OneEyedJoe: I'm in full agreement, the article is a mess!
AndersonsInfo
JoinedPosts by AndersonsInfo
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NaijaNews Article: Here Are Seven Beliefs That Make Jehovah Witness Different From Other Christians
by AndersonsInfo in[the link states "six beliefs" but the title mentions "seven beliefs.
" looks like someone goofed!
here are seven beliefs that make jehovah witness different from other christians.
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NaijaNews Article: Here Are Seven Beliefs That Make Jehovah Witness Different From Other Christians
by AndersonsInfo in[the link states "six beliefs" but the title mentions "seven beliefs.
" looks like someone goofed!
here are seven beliefs that make jehovah witness different from other christians.
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AndersonsInfo
[The link states "Six Beliefs" but the title mentions "Seven Beliefs." Looks like someone goofed!]
Here Are Seven Beliefs That Make Jehovah Witness Different From Other Christians
February 28, 2018
A picture depicting the beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witnesses
The following note-worthy paragraph is at the end of the article.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in shunning of Ex-members
Members who have left the Jehovah’s Witnesses for matters of conscience have one key complaint: Their despicable and harmful practice of shunning and damaging the reputation of any dissenting Jehovah’s Witness. A person’s beliefs about themselves determine almost all of their actions. When a person is indoctrinated into the Jehovah’s Witnesses they are taught to believe that they don’t “deserve” to be loved, respected, or valued. They are taught to question everything except what the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society teaches. This goes far beyond merely revoking their membership. The Watchtower requires and demands that families and friends affiliated with the organization completely cut that person off from their lives. This has resulted in broken families, separation from parents, separation from children, divorce, suicide, and untold psychological damage to all involved.
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Huffpost: A Reason (and Season) to Stop Shunning
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/janice-harper/a-reason-and-season-to-st_b_1146103.html.
a reason (and season) to stop shunning.
by janice harper.
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AndersonsInfo
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/janice-harper/a-reason-and-season-to-st_b_1146103.html
A Reason (and Season) to Stop Shunning
THE BLOG12/20/2011 05:42 pm ET Updated Feb 19, 2012One of the least discussed aspects of bullying and mobbing, and perhaps the most powerful and damaging is the practice of shunning. Shunning is widely practiced among certain religions; the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Church of Scientology, even the otherwise forgiving Amish have made shunning a religious tenet to control the conduct of its members. Families routinely shun other family members, whether through disinheritance and outright withdrawal of any contact or support, or the deafening “silent treatment” that some spouses and parents engage in as a form of punishment for real or perceived offenses. People are shunned in their communities, their clubs and their schools. But perhaps shunning is most common in the workplace, when a worker is targeted for collective aggression and elimination, or “workplace mobbing.”When a person is marked for punishment or elimination by management, workers instinctively avoid being seen with that person for fear of their own status being tarnished in the workplace. But to targets of shunning, the near instantaneous isolation almost always comes as a shock, and the intensifying silence that encircles them is indeed deadly. The impact of shunning is so severe that those religions, organizations and families which routinely employ it do so because they know just how effective a form of social control the practice can be, debilitating even the strongest people once it commences.
When a person is shunned, it is because they have done something to displease someone, or are perceived as distinctly “different” from the group and are therefore an “unknown” force. Shunning is thus a feature of a broader spectrum of aggressive behaviors, including accusation, sabotage, investigation and other efforts to control or remove the person from the group. To shun a person consequently isolates them at the very point when they most need support. It further erodes their self-esteem and their ability to withstand attack. Moreover, when a worker is targeted for elimination, once they are shunned it becomes very difficult to defend their position as former supporters disappear, and even more difficult for them to find new work. And shunning is a particularly effective tactic to undermine a worker’s legal claims, however legitimate, because it is very difficult to prove a negative. Shunning is a non-action — to shun is to avoid, not to interact.
READ MORE: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/janice-harper/a-reason-and-season-to-st_b_1146103.html
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Victoria, Australia:Survivors of sexual abuse to be able to sue churches
by AndersonsInfo inhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-24/survivors-of-sexual-abuse-to-be-able-to-sue-churches/9481000.
sexual abuse survivors in victoria to be able to sue churches as government moves to end 'ellis defence'.
updated about 2 hours ago.
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AndersonsInfo
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-24/survivors-of-sexual-abuse-to-be-able-to-sue-churches/9481000
Sexual abuse survivors in Victoria to be able to sue churches as Government moves to end 'Ellis defence'
Updated about 2 hours ago
Survivors of sexual abuse will soon be able to sue churches in Victoria, as the State Government moves to close a legal loophole.
Currently, laws in the state prevent victims from being able to take legal action against some non-incorporated organisations, like churches.
Attorney-General Martin Pakula said the new legislation was in response to a key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
A bill will be introduced into State Parliament in the first half of the year, he said.
"We're developing legislation to overcome the so-called Ellis defence, in response to key recommendations of the Betrayal of Trust report and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse," Mr Pakula said in a statement.
"The Ellis defence has prevented victims from being able to sue some non-incorporated organisations on a technicality."
"Since October we have been consulting closely with victim survivor groups, the courts, the legal profession and religious bodies and we intend to introduce legislation in Parliament in the first half of this year."
The 'Ellis defence' refers to a 2007 legal case brought against the Catholic Church by John Ellis, a survivor of child sexual abuse.
A lawyer, Mr Ellis tried to sue the church for damages, but the case was dismissed after the court found the church did not legally exist because its assets were held in a trust that was protected from legal action.
Andrew Morrison SC, who represented Mr Ellis in court a decade ago, said the loophole could have been closed earlier.
"This is something which isn't a surprise. The only thing that's perhaps a little surprising is that it's taken so long for the recommendation to come forward in terms of legislation," he said.
"It's entirely appropriate that one institution and one institution only shouldn't be able by its structure to evade its responsibilities.
"Depending upon the way in which it's done, it should make a very significant difference."
The Archdiocese of Melbourne's communications director, Shane Healy, said the church supported the new law and had been consulted by the Government.
The royal commission recommended state and territory governments introduce legislation that allowed survivors of abuse to sue an institution with a property trust for damages when it has sufficient assets.
In a similar finding, the Betrayal of Trust report, resulting from a state inquiry, recommended the Victorian Government consider requiring non-government organisations to be incorporated and adequately insured if the state provides them with tax exemptions or other entitlements.
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Article: 'Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018' Gives a Candid Glance at an Insular World
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/neqqmz/jehovahs-witness-simulator-2018-gives-a-candid-glance-at-an-insular-world.
'jehovah's witness simulator 2018' gives a candid glance at an insular world.
this game only needs four minutes to make you uncomfortable.. matthew gault.
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AndersonsInfo
'Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018' Gives a Candid Glance at an Insular World
This game only needs four minutes to make you uncomfortable.
Feb 23 2018, 7:00am
Image: Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018
No one likes it when a Jehovah's Witness knocks on your door and tries to sell you on their religion when you’d rather be doing anything else. There’s a good chance the Witness hates it even more than you do though, especially if they’re a teenage boy.
Misha Verollet is an ex-Jehovah's Witness living in Vienna, Austria. Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018 is a video game he made that condenses his childhood experience down to about four minutes.
Verollet used simple graphics and text boxes to convey the stifling life he lived. Caleb—the protagonist—explores his home, goes door-to-door to spread the church’s message, and dodges impolite questions from other kids at public school. It’s a short 'walking simulator'-type game with an effective message—being a Jehovah’s Witness can be alienating and strange.
The creator opened up about his game and his early life in the church in an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. One user asked him when he decided to leave the church.
“It basically came down to realizing I couldn't do the whole grind anymore and a life in short-term freedom plus death at Armageddon would be better than being caged in until Armageddon and then dying anyway because God could read my thoughts,” he wrote.
The church is a Christian sect that believes the world is wicked and God will fix it by ushering in the end of the world. As Verollet said, members tend to live in the moment and focus on “saving” as many people as possible because they believe Armageddon is just around the corner.
He left the church by forcing it to excommunicate him. “I could have just told the Elders that I didn't want to be a Jehovah's Witness anymore, but...I didn't have the courage,” he wrote on Reddit.
Instead, he slept with a woman he wasn’t married to and told everyone about it. “I had to stand in front of a judicial committee (a tribunal of local Elders), confess to my sin and then refused to repent – therefore I was disfellowshipped and have been shunned ever since by family and friends,” he explained.
Verlott’s game is free to play here: https://m3g1dd0.itch.io/jwsim2018
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Article 'Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018' Gives a Candid Glance at an Insular World
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/neqqmz/jehovahs-witness-simulator-2018-gives-a-candid-glance-at-an-insular-world.
'jehovah's witness simulator 2018' gives a candid glance at an insular world.
this game only needs four minutes to make you uncomfortable.. .
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AndersonsInfo
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/neqqmz/jehovahs-witness-simulator-2018-gives-a-candid-glance-at-an-insular-world
'Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018' Gives a Candid Glance at an Insular World
This game only needs four minutes to make you uncomfortable.
Feb 23 2018, 7:00amImage: Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018
No one likes it when a Jehovah's Witness knocks on your door and tries to sell you on their religion when you’d rather be doing anything else. There’s a good chance the Witness hates it even more than you do though, especially if they’re a teenage boy.
Misha Verollet is an ex-Jehovah's Witness living in Vienna, Austria. Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018 is a video game he made that condenses his childhood experience down to about four minutes.
Verollet used simple graphics and text boxes to convey the stifling life he lived. Caleb—the protagonist—explores his home, goes door-to-door to spread the church’s message, and dodges impolite questions from other kids at public school. It’s a short 'walking simulator'-type game with an effective message—being a Jehovah’s Witness can be alienating and strange.
The creator opened up about his game and his early life in the church in an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. One user asked him when he decided to leave the church.
“It basically came down to realizing I couldn't do the whole grind anymore and a life in short-term freedom plus death at Armageddon would be better than being caged in until Armageddon and then dying anyway because God could read my thoughts,” he wrote.
The church is a Christian sect that believes the world is wicked and God will fix it by ushering in the end of the world. As Verollet said, members tend to live in the moment and focus on “saving” as many people as possible because they believe Armageddon is just around the corner.
He left the church by forcing it to excommunicate him. “I could have just told the Elders that I didn't want to be a Jehovah's Witness anymore, but...I didn't have the courage,” he wrote on Reddit.
Instead, he slept with a woman he wasn’t married to and told everyone about it. “I had to stand in front of a judicial committee (a tribunal of local Elders), confess to my sin and then refused to repent – therefore I was disfellowshipped and have been shunned ever since by family and friends,” he explained.
Verlott’s game is free to play here: https://m3g1dd0.itch.io/jwsim2018
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Article 'Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018' Gives a Candid Glance at an Insular World
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/neqqmz/jehovahs-witness-simulator-2018-gives-a-candid-glance-at-an-insular-world.
2018' gives a candid glance at an insular world.
this game only needs four minutes to make you uncomfortable.
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AndersonsInfo
2018' Gives a Candid Glance at an Insular World
This game only needs four minutes to make you uncomfortable
Feb 23 2018, 7:00amImage: Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018
No one likes it when a Jehovah's Witness knocks on your door and tries to sell you on their religion when you’d rather be doing anything else. There’s a good chance the Witness hates it even more than you do though, especially if they’re a teenage boy.
Misha Verollet is an ex-Jehovah's Witness living in Vienna, Austria. Jehovah's Witness Simulator 2018 is a video game he made that condenses his childhood experience down to about four minutes.
Verollet used simple graphics and text boxes to convey the stifling life he lived. Caleb—the protagonist—explores his home, goes door-to-door to spread the church’s message, and dodges impolite questions from other kids at public school. It’s a short 'walking simulator'-type game with an effective message—being a Jehovah’s Witness can be alienating and strange.
The creator opened up about his game and his early life in the church in an Ask Me Anything on Reddit. One user asked him when he decided to leave the church.
“It basically came down to realizing I couldn't do the whole grind anymore and a life in short-term freedom plus death at Armageddon would be better than being caged in until Armageddon and then dying anyway because God could read my thoughts,” he wrote.
The church is a Christian sect that believes the world is wicked and God will fix it by ushering in the end of the world. As Verollet said, members tend to live in the moment and focus on “saving” as many people as possible because they believe Armageddon is just around the corner.
He left the church by forcing it to excommunicate him. “I could have just told the Elders that I didn't want to be a Jehovah's Witness anymore, but...I didn't have the courage,” he wrote on Reddit.
Instead, he slept with a woman he wasn’t married to and told everyone about it. “I had to stand in front of a judicial committee (a tribunal of local Elders), confess to my sin and then refused to repent – therefore I was disfellowshipped and have been shunned ever since by family and friends,” he explained.
Verlott’s game is free to play here: https://m3g1dd0.itch.io/jwsim2018
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Article: Murder convictions overturned because Jehovah's Witness not allowed to serve on jury
by AndersonsInfo inhttp://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-bilotti-convictions-overturned-20180214-story,amp.html.
murder convictions overturned because jehovah's witness not allowed to serve on jury.
february 14, 2018rafael olmeda.
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AndersonsInfo
Murder convictions overturned because Jehovah's Witness not allowed to serve on jury
February 14, 2018New trials were ordered in the murder cases of (l to r) John Pacchiana, Christin Bilotti and Michael Bilotti, accused of the 2005 murder of Richard Rojas in Davie.A father, daughter and strip club bouncer convicted of murder in 2015 are entitled to a new trial because the judge on the case unfairly kept a Jehovah’s Witness off the jury, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.
Michael and Christin Bilotti were convicted, along with John Pacchiana, of murder in the death of Richard Rojas, a Miami teenager who, according to trial testimony, had been falsely accused of rape and burglary. READ MORE:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-bilotti-convictions-overturned-20180214-story.html
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Finland: Jehovah's Witness exemption from conscription deemed prejudicial in "pivotal" ruling
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/jehovahs_witness_exemption_from_conscription_deemed_prejudicial_in_pivotal_ruling/10089261.
uutiset .
news .
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AndersonsInfo
News 23.2.2018 14:34 | updated 23.2.2018 15:47Jehovah's Witness exemption from conscription deemed prejudicial in "pivotal" ruling
A Finnish court has ruled that the exemption from military service currently enjoyed by Jehovah's Witnesses is discriminatory.
A new court ruled on Friday that the Finnish practice of allowing male Jehovah's Witnesses to avoid conscription is discriminatory.
The Helsinki Court of Appeal on Friday voted 4-3 for naming the policy discriminatory against other conscientious objectors. The ruling came in a discrimination case brought by a man who was imprisoned in 2016 for refusing conscripted service the year before.
The decision is the first court verdict that directly denounces the decades-old exception (instated in 1987), which says that men belonging to the Jehovah's Witness denomination will uniquely not be sent to prison if they refuse both military and civilian service.
The Non-Discrimination Ombudsman, Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee and the Defense Ministry have long held that the law contradicts the constitution's principle of equality as well as its prohibition on discrimination.
Basis in faith
The majority of the court held that Finland has taken significant measures to improve equality since the exemption became law more than 30 years ago, such as signing the European Convention on Human Rights.
Under current legislation, Jehovah's Witnesses may postpone their entry into service for three years at a time (starting at age 18), until their obligation officially ceases at age 29.
Proponents of the Christian faction cite their pacifist reading of the Bible as the basis of their objection, for which they receive no punishment. No other groups in Finland have the same right, except women, who have never been legally bound to enter conscripted service.
"Pivotal" step follows international condemnation
The Union of Conscientious Objectors (Finnish acronym AKL) tweeted about the news on Friday, calling the court's decision "pivotal" in the process towards banning conscription altogether.
Robin Harms, a senior advisor to the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman, has acted as legal counsel to the imprisoned man who originally brought the case to the Eastern Uusimaa District Court in 2015.
"Favouring Jehovah's Witnesses in this way is an embarrassment for Finland," Harms says.
More than that, human rights organizations including Amnesty International and the UN Human Rights Committee have long chastised the Finnish government for its ongoing practice of forced conscription. Only male (non-Witness) Finns are obliged to choose between military service, a longer civilian service term and a six-month prison (or remote monitoring) sentence.
AKL reports that an average of some 40 objectors have annually refused both military and civilian service since the beginning of the 21st century. Some 100 Jehovah's Witnesses plead the law of exception to avoid conscription each year. While 72 percent of young men enter military service (minimum 6 months) when called, some 2,000 men opt for a civilian service period (minimum 347 days).
All men who are jailed for objecting to conscription are considered by Amnesty International to be prisoners of conscience.
Justice Minister: Consider exemption anew
Justice Minister Antti Häkkänen said after the verdict that the current exemptions from military service should be evaluated in the light of the verdict.
"If some group or other has exemptions based on their beliefs, then in this day and age they should always be evaluated to make sure different groups are treated equally," said Häkkänen.
Häkkänen added that participation in national defence is mandated in the Finnish constitution, and that exceptions to that are based on religious convictions.
"How are those interests weighed against each other in different situations, especially in a changing world, then that's a big constitutional law question as well," said Häkkänen. "This is an interesting issue that must now be resolved fairly."
EDIT: This story was edited on 23 February to add comments from the Justice Minister.
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Episode 16 of the Constitutional podcast [or transcript]: ‘The 1st Amendment’ Story: How JW's powerfully transformed 1st Amendment law
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2018/01/29/episode-16-of-the-constitutional-podcast-the-first-amendment/?utm_term=.9d8940ba6280.
episode 16 of the constitutional podcast: ‘the first amendment’.
by lillian cunningham .
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AndersonsInfo
Episode 16 of the Constitutional podcast: ‘The First Amendment’
January 29, 2018In the summer of 1942, two law professors at the University of Pennsylvania penned a prescient article in the Bill of Rights Review. It opened this way:
“Seldom, if ever, in the past, has one individual or group been able to shape the course, over a period of time, of any phase of our vast body of constitutional law. But it can happen, and it has happened here. The group is Jehovah's Witnesses."
When professors John Mulder and Marvin Comisky wrote this piece, Jehovah's Witness, a persecuted but also assertive religious minority in America at the time, had already brought several First Amendment cases before the Supreme Court. But some of its greatest victories were still ahead—victories like the decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, in which the court ruled in the group's favor that compelling students to say the Pledge of Allegiance and salute the flag violated their rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.
By the end of World War II, Jehovah's Witnesses would argue nearly two dozen First Amendment cases at the Supreme Court. Their body of litigation would pressure the court to better define, and elevate, the role of personal liberty protections in American law.
As Sarah Baringer Gordon, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania puts it: Jehovah's Witnesses "brought into existence a new constitutional world."
In the penultimate episode of the Constitutional podcast, we examine the fascinating story of how this marginalized group was able to so powerfully transform First Amendment law. Gordon is a special guest on the episode alongside Julie Silverbrook, executive director of the Constitutional Sources Project.
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The discussion is in the form of a podcast, but a written transcript is included.
Do you know the history of JW's role in forcing the Supreme Court to define and to ultimately strengthen the role of the First Amendment in the U.S.? If you don't read on. Yes, by the actions taken by JW's in the 1930s and 40's, the civil liberties of all U.S. citizens were strengthened. But this group, as the article pointed out, were not religiously tolerant:
"The Cantwell decision came out first and--Covington did it! He won the first major First Amendment victory at the Supreme Court for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
"GORDON: And this opinion was widely heralded actually by religious liberals. It was thought that this would be a protection for religious diversity, even though the Jehovah's Witnesses themselves were not religiously tolerant. So it was a question of tolerating the intolerant--and was quite a leap for the constitutional law of religion."
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Below, find an interesting excerpt from the transcript:
GORDON: I would have loved to hear that lawyer Hayden Covington because apparently, he talked like a machine gun. He just jumped up and down and lectured the court, looking daggers at Justice Murphy who was Catholic. It just must have been incredible.
When he confronted the Supreme Court, both Judge Rutherford and Hayden Covington used to talk down to the justices. They would say things like: “You know you don't understand. We're trying to educate you in the truth, which is God's law, and nothing you say can be held any higher than God's law.” So they really were deeply, deeply confrontational. They also had support from a number of religious liberals across the country and within the ACLU. The ACLU gave legal sophistication--if I could put it that way--to some of the more raw arguments made by the Witnesses themselves, including Rutherford and Covington.
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GORDON: And this opinion was widely heralded actually by religious liberals. It was thought that this would be a protection for religious diversity, even though the Jehovah's Witnesses themselves were not religiously tolerant. So it was a question of tolerating the intolerant--and was quite a leap for the constitutional law of religion.
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Covington also, two decades later, would become the lawyer defending boxer Muhammad Ali during the Vietnam War, when Ali refused to register for the draft on religious grounds. Covington died in 1978.
