Trial scheduled for Jehovah’s Witnesses elders accused of failing to report sexual abuse
Judge denies request to bar testimony regarding statements made during religious confession
By Katie SmithMay 27, 2021 at 11:30 am CDT
AndersonsInfo
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Article: Trial scheduled for Jehovah’s Witnesses elders accused of failing to report sexual abuse
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.shawlocal.com/northwest-herald/news/crime-brief/2021/05/27/trial-scheduled-for-jehovahs-witnesses-elders-accused-of-failing-to-report-sexual-abuse/.
trial scheduled for jehovah’s witnesses elders accused of failing to report sexual abuse.
judge denies request to bar testimony regarding statements made during religious confession.
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Article:Religious freedom case over Roy church discipline matter is revived by Utah Supreme Court
by AndersonsInfo intake my word for it, knowing this case as i do, this is an extraordinary decision.
congratulations go to all those involved on the plaintiff's side.
hopefully, the lower court will do the right thing this time.. barbara.
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AndersonsInfo
Take my word for it, knowing this case as I do, this is an extraordinary decision. Congratulations go to all those involved on the plaintiff's side. Hopefully, the lower court will do the right thing this time.
Barbara
- By MARK SHENEFELT Standard-Examiner
- Jun 7, 2021
Roy - The Utah Supreme Court has revived a religious freedom dispute, instructing an Ogden court to take another look at a suit filed by a woman who alleged Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders in Roy subjected her to humiliating discipline as a teenager after she accused a fellow church member of rape.
In 2008, four church elders at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Roy convened a disciplinary hearing to determine whether the 15-year-old girl had engaged in “unclean sexual conduct” and, if so, whether she was “sufficiently repentant.” They had an audio recording of the rape, which had been provided by the male, and played it while questioning her, “suggesting that she consented to” the sexual acts, the lawsuit alleged.
The suit alleged the church intentionally inflicted emotional distress and humiliation on the girl, and the church advanced a defense of religious freedom from government interference in church disciplinary matters.
Second District Judge Mark DeCaria in 2016 dismissed the woman’s civil suit, saying the court could not disentangle the claimed damaging conduct from religious freedom protections under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
DeCaria ruled — and the Utah Court of Appeals later agreed in 2019 — that the woman’s claims “expressly implicate key religious questions regarding religious rules, standards, discipline and most prominently how a religion conducts its ecclesiastical disciplinary hearings.”
DeCaria said he viewed the elders’ conduct as “reprehensible” and said he would have “no hesitation in sending (the claim) to the jury” if it the case had “occurred in a secular setting.”
But in an opinion issued Thursday, the Utah Supreme Court said it was overturning the claim’s dismissal because DeCaria’s and the Appeals Court’s rulings relied on a case-law test that has since been discarded by the U.S. Supreme Court.
That old standard, established by the nation’s high court decades ago, set out a test for lower courts to judge whether “excessive entanglement” of religious practices barred successful civil litigation.
Under the new approach adopted by the high court in a pair of recent cases, the lower court now should “focus on the particular issue at hand and look to history for guidance as to the correct application of the Establishment Clause in this case,” the Utah justices ruled.
“In vacating the district court‘s order, we are in no way criticizing the district court or the Court of Appeals for failing to follow the approach identified” in the more recent U.S. Supreme Court cases, the justices said.
DeCaria has since retired, so a different judge in the Ogden court will handle the case upon its return. Efforts to contact attorneys who argued the appeal — Karra Porter for the church and attorneys from Georgetown Law who represented the woman — were not immediately successful Monday.
The lawsuit said that upon hearing the recording, the teenager cried, trembled and pleaded with the elders to stop forcing her to relive the scarring experience. They did not stop, and instead continued to play the recording, on and off, for hours, it said.
The suit said the girl suffered humiliation, anxiety, nightmares, loss of appetite and poor performance in school.
In their arguments to the Utah Supreme Court last year, her attorneys said she “continues to experience distress, including embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life, and spiritual suffering.”
Summarizing the constitutional issue in its analysis, the Utah court said the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause protects religious bodies to govern themselves in accordance with their own beliefs, free from government interference. On the other hand, the court said, no segment of society and no institution within it “can exist in a vacuum or in total or absolute isolation from all its other parts.”
Background: https://casetext.com/case/williams-v-kingdom-hall-of-jehovahs-witnesses
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Jehovah's Witnesses plan mega facility in Ramapo. Here's how to provide comment.
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/ramapo/2021/05/21/jehovahs-witnesses-ramapo-project-public-comment-period/5180955001/?fbclid=iwar0bembbr-j-1w9_zn6hwyomwfk3spjznwjwvgqcaalpbinpqnlpbynjcw4.
ramapo – residents can offer ramapo officials their views on the jehovah's witnesses' planned mega audiovisual-dormitory complex and the development's environmental impacts.. a written comment period is open until june 21. the ramapo town board will host a virtual public hearing on may 26 for residents to comment on the environmental impact of the worldwide religious organization's potential tax-exempt development.
the board is the lead agency on approving the development.. jehovah's witnesses, also known as watchtower, has petitioned ramapo to build a production center for its religious materials amid 242 acres outside sloatsburg, with seven acres extending into the orange county community of tuxedo.. .
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AndersonsInfo
May 21, 2021RAMAPO – Residents can offer Ramapo officials their views on the Jehovah's Witnesses' planned mega audiovisual-dormitory complex and the development's environmental impacts.
A written comment period is open until June 21. The Ramapo Town Board will host a virtual public hearing on May 26 for residents to comment on the environmental impact of the worldwide religious organization's potential tax-exempt development. The board is the lead agency on approving the development.
Jehovah's Witnesses, also known as Watchtower, has petitioned Ramapo to build a production center for its religious materials amid 242 acres outside Sloatsburg, with seven acres extending into the Orange County community of Tuxedo.
Public hearing: Signing up to speak on the development and zone changes
Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious group eyes Ramapo for mega audiovisual center with dorms
Environmental review: Jehovah's Witnesses' plan for development in Ramapo for public hearing.
Group officials have said the development and living facility would be self-contained off 155 Sterling Mine Road. The development would integrate work and living buildings designed for followers to support the Christian denomination's increasing production of Bible-based audio and video programs.
The complex would resemble a small village and include 645 apartments in 10 buildings for up to 1,240 residents.
Energy efficient plan
Known for its door-to-door proselytizing, the Jehovah's Witnesses are going high tech.
Spokesperson Jarrod A. Lopes said the plans exceed some of the most ambitious goals of New York state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy generation from renewable energy sources, and increase statewide energy efficiency,
The energy-saving measures are estimated to save $740,000 annually in utility costs when compared to a conventional oil-fired boiler/chiller system, said Keith Cady, the project’s architect.
Matthew Mordecki, one of the project’s directors, said, “The best way to reduce a facility’s environmental impact is to reduce the need for energy to begin with.”
The facility would generate energy through 120,000 square feet of photovoltaic panels, producing two megawatts of electric power, or 20% of the site’s energy demand, Lopes said. The live/work nature of the site means vehicles generally are not used for commuting to and from work.
The complex would include offices, 600 housing units in multiple-family buildings, underground parking, a fitness area and a visitor center for the public.
Zoning, tax questions
The Jehovah's Witnesses website provides details on the 1.7 million-square-foot project, known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
The organization is asking Ramapo to rezone part of the site to a mixed-use zoning district for a residential commercial complex.
Ramapo officials also have to remove from its 2004 Comprehensive Plan references to the tax-generating former Lotterdan adult residential housing development.
Lopes has said the Jehovah's Witnesses plan to seek tax-exempt status.
"The purpose of the complex is strictly religious," he said. "As such the facility is tax-exempt. However, significant tax revenue will be generated for the region through the procurement of goods and services from local suppliers, contractors and consultants."
Continual expansion
The Jehovah's Witnesses announced plans for the Ramapo property in 2019 during a meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, according to the organization.
Hudson Valley: Jehovah's Witnesses, other sects flock to Hudson Valley town
The denomination bought the 249 acres in 2009 for $11.5 million and, later moved from their 4,000-square-foot headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to Warwick.
Former Sloatsburg Mayor Carl Wright has said the village has no say on the development, although the Sloatsburg Fire Department and district would have involvement.
His preference would have been to leave the land barren, noting the wildlife — turkeys, bear, deer, rattlesnakes and copperheads — and rural nature bordering the state parks.
"I always prefer the land remain vacant," Wright said. "When we start cutting down trees, we do affect the environment, add traffic to secondary roads, drainage issues.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at [email protected]. Twitter: @lohudlegal. Read more articles and bio. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
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Ramapo Accepting Public Comment On Proposed Jehovah’s Witnesses HQ In Sloatsburg
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://rcbizjournal.com/2021/05/18/ramapo-now-accepting-public-comment-on-proposed-jehovahs-witnesses-hq-in-sloatsburg/.
may 18, 2021. a deis hearing will be held may 26; public comments period ends june 21. by tina traster.
the town of ramapo will be accepting public comment on the proposed new world headquarters of jehovah’s witnesses audio/video production center now that the deis (draft environmental impact statement) is complete.
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AndersonsInfo
https://rcbizjournal.com/2021/05/18/ramapo-now-accepting-public-comment-on-proposed-jehovahs-witnesses-hq-in-sloatsburg/
May 18, 2021
A DEIS Hearing Will Be Held May 26; Public Comments Period Ends June 21
By Tina Traster
The Town of Ramapo will be accepting public comment on the proposed new World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses Audio/Video Production Center now that the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) is complete. There is a DEIS hearing on May 26 and public comments will be accepted until June 21.
The 1.7 million square-foot project, known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, is slated for 155 Sterling Mine Road in largely Sloatsburg and partly in Tuxedo in Orange County. Of the 249 acres, 242 are located in Ramapo; the balance is in Tuxedo. The Tuxedo portion of land will be used for secondary driveway access.
The religious order, known as the Worldwide Order of Special Full Time Servants of Jehovah’s Witnesses, is hoping to build an A/V production center with audio and video production studios and facilities to support operations of the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The facilities include offices, maintenance and set production workshops, and a central chilled/hot water plant with geothermal heat recovery system. Accommodations for resident staff include 645 residential units (545 one-bedroom and 100 studio units), dining/assembly spaces, recreation/wellness/fitness facilities, and a clinic.
The project also includes a Visitors Center, which would welcome the public to the campus and offer Bible-related exhibits as well as exhibits on the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The proposal would rezone the portion of the project site within the Town of Ramapo to a new MU-3 Mixed-Use Zoning District to permit the applicant to develop an integrated residential and commercial campus.
The Ramapo portion of the project site was previously subdivided into 293 lots for the “Sterling Mine Road Active Adult Community,” which was commonly known as the “Lorterdan Project.” No physical improvements were made to the property following the subdivision approval.
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Article in The Australian: Jehovah's Witnesses facing tax turmoil
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.theaustralian.com.au/.../64acd93d531eb6b7301d.... .
sorry, the article is behind a paywall.
however, here's a copy of it without the photo:.
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AndersonsInfo
The article in the Australian titled "Jehovah's Witnesses facing tax turmoil" which I posted yesterday (April 18, 2021), was withdrawn (retracted) by the newspaper. It was replaced by another article "Jehovah's Witnesses resolve legal stoush with legal watchdog" that states that "Jehovah's Witnesses have resolved their legal action with Australia's charity watchdog." Further, sorry to say that the updated article stated, that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission "will not be revoking Watchtower's charity status" ... "and the matter is closed."When I receive a link to the new article that is not behind a firewall, I'll post it.Barbara -
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Article in The Australian: Jehovah's Witnesses facing tax turmoil
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.theaustralian.com.au/.../64acd93d531eb6b7301d.... .
sorry, the article is behind a paywall.
however, here's a copy of it without the photo:.
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AndersonsInfo
Sorry, the article is behind a paywall. However, here's a copy of it without the photo:Jehovah’s Witnesses facing tax turmoilFormer Jehovah's Witness Lara Kaput says revocation of Watchtower’s charity status would be a ‘watershed moment’.Picture: Rob Leeson.EXCLUSIVEKIERAN GAIR JOURNALIST@KieranGair• AN HOUR AGO APRIL 18, 2021The Jehovah’s Witnesses have taken legal action against Australia’s charity watchdog after it revoked the organisation’s tax-exempt status over concerns with the religion’s opaque global donations structure and alleged failure to protect vulnerable people.The organisation’s charitable arm, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia, which posted an income of $32m in the year to August 31, has been - accused of pushing cash offshore after directors splashed $16m of its total expenses on undisclosed donations and “overseas aid”.The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission informed Watchtower in November of its intention to revoke the organisation’s charity status, citing a litany of concerns about alleged contraventions of the Corporations Act and a failure to comply with a host of governance and conduct standards.Lawyer and abuse survivor Alec Spencer, a PhD candidate at James Cook University, said the ACNC’s decision was comparable to the abolition of the socalled “Ellis defence” in NSW in 2018, which ended the Catholic Church’s longstanding immunity to lawsuits.“If registration were to be removed, it would serve as a wake-up call for many other religious charities who have systemically failed to protect sexually abused children,” he said.“The removal of charitable registration would be an extraordinary outcome, both for the commission and the religious charity sector in particular.” The charity, which is seeking judicial review of the ACNC’s decision in the Federal Court, has been accused of “operating outside of Australia” and breaching its requirement to protect vulnerable people, including children, when conducting operations overseas.In a statement, Watchtower director Terry O’Brien denied the ACNC had moved to strip the organisation of its charity registration. “The ACNC has assured the - directors that they do not intend to revoke Watchtower Australia’s charity status,” Mr O’Brien said.However, court documents filed last week reveal the ACNC sent a notice to revoke Watchtower’s charity registration to the group’s directors in November.The ACNC has accused Watchtower’s directors of failing to comply with key conduct standards, including a requirement to disclose conflicts of interest and a requirement to protect children who are accessing benefits under the charity’s programs.If the court upholds the ACNC’s decision, Watchtower will lose its status as a registered charity and will not be entitled to receive tax concessions, including lucrative tax breaks.According to an application for judicial review filed by Watchtower, the ACNC’s decision is “unlawful” and an “unreasonable and inappropriate exercise” of its discretion.The organisation, which has nearly 70,000 members in Australia, has allocated almost $120m from 2014-20 to “donations and overseas aid”.“As a donor, I would be very troubled by this,” Mr Spencer said. “And as a regulator, their hands are tied due to the differential treatment bestowed on basic religious charities.“The ACNC could deregister a charity but the decision and why that occurs is not disclosed,” he said. “It allows them to operate in a cloud of secrecy.”Watchtower argues that the decision contains multiple errors of law, including that the legislation confers “no function with respect to child protection” on the ACNC.The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse warned that there were systemic problems within the Jehovah’s Witness religion in dealing with abuse, including a failure to report credible allegations to the police.The commission heard Jehovah’s Witnesses had documentation of abuse allegations by 1800 children involving more than 1000 perpetrators since 1950.Former church member and child abuse survivor Lara Kaput said revocation of Watchtower’s charity status would be a “watershed moment” if it were upheld by the Federal Court.“They were reticent to revoke their charity status because the charity commission knew it would set a precedent, and they don’t want that to happen,” Ms Kaput said.An ACNC spokeswoman said it was unable to comment on the “particular circumstances of a charity” and whether or not a charity was being investigated.JOURNALIST Kieran Gair is a reporter at The Australian. He has previously reported and produced for the ABC, Sky News, Sky News Business, and The Sydney Morning Herald. He studied Law and Journalism at UTS. -
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Article: Passing the Time By Firing Back at Jehovah’s Witnesses — With Letters
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/arts/under-the-sun-why-a-local-woman-wants-to-nail-the-jehovahs-witnesses-11545704.
kayleigh had run out of postage stamps and was waiting for new ones to arrive.
it was slowing her assault on a local congregation of jehovah’s witnesses.. she pointed to a stack of letters she’d already written to what she liked to call “the jws.”.
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AndersonsInfo
Kayleigh had run out of postage stamps and was waiting for new ones to arrive. It was slowing her assault on a local congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
She pointed to a stack of letters she’d already written to what she liked to call “the JWs.”
“These are ready to mail. I’ve got 16 letters written and 34 to go, but it’s only Tuesday. I’m way ahead.”
After she lost her waitressing job last year, Kayleigh contracted a nasty case of COVID. “I was bored, I couldn’t work, and my after-thingies kind of laid me out,” she said of the post-COVID vertigo and lung damage she’d been left with. “And then I got this JW letter in the mail and I knew my purpose in life.”
That purpose, she explained, was to do battle with people she thought were forcing their religion on her. Her former brother-in-law’s ex-wife used to be a Jehovah’s Witness, and back when they’d both been married to the Jones boys, she’d filled Kayleigh in on how things worked in that religion.
“They go door to door to preach, right?” she asked no one in particular. “But then the pandemic hit, and they couldn’t do that. So they started writing to people. I don’t mean like emails or texts. I mean, they wrote letters. To strangers. With a pen!” (Fact check: It's true.)
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Article: I Was Raised To Believe The Apocalypse Was Upon Us. 2020 Is The Year I Stopped Believing
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/jehovahs-witness-armageddon-covid-19_n_5fe22338c5b6acb53454b2b9.
“death is nothing when you anticipate a resurrection — just blink your eyes and awake in perfection.”.
rebecca woodward, guest writer.
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AndersonsInfo
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jehovahs-witness-armageddon-covid-19_n_5fe22338c5b6acb53454b2b9
“Death is nothing when you anticipate a resurrection — just blink your eyes and awake in perfection.”Rebecca Woodward, Guest Writer
When I was a child I was taught that I would never die. In April of this year, testing my sense of smell with a bottle of bleach to my nose while alone in my Brooklyn apartment, the constant peal of ambulances echoing in the streets below, I wished I still believed.
I was raised as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses to think Armageddon was something to look forward to. God would destroy the wicked world as we know it, to be replaced with a theocracy in which people like my family could live in eternal peace. We didn’t believe in heaven, but that the dead would be resurrected on a perfected Earth free of sickness and death. If I was very good, and went door to door warning neighbors of their impending doom, I would survive even when the world I knew was wiped away.
Most of my peers avoided college because a degree would be useless in paradise. Some even put off marriage or children, waiting for a perfect world to make a perfect family.
This was a difficult year to stop believing in Armageddon. But in truth, I’d gradually outgrown a faith built on the same sort of blind adherence that helped the outgoing president build a devoted and dogmatic base. I had admitted it to myself, but not my family. And so while many New Yorkers were fleeing the city to shelter with their families out of state, I was dodging my parents’ phone calls.
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Article: Pope Francis for the Supreme Court?
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/sexual-intelligence/202010/pope-francis-the-supreme-court.
marty klein ph.d.. pope francis for the supreme court?.
the pope speaks for sexual rights more than the supreme court nominee.
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AndersonsInfo
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/sexual-intelligence/202010/pope-francis-the-supreme-court
Pope Francis for the Supreme Court?
The Pope speaks for sexual rights more than the Supreme Court nominee
Posted Oct 25, 2020
You know the world is upside-down when the Pope is the spokesperson for progressive sexual politics. And that’s where we are today.
In the same mind-boggling week, Pope Francis publicly endorsed legal protections for same-gender couples, while presumptive Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett refused to honor Obergefell v. Hodges, the Court’s 2015 decision affirming same-sex couples’ right to marry.
In last week’s Senate confirmation “hearing,” Barrett also refused to say whether Lawrence v. Texas, decriminalizing same-gender sex in 2003, was correctly decided. Indeed, she has sidestepped all questions about preserving LGBT non-discrimination protections.
The day after Election Day, the Court will hear a very important case which addresses a central conflict in American society: between religious rights and anti-discrimination laws.
Fulton v. City of Philadelphia has been brought by Catholic Social Services. Philadelphia’s city officials ended CSS’s contract to provide foster care services because the agency will not accept applications from married same-sex couples.
The Supreme Court accepted the case after an appeals court ruled in favor of the city and its anti-discrimination law.
When do religious organizations deserve exemptions from anti-discrimination laws that the groups say would cause them to violate deeply held beliefs, such as what constitutes a marriage, or a “moral” home environment? The Court may choose this case as its chance to issue a historic ruling that expands the rights of religious groups at the expense of protecting the fundamental rights of other groups.While America is far from perfect, the last half-century has seen an increasing number of its citizens guaranteed the rights enjoyed by the majority.
It is now illegal, for example, to deny contraception to single people; marriage to mixed race couples; jobs to people in wheelchairs; equal pay to pregnant women; classroom resources to autistic children; and commercial services to black people.
Every one of these now-illegal behaviors used to be routine and legal.
Unfortunately, while America has marched toward increasing legal equality based on outlawing more and more forms of discrimination, it has also marched to a relentless expansion of rights based on claims of “religious freedom.” In particular, individuals and organizations—with the encouragement of major political figures and deep-pocket religious groups—are claiming exemption from an ever- expanding range of antidiscrimination laws.
These demands to be excluded from various laws are supposedly guaranteed by our beloved First Amendment.
In what is called the Establishment Clause, the First Amendment prohibits the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”
This was a radical idea in the 18th century, when one of the perks of every monarch was deciding which would be the state religion (i.e., theirs)—meaning that following any other religion was treason, punishable by death.
The Establishment Clause not only forbids our government from establishing an official religion (as in Tudor England or modern India), it also prohibits government actions that unduly favor one religion over another (as in Turkey). And it prohibits our government from preferring religion over non-religion (as in Austria).
So in America, we are free to believe what we like. Simple. Elegant. Life- affirming.
The problem comes when people decide that in order to follow their religious beliefs, they have to violate the legal rights of their fellow Americans. Does the Establishment Clause give “believers” more rights than everyone else?
This idea is particularly repulsive since government itself defines “religion”—as opposed to, say cult, hallucination, or mental illness. So for example, our government does not recognize the right of XYZ hypothetical religion’s followers to marry schoolchildren. But it does recognize the right of several other religion’s followers to circumcise babies (Jewish, Muslim) and withhold medical care from children (Christian Scientist, Jehovah’s Witness).
READ MORE: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/sexual-intelligence/202010/pope-francis-the-supreme-court
