the jehovah's witnesses have formally signed up to the national redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, more than a year after they were named and shamed for holding out.the federal government has announced another 34 organisations have joined the compensation program, allowing 37 stalled applications for financial support to finally be processed.more than 11,800 redress applications have been received so far, with around half having been processed and almost $530 million in payments made.a total of 526 organisations have signed up to the scheme, along with the commonwealth and all state and territory governments.the jehovah's witnesses were one of six of the original hold-outs, named by social services minister anne ruston in june last year.access to government grants were cut off, and the government sought to challenge the charitable status and tax concessions offered to such organisations as a punishment.
"we think that these strong sanctions have obviously had an impact on the jehovah's witnesses reconsidering their decision not to join," senator ruston said.. read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-10/jehovahs-witnesses-sign-up-to-sexual-abuse-redress-scheme/100449204.
to beter understand the background:.
I find the press release explaining the U-turn on joining particularly repugnant.
Joining because it's the law gives them plausible deniability with their members.
"We joined because it's the law Sister! Not because we have any CSA problems. Perish the thought!"
the jehovah's witnesses have formally signed up to the national redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, more than a year after they were named and shamed for holding out.the federal government has announced another 34 organisations have joined the compensation program, allowing 37 stalled applications for financial support to finally be processed.more than 11,800 redress applications have been received so far, with around half having been processed and almost $530 million in payments made.a total of 526 organisations have signed up to the scheme, along with the commonwealth and all state and territory governments.the jehovah's witnesses were one of six of the original hold-outs, named by social services minister anne ruston in june last year.access to government grants were cut off, and the government sought to challenge the charitable status and tax concessions offered to such organisations as a punishment.
"we think that these strong sanctions have obviously had an impact on the jehovah's witnesses reconsidering their decision not to join," senator ruston said.. read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-10/jehovahs-witnesses-sign-up-to-sexual-abuse-redress-scheme/100449204.
to beter understand the background:.
I think they were worried that if Australia stripped them of their charitable status other countries, particularly those in the Commonwealth or those having problems with the Orgs attitude to CSA, may have followed suit.
It's such a red herring for the org to say they don't have the organizational structures in place to work with children. Witness kids are routinely baptised. Once baptised a witness is obliged to participate in the preaching work, in conjunction with the congregation, in order to remain an active publisher. They are also given other assignments by the congregation ranging from talks & meeting parts to cleaning etc
It's true these things aren't specifically for children. In fact children are expected to work to support the congregation in the same manner an adult would, these activities all being directed by the organization.
So I feel witness children are a good deal more vulnerable in many ways because they are given no special consideration, do not have their own activities and are expected to take the same risks an adult would.
in the latest jw broadcast, anthony morris the turd gives a talk about donations.
to camouflage this, he starts and ends the talk by saying that isn't actually what he's doing.
first he starts with the usual disclaimer, 'wt has never begged for money like christendom and we never will', you know the drill.
InWasn’t there also a letter a while back saying that JWs shouldn’t help other JWs out financially because if they really need help then the congregation will help them. Which in practice never happens.
Yes Slim, it was worse in imho.
They said beware of giving to ostensibly poor brothers and sisters in the congregations because they are probably getting some kind of welfare/benefits payments from the government. That it's better to give to the WWW as they can properly allocate resources.
The sub text being: don't trust your fellow Christians completely and do give your money to us because we know how to spend it!!!
Edit: just saw LuckyNPeppers post. They're right it was mid week & prompted by Go-fund-me's etc
so, in a couple weeks, the jws move on in their bible-reading slog to the book of deuteronomy.. take a gander at deuteronomy 23:12,13:.
a private place should be designated for use outside the camp, and there is where you should go.
13 a peg should be part of your equipment.
Bumping it for those interested.
Someone mentioned, for those in the UK, the camp was three times the size of Birmingham!
who of those passed away jwd/jwn members, do we think of??.
oompah and the lady from australia, are there more??.
g..
TD I don't know about @Leolaia but @wakemeup before you JoHo is fine. I think she mostly is involved in the Australian CSA support stuff. I think she periodically is in touch with Kimmy of Mike and Kim to let her know any info. She's in touch with Sherri too.
Slim What is reach out?
https://canopyforum.org/2021/04/19/the-right-to-shun-ghents-misguided-jehovahs-witness-decision/.
in march, the criminal court of ghent, belgium fined the congregation of jehovah’s witnesses (jw) for “inciting discrimination and hatred or violence against former members.” the case centered on the jw practice of “disfellowshipping.” while the court’s sensitivity to the individual impact of shunning is laudable, its decision regrettably assaults the freedoms of religion and association.. first, some background on jw beliefs and disfellowshipping.
jw was founded in the united states over a century ago and is headquartered in new york state.
Si The WTS would love JWs to believe they don't have a choice other than to do as they are told.
But of course it's wrong.
Oh definitely they would. And we all know witnesses who despite everything don't shun their family.
And that's when it gets really difficult. That's when I personally get angry with the shunners.
MMM They absolutely have a choice. You rob JWs of their moral agency this way. Simon is exactly correct here. Think of the long term consequences of undermining these principles.
I have to say you make a very good point
https://canopyforum.org/2021/04/19/the-right-to-shun-ghents-misguided-jehovahs-witness-decision/.
in march, the criminal court of ghent, belgium fined the congregation of jehovah’s witnesses (jw) for “inciting discrimination and hatred or violence against former members.” the case centered on the jw practice of “disfellowshipping.” while the court’s sensitivity to the individual impact of shunning is laudable, its decision regrettably assaults the freedoms of religion and association.. first, some background on jw beliefs and disfellowshipping.
jw was founded in the united states over a century ago and is headquartered in new york state.
Which means those feeling coerced to shun can pretty easily have regular contacts with their disfellowshipped friends and relatives - and still avoid being caught and punished. If they don't use - don't even try to use - this opportunity, are they really coerced?
Remember Jehovah is always watching. You can't sneak a telephone conversation Jehovah doesn't see
I think sometimes if we've been out a while we forget what it's like to actually believe in (Watchtower's)Jehovah and believe it's not just wrong but actually wicked to communicate with DF ones that holy spirit has deemed unrepentant and therefore wicked too.
i thought jiles grey response to this question was interesting:.
"i think that it demonstrates just how ineffective the jehovah’s witnesses’ door to door evangelising is.. in 2019 there were 303,866 people baptised.
this was during a year when the preaching work was in full swing.. in 2020 there were 241,994 people baptised.
Road to nowhere 🤣true!
I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bump in baptisms when the halls reopen (partly for 'glory' reasons as @JwTom mentioned) but also because the pandemic is likely to panic POMi's into going back to the hall and getting baptised. They've also been pushing avoiding those who have 'left Jehovah' a lot lately, too, and that always pressurises unbaptised family.
here's an excerpt from the recent lawsuit deborah hines v. watchtower bible and tract society of new york et al (paragraphs 158-180), one of 29 known cases brought against the org pursuant to the ny child victims act.
what should be kept in mind is that gerrit lösch apparently worked in europe (the austrian branch and eastern europe) at the time when the abuse was allegedly reported to him (not a gb member then).. plaintiff was raised a member of the jehovah’s witnesses.
she primarily attended meetings at various congregations in arizona.
Si or then saying they should think of themselves as "privileged". c'mon, that's just nuts.
I don't know about the rest of it, but I can imagine a Bethel Elder telling a young girl she is "privileged" to have all the experiences she has had, working at Bethel.
After all, it's a "privilege" for JWs to even give their darn money to the Borg. Everything's a bloody privilege with that lot!
Edit
The mistake being made is imagining that someone being in the US or not verifies the claim. It doesn't. If they were not in the US then it would discredit them but their being there doesn't prove anything beyond the fact that they were there.
Agreed. I just meant if he wasn't there it immediately rules her testimony as false, no?
https://canopyforum.org/2021/04/19/the-right-to-shun-ghents-misguided-jehovahs-witness-decision/.
in march, the criminal court of ghent, belgium fined the congregation of jehovah’s witnesses (jw) for “inciting discrimination and hatred or violence against former members.” the case centered on the jw practice of “disfellowshipping.” while the court’s sensitivity to the individual impact of shunning is laudable, its decision regrettably assaults the freedoms of religion and association.. first, some background on jw beliefs and disfellowshipping.
jw was founded in the united states over a century ago and is headquartered in new york state.
Simon....Jehovah's witnesses do not have a choice.
You won't convince me otherwise.
