Posts by EdenOne

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

EdenOne

Update: 141 signatures

A journalist from the main printed newspaper in Portugal contacted me today and we spent a lengthy time discussing the petition.

I have a press release ready for the Portuguese press and as soon as I gather all the necessary email addresses I will release it and will leave a translated copy of it here.

If you have email addresses of other main european newspapers, namely in England, Spain, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, where this document can be sent to, please share.

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

EdenOne

Update: 138 signatures

If you're a citizen of the E.U. and you vote for this petition please use your real name, not an alias and not an email address or else it will be void.

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

EdenOne

121 signatures in less than 3 days.

In a couple days I will issue a press release.

The date of March 9th marks the 40th anniversary of the incorporation of the Declaration of Human Rights into our internal Law system. Seems to me like a suitable symbolic date to hand over the petition to the portuguese parliament.

it would be awesome if it could be done with at least 1000 signatures.

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

EdenOne

100 signatures so far.

A journalist from a national online newspaper contacted me and we spoke for about one hour.

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

EdenOne

What impact will the suspension of the legal status of the WT society have on its members? - Derearyweather

In principle, none. The constitution ensures individuals the right to worship, gather and share their beliefs freely, so in principle this has no impact whatsoever on the rank and file lives.

Depending on the legal situation of each Kingdom Hall (who owns it), if the deed is made to the "Associação das Testemunhas de Jeová", then it might be subject to property tax. Same thing with the bethel building in Alcabideche. And the donations received might also be considered profit and therefore taxable.

IF .... IF things would go the best possible way, the meetings and literature might be monitored randomly by the authorities to ensure there is no hate speech against ex-members.

84 votes so far

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

EdenOne

73 signatures and the press is already sniffing around ...

There are technical reasons why the request to dissolve the legal entity that represents the Jehovah's Witnesses in Portugal was necessary in order to get them to lose their legal recognition. It's the only possible legal avenue, and even so it's not a straight arrow. The reasons are too technical and specific to our legislation for me to explain here, and in a language that isn't my first language anyway.

Again, the objective is NOT to forbid their religion (that would never happen anyway), but to curtail their legal status, so that they are forced to review their anti-constitutional shunning policies and only then they can file again for legal recognition.

And in the meantime, there is press and public awareness ....

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

EdenOne

Whatever slight benefit that law could have in very, very unique and specific circumstances would be more than wiped out by the ways it could be abused.

The petition isn't asking for any laws to be passed. The petition draws the attention of the legislator to the behavior of the branch in Portugal in violating EXISTING laws, including the Constitution. If the WT is breaking existing laws, including the Law of Religious Freedom because of its stance on shunning, then it should have its legal recognition suspended until it make amends on its policies to comply with the existing laws. That's all there is to it.

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

EdenOne

There's a difference between YOUR self-willed choice of who you want to associate with or not, and a choice that is imposed on you by an institution by means of coercion. In the EU we don't take those nuances lightly. Naturally, you're free to feel differently about it. As for me, I don't wish for a society where a religious entity has leeway to do what the Jehovah's Witnesses do regarding their former members. And I chose to try to make a difference.

And even if the outcome isn't a change in the Watchtower policies, the public awareness of this reality as a result of this petition in Portugal will already have been worth it.

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

EdenOne

19 votes so far. If you are a citizen of a E.U. country, you can help by signing the petition.

127

PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness

by EdenOne in

based on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.

the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.

the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.

EdenOne

IMPORTANT: Here's how you can help.

IF YOU LIVE IN THE E.U. (European Community) YOU CAN VOTE. (because of the right of reciprocity between EU countries).

Even if you don't understand Portuguese, you can use Google Translator to translate the petition and get the gist of it. On the top right of the page there's a green button "Assinar Petição" (SIGN PETITION). Then you will be asked to fill two mandatory fields: Complete Name and Email address. A third, optional field, will allow you to leave a comment. Eventually you will receive an email asking you to confirm your vote. Your email is kept confidential even from me.

YOUR VOTE HELPS because the more votes this petition gets, it will ensure we will be given an audience in the parliament to present our case.

Thank you