aboveusonlysky

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Posts by aboveusonlysky

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  115

  Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?

  by aboveusonlysky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we're currently watching leah remini's series about scientology and the main thing she seems to focus on is the shunning policies of the scientology organization which let's face it are very similar to jw procedure.. i was wondering with all that's in the media recently about bullying could a petition be put together to get the goverment to consider making religiously mandated shunning illegal?

  has such a thing been tried before?.

  https://petition.parliament.uk/help says the following - .

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  aboveusonlysky

  Criminal harassment statutes can often provide a basis for bringing charges in severe cases, and more serious criminal charges have been brought in cases where the offense has resulted in suicide or other tragic consequences.

  The above statement about cyber bullying is taken from

  http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/cyber-bullying.html

  Can you really defend a cyber bullying incident that ends in a tragic suicide by reasoning that nobody was forced to bully the victim? Or that that freeness of speech means there's nothing we can do about cyber bullying?

  Now apply the same principles to the shunning announcement that causes many individuals to shun without even knowing what the shunned person even did! Surely it can be proven that such ones are ostracizing purely because they are instructed to do so by an organization that encourages bullying.

  True, you can't force everybody to be your buddy, you probably can't force the org to change it's shunning policies in the same way you can't change their 2 witness rule, but you can sue the pants off them if you get the law on your side, anything that makes that happen is a good thing in my opinion.

  
  

  Outlaw I applaud your outrageousness once again!

  
  
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  115

  Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?

  by aboveusonlysky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we're currently watching leah remini's series about scientology and the main thing she seems to focus on is the shunning policies of the scientology organization which let's face it are very similar to jw procedure.. i was wondering with all that's in the media recently about bullying could a petition be put together to get the goverment to consider making religiously mandated shunning illegal?

  has such a thing been tried before?.

  https://petition.parliament.uk/help says the following - .

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  2. 
  3. 
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  aboveusonlysky

  Well put Giordano, I've often thought shunning is similar to past religious abuses like torture in that those that don't support the arrangement can be subjected to the same punishment, this is where WT have crossed a line that I feel with the right legislation could be actionable in court.

  Simon you make a great point but I think we're talking about different things. There's nothing I can do about those that have chose to shun me purely because I no longer hold the same beliefs I had in the past, on the other hand when I want to associate with df'd friends I have to do so I'm secret for fear of being subject to a judicial committee myself, all of this is printed organization procedure.

  Child abuse victims are rightly able to sue the org for large sums of money if organizational neglect can be proven in court, a big reason for the compensation being so high is the emotional trauma the victim has suffered, so what about the trauma caused by shunning? Could that not in some cases be actionable too? I'm fairly sure that if a similar thing went on in business rather than religion it would be actionable.
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  115

  Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?

  by aboveusonlysky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we're currently watching leah remini's series about scientology and the main thing she seems to focus on is the shunning policies of the scientology organization which let's face it are very similar to jw procedure.. i was wondering with all that's in the media recently about bullying could a petition be put together to get the goverment to consider making religiously mandated shunning illegal?

  has such a thing been tried before?.

  https://petition.parliament.uk/help says the following - .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  aboveusonlysky

  I hear you, I'm not df'd but am currently being shunned by some family and friends, what I'm talking about is making the '..... is no longer a JW' announcement illegal or at least the shun or be shunned policy actionable by lawsuits.

  Let's face it, the only authority the org fears is being sued and a change to the law might make that possible, also the org having less power over apostates would help others to wake up too.
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  115

  Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?

  by aboveusonlysky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we're currently watching leah remini's series about scientology and the main thing she seems to focus on is the shunning policies of the scientology organization which let's face it are very similar to jw procedure.. i was wondering with all that's in the media recently about bullying could a petition be put together to get the goverment to consider making religiously mandated shunning illegal?

  has such a thing been tried before?.

  https://petition.parliament.uk/help says the following - .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  aboveusonlysky

  We're currently watching Leah Remini's series about scientology and the main thing she seems to focus on is the shunning policies of the scientology organization which let's face it are very similar to JW procedure.

  I Was wondering with all that's in the media recently about bullying could a petition be put together to get the goverment to consider making religiously mandated shunning illegal? Has such a thing been tried before?

  https://petition.parliament.uk/help says the following -

  How petitions work

  1. You create a petition. Only British citizens and UK residents can create or sign a petition.
  2. You get 5 people to support your petition. We’ll tell you how to do this when you’ve created your petition.
  3. We check your petition, then publish it. We only reject petitions that don’t meet the standards for petitions.
  4. The Petitions Committee reviews all petitions we publish. They select petitions of interest to find out more about the issues raised. They have the power to press for action from government or Parliament.
  5. At 10,000 signatures you get a response from the government.
  6. At 100,000 signatures your petition will be considered for a debate in Parliament.

  100,000 is a lot but with a website and some media attention it could be possible and maybe wouldn't need that many signatures anyway. Given that shunning for apostacy is often a blatant violation of the human rights agenda I've wondered how organizations like watchtower get away with their policies in the 21st century, ideas anyone?
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  37

  The day after Armageddon

  by Pronger1 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jws are scattered across the globe.

  a few million people left, pretty isolated from each other.. telephone lines and power goes down since the people who supported the infrastructure are dead.

  communication across town, state, country, etc is cut off.

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  aboveusonlysky

  Jah will make it all good, just like he did after the flood, those dudes where building cities in no time.
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  8

  My first Christmas with my son

  by Funchback in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  after i left the jws, i began to live a normal and mentally healthy life (i'm still working on living a physically healthy one) .

  anyway, in 2011, i met the woman of my life and we have been together ever since.

  and now we have a beautiful son who will turn 1 in january.

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  aboveusonlysky

  Good on you, your little boy looks beautiful, it's great to hear about people moving on with their lives, have a great Christmas and birthday party for your son.
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  16

  How the Watchtower Could Grow In Numbers

  by Sour Grapes in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if i were running the watchtower there are things that i would do to increase the numbers and increase donations.

  since so many older witnesses are realizing that the false hope they had of not growing old and not having to die is fading away like a frost on a sunny autumn morning, the watchtower needs to shift gears.. as it has been stated on this forum, the emphasis needs to shift from not dying to the glorious hope of the resurrection, the gateway to paradise.

  they need to deemphasize armageddon and emphasize "the way of life" that witnesses have.

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  aboveusonlysky

  It's fair to say that some things have improved over the last couple of decades, like witnesses being allowed blood fractions, but it's evident the gb want to keep as tight a grip as ever on their followers with things like loyalty to the org and shunning being taught (indoctrinated) with more regularly than ever before.
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  18

  A history of global living conditions in 5 charts

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  great article with charts showing how the world is getting better, despite the attempts of the news and certain religious groups to say it ain't so (or try and make it not).. https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts/.

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  aboveusonlysky

  I love this part

  'the media does not tell us how the world is changing, it tells us what in the world goes wrong.'

  We have doomsday cults to tell us the world is becoming worse and worse, since I woke up I've noticed nearly every Sunday public talk uses misleading stats to try to prove how bad world conditions have become in our time.
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  24

  Has waking up ever made you physically ill?

  by fizzle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has waking up ever made you physically ill?

  perhaps because of the emotional strain etc..?.

  if if so what were / are the symptoms?.

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  aboveusonlysky

  I woke up in 2014 and it took about 6 months, I was a very active elder and Pioneer so it was a lot to process.

  I got a tremendous pain in my foot and thought I had somehow fractured something but an xray revealed nothing, after two more episodes of the same thing both lasting several weeks it was eventually diagnosed as gout which didn't seem to make much sense. I was also getting migraines every few days, something I usually only get 2 or 3 times a year.

  After going on a holiday of a lifetime that included a visit to NYC I came down with flu on the airplane home and had a complete breakdown where I couldn't leave our house for about 3 weeks, I've never felt so physically vulnerable in my life.

  A nutritionist my wife worked for asked if I was under any stress explaining it is one of the leading causes of gout and illnessin general which really surprised me. I was put on a brutal diet for a month and started relinquishing my responsibilities which took about 6 months in all. The best thing I did was counselling every couple of weeks for about a year, I'm now completely inactive and haven't had any of the above symptoms for nearly 2 years now.

  I loved my faith and waking up was very painful for me both emotionally and physically but I wouldn't have it any other way, it's frightening what damage your mind can do to your body so my plan is to keep a healthy cult free mind.
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  49

  Do you believe that Jehovah is using the Organization today?

  by Iamallcool in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  any elder has never asked me that question so far but i want to be prepared to answer that question if any of them ask me that question in the future.

  i hope that they will never ask me that question.

  any suggestions on how to answer that question would be very much appreciated.

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  aboveusonlysky

  Did Jehovah direct the policies on vaccinations and organ transplants? Did he want all those brothers to go to prison for refusing alternative military service? Did he want the publishers to spend years preaching the end will come in 1925/1975/before the 1914 generation is gone?

  What was the question again?