Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?

by aboveusonlysky in

jw
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 - .

aboveusonlysky

Richard Oliver once again you could not be more wrong. Consider the following statement -

You might think bullying is worse than ostracism, but recent research suggests that being frozen out is actually more painful. From social exclusion on the playground to being ignored in the workplace, ostracism is among the most devastating experiences we can endure, deeply connected to our most fundamental human need to be recognized and accepted. Ostracism can reshape the human brain, and in extreme cases, even make a person want to go on a killing spree. Isn’t it time we knew more about it?

http://www.alternet.org/culture/social-death-penalty-why-being-ostracized-hurts-even-more-bullying

Even at my child's primary school they teach that ignoring someone is a cruel form of bullying, can I ask, do you think scientology's disconnection policy is cruel or fair?

Regarding the announcement it's obvious it means shun or be shunned, there are loads of former jdubs that aren't shunned, but try having a friendship with someone who's been announced and you'll quickly be on the end of congregation discipline. The statement 'let him have it' could mean pass him the ball or stab him to death, one is innocent and the other is not. To say the announcement that someone is no longer a JW is merely a true statement is intellectually dishonest.

115

Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?

by aboveusonlysky in

jw
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 - .

aboveusonlysky

Am I right in saying that in Bulgaria it's illegal for someone to be disfellowshipped for having a blood transfusion? So if that happens the disfellowshipped victim could successfully sue the organization and so could anyone who was disfellowshipped for associating with them, sure loads of people would still shun out of choice but the law would make the org think twice about announcing that person was no longer a JW.

What if the same law was applied to anyone who spoke out against the org? after all it's part of the human rights agenda to have freeness of speech and choice of belief without negative consequence, so dfing an 'apostate' could lead to the org being sued.

115

Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?

by aboveusonlysky in

jw
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 - .

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!

115

Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?

by aboveusonlysky in

jw
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 - .

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.

115

Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?

by aboveusonlysky in

jw
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 - .

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.

115

Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?

by aboveusonlysky in

jw
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 - .

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

You create a petition. Only British citizens and UK residents can create or sign a petition.
You get 5 people to support your petition. We’ll tell you how to do this when you’ve created your petition.
We check your petition, then publish it. We only reject petitions that don’t meet the standards for petitions.
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.
At 10,000 signatures you get a response from the government.
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?

37

The day after Armageddon

by Pronger1 in

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.

aboveusonlysky

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

8

My first Christmas with my son

by Funchback in

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.

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.

16

How the Watchtower Could Grow In Numbers

by Sour Grapes in

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.

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.

18

A history of global living conditions in 5 charts

by Simon in

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/.

.

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.

aboveusonlysky

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