Corney

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Posts by Corney

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  26

  Notes From an Elders Meeting

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so in this past week i came across a stash of my old elder stuff.

  i've scanned a bunch of notes and agendas, and public talk outlines.. check out an agenda and my notes from the meeting here: https://imgur.com/gallery/qqmyczn.

  i’ve put an explanatory note on each image in imgur.

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  Corney

  @SBF I don't know the exact answer. I think it isn't impossible. But attempts to compel it will raise First Amendment issues, and courts are pretty reluctant to investigate into church decision-making process. Time will show.
  
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  26

  Notes From an Elders Meeting

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so in this past week i came across a stash of my old elder stuff.

  i've scanned a bunch of notes and agendas, and public talk outlines.. check out an agenda and my notes from the meeting here: https://imgur.com/gallery/qqmyczn.

  i’ve put an explanatory note on each image in imgur.

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  Corney

  slimboyfat, I think some GB minutes and memos may become publicly available - in not so distant future - in the course of lawsuits or state/federal investigations.
  
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  27

  German businessman registers "Watchtower" and "Awake!" trademarks, expects offer from JWs

  by processor in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  seriously.. https://www.wuv.de/marketing/unternehmer_sichert_sich_marken_der_jehovas.

  businessman felt harassed by jws, so he found that word marks "der wachtturm" and "erwachet!

  " (german versions of "the watchtower" and "awake!

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  Corney

  lastmanstanding, Watchtower Germany lodged a request for cancellation with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office pursuant to §§ 50 and 54 (and §8(1)(14), I guess) of the Trade Marks Act.

  Fulano, do you mean the trademark filed six months ago and registered three months ago in respect of class 37 (construction) services? Is my guess correct? If yes, would you please allow me to post the link? It's so funny.
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  27

  German businessman registers "Watchtower" and "Awake!" trademarks, expects offer from JWs

  by processor in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  seriously.. https://www.wuv.de/marketing/unternehmer_sichert_sich_marken_der_jehovas.

  businessman felt harassed by jws, so he found that word marks "der wachtturm" and "erwachet!

  " (german versions of "the watchtower" and "awake!

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  Corney

  Unsurprisingly, the businessman's trademarks were cancelled pursuant to § 48 of the Trade Mark Act; this dispute apparently was settled.

  https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/register/3020172142460/DE

  https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/marke/register/3020172142401/DE

  Moreover, Watchtower Germany registered WACHTTURM (Watchtower) and Erwachet! (Awake!) trademarks in Austria, Germany and Switzerland (file from TMview database).
  
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  30

  Montana News

  by AuntBee in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/montana/articles/2020-01-08/court-reverses-35m-verdict-against-jehovahs-witnesses.

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  Corney

  Doubting Bro, open-minded people don't bother themselves to read legal documents. They just call judges whose decisions make them unhapy "fools" or, like some redditors, "retarded", and even probably "bribed". Shame on you!
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  28

  Current JW growth in the United States in historical perspective and in comparison with other groups

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  current jw growth is slower than during most of their history.

  the only probable exceptions are following 1975 when there was a brief worldwide decrease, the late 1920s when around half of the members left the movement, perhaps around the 1917 schism, and various schisms during russell’s time.

  there were also periods of sluggish growth during the 1950/60s and around 2000. .

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  Corney

  Just to outline what the current growth in the USA is, in the last half-decade (2014-9) the average number of publishers has grown by only 1.76%; in 2009-14, the growth was 7.41%, in 2004-9 - 10.17%, and in 1999-2004 - 5.54%. The number of congregations in 2019 was 10.3% lower than in 2016 and 2.3% lower than in 2009, and the number of newly baptized was 17.9% lower than 10 years go and 13.0% lower than 20 years ago.
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  9

  LDS membership figures inadvertently supports Wt as been true and accurate

  by joe134cd in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it not only reflects, but it would verify that wt statistics are true and accurate.

  herein, are my reasons why.. lds general conference, which is the equivalent of the jw memorial, has an attendance of around 20 million ( that's people, who physically turn up).

  however, the people choosing this online option is the unknown in this equation.. lets now look at 2 different scenarios for lds general conference to see how this compares to the jws: .

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  Corney

  Crazyguy2,

  Yep, neither the fact that their figures are generally corroborated by census data, nor that they repeatedly reported bad and even disturbing numbers (e.g., Memorial partakers figures, Ukraine/Japan/Poland/etc. statistics) don't matter because you sincerely believe they are lying. That's how critical thinking works.
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  30

  Montana News

  by AuntBee in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/montana/articles/2020-01-08/court-reverses-35m-verdict-against-jehovahs-witnesses.

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  Corney

  LV101,

  First, the "real estate business" argument would be frivolous and irelevant. Secondly, it wouldn't help the case because there is no general duty to report in Montana, only some professionals and officials, including clergy members, are mandatory reporters:

  https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0410/chapter_0030/part_0020/section_0010/0410-0030-0020-0010.html

  Tameria2001,

  Because it's irrelevant.
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  28

  FEWER NEW ZEALAND CITIZENS AFFILIATED WITH JWS IN 2013 THAN IN 1996: SUCCESSIVE YEARS OF DECREASE

  by steve2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  fewer new zealand citizens affiliated as jws in 2013 than in 1996: over 15 years of successive decreases.

  the first table shows the new zealand census from 1976 to 2013. typically, numbers of citizens affiliated with the witnesses are higher than the number of active publishers because it includes children and those who are affiliated with the witnesses but who may not be active publishers.. of note, more citizens were recorded as affiliated with the witnesses in 1996 (19,527) than in 2013 (17,931).

  the decline in numbers affiliating with the witnesses in new zealand started in 2001 and has continued across two further census reports - so this is not just a temporary blip.

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  Corney

  First, the religion question changed. Is it possible that some JWs previously just checked the box "Christian" instead of specifying their denomination?

  
  

  Source, see page 40 of the PDF document.

  Secondly, this census appears to be the first one for which religious affiliation data was imputed: "Imputation is planned for this variable where there is no response. Where available, historic data from the 2013 Census will be imputed. Failing this, religion will be determined from the usual resident who is the closest in age in the household. In cases where neither of these are possible, donor imputation will be employed." (Ibid, p. 40-41).

  8.8 percent of religious affiliation responses were imputed from the 2013 Census, and another 8.8 percent were proportionally imputed from similar respondents: http://datainfoplus.stats.govt.nz/Item/nz.govt.stats/472884ac-0f5f-4606-827c-b7153a1a51b1/?_ga=2.173337123.1020392386.1578236967-6827924.1578236967 It didn't necessarily resulted in overestimation of JW population but still.

  Thridly, the data collection methods significantly changed.

  https://www.stats.govt.nz/methods/2018-census-a-modernised-digital-first-census

  https://www.stats.govt.nz/methods/2018-census-technical-support-information
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  13

  Legal fight over door-to-door notes continues: case goes to Strasbourg

  by Corney in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on 10 june 2019, the finnish jw organization lodged an application against finland with the european court of human rights.

  the case was quickly - by the court's standards - communicated to the finnish government on 10 december 2019. the complaint itself isn't available online but there is a brief summary (see the link above) prepared by the court:.

  the application concerns the jehovah’s witnesses’ religious activities in finland and their compatibility with the data protection regulations.

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  Corney

  Anders Andersen, this case is brought not under the GDPR, but under the European Convention, and the European Court of Human Rights isn't bound by the GDPR. The Convention's right to a private life is much more broader than the GDPR data subject's rights. And according to Prof. Susanna Lindroos-Hovinheimo, there is "a conflict between two rights to private life" here.

  Anyway, it is not likely that Watchtower will prevail.