Since freedom of religion is such a core belief of the US, the courts will not dig too deep into the inner workings of a religion. And if they don't get to the issue of control and manipulation by the religion and its spokesmen(elders) they will never understand.
I've discussed these kind of situations with people who have no real religious affliation or background, and they always question why the innoncent parent didn't seek help from the proper authorities. When I tried to explain the relationship of elder to publisher, they didn't get it. They have never been indoctrinated into a cult-like religion therefore had no concept of being under the control of someone else enough to not be able to think or act for yourself. I think the courts are the same way.
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excellent point, and this is just a fact, most persons use their own personal exp as a ref point
"If i dont like my church i just get the hell up and leave, that is what you should have done"
and with that as the back drop it is a very difficult case to argue
just ask any former jw who is now married to a nonjw, how many times they have been told by the nonjw mate "Just get on with your life, you have left those folks now"
and i can understand why they say that, and for that reason we have seen so many xjw come here and state while my new mate is supportive they don;t really understand, and of course they don't
the best example i can personally think of is when a white person despite his or her best intentions will never understand what it is like to be black and face the many shades of rasism-
unless you have been black there are just some things a white person will never understand and for me as a black man that is who i see nonjw, unless you have been a jw and i mean one who was deep into the org, such as one who grew up from youth to adult hood, one will never understand the feeling of what it was like to come to a meeting sit beside and elder and your mag for sunday was not studied
or to have 30 kids laugh at you cause he had to leave the room during the flag ceremony
i will never understand what it is like for a woman to have a baby, i can feel for her --but until i push a quarter out of my Willy Willy i fully cant grasp what a woman exp having a baby
so when i see judges rule like this in cases we all understand exactly what happened
and the wt plays and counts on the fact that most folks know nothing about jw other than they wake folks up on sat morning -
but time will tell, hopefully we can get an listening ear, but in the mean time, let not your heart be heavy
smile
