Posts by Chaserious

19

Why has nobody started a petition or writing letters to congress, etc?

by EndofMysteries in

i can't be in the spotlight as starting this because of a family member.

but i wonder why there is no big change.org type petition going on with hundreds of thousands of signatures, etc.

or putting together a nice letter about how jw's religion breaks up families, claims to want religious freedom but those of us born in, or just in, are forced to accept their lies and anything they say or get shunned, and the devastating emotional, etc, effects on people.

Chaserious

human sacrifices, child sex, etc

You aren't the first one to bring up this idea. The things you mentioned are illegal whether done in the name of religion or for some other reason. OTOH, nothing that JW's teach violate generally applicable laws in the U.S. "Brainwashing," as you call it, or "religious instruction" as they would characterize it, is not illegal. As anony mous said, you are free to join and leave even if you might not like the terms. Shunning is not illegal either. Congress couldn't do anything, and wouldn't want to in any event. There are no political points to be gained by going after religious groups (at least non-Muslim religious groups). Look at how much more wacky and dangerous Scientologists are, and how much has been done to "investigate" or "regulate" them. That should tell you all you need to know about how far anyone would get trying to get the government to go after them.

65

Disfellowshipped but still forced to pay maintenance or alimony

by Markw1509 in

can i ask for your opinion?

i have been disfellowshipped and divorced for a few years.

my ex-wife and my daughter have cut off all contact from me.

Chaserious

Is your daughter a minor or an adult? I'm not aware of any WT rule that says they can't take alimony from DF ex-husbands. They will take the money every time, probably reasoning that it's better that she has the money to use it for "kingdom interests."

23

FOLLOW THE MONEY to the Revised NWT

by Terry in

lawsuits with big $$$ awards attached lead to schemes for raising instant revenue to offset losses.. what is the best bet?.

read the nytimes and make a guess.. .

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html....

Chaserious

I too wonder how much money they can make off publications any more. I handled accounts for two different congregations from around 2004-2008 and the donations to the worldwide work were very low. I remember thinking that it probably didn't even cover the printing cost of the literature used by the congregation. I suspect that a large number of JWs never donate anything or at most put in a few bucks here and there. Can't really speak to assemblies and conventions. Maybe people donate more when they get all jazzed up about a new release.

20

Watchtower Society Scandal Involving Menlo Park Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses

by jwleaks in

jw leaks has published court documents relating to the removal of the body of elders in the menlo park congregation of jehovahs witnesses (california, usa), the seizing of control of millions of dollars of congregation assets by watchtower bible and tract society of new york, and the related rico enterprise civil lawsuit against jpmorgan chase bank et al.. backstory: in 2010 the watchtower bible and tract society of new york seized control of millions of dollars of prime real estate assets belonging to the menlo park congregation of jehovahs witnesses, california, by forcefully removing the body of elders and dispersing the congregation.

money invested by the congregation was also removed from their bank accounts by watchtower representatives.

those within the congregation that objected to this were threatened with disfellowshipping.

Chaserious

JWleaks - no problem. You have a PM.

20

Watchtower Society Scandal Involving Menlo Park Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses

by jwleaks in

jw leaks has published court documents relating to the removal of the body of elders in the menlo park congregation of jehovahs witnesses (california, usa), the seizing of control of millions of dollars of congregation assets by watchtower bible and tract society of new york, and the related rico enterprise civil lawsuit against jpmorgan chase bank et al.. backstory: in 2010 the watchtower bible and tract society of new york seized control of millions of dollars of prime real estate assets belonging to the menlo park congregation of jehovahs witnesses, california, by forcefully removing the body of elders and dispersing the congregation.

money invested by the congregation was also removed from their bank accounts by watchtower representatives.

those within the congregation that objected to this were threatened with disfellowshipping.

Chaserious

JWleaks: Here are links to download the 1) original complaint and all exhibits in the Cobb v. JPMorgan matter, as well as 2) Motion to dismiss by Defendants Brede, et al., and 3) motion to dismiss by Defendant Freel. There are over 160 documents on the docket, inclulding a number of other motions to dismiss, given the large number of defendants that Cobb chose to include in this matter.

1) http://www.sendspace.com/file/h1svkr

2) http://www.sendspace.com/file/x7ve2y

3) http://www.sendspace.com/file/i079r0

20

Watchtower Society Scandal Involving Menlo Park Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses

by jwleaks in

jw leaks has published court documents relating to the removal of the body of elders in the menlo park congregation of jehovahs witnesses (california, usa), the seizing of control of millions of dollars of congregation assets by watchtower bible and tract society of new york, and the related rico enterprise civil lawsuit against jpmorgan chase bank et al.. backstory: in 2010 the watchtower bible and tract society of new york seized control of millions of dollars of prime real estate assets belonging to the menlo park congregation of jehovahs witnesses, california, by forcefully removing the body of elders and dispersing the congregation.

money invested by the congregation was also removed from their bank accounts by watchtower representatives.

those within the congregation that objected to this were threatened with disfellowshipping.

Chaserious

As is mine, Londo. The gist of the lawsuit is that a large and diverse group of people are all involved in a massive conspiracy against this one guy, Cobb. This group of conspirators includes numerous JWs, the WTS, members of his family including his ex-wife, police officers, judges, court clerks and deputies, attorneys at large law firms, private investigators, managers at the Cisco corporation, investment banks and others who I am surely forgetting.

20

Watchtower Society Scandal Involving Menlo Park Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses

by jwleaks in

jw leaks has published court documents relating to the removal of the body of elders in the menlo park congregation of jehovahs witnesses (california, usa), the seizing of control of millions of dollars of congregation assets by watchtower bible and tract society of new york, and the related rico enterprise civil lawsuit against jpmorgan chase bank et al.. backstory: in 2010 the watchtower bible and tract society of new york seized control of millions of dollars of prime real estate assets belonging to the menlo park congregation of jehovahs witnesses, california, by forcefully removing the body of elders and dispersing the congregation.

money invested by the congregation was also removed from their bank accounts by watchtower representatives.

those within the congregation that objected to this were threatened with disfellowshipping.

Chaserious

The 95-page complaint filed by Cobb in the 13-1955 case, which was filed on 4/29/13, gives the "back story" on anything and everything, and then some. If jwleaks or anyone else wants a copy of the complaint or the motions to dismiss that the 9/23/13 filing responds to, I can easily download them.

20

Watchtower Society Scandal Involving Menlo Park Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses

by jwleaks in

jw leaks has published court documents relating to the removal of the body of elders in the menlo park congregation of jehovahs witnesses (california, usa), the seizing of control of millions of dollars of congregation assets by watchtower bible and tract society of new york, and the related rico enterprise civil lawsuit against jpmorgan chase bank et al.. backstory: in 2010 the watchtower bible and tract society of new york seized control of millions of dollars of prime real estate assets belonging to the menlo park congregation of jehovahs witnesses, california, by forcefully removing the body of elders and dispersing the congregation.

money invested by the congregation was also removed from their bank accounts by watchtower representatives.

those within the congregation that objected to this were threatened with disfellowshipping.

Chaserious

Thanks. Just noting that it is hard to make any sense of the Sept. 23 opposition to a motion to dismiss without copies of the motion or motions that it is opposing.

10

Individual Governing Body Members and Lawsuits

by jw07 in

i don't know if this has any legal implications:.

since the identities of the individual members of the governing body have been publicly confirmed (not that we didn't know that before) can that open the way for direct lawsuits to be leveled against members?.

for instance are there any laws in the usa that would open the way for geoffrey jackson to be targetted by the lawsuits from child abuse or no blood transfusion deaths?.

Chaserious

Unless someone could show that specific wrongful actions of an individual GB member caused them harm, this kind of thing wouldn't even get off the ground. Even if it did, what would be the point? A judgment against Geoffrey Jackson or whoever is less valuable than a judgment against the Watchtower society. If it could be collected at all, it would be paid out of the WT's pockets anyway.

62

The Lawsuit Landslide: Irwin Zalkin representing ELEVEN child abuse victims against Watchtower

by cedars in

many of you will be interested to know that irwin zalkin now has 11 lawsuits against watchtower at various stages.. these can be summarized as follows.... j.l.

shocked by the lack of action, the victims mother immediately left the congregation with her son.

by this stage campos was a known predator with complaints having been made to the elders at linda vista spanish, playa pacifica spanish and the watchtower dating back to 1982.elizabeth mcfarland ohio a former ministerial servant named scott silvasy sexually molested elizabeth when she was a child through her early teens.

Chaserious

How many $30mil upheld verdicts do you need to make the bean counters very uncomfortable...

As encouraging as it is to see victims come forward, I don't see this as a "death blow" either. The Conti verdict has been reduced to about $10 million, so that's the worst case scenario for the WTS if they lose their appeal, plus maybe a couple million in interest and legal costs. There is no reason to believe that every case is going to cost nearly that much. Jury verdicts are wildly unpredictable. The Economist reported that abuse cases cost the Catholic Church over $1 mil each. I don't see any reason to think comparable cases will cost the WTS ten times (or 30 times) as much). On one hand, juries might be less sympathetic to the WTS because it's viewed as a fringe religion/cult. But on the other hand, the lawyers have an easier case to make against the Catholic Church in that the priest abusers were paid employees of the church, which isn't the case with any of these WTS cases.

The larger positive that might come out of these awful instances of abuse is public awareness, and maybe more internal awareness, about the failings of the WT organization to protect its children.