Here's the link to RNZ Audio Player: https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018902661
AndersonsInfo
JoinedPosts by AndersonsInfo
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Jehovah’s Witness elder alleges order to destroy evidence in child sex abuse cases
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/495802/jehovah-s-witness-elder-alleges-order-to-destroy-evidence-in-child-sex-abuse-cases.
rnz new zealand.
anusha bradley, investigative reporter.
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Jehovah’s Witness elder alleges order to destroy evidence in child sex abuse cases
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/495802/jehovah-s-witness-elder-alleges-order-to-destroy-evidence-in-child-sex-abuse-cases.
rnz new zealand.
anusha bradley, investigative reporter.
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AndersonsInfo
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/495802/jehovah-s-witness-elder-alleges-order-to-destroy-evidence-in-child-sex-abuse-cases
RNZ New Zealand
Anusha Bradley, Investigative Reporter
August 14, 2023
A Jehovah Witness elder claims he was told to destroy confidential church documents, including those relating to child sexual abuse cases.
The whistleblower, who RNZ has agreed not to name in order to protect his identity because he fears retribution, was an elder.
On 9 March, 2021, he says he was asked by a superior to check all "judicial cases" in his congregation's confidential files for personal notes and destroy them.
Judicial cases are church records relating to 'judicial committee' hearings, an internal process used to determine the punishment for 'wrongdoing', including child sexual abuse.
The elder making the claim has since left the church.
It is a criminal offence to destroy "potentially relevant information" to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, which the Jehovah's Witnesses are part of, since a moratorium was imposed in March 2019.
The church "strongly deny" any suggestion of criminal offence and says it has "carefully followed" the commission's direction on preservation of records.
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Something Evil - What happens when people are shunned from the Jehovah’s Witnesses
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/in-depth-special-projects/story/2018901718/something-evil.
something evil - what happens when people are shunned from the jehovah's witnesses.
from in depth special projects, 5:00 am on 10 august 2023. .
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AndersonsInfo
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/in-depth-special-projects/story/2018901718/something-evil
SOMETHING EVIL - What happens when people are shunned from the Jehovah's Witnesses
From In Depth Special Projects, 5:00 am on 10 August 2023
CONTENT WARNING: This story discusses severe mental distress, depression and suicide.
“I had the reputation of being a very studious, level headed, discerning sister in the congregation … and then literally overnight, I went to being something evil, something dirty, something to be afraid of.”
For Rachel Jackson, it’s all over in two weeks.
After 22 years in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, she feels her whole identity disintegrate within a fortnight of confessing to doubts about the religion.
Why, she had asked, is it only us who will survive the Armageddon? There are so many other good people. Why not them too?
She started questioning the religion’s governing body, who are deemed the mouthpiece of God.
“I got reported by someone in the congregation,” Jackson says.
“I said something to her and then she got very upset with me and reported me to the elders in the congregation.”
Two elders tried to change her mind, to no avail. They told her to resign or be kicked out - ‘disfellowshipped’ - she says.
But Jackson, who had converted from Catholicism, refused. A committee of elders was formed to decide what to do with her.
“I met with three elders and they accused me of apostasy because I didn't accept that the governing body was the men that Jehovah was using.”
She says she was told her disfellowshipping would be announced to the congregation in two weeks.
“So two weeks later, all my friendships of the previous 25 years just went up in smoke.”
No one was told why Jackson was disfellowshipped, but they all shunned her.
READ MORE: https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/in-depth-special-projects/story/2018901718/something-evilLISTEN: Hear Cassie and Brad share their full story in a special feature episode of The Detail podcast, out on Saturday August 12
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JW's failing to address child abuse allegations, say government inquiries
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://eutoday.net/jehovahs-witnesses-failing-to-address-child-abuse-allegations-says-government-inquiries/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email.
jehovah’s witnesses failing to address child abuse allegations, say government inquiries.
written by gary cartwright august 6, 2023 .
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AndersonsInfo
Jehovah’s Witnesses failing to address child abuse allegations, say government inquiries
written by Gary Cartwright August 6, 2023An inquiry opened by the UK Charity Commission in May 2014 to investigate the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain’s handling and oversight of safeguarding matters, including child protection advice provided to individual Jehovah’s Witness (JW) congregations found that “a total of 67 allegations of child abuse were made between 2009 and 2019 against 67 individuals involved in JW congregations, whether as Elders, ministerial servants or otherwise.”
The inquiry was opened initially in 2007 into the London Mill Hill Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses after an Elder was convicted for historic sexual offences involving 13 young people over a period of 15 years. These offences were committed whilst he was a member of a JW congregation. The congregation was not aware of these offences at the time of the individual’s appointment as an Elder and the inquiry stated that the congregation took the appropriate steps to remove him from serving as an Elder at the time of his initial arrest in 2006.
The Commission’s inquiry into the London Mill Hill Congregation finds that it did not have a child protection policy in place at the time. On 1st February 2011, the charity distributed the Child Protection Policy (‘2011 Policy’) to all Bodies of Elders in the United Kingdom and Ireland, to which all Elders were expected to adhere.
One key issue which emerged during the inquiry was the extent to which the charity itself remained responsible for ensuring children and vulnerable people are safe from harm within JW congregations. READ MORE:
https://eutoday.net/jehovahs-witnesses-failing-to-address-child-abuse-allegations-says-government-inquiries/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Watchdog reports on investigation into Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/watchdog-reports-on-investigation-into-watch-tower-bible-and-tract-society-of-britain.
press release.
watchdog reports on investigation into watch tower bible and tract society of britain.
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AndersonsInfo
Press release
Watchdog reports on investigation into Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain
The Charity Commission has today published a report of its inquiry into Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain.
From:
Published
4 August 2023
The inquiry opened in May 2014 to investigate the charity’s handling and oversight of safeguarding matters, including child protection advice provided to individual Jehovah’s Witness (JW) congregations.
This followed significant interaction between the Commission and the charity since October 2007, concerning the way in which safeguarding incidents or failures were handled within JW organisations and, specifically, the adequacy of the guidance that the charity provided to various JW congregations. JW organisations reported to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (‘IICSA’) that a total of 67 allegations of child abuse were made between 2009 and 2019 against 67 individuals involved in JW congregations, whether as Elders, ministerial servants or otherwise.
During the course of the Commission’s interaction with the charity from 2007 onwards, including during the period of the inquiry, JW congregations have revised and updated their safeguarding policies on several occasions, and the Commission remains engaged with JW congregations on safeguarding matters through its ongoing interaction with the Kingdom Hall Trust (see below).
One key issue which emerged during the inquiry was the extent to which the charity itself remained responsible for ensuring children and vulnerable people are safe from harm within JW congregations.
Notwithstanding the charity having had an historic role in interacting with the Commission over JW safeguarding, the Commission’s report concludes that Watch Tower is no longer the body responsible for safeguarding within JW congregations, and therefore the inquiry can be closed. It is the Commission’s view that following the merger of Kingdom Hall congregation charities with the Kingdom Hall Trust in March 2022 (‘KHT’) that KHT is now the body responsible for safeguarding congregation members. The Commission has opened a compliance case to work with KHT’s trustees to ensure that the safeguarding policies, guidance, and procedures of KHT provide a safe environment for beneficiaries within all JW congregations.
The Commission’s report is critical of the charity’s trustees’ conduct during the inquiry, expressing the view that on occasions the trustees were “not as straightforward or transparent as they should have been” in relation to JW child safeguarding responsibilities, and that during certain phases of the investigation, “the trustees’ communications were protracted, with the charity’s responses often failing to provide the information requested or sufficient clarity to satisfy the inquiry, giving rise to further questions.”
The inquiry noted that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that these behaviours were deliberate attempts to obstruct the inquiry.
The report also details that legal challenges brought by the charity, which sought to challenge some of the regulator’s decisions and orders, which partly explain the significant delays to the inquiry.
Helen Stephenson, chief executive of the Charity Commission said:
We are clear that a charity must be a safe, trusted environment and that protecting people and safeguarding should be a governance priority for all charities, regardless of size, type or income. I am pleased that this long-running inquiry, which demonstrates the Commission’s resolve and determination to ensure that safeguarding policy issues are addressed comprehensively by charities, has now concluded.
Our continuing regulatory compliance case involving the Kingdom Hall Trust aims to ensure that the KHT’s safeguarding policies and procedures protect congregation members and those that come into contact with KHT.
The full inquiry report is available on GOV.UK.
Timeline of significant developments prior to, and during inquiry
2007
· Commission opens statutory inquiry into the London Mill Hill Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses after an Elder was convicted for historic sexual offences. The Commission’s inquiry into the London Mill Hill Congregation finds that it did not have a child protection policy.
· One of the outcomes from the Commission’s inquiry into the London Mill Hill Congregation is that the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain agrees to develop a child protection policy which would be disseminated to all JW congregations.
2010
· In May 2010, the Commission seeks advice on the draft policy from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (‘NSPCC’).
· A summary of the NSPCC’s findings is supplied to the charity. The charity also seeks its own advice from a safeguarding consultancy.
· In finalising the policy, the charity chooses not to adopt all of the NSPCC’s recommendations.
2011
· Watch Tower distributes child protection policy which all Elders of JW congregations are expected to adhere to.
2013
· Following the conviction of a former ministerial servant of a JW congregation charity, Charity Commission writes to Watch Tower to raise concerns about the policy and its implementation.
· Commission seeks advice from NSPCC, which finds the policy to be at odds with UK legislation and guidance.
· The charity updates and recirculates the policy.
2014
· March: Commission meets with the charity, to raise its concerns about the revised policy, which does not address concerns raised by NSPCC. The trustees do not clearly set out that Watch Tower is no longer responsible for drafting and disseminating the policy, nor do they state which organisation is now responsible for this.
· May: Charity Commission opens statutory inquiry.
· August: Watch Tower challenges decision to open inquiry and legal orders requiring the charity to submit information to the Commission, beginning a period of several years during which the work of the inquiry is constrained.
2016
· December: Supreme Court refuses the Watch Tower permission to appeal a decision of the Court of Appeal dismissing the appeal against the Commission’s investigation.
2019
· September: Charity Commission informs Watch Tower that it had commissioned the Ineqe Safeguarding Group to undertake independent review of JW’s child safeguarding policies and procedures.
· December: Ineqe’s report is provided to Watch Tower, ahead of planned meeting to discuss the findings. The charity cancels the meeting asking to provide a formal response to the independent report.
2020
· January: Charity provides inquiry with written opinion from its safeguarding expert, which states that the Ineqe report was out of date. Watch Tower demands the inquiry is terminated, claiming the grounds for the inquiry no longer exist.
· June: After careful consideration, the Commission refuses the request to close the inquiry.
· July: Charity instigates Judicial Review procedures against the Commission’s refusal to conclude the inquiry and in respect of disclosure.
2021
· Trustees’ cooperation with inquiry improves following permission from the High Court for Watch Tower to bring Judicial Review procedures against the Commission.
2023
· Commission concludes that Watch Tower is not the organisation that is currently directly responsible for the safety of JW beneficiaries.
Ends
Notes to editors
1. The Charity Commission is the independent, non-ministerial government department that registers and regulates charities in England and Wales. Its purpose is to ensure charity can thrive and inspire trust so that people can improve lives and strengthen society.
2. In September 2021, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation reported on its investigation into Child Protection in Religious Organisations and Settings. The report refers to the Commission’s statutory inquiry into Watch Tower, and cites from oral evidence given by Commission staff about the challenges faced by the regulator in its investigation. That report is publicly available.
3. The full inquiry report is available on GOV.UK.
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Can the org's finances be viewed?
by BoogerMan indoes anyone know where to view the wtbts of new york and pennsylvania's financial records?.
i mean, they are registered charities aren't they, so surely their income/expenditures must be open to scrutiny?.
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AndersonsInfo
For Your Information - Watchtower's finances as found in court case Nunez vs Watchtower - Montana -
#1. From the trial transcript - afternoon session - Sept. 24, 2018, regarding Watchtower of NY and CCJW's net worth.
This court trial transcript has a total of 426 pages. See page 417 of the entire document for important information but it's page 119 of one part of a hearing. The discussion on p. 417 is in regards to WT of NY and CCJW's net worth. See below:
"MR. SMITH: So the Judge just read to you 3 two numbers and I wanted to write them down and make sure 4 that you had those. We have Watchtower New York. And 5 one of the things that you need to consider for this 6 phase of the trial is the net worth of Watchtower New 7 York. So I'm going to write that down and tell you why 8 that's important."Watchtower's net worth is $1.5 billion dollars 10 with a "b." I can write the full number. It's 11 1,590,000,000. I'm going to just round it down to save 12 you guys time. So it's 1 billion, 500 million -- I have 13 to make sure I get the numbers correct. It's $1.5 14 billion."15 The Christian Congregation of Jehovah's 16 Witnesses -- and keep in mind when I tell you these 17 numbers, the Judge read them to you as agreed facts 18 because defendants have stipulated to it so you can take 19 it as true. So CCJW, their net worth -- I'm just going 20 to round down to save everybody time -- is $49 million."#2. Subject: Nunez vs Watchtower Lawsuit-Montana-refiled Feb 6, 2020
PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT AND TO ADD WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, INC.Pursuant to Mont. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2), Plaintiff Alexis Nunez moves the Court for an Order granting her leave to file her Second Amended Complaint and to add Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania as a party to this action. A copy of the Second Amended Complaint is attached to this Motion.
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (“Watchtower PA”) was originally a Defendant in this case. They were dismissed without prejudice pursuant to an agreement between the parties. See Exhibit A. The agreement allows Plaintiff to re-assert all claims against Watchtower PA. Id. at ¶ 2. ...
Watchtower PA provided Plaintiff with an affidavit stating that Watchtower PA holds copyrights, provides humanitarian aid, and assists branch offices with construction and operational support. Exhibit D. The affidavit is incomplete and inaccurate. Attached are SEC filings showing Watchtower PA as the owner of an offshore hedge fund with working capital of $499,990,000. See Exhibit B. Their 2016 tax return shows their primary unrelated business activity as “investment activities” with a book value of $1,004,209,000. Watchtower PA also operates a Trust. See Exhibit C.
Watchtower PA also stated that they do not form, organize, or oversee congregations at any location. See Ex. D at ¶ 12. Again, this is inaccurate. Watchtower PA has issued letters to congregations with instructions for handling complaints of child abuse. See Exhibit E.
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Pa. authorities charge 5 more in probe of child sex abuse among Jehovah's Witnesses
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/charges-probe-child-sexual-abuse-among-jehovahs-witnesses-pennsylvania/3600171/#:~:text=a%20pennsylvania%20grand%20jury%20investigating,that%20has%20identified%2014%20suspects.
what to know.
a pennsylvania grand jury investigating child sexual abuse among jehovah’s witnesses has charged another five people with raping or molesting children as young as 4 years old.. the indictments friday are the latest charges in an ongoing probe that has identified 14 suspects.. state attorney general michelle henry says that while the misconduct dates back years or even decades, “the trauma endures for these victims.”.
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AndersonsInfo
What to Know
- A Pennsylvania grand jury investigating child sexual abuse among Jehovah’s Witnesses has charged another five people with raping or molesting children as young as 4 years old.
- The indictments Friday are the latest charges in an ongoing probe that has identified 14 suspects.
- State Attorney General Michelle Henry says that while the misconduct dates back years or even decades, “the trauma endures for these victims.”
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What it’s like to leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/05/19/felt-end-review-daniel-cox/.
what it’s like to leave the jehovah’s witnesses.
in ‘i felt the end before it came: memoirs of a queer ex-jehovah’s witness,’ daniel allen cox reflects on losing his faith after spending his early years waiting for armageddon.
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AndersonsInfo
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/05/19/felt-end-review-daniel-cox/
What it’s like to leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses
In ‘I Felt the End Before It Came: Memoirs of a Queer Ex-Jehovah’s Witness,’ Daniel Allen Cox reflects on losing his faith after spending his early years waiting for Armageddon
Review by Courtney TenzMay 19, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EDTBorn into a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Daniel Allen Cox was raised to believe that the end was always nigh. In the theology that is threaded through both Cox’s childhood and his memoir, “I Felt the End Before It Came: Memoirs of a Queer Ex-Jehovah’s Witness,” the believer’s main job is to remain pure and prepare for the day of reckoning; when it arrives and good is separated from evil and the divine are spared from destruction, only the faithful will be left to inherit a paradise on Earth.The witness’s second priority: to share this evangelical interpretation of Armageddon and its aftermath with others. It’s this missionary service that has made the sect famous, its adherents the butt of bad jokes. Every day, signs of devilish deviance remind adherents of the faith — including Cox’s mother and grandparents — who really rules this world. To them, the devil’s hand can be seen in everything from banal songs to a clock falling off the wall in a vacation home (where demons lurk).Apocalypse, according to this theology, is external, with catastrophe happening all around you. For some who grow up in the faith, such as Cox, however, the true cataclysm occurs internally. Tracing the traumas of his upbringing throughout this memoir-in-essays, Cox reveals his attempts to establish an adult life in the aftermath of his personal Armageddon. Organized more thematically than chronologically, the essays share tales of near misses with Michael Jackson, perhaps the world’s most famous former Jehovah’s Witness, and encounters with David LaChapelle alongside an intensive consideration of a spell spent in post-communist Poland teaching English.Forced to regularly confront the “living paradox” that is being a Jehovah’s Witness today — how to be in this world but not of this world — Cox may have been more questioning of the faith than most. His personal reckoning came when he realized that he might be gay while practicing a religion that is strictly against homosexuality and while the AIDS crisis was hitting its peak. “Being gay could kill me before Armageddon came — unless this was the proof that it was already here,” he writes.Outed to an elder even before he was firm in his identity, the teenager who had followed the religion’s anti-education edicts and who had few friends outside the Kingdom Hall was allowed to choose his preferred means of excommunication: disfellowship or disassociation.A memoir in which everything is classified and nothing is secret“Disfellowshipping is a form of JW discipline reserved for serious transgressions of the rules, often of a sexual nature,” Cox writes, noting that these rules are based on elders’ interpretations and subject to change. By choosing this form of shunning, members can be reinstated after just a year.Disassociation, on the other hand, requires actively disavowing yourself of the religion. In doing so, you become persona non grata, shunned by fellow witnesses, even family members. He chose the latter option, writing, as he says, “a breakup letter to Jehovah, the first proof I’ve ever had that I could think for myself.”When he became an apostate, the door to the overtly religious chapter of his life closed, and nearly everyone he knew turned their backs on him. “Shunning an apostate is a way for active members to confirm their choice to remain. It allows the community the option of punishing a single member rather than becoming self-aware,” Cox writes. It also opened him up to a world of grief and anger that he was left alone to grapple with. “Vulnerable people are separated from their communities at the exact time they need them.”A different definition of “disassociation,” which derives from trauma psychology, also feels fitting to describe what Cox experienced after the shunning. Fully embracing his queerness as a young adult, he searched for safe homes in gay nightclubs and bars, first in Montreal and later New York. Sloughing off the pain of a childhood that he found troublingly hierarchical, he would, he explains, find solace and salvation in writing and in music while mourning his past and literally burying several of his friends. “If some degree of Witness-think is a chronic condition in me — and I believe that to be the case — maybe I need music in my life forever as a buffer between me and the thinking I can’t expel.”Daniel Allen Cox. (Alison Slattery)This is ultimately a story about the struggle to build a life out of ashes with little to no support — about unlearning familial inheritances and forgiving ourselves for our own trespasses. Most of all, it is about learning how to carry on after leaving a community obsessed with finality. Though he had no idea what awaited him upon his departure from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Cox writes neatly about what he had to undertake. “I would embark on a lifetime project to redefine words that had once been used against me,” he writes. “The point is that one cannot imagine escape, or agency, or the true shape of one’s life until there is a language for it.”“I Felt the End Before It Came” is Cox’s way of putting his chaotic life experiences into words. In so doing, he has offered up a language for others who might still be searching for the right thing to say. -
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Evening TV Fox 43 NEWS-2nd Report-May 3rd-WITNESS TO WICKED:THE PRIVILEGE TO REPORT
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://youtu.be/suigllm2h8g.
this is the second tv report on may 3rd at fox 43 news.
there will be another report on may 4th.
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AndersonsInfo
The link below is to the third part of FOX43 NEWS Report that aired on May 4th about child abuse in JWs organization in Pennsylvania. This report is about what the PA legislature is doing about the problem.The following link is a combination of all three FOX43 Reports that discussed JWs and child abuse and aired on May 5, 2023. It's 14 minutes long. -
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Evening TV Fox 43 NEWS-2nd Report-May 3rd-WITNESS TO WICKED:THE PRIVILEGE TO REPORT
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://youtu.be/suigllm2h8g.
this is the second tv report on may 3rd at fox 43 news.
there will be another report on may 4th.
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AndersonsInfo
This is the second TV report on May 3rd at Fox 43 NEWS. There will be another report on May 4th.
The first report was in the morning at Fox 43 News on May 3rd which I posted on this discussion board yesterday.
