Posts by nugget

172

Britain | Jehovah's Witnesses hushed up child sex scandal | July 16, 2013

by jwleaks in

church officials hushed up a child sex scandal in their ranks and refused to co-operate with police.. .

jehovah witness ministerial servant gordon leighton admitted sexually abusing a child when he was confronted by his church elders, a court heard.. but during the official police investigation, the 53-year-old who made headlines in the 1990s when wife yvonne, 28, died after refusing a blood transfusion after childbirth on religious grounds denied any illegal wrongdoing.. and when detectives asked elders simon preyser, harry logan and david scott to make statements about the confession, all three refused and said what they had heard was confidential.. for three years, the elders refused to co-operate with the criminal investigation and kept up that stance when the case was brought before newcastle crown court after the victim made a complaint to police.. each was issued with a witness summons which they fought to overturn before being ordered to testify by judge penny moreland citing public interest.. their barrister richard daniels said the men had a duty to god not to breach confidence.. he added: privileged communication between members of the congregation and ministers is an absolute right and duty and there is no power in law to breach such a confidence.. judge moreland said: it is apparent that the three elders who were present when this conversation took place are in possession of relevant evidence as to a point which is of real significance in this case.. they claim the right of confidentiality, they claim that what they heard said by the defendant during the course of that meeting ought to be subject to privilege, as ministers of religion.. judge moreland refused to withdraw the summonses and said: public interest is clearly in favour of this evidence being given.. what was said by the defendant on that occasion is of great significance in the trial.. despite the judges ruling, the men still refused to make statements to police until just hours before they were called before the jury.. leighton, who has since been expelled from the church at lambton kingdom hall in washington, denied two charges of indecency with a child and seven of indecent assault.. he was yesterday found guilty of two charges of indecency with a child and six of indecent assault.

he was found not guilty of one indecent assault charge, on the direction of the judge.. he was remanded in custody until he is sentenced next month but warned he is facing a lengthy spell behind bars.. prosecutor katherine dunn told the court the victim, who is now an adult, broke her silence in 2009.. the court heard how at a special church meeting, leighton admitted sexual abuse and made excuses for his behaviour.. miss dunn said: the elders conducted their own investigation.

nugget

I was a JW for forty years and in that time I was asigned to work alone on field service with other members of the congregation in rural settings regularly my mother never went on field service at the weekend and my father was not in the organisation. I was encouraged to study alone with another congregation member to "help make the truth my own". I attended study groups specifically for children held in private homes (it later turned out the father was molesting his daughters). JWs do on occasion separate children and parents and therefore they should have CRB checks done. After all for charities it is free to do and if there is nothing to hide there is nothing to fear. The Watchtower encourages mature christians to help out spiritual widows and provide role models by studying with children on their own.

They say they are more moral, and have higher standards because they are in a spiritual paradise so to comply with a law shows good faith and reinforces their high standards.

This fudging the issue and falsehood by stating that because there are no Sunday schools it is all ok is a fallacy. Things are not ok. Children have been molested by brothers they trusted, children have been molested on field service, children have been molested in kingdom halls. The purpose of the rules is not to persecute the innocent but to make it harder for the wicked. The present culture and rules DO NOT WORK. They have never worked except to protect the reputation of the society. The checks won't catch everyone but they will help.

16

Happy Birthday,Dogpatch

by Bangalore in

jw
friends

happy birthday,randy.have a great day.. .

bangalore.

nugget

Have a very happy birthday

18

Totally corrupt website?

by Terry in

a website defending two major stories connected with watchtower corruption is found here:.

http://www.jehovahsjudgment.co.uk/.

there is no way to identify, rebut or reach the creator of this website to offer counter-argument.. it exist solely as propaganda as far as i can determine.

nugget

It is not uncommon for JW apologist sites to block comments. It is also clear from the headlines that this is unlikely to be a balanced reasoned argument about the UN membership which is apparently a conspiracy theory or 607.

I think they realise that as soon as they allow comments they will be out argued and the fallacies exposed. They have learnt from the Watchtower that something is true merely because they say it is so.

28

Sticky situations

by Sammy Jenkis in

i was remembering today this situation that i let get out of hand because i was too damaged to let my co-workers and my boss know i was a jw when i was still inside.

it was hard to explain to people something so foreign and out of this world as being a witness and never before had the difficulty been as hard as when one of our co-workers birthdays came around.. i dreaded the moment because i'd played pretty cool and dodged any questions that might reveal my religious inclinations.. but:.

my boss came over to my desk and gave me this card to sign, she asked if i'd like to sign it.

nugget

My boss knew I was a JW but it wasn't something I generally shared since I didn't want to be judged on the basis of my religion. There was one lady who was very keen to ensure that birthdays were acknowledged. The day after my birthday I had to go away for a work conference and was staying in a hotel with all my work colleagues. After dinner in the evening and after several bottles of wine had been drunk by the assenmbled company the lights dimmed and the waiters came to the table with a lit birthday cake. All my colleagues sang a drunken happy birthday to you and I was sat there facing the prospect of blowing out the candles or preaching before the assembled company. I could have died. I blew out the candles and thanked everyone for the lovely thought and left at the earliest opportunity. My boss nearly died laughing.

I felt guilty for years that I had made Jehovah sad.

This weekend I had another cake with candles and loved every minute how times change.

35

The Nugget and Cantleave July Aposta-Party

by cantleave in

enough said.

.

nugget

Cookie finds the heat tough and prefers the quiet of the living room. She was around for the food though and single handedly ate all the cocktail sausages.

172

Britain | Jehovah's Witnesses hushed up child sex scandal | July 16, 2013

by jwleaks in

church officials hushed up a child sex scandal in their ranks and refused to co-operate with police.. .

jehovah witness ministerial servant gordon leighton admitted sexually abusing a child when he was confronted by his church elders, a court heard.. but during the official police investigation, the 53-year-old who made headlines in the 1990s when wife yvonne, 28, died after refusing a blood transfusion after childbirth on religious grounds denied any illegal wrongdoing.. and when detectives asked elders simon preyser, harry logan and david scott to make statements about the confession, all three refused and said what they had heard was confidential.. for three years, the elders refused to co-operate with the criminal investigation and kept up that stance when the case was brought before newcastle crown court after the victim made a complaint to police.. each was issued with a witness summons which they fought to overturn before being ordered to testify by judge penny moreland citing public interest.. their barrister richard daniels said the men had a duty to god not to breach confidence.. he added: privileged communication between members of the congregation and ministers is an absolute right and duty and there is no power in law to breach such a confidence.. judge moreland said: it is apparent that the three elders who were present when this conversation took place are in possession of relevant evidence as to a point which is of real significance in this case.. they claim the right of confidentiality, they claim that what they heard said by the defendant during the course of that meeting ought to be subject to privilege, as ministers of religion.. judge moreland refused to withdraw the summonses and said: public interest is clearly in favour of this evidence being given.. what was said by the defendant on that occasion is of great significance in the trial.. despite the judges ruling, the men still refused to make statements to police until just hours before they were called before the jury.. leighton, who has since been expelled from the church at lambton kingdom hall in washington, denied two charges of indecency with a child and seven of indecent assault.. he was yesterday found guilty of two charges of indecency with a child and six of indecent assault.

he was found not guilty of one indecent assault charge, on the direction of the judge.. he was remanded in custody until he is sentenced next month but warned he is facing a lengthy spell behind bars.. prosecutor katherine dunn told the court the victim, who is now an adult, broke her silence in 2009.. the court heard how at a special church meeting, leighton admitted sexual abuse and made excuses for his behaviour.. miss dunn said: the elders conducted their own investigation.

nugget

In the UK laws and procedures have been put in place in an effort to protect children from sexual predators. In most settings people who come in contact with children are obliged to complete a CRB check and organisations and schools have to have polices for safeguarding children. The society will say that they don't need these checks or policies because children are in the care of parents but this is simply untrue.

There are occasions when children are separated from parents on the service where a mother may be obliged to share her children amongst other publishers because there are too many to go on the door with her and her partner. Young teens may go on the service alone at weekends because their parents do service during the week or there is an unbelieving husband who objects to their spouse going out on the doors at the weekend. Spiritual widows are encouraged to get a mature brother to study with their sons alone and the list goes on. Children are vulnerable and yet the society sticks to their rights and the sensitivity of the perpetrator without giving any thought to the victim.

These men followed instruction what a shame their instructions lacked any moral fibre or selfless appreciation of what it was like to be a victim. If the society is not prepared to follow guidance set up to protect children then it should be because they can offer something better not because they have too much to hide.

8

To the pome's out there. Are you going to let us win a test in this Ashes series

by barry in

jw
friends

i mean we aussie team has 583 runs to get in our last innings after england declared with 3 wickets in hand.

.

nugget

Not a chance. However it is really up to the Aussie team isn't it.

42

Jehovah's Witness Mother Ends Relationship With Atheist Son

by Bangalore in

jw
friends

jehovah's witness mother ends relationship with atheist son.source http://lefthemispheres.blogspot.ca/2012/06/letter-jehovahs-witness-mother-ends.htmlhttp://davetrash.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/the-letter/.

.

bangalore.

nugget

So sorry this religion does not allow unconditional love.

47

Growing up as a JW was a form of mental abuse for me

by Miss Fitt in

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nugget

It was seeing my childhood replicated in my children that helped me question my beliefs. I saw the way their beliefs isolated them from their peers and made them socially awkward. I saw the misery of going door to door and the worry that they might call on school mates. I carefully made a note of where their school friends lived so as to avoid making them call on those streets. I took them on as many return visits as possible so they would experience friendly interactions. It wasn't enough and leaving gave them a real chance to grow and blossom as confident happy children.

My pain is that my mother saw the same thing happen to me and my sisters but she never questioned it.

73

Bitter apostates

by Laika in

witnesses often go on about apostates being spiteful and bitter.

when you get cut off, shunned, or threatened with shunning just for the audacity of thinking differently, it's not surprising that getting angry at the witnesses is the reaction - it's like a self fulfilling prophecy.. but also, i recently posted an email from a 'friend' on this board who told me that everyone he'd spoken to about me said i had changed, become like another person.

it didn't occur to him that the day before i told my parents i'd quit the religion just 3 weeks ago, i met him for lunch, we had a good time and he didn't know anything was up.

nugget

Cold Steel, it isn't a matter of whose made up scriptures are better than others. There is no divinity here in either religion just control of the flock. As human beings we have the ability to think and reason to do the right thing not because of a religious rule but because we can empathise with others.

We can also see the injustice and stress caused by religion that fears knowledge and free thought. It is not necessary for every one to think the same way to be good people. It does not follow that because you leave bad religion you automatically become filled with bitterness and hate. On the contrary you suddenly reralise how much goodness there actually is in the world around you.