Chaserious

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Posts by Chaserious

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  16

  A little Update... Going back to school.

  by dazed but not confused in

  1. social
  2. current

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  im going back to school tomorrow.

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  Chaserious

  Great news, Dazed. Best of luck with school!
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  14

  Article: Ten Legal Risks Facing Churches and Church Leaders, by Richard Hammar

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200401/200401_78_legalrisks.cfm.

  ten legal risks facing churches and church leaders.

  by richard r. hammar.

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  Chaserious

  I understand why some people think that because the doctrines are nonsensical, WT legal policies must be foolish also, but I'm not sure that's the case. As with any big organization, the goal is not eliminating legal liability; that's not going to happen. The goal is to reduce exposures to a comfortably small percentage of revenue and to be able to budget for it. The large reliance on volunteers mostly, if not totally, eliminates employment law exposure. The proportion of JWs who the society is liable for on an agency basis is also smaller than most other religions. For example, if a Catholic Priest caused a car accident while driving around making visits to shut-in parishoners, the diocese would be liable since the Priest is an agent. For the society to be liable, it would have to rise to the level of a circuit overseer or bethelite doing the same thing - they would never be liable without their own negligence for elders or MS running around doing JW business. They also don't have formal counseling or children's programs, and no official elder or MS business involves any one-on-one time with children, so I am not sure that they would be liable merely for not conducting background checks. The only activity where one might be alone with a child would be field service, but that's not activity specific to being appointed - all JWs go in field service.

  On top of all this, add the culture of JWs not feeling free to bring lawsuits against JW entities if they want to remain as a member. There is no way to know for sure, but I would be very surprised if Watchtower's average annual payout for legal settlements, judgments and liability insurance, as a percentage of total revenue, was not one of the lowest of all centrally organized religions in the U.S.
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  14

  Article: Ten Legal Risks Facing Churches and Church Leaders, by Richard Hammar

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200401/200401_78_legalrisks.cfm.

  ten legal risks facing churches and church leaders.

  by richard r. hammar.

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  Chaserious

  Really, the Watchtower keeps themselves out of a lot of these risks by having virtually no church employees at the local level, and no formal church activities other than meetings and field service. When you can offer men the opportunity to play executive by doing elder and MS work, and the prestige among members of a highly controlled group that comes with it, you can get them to do it for free.
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  20

  A sad day for a JW- they lost a study 'cause of me.

  by Gojira_101 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a few weeks ago i posted a topic about a deaf woman studying with the jw's.

  the deaf preacher from the woman's parents church contacted me to know more about the jw's because the parents were allowing their daughter to study with the jw's because "they are such nice people.

  " anyway the deaf preacher contacted me because he knows i just left the jw's last year and he wanted information.. i was more than happy to provide it.

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  Chaserious

  Did you show him the Watchtower's stance on masturbation by the deaf?
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  25

  ALBUQUERQUE | Child Sexual Abuse Case Filed Against Former Jehovah's Witness Elder Michael Brunner

  by jwleaks in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  child sexual abuse case filed against former jehovah's witness elder michael brunner.

  an albuquerque woman filed a lawsuit claiming a church leader sexually abused her as a child.. monica jaramillo said michael brunner, an elder at the jehovah's witness church in los lunas, sexually abused her when she was just 8 years old.. jaramillo, now 35, filed a lawsuit claiming other elders of the church knew about the incident but chose to do nothing.. the complaint also alleges jaramillo's mother was raped by brunner.. jehovah's witnesses in los lunas told kob eyewitness news 4 that brunner left the congregation years ago.. .

  video news interview: http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s3130582.shtml?cat=500.

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  Chaserious

  It's very sad that there are so many victims of this type of abuse that might have been preventable. Worth noting as well that the Watchtower society is named as a defendant in this case.
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  14

  employment question

  by XstuckX in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello everyone, this is my first post.

  i've been lurking for awhile.

  a little background...i've been a jw all my life.

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  Chaserious

  Truthhurts... what you posted about the Uniform Commercial Code doesn't make sense. Are you one of the folks who has been convinced that you are a "sovereign citizen?"
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  14

  employment question

  by XstuckX in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello everyone, this is my first post.

  i've been lurking for awhile.

  a little background...i've been a jw all my life.

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  Chaserious

  Go and see a local attorney if at all possible before you leave/go public with your doubts and tell him/her that you are almost certain you will be fired if you leave the religion. It's much better to be proactive when you know you are going to get fired than to get legal advice after the fact. It's not always going to be easy to come up with enough evidence for a wrongful termination case, but it's usually going to be easier to gather evidence you might need later while you are still on the inside than after you've been shown the door.
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  32

  The Watchtower Loses Action Against Bank (Fifth Third Bank)

  by TJ Curioso in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  the watchtower loses action against the bank "fifth third bank" - ohio, usa.. .

  see here all the details and the final verdict:.

  http://www.leagle.com/xmlresult.aspx?xmldoc=in%20ohco%2020111006735.xml&docbase=cslwar3-2007-curr.

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  Chaserious

  I can't fault the WTBTS for fighting this case. It looks like they didn't really fight the family over the money, as some have misinterpreted this to be about. Before he died, the deceased man went in to change the beneficiary to the WTBTS, and the bank either didn't have him sign the right papers that were needed to make the change official, or lost the papers. So WTBTS wants the bank to have to pay twice for their mistake - once to the estate and once to the WTBTS. That doesn't take anything away from the family. Wouldn't anyone who was supposed to receive an estate gift but lost it due to a bank error want to hold the bank accountable?
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  183

  Article: It's Time to Outlaw Extreme Shunning in Modern Society

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://gilmermirror.com/bookmark/23272594/article-extreme%20shunning#.ufwjurllscm.facebook.

  extreme shunningthe gilmer mirror.

  its time to outlaw extreme shunning in modern society by: richard e. kelly .

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  Chaserious

  Marvin,

  I don't believe your statement is correct that no religion can induce its members to refuse conscription during a time of war. The Sedition Act of 1918 was repealed in 1920 after war hysteria died down. So were the most restrictive parts of the Espionage Act of 1917. There is essentially no law on the books today under which Rutherford could be convicted for doing the same thing today if that is what you are referring to. The convictions under the repealed WWI acts are largely viewed by historians as a result of war hysteria and as not consistent with the American system of liberties. Who is to say what would happen if another war took place, but in the meantime first amendment rights are not likely to be restricted as you propose.

  I read an interesting book on limitation of first amendment rights a couple of years ago by Geoffrey Stone, a constitutional law professor. It discussed the Rutherford prosecution among others. The central argument was that in the entire history of the U.S., it's only in times of war that first amendment rights tend to get narrowed significantly.
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  183

  Article: It's Time to Outlaw Extreme Shunning in Modern Society

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://gilmermirror.com/bookmark/23272594/article-extreme%20shunning#.ufwjurllscm.facebook.

  extreme shunningthe gilmer mirror.

  its time to outlaw extreme shunning in modern society by: richard e. kelly .

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  Chaserious

  Marvin,

  Aren't shunning and "hate speech" separate issues, even if there might be some overlap? Many, if not most of those shunned at the direction of the WTS are thrown out for sexual matters and alcohol and drug issues. However, the statements that I have seen characterized by some as hate speech are directed at "apostates," which as defined by the WTS does not include those shunned for moral vices. Shunning, by its very definition, contains no speech at all.