If the term was just silently replaced but there was no explicit statement that JWs are no longer members, it doesn't change anything legally. Also, religious and other associations are generally not liable for actions and omissions of their members, so I fail to understand the reason for this change, even though it appears to have something to do with legal issues.
Corney
JoinedPosts by Corney
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Members or Individuals
by Dazed_Confussed inany truth to the thought that instead of being considered "members" of the jw organization, that they will shortly be considered only as "individuals" of the organization?.
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EU top court rules on JW blood transfusion case
by Corney inthe court of justice of the european union (cjeu) yesterday delivered the judgment (press release) on a request of the supreme court of latvia on whether domestic authorities are obliged to reimburse costs of cross-border medical treatment when the patient's decision to perform it in another european country was based on religious, not medical, grounds.
the opinion of advocate general (summarized here) is helpful in understanding the case.. the son of the applicant in the main proceedings had to have open heart surgery.
that operation was available in the latter’s member state of affiliation, latvia, but could not be carried out without a blood transfusion.
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Corney
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) yesterday delivered the Judgment (press release) on a request of the Supreme Court of Latvia on whether domestic authorities are obliged to reimburse costs of cross-border medical treatment when the patient's decision to perform it in another European country was based on religious, not medical, grounds. The Opinion of Advocate General (summarized here) is helpful in understanding the case.
The son of the applicant in the main proceedings had to have open heart surgery. That operation was available in the latter’s Member State of affiliation, Latvia, but could not be carried out without a blood transfusion. However, the applicant in the main proceedings opposed that method of treatment on the ground that he was a Jehovah’s Witness, and therefore requested that the Nacionālais veselības dienests (the national health service, Latvia) issue an authorisation so that his son could receive scheduled treatment in Poland, where the operation could be performed without a blood transfusion. As his request was rejected, the applicant brought an action against the health service’s refusal decision. That action was dismissed at first instance, a ruling which was upheld on appeal. In the meantime, the applicant’s son had heart surgery in Poland, without a blood transfusion.
It should be noted that there are two reimbursement schemes under the EU law, established by Regulation 883/2004 and Directive 2011/24. The former one obliges Member States to fully reimburse costs of cross-border healthcare, while under the latter one the costs are reimbursed "up to the level of costs that would have been assumed by that Member State, had that healthcare been provided in its territory, without exceeding the actual costs of healthcare received."
By virtue of Article 20(2) of Regulation No 883/2004, the Member State of affiliation must bear the costs of that healthcare in the Member State of treatment, whereas in the case of Articles 7 and 8 of Directive 2011/24, the obligations of the Member State of affiliation are simply to discharge the costs which its public health system would have had to bear anyway had the treatment been carried out in that Member State.
Taking this difference into account, the Court has ruled that domestic authorities aren't obliged to fully reimburse costs of cross-border medical treatment under (more generous) Regulation 883/2004 "where hospital care, the medical effectiveness of which is not contested, is available in that Member State, although the method of treatment used is contrary to that person’s religious beliefs," but can't refuse (likely partial) reimbursement under Directive 2011/24 in such circumstances, "unless that refusal is objectively justified by a legitimate aim relating to maintaining treatment capacity or medical competence, and is an appropriate and necessary means of achieving that aim"
It's noteworthy that the applicant was represented before the CJEU by, among others, prominent JW lawyers Shane Brady and Petr Muzny.
Also, this case may be compared with the landmark Stinemetz case, widely cited in support of state RFRAs and overruling Smith v Employment Division.
Mary Stinemetz was a Medicaid patient in need of a liver transplant. She was also a Jehovah’s Witness, who objected to the blood transfusion that an ordinary liver transplant would require. With technology’s advance, however, has come a newfangled medical procedure called a bloodless liver transplant, which does not involve a blood transfusion and which is actually cheaper than an ordinary liver transplant. But Kansas had no facility capable of doing bloodless liver transplants. The nearest one was in Omaha, in Nebraska.
Unfortunately for Stinemetz, Kansas’s Medicaid had a general policy against reimbursing out-of-state procedures, and it refused to make any exception for her. If that refusal seems hard to understand, the Kansas Court of Appeals felt the same way. The court concluded that Kansas’s Medicaid agency had “failed to suggest any state interest, much less a compelling interest, for denying Stinemetz’s request.” Stinemetz ultimately won this case. Struck by its facts, the Kansas Court of Appeals construed the religious freedom provision in the Kansas state constitution to incorporate RFRA’s compelling-interest standard.
This story, however, does not end happily. By the time litigation ended, Stinemetz’s problems had progressed to the point that she was no longer eligible for a transplant. She died of liver failure the year after her victory in the Kansas Court of Appeals. This does not necessarily imply that Stinemetz died for want of a religious exemption. There may have been other obstacles to Stinemetz actually getting a liver transplant, and there is no guarantee the transplant would have gone successfully. All we can say is that, had Kansas offered her a religious exemption from the beginning, Stinemetz would have had a better chance.https://digital.sandiego.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1089&context=sdlr
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Daily reading
by Corney ini will post here various texts i've found interesting but not worth of separate threads.. saturday, october 3, 2020.. christopher c. lund, martyrdom and religious freedom, 50 connecticut law review 959, 986 (2018).
how much of a role does martyrdom, and fears of martyrdom, have in our system?
when we give religious exemptions, is it because we think people will back down otherwise or because we think they won't?
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Corney
I will post here various texts I've found interesting but not worth of separate threads.
Saturday, October 3, 2020.
Christopher C. Lund, Martyrdom and Religious Freedom, 50 Connecticut Law Review 959, 986 (2018)
How much of a role does martyrdom, and fears of martyrdom, have in our system? When we give religious exemptions, is it because we think people will back down otherwise or because we think they won't? What is religious liberty trying to avoid - the prospect of martyrs or the prospect of broken consciences? Formal doctrine, at least most of the time, does not ask about such things; the law has an official policy of not inquiring into how its official policy will be received. Yet maybe martyrdom, and the prospects of martyrdom, do matter. Maybe such things do enter, however subtly and however modestly, into how controversies between church and state are framed and resolved.
Link 1 (Digital Commons) / Link 2 (SSRN)
A thought-provoking essay which cites multiple JW cases.
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A Liberal academic's confession of thought crimes. "So insincere, so utterly petrified. This letter encapsulates the spirit of the American intelligentsia in 2020." (John McWhorter)
From the "Why I'm afraid for the future of our civilization" case, Exhibit 9001.
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Annual Meeting?
by pauluk inthe watchtower annual meeting is traditionally held the 1st saturday in october which is today, usually there are topics and speculations leading up to this but i've not seen anything on here or reddit this year.
has it been cancelled this year, anyone know?
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Corney
There is a thread about the AGM on JWTalk but it's available only for registered users, which is very sad
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Elders accused of playing rape tape to victim, 15; case goes to Utah Sup. Court
by Corney ina woman is suing a local congregation ("kingdom hall of jehovah’s witnesses, roy, utah, an unincorporated association"), individual elders and watchtower ny after, she claims, a judicial committee forced her to listen an audio recording of her own rape.
the trial court summarized the facts as alleged by the plaintiff as follows:.
at the time of the judicial committee, plaintiff was fifteen years old.
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Corney
TD, as was explained in the district court opinion (footnote 7), "the legal definition of child pornography would not cover an audio recording without any visual aspect".
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Elders accused of playing rape tape to victim, 15; case goes to Utah Sup. Court
by Corney ina woman is suing a local congregation ("kingdom hall of jehovah’s witnesses, roy, utah, an unincorporated association"), individual elders and watchtower ny after, she claims, a judicial committee forced her to listen an audio recording of her own rape.
the trial court summarized the facts as alleged by the plaintiff as follows:.
at the time of the judicial committee, plaintiff was fifteen years old.
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Corney
Update: the Utah Supreme Court will hear that case on November 9 via Webex video conference. The argument will be streamed online.
https://www.utcourts.gov/opinions/cal/calendar.php?court=sup&month=11&year=2020#
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Orange County, CA: New Case and New Legal Tactic
by Corney injohn roe 1 vs. defendant doe 1, congregation is a child sexual abuse case pending before the superior court of california, orange county (judge john c. gastelum).
jury trial is scheduled on june 15, 2020, but it may not occur: the judge is expected to decide on multiple pre-trial motions including motion for sanctions filed by plantiffs; next hearing on pre-trial motions is scheduled on may 14.. case docket is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dbqcronnkeax492pshgwpuoubt-xaabz/view?usp=sharing .
case documents are available for purchase here: https://ocapps.occourts.org/civilwebshoppingns/search.do (case number 30-2014-00741722-cu-po-cjc).. during the course of this litigation the court ordered watchtower to produce molestation complaints it received, redacting only names of victims and elders handling the matters.
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Corney
Update: after six years of litigation, the case has apparently been settled.
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Electronic Frontier Foundation v Watch Tower Society
by Corney in[disclaimer: the headline is slightly misleading since the eff itself doesn't participate in the case, so read more below].
it's not a secret that during the last two years watchtower obtained nearly 40 dmca subpoenas requiring google, facebook, instagram, twitter, soundcloud, scribd, reddit and other isps to provide personal information of users that allegedly infringed the society's copyright.. since subpoena proceeding is ex parte, almost all the requests were granted.. but one of the affected users contacted, on advice of youtube's legal team, the electronic frontier foundation (eff), and the foundation found a law firm ready to represent him pro bono, namely garvey schubert barer:.
youtube's legal department emailed the user on or about july 10, 2018, five days before the subpoena's return date, stating that it would comply with the subpoena unless it received a file-stamped motion to quash "or other type of formal objection before july 20, 2018.
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Corney
After two years of inactivity, Judge Roman (SDNY) today has allowed Kevin McFree to challenge the subpoena and ordered the parties to brief the case, which may be heard this year.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/7182176/watch-tower-bible-and-tract-society-of-pennsylvania/?order_by=desc
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Another Kingdom Hall Sold (Van Buren, NY)
by Anony Mous inhttps://www.xome.com/commercial-for-sale/7758-maple-road-van-buren-ny-13027-319162381.
i was just looking around, this one i've been involved in renovating with the rbc.
apparently it sold for $500k..
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Corney
1234, thanks for info. In case you're curious, the sale price is $825,000, and the buyer is Unity of Sedona, "a New Age spiritual center, New Thought church, and energy vortex."
"[W]e are now able to announce that we have indeed found a new center. The process was magical in so many ways—a great confirmation that we are following the Guidance of Spirit," - announced the church.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13nlovB1BtQ5NxQFkXIvBjjQNKWNY3BYj/view?usp=sharing
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5 kingdom halls in New Addington for sale
by usualusername1 ini had it confirmed today that 5 kingdom halls on one site in new addington are for sale.
price being asked £3.5 million.. every witness in london worked on that site.
am in shock.
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Corney
stan, just noticed you proved to be a kind of prophet.