Posts by careful

16

EU court upholds an employer's right to ban religious symbols

by careful in

first i should say that i do not like islam for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the moslem treatment of women.

still, the free exercise of anyone's peaceful observance of their religion, including moslems, trumps my personal preferences.

also, living in america, i evidently enjoy a greater degree of religious liberty than i see in recent years in continental europe, something that continues to baffle me.. today the european court of justice, the same group that has stood up for the rights of jws, has decreed that it is ok for employers to ban the wearing of religious symbols among employees.

careful

Simon, I checked a dozen reports. All agree that the lawsuit stems from a Moslem woman, Samira Achbita, who brought the suit in Belgian court.

In the NY Times coverage of the matter, there is this observation:

“It is a very bold step,” said Camino Mortera-Martinez, a research fellow at the Center for European Reform in Brussels, describing the ruling as a landmark decision, if also a political and pragmatic one. “Recently we have seen the court being much more attentive to the political winds rather than being so legalistic, because of the recognition that the E.U. is at risk of collapse.”

(https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/world/europe/headscarves-ban-european-court.html?_r=0)

Certainly food for thought. I am struck with how Europe has been changing when it comes to civil liberties. What ever happened to "liberté, égalité, fraternité"?

16

EU court upholds an employer's right to ban religious symbols

by careful in

first i should say that i do not like islam for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the moslem treatment of women.

still, the free exercise of anyone's peaceful observance of their religion, including moslems, trumps my personal preferences.

also, living in america, i evidently enjoy a greater degree of religious liberty than i see in recent years in continental europe, something that continues to baffle me.. today the european court of justice, the same group that has stood up for the rights of jws, has decreed that it is ok for employers to ban the wearing of religious symbols among employees.

careful

EO, many religious people feel their religious beliefs carry over to all aspects of their lives, including their places of employment. I do not wear any religious symbols to work or elsewhere, but should a Jew be forced to take off his kippah or a Catholic woman her cross?

crofty, So should a Jewish receptionist have to take off his kippah?

16

EU court upholds an employer's right to ban religious symbols

by careful in

first i should say that i do not like islam for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the moslem treatment of women.

still, the free exercise of anyone's peaceful observance of their religion, including moslems, trumps my personal preferences.

also, living in america, i evidently enjoy a greater degree of religious liberty than i see in recent years in continental europe, something that continues to baffle me.. today the european court of justice, the same group that has stood up for the rights of jws, has decreed that it is ok for employers to ban the wearing of religious symbols among employees.

careful

First I should say that I do not like Islam for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the Moslem treatment of women. Still, the free exercise of anyone's peaceful observance of their religion, including Moslems, trumps my personal preferences. Also, living in America, I evidently enjoy a greater degree of religious liberty than I see in recent years in continental Europe, something that continues to baffle me.

Today the European Court of Justice, the same group that has stood up for the rights of JWs, has decreed that it is OK for employers to ban the wearing of religious symbols among employees.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/03/14/top-eu-court-rules-employers-can-ban-visible-religious-symbols-including-islamic-headscarves/99156814/

Obviously the target is the hijab, but one can only wonder if Jewish yarmulkes or kippot (men's skull caps) will be next. Then what about all the "JWdotOrg" jewelry among Witnesses? It has rapidly come to be for JWs what the cross has long been for Catholics and mainstream Protestants.

Your thoughts?

8

Propaganda video from the society. How are your donations used?

by stuckinarut2 in

oh wow....how manipulative, especially for young ones.. first prize goes to whoever can state the one aspect of society expenditure that this video fails to mention!.

https://tv.jw.org/#en/video/vodourorganization/pub-jwbrd_201505_1_video.

careful

The vid mentions contributions are used to support special pioneers. I thought they had been phased out. Are they back or what?

Yes, they certainly hide the fact that a significant portion of their budget is going toward lawsuit payments. They just do not know how to be honest—so self-deceived, like RF explains their entrapment.

non-JW church child abuse

by careful in

"whaley warned congregants to lie to investigators about abuse incidents"; sound familiar?.

ap link:.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/probe-sought-after-ap-report-church-abuse-allegations.

careful

"Whaley warned congregants to lie to investigators about abuse incidents"; sound familiar?

AP link:

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/probe-sought-after-ap-report-church-abuse-allegations

29

Which is worse according to the GB: Child Abuse or Apostasy??

by stuckinarut2 in

so we all know how the organization conducts itself regarding child abuse.

the multitude of legal cases worldwide including the current australian royal commission as well as anecdotal accounts prove their attitude.. perpetrators have not been reported to authorities, and data bases of such have been kept sealed even when demanded by the courts!.

however, when it comes to those of us who have simply left the organization due to learning the truth, the society spares no effort in spreading gossip and ensuring that one's name and reputation is ruined.. so gb, which crime is worse?

careful

punkofnice,

there is a GB member/s who is actually a paedophile

There was, Ted Jaracz. He's gone now, but he set the policies in motion re: child abuse that the current GB have inherited. Also, the current GB were all appointed under his tutelage, even later ones like Sanderson who was allowed to rise in the org when TJ was still alive, after Sanderson had begun partaking of the emblems. No doubt TJ would have told members like Lösch to give the eventual green light to those GB members appointed after TJ died. Therefore, all the current GB members still venerate TJ and his decisions. After all, they are on the GB due to him. This also helps to explain why they are so slow to initiate change on this child abuse matter—only when Caesar's law and the media threaten them, and the WTS lawyers tell them that they have to.

There have been threads at this forum on TJ's proclivity for girls. Use the search feature if you'd like to track them down.

182

The Danger of Settlements

by Tech49 in

jw
friends

i was pondering the recent influx of lawsuits against wt, specifically in regards to the child abuse cases (ie.

conti, fessler, lopez, etc).. in each of these, wt has settled for an "undisclosed" amount, assumed to be in the millions of dollars each.

i know there are many many more cases, subject for a different thread i'm sure.. i was reading something completely unrelated a while back that mentioned the dangers of settlement agreements for a large corporation or business (not just wt).

careful

tech49: you are correct. A strong precedent has been set and lawyers are lining up to find as many sexually abused (ex-) JWs as they can and milk the WTS dry. Given the org's financial problems, these lawyers must be having considerable success.

smiddy: I can understand that certain abused people would get tired of the long process of a legal route for recompense and just settle out-of-court, especially with the way the WTS tries to wear them down with long, slow appeals and so on. If a person was a victim, likely the person would want to not go all through the experience again in giving testimony, so is often willing to get some kind of financial recompense and just move on in life.

35

February 26, 2017 TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS Re: Witnessing in Public Places

by wifibandit in

february 26, 2017 to all bodies of elders re: witnessing in public places.

and.

february 25, 2017 to all congregations re: magnetic boards and posters for public witnessing.

careful

Thanks for the links. There's a lot to digest here. Clearly they are afraid of legal threats. Also notable is the fact that they are apparently recognizing the "silent" feature of those manning the carts/booths is not working. Now they are saying to initiate conversation if someone approaches, smile, and make eye contact. That's a real change.

22

Warwick Tour Brochure

by konceptual99 in

jw
friends

so we had this posted in the mega topic thread... wt: warwick world hq tour brochure.

the new world headquarters of jws, located at warwick, new york, will open for tours on monday, april 3, 2017.. in anticipation, a new eight-page glossy brochure about this facility has now been released:.

download pdf: https://download-a.akamaihd.net/files/media_cmsassets/70/fo_s-whq_e.pdf.

careful

Thanks for the info and links. So if a man shows up for a tour without a suit and tie, what will happen? What's if it's an interested person who doesn't "know better"?

12

Thank you so much - I am really touched

by doubtfull1799 in

just wanted to thank everyone so much for all your responses to my first post.

i am overwhelmed by all the replies and supportive comments that came through overnight while i was asleep here in aussie land!.

i will absolutely endeavour to reply to each one individually but it will take some time as there are a lot to go through.

careful

freddo, thanks for the insight re: the "circuit heavies." It is only reasonable that some WT heavies must be talking about this. Especially COs/appeal committee members who will have dealt with child abuse issues more than the average elder.