Posts by Landy

10

Leaving a small minority group.....

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

has a profound influence on our life.

on the one hand we have the background of our childhood, our upbringing, but when we leave and become apart of society, our witness traits and their set of beliefs are not tailored to fit in.

however as i slowly learnt to know longer judge from the perspective of my witness life, i also learnt i am simply an ordinary person.

Landy

So why the runt, I am happy today, I live with my wonderful wife and child, I no longer live in the past. Well I just wanted to to post another great reason to leave the "Watchtower mentality" which is simply the healthy perspective it can give a person with their new outlook on life on humanity. The very humanity as Witnesses we are taught to despise.

Yeah, I found that as well. Plus when we decided not to go anymore (we'd been hit and miss for a while) it was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I no longer felt guilty on a Thursday night or Sunday morning. I found myself a lot less judgemental and more empathetic towards people. Everything started to make sense (evolution was right, the earth's historical timeline, etc) and I realised that I was never convinced by the creationist claptrap. All in all it was a revelation.

60

Stephanie Fessler v Watch Tower - Trial on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 in Pennsylvania

by AndersonsInfo in

http://avoidjw.org/2017/02/stephanie-fessler-v-watch-tower/.

stephanie fessler v watch tower.

stephanie fessler was brought up as a jehovah’s witness by her parents, jodee and kevin.

Landy

Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance - Mandated Reporters

Penalties for Willful Failure to Report

Willful failure to report (having a reasonable suspicion of abuse and deciding not to report it) may be punished. The penalties for failure to report have been increased under the new CPSL amendments.

The first offense of willful failure to report is a second degree misdemeanor. Penalties are increased to a third degree felony if the mandated reporter willfully fails to report child abuse that is a felony of the first degree or higher and the mandated reporter has direct knowledge of the nature of the abuse. For multiple offenses, a felony of the third degree is committed, increasing if the abuse of the child is a felony of the first degree or higher.

If willful failure to report continues, while the mandated reporter knows or has reasonable cause to believe the child is being actively abused, the offense is considered a first degree misdemeanor except when the abuse to the child constitutes a felony of the first degree or higher. In this instance the penalty is a felony of the third degree.

http://www.pa-fsa.org/Mandated-Reporters/Understanding-Mandated-Reporting/Penalties-for-Failing-to-Report

we can but hope!

78

The handling of child abuse allegations

by Landy in

there's a lot of criticism surrounding the jw's handling of chiild abuse within their ranks with a lot of it being well deserved.

but i'm interested to know how people on here think child abuse allegations should be handled.

there's a few scenarios below, the first couple are easy then it gets a bit more complex.

Landy

Mandatory reporting should be followed. When parents won't go to police, elders should explain that mandatory reporting protects other children.

Absolutely. 100% of the time.

Adults that don't want to face this from their past should know that elders still must report for the safety of others. If local law prohibits elders from revealing (alledged) victim names, then they report w/o the names.

Struggling with this one. I fail to see what it would accomplish. I'm not even sure the police would accept the complaint (in the uk anyway) if it didn't originate from the victim and the victim wasn't willing to be involved. The elders would still be left with the situation of a) whether to believe it and b) how to protect the other children in the cong.

If experts interview victims and perpetrators, congregations can disfellowship based on such interviews or court outcomes. They may legally be bound in many jurisdictions not to announce names. They should at least remind the congregation never to leave their child in the care of other congregatoin members without being sure about them.

Again, absolutely yes.

I know you are trying to push these examples to the point where there is no proper way to "handle" them. There are often difficult situations, but Watchtower rules make matters worse and even start at a problem.

Yes, I am. As I've said before, the worst cases are often the easiest on a procedural level if not a human one. It's the case where there's difficult decisions to make that are the hardest and easiest to get wrong. And yes, they do. Especially the two witness rule they have. Although we have to keep in mind that even in law a case is much stronger if there are multiple complainants.

A good example is the recent case in Guisborough. If there was a single complaint I doubt the CPS would have touched it without compelling evidence. Once other victims came forward however, it made the case a slam dunk.

Victims should never have to face the perpetrator under the direction of elders. Any such action with authorities is only done with social experts.

Absolutely. I've heard stories of young girls being quizzed by a body of elders in a JC before, or even made to face their abuser. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen anymore.

78

The handling of child abuse allegations

by Landy in

there's a lot of criticism surrounding the jw's handling of chiild abuse within their ranks with a lot of it being well deserved.

but i'm interested to know how people on here think child abuse allegations should be handled.

there's a few scenarios below, the first couple are easy then it gets a bit more complex.

Landy

I think many here, similar to me, are done responding to you.

And as regards that it appears that most of the posters on here with a brain (which I used to think included me), including Simon, are refusing to go anywhere near this or LITS and her emotionally exploitational like farming with a shitty stick (cue another bullying thread from her).

78

The handling of child abuse allegations

by Landy in

there's a lot of criticism surrounding the jw's handling of chiild abuse within their ranks with a lot of it being well deserved.

but i'm interested to know how people on here think child abuse allegations should be handled.

there's a few scenarios below, the first couple are easy then it gets a bit more complex.

Landy

It appears you are really not interested in knowing or understanding other poster's thoughts. Instead of quietly considering feedback provided, you continually disregard, debate and oppose those views. No matter what is stated, you take exception when it doesn't support your viewpoint or the interests of WT.

This is an Internet forum - expect your opinion to be challenged. If you can't take that or back it up then don't fucking comment.

When you're quite finished telling me what opinion I'm allowed to have why don't you pop over to Simon's immigration thread where he's arguing black is white and tell him what opinion he's allowed to have. When you're done with that pop over to one of Cofty's excellent evolution threads (the main reason I visit here tbh) and tell him he's not allowed to hold the opinion he does.

And I haven't set foot in a KH for 20 years - I don't hate them or love them - I'm entirely ambivalent towards them.

For fuck's sake.

78

The handling of child abuse allegations

by Landy in

there's a lot of criticism surrounding the jw's handling of chiild abuse within their ranks with a lot of it being well deserved.

but i'm interested to know how people on here think child abuse allegations should be handled.

there's a few scenarios below, the first couple are easy then it gets a bit more complex.

Landy

There may be all sorts of reasons why the victim would report it to the elders and not the authorities - not least many years of JW indoctrination.

In that case the elders should absolutely not go directly against the wishes of the victim and report it to the police. It's not their place or their right to do that.

28

Birthday Wishes Welcome!

by LifesNotOver in

jw
friends

many of you don't know me or won't remember me.

i left the jw's and my husband and my home last september - forging a new life in a new town.

i haven't posted here for many months, but have been reading most days.

Landy

Happy birthday and pleased that your new start is coming together so well!

17

The great R.B.C rip off!!!

by karter in

jw
friends

i was on a job last week and the p.o from my old congro was there and told me they had just re modled the k.h.the r.b.c quoted them $240.000 they did it for $120.000 so why the big diffrence in price??

?.

Landy

By the way, there was another thread here from a month or so ago, the LDC approved the construction of 6 (yes, only 6) new KHs in all of the USA in all of 2016.

If that's the case it's very telling.

it would be interesting to match the number of new halls built to the number of talks/buildings sold off, especially in the western world.

23

Was Ray Franz Playing The Long Game?

by rory-ks in

jw
friends

i'm just making my way through crisis of conscience for the second time and once again i am struck by the presentation of such detailed records.

letters are shown in full - copies of letters from the branch, and to the branch.

reports are quoted vebatim.

Landy

Also I think in the days before email memos and letters were routinely kept in files as records - so yes it's likely he kept access to them.

78

The handling of child abuse allegations

by Landy in

there's a lot of criticism surrounding the jw's handling of chiild abuse within their ranks with a lot of it being well deserved.

but i'm interested to know how people on here think child abuse allegations should be handled.

there's a few scenarios below, the first couple are easy then it gets a bit more complex.

Landy

There is nothing to debate. Call the police and social services to protect the child and potentially other children.

For everyone who advocates this, they would be willing do this against the wishes of the victim?

The victim may be now an adult, be married with kids and not want to get involved. She may not have even told those close to her, yet you would still go running to the police knowing the potential upset it may cause. The correct answer in this case is no you wouldn't - it is and should be entirely up to the victim.