I
Pittsburg County Prosecutor Danita Williams has said she'll ask a higher court to let her pursue criminal charges against Ronald Lawrence of McAlester, who allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulted two boys and a girl.
Lawrence had successfully argued that an arbitrary, archaic deadline – known as the statute of limitations – means that he gets to avoid prosecution.
We are appalled that an allegedly spiritual man would seek to hide behind a technicality like this. If he wants to defend himself, let him do it on the merits, not on the technicalities.
And we're appalled by the apparent silence of the Oklahoma Jehovah's Witness community. Church officials should be using their resources to aggressively seek out others who saw, suspected or suffered Lawrence's crimes. They should be begging anyone with information or suspicions of his wrongdoing to call police and prosecutors. They should be pledging to pay for therapy and medical expenses for others he has hurt. They should be reminding church staff, volunteers and members that calling law enforcement about known or suspected child sex crimes is crucial. They should be doing an internal investigation to see if other Jehovah's Witnesses knew of or suspected his crimes and kept silent or concealed the crimes.
Instead, as best we can tell, they're doing nothing.
On the other hand, these three victims are to be commended for their courage. It's always hard for child sex abuse victms to disclose their suffering. It's often harder when the predator cloaks himself in spirituality. We are grateful to these three brave individuals for speaking up and for helping police and prosecutors pursue Lawrence.
We hope their responsible, caring actions will inspire others who have been victimized to break their silence, get help, expose criminals, protect kids and start healing.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 25 years and have more than 15,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, [email protected]), Barbara Dorris (314-862-7688 home, 314-503-0003 cell, [email protected])
http://theweek.com/article/index/257009/why-are-millennials-less-religious-its-not-just-because-of-gay-marriage.
why are millennials less religious?
it's not just because of gay marriage.
Why are Millennials less religious? It's not just because of gay marriage
A younger generation's religious views aren't shaped by a single hot-button issue
By Jon Terbush | February 27, 2014
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Maybe Sunday brunch is just a more palatable religious experience for millennials. (Thinkstock)
It's no secret that young Americans aren't as religious as their elders. A survey released Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute suggests that part of that rift may be attributed to a perceived anti-gay bias in organized religion.
Among those who have abandoned their childhood religion and are now religiously unaffiliated, one quarter say anti-gay teachings factored into their decision to go faithless. Among Millennials in the religious turned irreligious camp, almost one third said the same.
At first blush, that would appear to suggest clear causation: stuffy old anti-gay religious dogma is spooking all the hip youngsters. But while there is certainly a link between the two, it is an overly simplistic analysis that glosses over a host of reasons that Americans — and particularly younger ones — are losing their religion.
Let's start by digging a little deeper into PRRI's survey results. While 31 percent of Millennial religion-droppers said anti-gay teachings were a factor in their decision, only 14 percent called it a "very important" reason they went faithless. And fully two thirds of Millennials who abandoned religion said their decision had very little or nothing at all to do with religion's position on homosexuals.
So what else is at play here?
Americans have been growing less religious for some time now. About one fifth of the nation is either atheist, agnostic, or religiously unaffiliated, according to a 2012 Pew survey, which categorizes that demographic as the "nones." Young adults are less devout than any other age bracket; nearly a third of them are religiously unaffiliated. Notably, they are also less religious than previous generations were at this point in their lives.
As Pew pointed out, that generational divide isn't the result of just one or even a few factors. Rather, it coincides with a general "softening of religious commitment" in the nation as a whole, with religious institutions holding much less influence in Americans' daily lives.
Americans attend church less, are more likely to doubt the existence of God, and are less likely to take the Bible literally than ever before. What that means for Millennials is that they're growing up in less religious households, and are thus less liable to embrace religion themselves.
At the same time, atheism and agnosticism have gradually become more commonplace and acceptable. Only 18 percent of Americans said they would vote for an atheist presidential candidate in 1958; a majority now say they would do just that. There are promotional atheism billboards all over the country, including one that went up near the site of the Super Bowl this year. There's even a hotline to help people "recover" from religion.
On another front, religion has become increasingly politicized in recent years; its perceived anti-gay bias is just one manifestation of that trend. As political scientists Robert Putnam and David Campbell tell it in their book, American Grace, the religious right secured a foothold in modern American politics by railing against abortion, contraception, premarital sex, and other supposedly sinful things including, yes, homosexuality. (The PRRI survey lumps all religions together, but given Christianity's predominance it's worth spotlighting.) That politicization, they argue, then turned nonreligious voters off of the GOP and religion in general. Indeed, religiously unaffiliated voters have been trending more Democratic for the past 30 years , with a spike in the past decade.
"While the Republican base has become ever more committed to mixing religion and politics," Putnam and Campbell wrote, "the rest of the country has been moving in the opposite direction."
Returning to Millennials, the religious positions mentioned above are also largely anathema to their prevailing beliefs. Furthermore, the outright hostility to science from some on the right — on global warming, evolution, and even something as seemingly benign as vaccines — only further impugns religion's credibility with younger voters. It should be no surprise then that solid majorities of Millennials describe Christianity as "hypocritical" and "judgmental."
To be sure, organized religion's perceived views on and treatment of homosexuals are undoubtedly pushing away some Millennials, who as a group are more supportive of gay marriage than the general public. But that's only a small piece of a much bigger picture.
http://www.mcalesternews.com/breakingnews/x409169231/da-jehovah-witness-church-concealed-molestation-crimes.
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governing body being accused of covering it up!.
The case was dismissed because of OK's statute of limitations. Maybe there will be some news coverage enlightening us further.
Barbara
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/65880.
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the brooklyn eagle posted a video today exploring the fate of the remaining watchtower properties in the brookyn heights area..
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/65880
The Brooklyn Eagle posted a video today exploring the fate of the remaining Watchtower properties in the Brookyn Heights area.