http://mormonmatters.org/2009/09/02/is-wrongful-excommunication-legally-redressable/.
guess who gets sued for excommunication issues more than anybody else?.
i am thinking about a legal aspect of excommunication that i have never seen challenged before - that is, in regard to published bylaws and the autonomy of individual churches (that are not part of a hierarchy).. i need to research it a bit more.. metatron.
http://mormonmatters.org/2009/09/02/is-wrongful-excommunication-legally-redressable/
Guess who gets sued for excommunication issues more than anybody else?
I am thinking about a legal aspect of excommunication that I have never seen challenged before - that is, in regard to published bylaws and the autonomy of individual churches (that are not part of a hierarchy).
I need to research it a bit more.
metatron
http://factn.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/church-by-law-recommendations-memo.pdf.
if the above is an emerging standard of legal protection of churches, where is it in congregations of jehovah's witnesses?.
due diligence about children.
http://factn.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Church-by-law-recommendations-memo.pdf
If the above is an emerging standard of legal protection of churches, where is it in congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses?
Due diligence about children. A written, signed copy of bylaws. Instead, they have a dodgy 'What The Bible Really Teaches' book that fails to fully explain things like transfusions and df'ing - but expects baptism at the end.
metatron
i thought about the change.
here's my take.. i think it's a move to protect bethel and the governing body from criminal charges for pedophilia occuring within a congegation.
criminal law usually works on specific knowledge of a situation.
Does anyone know what the current status of the Oklahoma case is? Can the DA bring charges against the WT HQ? Or is it dead due to statute of limitations?
On a side note, Oklahoma seemed to me to be the most "born-again" place I ever visited. I can see how nailing the GB might fit nicely into politics there.
metatron
i thought about the change.
here's my take.. i think it's a move to protect bethel and the governing body from criminal charges for pedophilia occuring within a congegation.
criminal law usually works on specific knowledge of a situation.
Some CO's do have assets. And after watching their associates as Bethelites or DO's get the shaft, are they stupid enough to trust the Society's clandestine support after a lawsuit? Why not just say, "The Lord will provide" and screw them over?
The Society MUST be desperate to attempt anything this risky. I gotta wonder if most of their income is slipping away. The magazines are a waste of paper that cost tens of millions. The assemblies are shortened. The building fund is collective ( and how did that work in communist countries?).
These ugly measures are in response to their continuing dilemma - congregations are filling up with broke, sick Witnesses. Trying to squeeze them harder is unlikely to be successful. Their bragged about "growth" is becoming a form of cancer.
metatron
as seen in recent posts, beginning later this year appointments and deletions of elders and ms will only happen through the circuit overseer.
this means that individual congregations and elders have no say anymore.
if the gb want only certain people in or out, they tell the co and he makes it happen.
Let's think about this:
Who says all CO's have no property? The skinflint Society would like brothers with some financial resources or an independent income. In addition, a CO risks getting removed and stuck with a court judgement that could interfere with getting a job.
Who says stealing Kingdom Halls will work if congregations don't contribute? Suppose they steal a hall and sell it - but then get stuck with no/few elders because they fired honest elders and made them bitter or inactive?
There have been cases in which a CO who was an a$$hole fired an MS or elder only to find out that no one on the remaining body would do his job, such as Secretary or Accounts Servant. Trust me, the backroom haggling over this sort of avoidance can get hilarious as some elders treat this "opportunity" like a punishment!
Look guys, you don't make risky changes such as this if everything is OK and secure. If you run a far flung Organization, you don't roll the dice on its future unless you really have to.
At the core of it, that's the wonderful part: they MUST be desperate and sinking into deep trouble to do this. The cool thing is that the Organization is spread widely across the globe but painfully thin. As an professional engineer might say it has "no depth of defense". A small failure or reversal of fortune could create a landslide with little to stop the destruction.
it's gonna be fun to watch.
metatron
during the special memorial campain the congregation was told to count all of.
the invitations on their time report, which i think is something new.
thursday night.
Not counting partakers? Does anyone realize that this sort of remark suggests that the memorial partaker count is false? That it is reported lower than what it actually is?
metatron
http://www.americanprofessional.com/clergy/.
elders don't qualify for clergy malpractice insurance, even if they wanted it.
no divinity school degree.. .
Let them start an elder insurance fund, by all means! I wholeheartedly approve. Why?
It would put brothers on notice concerning how being appointed could ruin their financial lives.
It would put congregations on notice as to yet another fund they are required to donate to.
and it would set up a 'target' to encourage future lawsuits. Brother JudgementFree, who lives in a second hand trailer, can be sued because he now has insurance.
metatron
http://www.americanprofessional.com/clergy/.
elders don't qualify for clergy malpractice insurance, even if they wanted it.
no divinity school degree.. .
If the Society fails to support any elder who gets sued - including paying for THEIR share of any successful lawsuit - then a letter writing campaign could devastate the Organization.
And if they do give full support to elders? Then they're on the hook for payment. Either way, they're screwed.
metatron
http://www.americanprofessional.com/clergy/.
elders don't qualify for clergy malpractice insurance, even if they wanted it.
no divinity school degree.. .
http://www.americanprofessional.com/clergy/
Elders don't qualify for clergy malpractice insurance, even if they wanted it. No Divinity School degree.
All we need is a flurry of very public lawsuits against elders and the Organization goes over a cliff. Godspeed to that.
metatron
as seen in recent posts, beginning later this year appointments and deletions of elders and ms will only happen through the circuit overseer.
this means that individual congregations and elders have no say anymore.
if the gb want only certain people in or out, they tell the co and he makes it happen.
I spoke with someone who is hyperloyal, across many decades of trial and deep experience, before the announcement was made.
They were utterly horrified.
They'll all put a brave face on this - no different from the mass firing of long term Bethelites who went back to their rooms to cry bitterly - but make no mistake about it, this will be damaging.
metatron
