Posts by Tahoe

23

Jehovah's Witness Retirement Homes and Senior Care

by Tahoe in

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/jehovahs-witness-retirement-homes-and-senior-care/ar-aa1jrvoa.

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Tahoe

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/jehovahs-witness-retirement-homes-and-senior-care/ar-AA1jRvOa.

17

Punishment and control: the secret handbook that rules a religion

by Tahoe in

this article is behind a paywall: https://www.smh.com.au/national/punishment-and-control-the-secret-handbook-that-rules-a-religion-20231026-p5ef9z.html.

a herald investigation has uncovered disturbing practices within the jehovah’s witness church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control in a secret rule book for church “elders”.. australian children in the jehovah’s witnesses religion are being trained to avoid life-saving blood transfusions and parents are being coached to thwart court processes that may prevent their children from dying, internal church documents reveal.. an investigation following an inquest into the death of jehovah’s witness heather winchester, who died in newcastle after refusing a blood transfusion, has uncovered disturbing practices within the australian church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control contained in the secret rule book for church “elders”.. the church’s blood transfusion ban forces people to choose between risking death by refusing treatment or being “shunned” – cut off from family and friends under the church’s strict rules – according to 16 former and current members of the church interviewed and the testimony of many others.. .

some of them believe it has cost hundreds of lives in australia.. “i think it’s truly dangerous for children, who are not old enough to vote or drive, to be coached about how to convince a judge or doctors about a decision that is potentially life-threatening,” said fleur hawes, 32, a solicitor who escaped the religion and is speaking out for the first time.. in public, the jehovah’s witnesses’ leadership downplays the impacts of its ban on blood transfusions, which are based on interpretations of bible passages that say christians should not eat blood.. .

Tahoe

This article is behind a paywall: https://www.smh.com.au/national/punishment-and-control-the-secret-handbook-that-rules-a-religion-20231026-p5ef9z.html

A Herald investigation has uncovered disturbing practices within the Jehovah’s Witness church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control in a secret rule book for church “elders”.

Australian children in the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion are being trained to avoid life-saving blood transfusions and parents are being coached to thwart court processes that may prevent their children from dying, internal church documents reveal.

An investigation following an inquest into the death of Jehovah’s Witness Heather Winchester, who died in Newcastle after refusing a blood transfusion, has uncovered disturbing practices within the Australian church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control contained in the secret rule book for church “elders”.

The church’s blood transfusion ban forces people to choose between risking death by refusing treatment or being “shunned” – cut off from family and friends under the church’s strict rules – according to 16 former and current members of the church interviewed and the testimony of many others.

Some of them believe it has cost hundreds of lives in Australia.

“I think it’s truly dangerous for children, who are not old enough to vote or drive, to be coached about how to convince a judge or doctors about a decision that is potentially life-threatening,” said Fleur Hawes, 32, a solicitor who escaped the religion and is speaking out for the first time.

In public, the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ leadership downplays the impacts of its ban on blood transfusions, which are based on interpretations of Bible passages that say Christians should not eat blood.

“No one is ever obligated to accept or reject a particular medical treatment or procedure,” a church spokesman said.

That is at odds with a secret handbook for church leaders, known as elders, which, according to former Witnesses, most devout members of the sect have never read and women are not even allowed to touch.

The handbook Shepherd the Flock of God and other documents seen by The Sydney Morning Herald set out the lengths the church goes to prevent believers from receiving blood and details the secretive rules that govern the lives of its 70,000 members in Australia and 8.7 million around the world.

“I had to say to the doctors that I didn’t want a blood transfusion, but deep down I really did,” said Sarah, a former Witness who refused a blood transfusion while a member and agreed to speak under a pseudonym because she still has family members in the church.

“I had complications and emergency surgery. I was so scared. Nobody wants to say ‘no’ to a transfusion. Nobody should ever be put in that position. It’s a despicable teaching, a gross misinterpretation of a dietary requirement in the Bible.”

Sarah left the church and was shunned. “I lost my whole world overnight,” she said. “I see my parents or friends in a supermarket and they turn their back on me.”

According to the handbook, a 290-page document issued to the church’s leaders earlier this year, elders must direct parents in the sect to read and follow the instructions in a church manual on blood issues before their child undergoes a hospital procedure.

“Firm conviction is vital because a well-meaning doctor may adamantly claim that blood will improve a child’s condition,” the manual says. “Parents must be firmly resolved to ‘abstain from blood’ by refusing it for their children.”

Parents are told to seek out a co-operative doctor and “train their children to defend their faith”.

The manual anticipates the possibility of a court order requiring a blood transfusion for their child in a life-saving situation and coaches them to do everything they can to stop their child receiving blood.

“A wise parent anticipates court involvement,” the manual says. “Parents can inform the court that they are refusing blood on deeply held religious grounds but are not refusing medical care and have no intention of ‘martyring’ their child.”

The manual notes that “this setting may not be the best time for parents to mention their strong faith in the resurrection, as this may convince the judge that they are unreasonable … If a court order is issued despite one’s best efforts, continue to ask the physician not to transfuse and argue that non-blood alternative treatments be utilised.”

The spokesman denied that there was a contradiction between the church’s internal rules on blood and its public statements about free choice.

“The suggestion that each Jehovah’s Witness will only obey God’s commands because of some perceived threat of expulsion, and not his own personal decision to obey divine law as he understands it, is offensive,” the spokesman said.

“It is a rare occurrence for one of Jehovah’s Witnesses to consent to a blood transfusion for himself or his child. The circumstances and reasons behind such a decision are unique to the person and often associated with coercion or pressure from medical staff.”

He said the church only becomes involved at the request of a patient and does “not monitor, screen or track or otherwise record the personal medical decisions of others”. The church will cease any involvement if a patient is contemplating a transfusion, the spokesman said.

According to the handbook, elders pass the name, age, and telephone number of a congregation member who is to undergo medical treatment to the church’s regional hospital liaison committee.

These committees are groups of elders with no specialist medical training appointed to provide pastoral care to church members and sometimes intercede with doctors if there is a possibility of blood products being used in treatment.

Elders must inform the committee of “the spiritual standing of the publisher [the patient] and his family and whether unbelieving family members are involved”.

The elders’ handbook explains how the hospital liaison committee is tasked with helping the patient with “selecting a competent and co-operative doctor”. Parents, pregnant women and older people, “who may be particularly vulnerable to intimidation” on receiving transfusions should be paid special attention, the handbook says.

“When there is a crisis, elders may consider it advisable to arrange a 24-hour watch at the hospital, preferably by an elder with the patient’s parent or another close family member,” according to one church publication advising members on health issues. “Blood transfusions are often given when all relatives and friends have gone home for the night.”

“There is no personal, private, voluntary process whereby I or any Jehovah’s Witness could have made or can make an informed decision about blood transfusions,” said Deborah, who has left the church but sought anonymity because her family are members who face being cast out of the religion if her identity was made public.

Another former Witness, Sherrie D’Souza, described rushing to Liverpool Hospital with her mother in 2012 when her elderly father was in desperate need of a transfusion.

“The fact that you’ve got a hospital liaison committee elder there means you can’t ask the questions you want to ask,” D’Souza said. “You are not at liberty to have a conversation with medical professionals. I wanted to say ‘if he needs blood, do it’. I didn’t even get that chance.

“By the time I got there, [the elder] was already there, speaking to the doctors. I remember him asking about blood alternatives. [When asked about transfusions] the elder said ‘that’s not something that’s going to be accepted’.”

D’Souza’s father survived. She said: “The doctors were standing there telling us ‘We’ve stopped the bleeding now, but he needs blood. If he has another bleed and doesn’t have blood we’ll be calling you to say goodbye’.

“How I feel about it now I know the whole teaching is bullshit: It makes me so mad that the religion has such a level of control.”

Solace, structure and ‘new light’

The suburb of Denham Court in Sydney’s semi-rural south-west is home to a private complex dubbed Bethel that houses the Australian branch office of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The secure site contains accommodation for several hundred people, printing facilities for the Watchtower magazine and a life-size mock-up of a Middle Eastern-style village, which is used for making instructional films about Bible stories.

According to people who have lived there, Bethel residents live semi-monastic lives governed by arcane rules.

They must be sparing in the use of elevators – “those who need to go up or down more than three flights of stairs are permitted to use them” – and leave doors wide open if unmarried people of the opposite sex are in the same room.

If they “assume an independent attitude” it is grounds for reproval, according to the Bethel rule book. Also banned is “clothing that brings worldly sloppiness or sensuality into the Bethel family. T-shirts bearing slogans are unacceptable at Bethel”.

At dinner “it will be appreciated by others if when the food is passed, you take only a proportional amount of what is in the dish”.

Some modern technology is frowned upon, however, “the telephone is a very helpful instrument that can be used to our advantage [but] please make your conversation brief”.

Church members said the organisation can provide believers with a sense of solace and community, and followers share many mainstream Christian beliefs.

One distinguishing feature is the belief that the end of the world is imminent and will soon be replaced by God’s kingdom on earth, and that only 144,000 people will go to heaven.

The local religion is a branch office of the church’s global headquarters in Warwick, New York. It takes instructions on doctrine, policy and organisation from a small group of male elders in the US referred to as the governing body, who are at the top of the religion’s pecking order.

The Australian church owns a large property empire, but its financial affairs are opaque. It controls a series of registered charities and non-profit corporations, many of which are considered too small to be required to make financial disclosures.

Its main registered charity, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of Australia, takes donations and bequests and enjoyed a healthy financial position in 2022, with $10.4 million in assets.

The Bethel headquarters in Sydney and each congregation is controlled by a group of all-male “elders”, though the church does not routinely publish the names of all those in leadership positions. If an elder breaches rules he can be removed from his role or kicked out of the church. The term for this is “deleted”.

There is no place for women in the upper levels of the church hierarchy.

All members of the church are encouraged to engage only with church-approved literature, and seeking higher education can be grounds for discipline and punishment. According to the elders’ handbook, an elder may have his position reviewed if “he or a member of his household pursues higher education”.

Believers are taught that Satan has controlled the world since 1914, and only devout Jehovah’s Witnesses will survive a looming Armageddon.

As at least four much-heralded prophecies for the date of Doomsday came and went in the past century, the church developed the practice of continually rewriting its own history and spiritual instruction manuals, in part to gloss over failed predictions. Updated information is referred to as “new light”.

“At the church I went to, there was a library next to the meeting room,” said Ben Lynch, 24, who left the religion in his late teens after learning about the science of evolution at school.

“It was quiet and I liked it there with all the books. Not necessarily studying, just flipping through the pages, enjoying the books. One day, the elders came in and started taking books off the shelves. What had happened was that Bethel had just said we have got ‘new light’ and decreed that the old books had to be destroyed.

“I asked what was going on, why they were taking the books away, and the elders just said ‘we don’t need them any more’. That was that,” Lynch said.

“I’ve read Nineteen Eighty-Four, so I know what it means to describe it as Orwellian. They’re always destroying information, rewriting their literature, and everyone has to believe it’s always been that way. It’s like the Ministry of Truth.”

The latest list of church literature that has been deemed unsafe was circulated among Australian congregations last month. The list includes more than 50 of the organisation’s own books and pamphlets to be discarded or in some cases destroyed.

The church’s rules on blood have also been revised many times. The sect’s ban on transfusions was introduced in 1945, and the church later decreed that a Jehovah’s Witness who received blood would be “disfellowshipped” or “disassociated” – cast out of the church and shunned by everyone in it.

The ruling is based on Bible passages in Genesis and Leviticus which say Christians should not eat blood, and an ambiguous passage in Acts 15:20 which says, “You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality”.

Some Christians have interpreted this to mean abstaining from blood within the context of food. Jehovah’s Witnesses have extended the meaning to include blood transfusions, which were unknown when the Bible was written.

The rules have subsequently been tweaked many times, permitting medical use of many artificially separated “blood fractions” – products derived from blood, such as haemoglobin – but not blood itself.

This led Raymond Franz, a former member of the church’s global governing body who was cast out for questioning the rules, to compare the blood edict to banning ham and cheese sandwiches but allowing the eating of bread, ham and cheese.

‘Barely seen my family since’

The blood rules can lead to confusion for Jehovah’s Witnesses and doctors.

At a coronial inquest in May, deputy state coroner David O’Neil heard evidence that Hunter Valley woman Heather Winchester, 75, was wheeled into theatre for a routine operation with an anaesthetist who believed she had consented to receive some blood fractions if required and a surgeon who believed she had refused all blood products.

Winchester, who was a doorstop convert to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, was determined to follow the church’s teachings, her daughter Elizabeth told the inquest. “She felt that this was what the church wanted her to do.”

Gynaecologist Adrienne Searle, who was working at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle when Winchester was transferred there after bleeding following two earlier surgeries, said she had made it clear that Winchester’s life was at risk if she refused a transfusion.

“I have never in my career counselled anyone so strongly about their risk of death,” Searle told the inquest. But Winchester would not receive blood. “I have had sleepless nights,” Searle said.

Winchester died four days after her initial operation, on September 27, 2019. The coronial findings into her care and medical treatment are yet to be finalised.

Former Witnesses recall being trained as children to refuse blood at all costs and to always carry a “no blood” card – a form of advanced medical care directive.

“As a nine-year-old child before having a small abdominal operation, I repeated to doctors what my parents had already told them – that I couldn’t have a blood transfusion,” Deborah said.

Hawes recalls carrying a card as a child and described being coached to refuse transfusions many times in twice-weekly congregation meetings.

“You’re in a small group setting talking about refusing blood because it’s what Jehovah wants,” she said. “There’s no option to ask questions.”

Hawes, who was regarded as a rising star of the church in her early teens and spoke at church conventions in front of thousands of people, started veering away from the Jehovah’s Witnesses because she felt it was sexist and oppressive.

“I’d learnt about first- and second-wave feminism at school,” she said. “I wasn’t just going to live out my life to serve men.”

Her parents wanted to home-school her and that was the catalyst for Hawes leaving. She was cast out and shunned by her family at 16.

“I remember walking to the street corner with my schoolbag on my back, going to the fish and chip shop and calling my friend’s mum. That was it. I worked lots of jobs, slept on couches, made my way through school. I have barely seen my family since.”

Shunning is a “weapon” that forces church members to conform, former members said. Interviewees described a consistent pattern of congregation members reporting any unorthodox behaviour to elders, and blood policy being policed by elders and the hospital liaison committees.

An elder serving on a hospital liaison committee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the committee’s main role was providing emotional support to Jehovah’s Witnesses and talking with medical staff about the sect’s requirements.

“The aim is to give people information and ensure people know that there are alternatives to blood … We’re not there to spy on anyone, we aim to help.”

Former church elder John Viney served on hospital liaison committees for 15 years in Britain, which has the same church structure as Australia.

“I was a faithful and loyal JW through and through,” he said. “I saw my role as actually helping save lives of JW patients in providing information on how the medical situation could be handled to meet the patient’s viewpoint but also provide medical needs from a hospital standpoint.”

Viney’s view of the church soured after he was forced to shun his own daughters, and he now campaigns against the shunning of children.

“The shunning of people you love, completely avoiding them, is a killer as far as I am concerned. I always thought this and had trouble accepting it, but such was the cult mentality that not only did it happen to my family but as an elder, I disfellowshipped others … It’s a wicked cult control mechanism.”

The church’s spokesman said: “How each parent chooses to raise their own children is up to them and naturally many will choose to raise them in accordance with their own religious beliefs. When it comes to medical care, Witness parents seek out the best possible medical care for their children.”

It is unclear how many people may have died as a result of refusing transfusions in line with the sect’s blood policy. The Red Cross estimates one in three Australians require a blood transfusion at some point in their lives.

Since leaving the church, Sherrie D’Souza has helped run a support group, Recovering From Religion, which calls for watertight confidentiality around a patient’s medical decision-making, so church authorities cannot know if a person has agreed to a blood transfusion.

“The hospital liaison committees invade people’s privacy,” she said. “There aren’t any statistics to tell us how many people have died. Anecdotally, there are many.”

A global church whistleblower group based in the US, Advocates for Jehovah’s Witnesses for Reform on Blood, has attempted to estimate the death toll in which the refusal of blood transfusions was a major or contributing factor, basing its research on data about transfusions in the wider community. Reaching precise figures is not possible because of a lack of data due to patient privacy.

“The estimate of annual deaths in Australia would be between 10 and 18 assuming 68,000 members,” the group’s spokesman, who goes by the pseudonym Lee Elder, said.

“If we assume the ratio of members has been relatively the same with the average number of worldwide members over the past 62 years, we can extrapolate that somewhere between 632 and 1096 Australian Jehovah’s Witnesses have likely died prematurely as a result of following the Watchtower blood policy.”

The Jehovah’s Witnesses spokesman said the idea that the blood policy had led to any deaths was “completely unfounded” and said medical literature backs up the church’s view that patients have better outcomes when they avoid blood transfusions.

Many peer-reviewed studies suggest transfusions should only be used when essential, but no studies support the idea that they should be banned.

NSW Health said it “respects and upholds the wishes of any individual and will adhere to their choices regarding the administration of blood products”.

The department did not directly respond to questions about whether hospital liaison committees played a role in policing the medical care choices of church members, or what steps were taken in hospitals to make sure Jehovah’s Witness patients were not making decisions about medical care under duress.

“As established in Australian case law, all adult patients with capacity have the right to refuse any medical treatment, even in cases where that decision may lead to their death,” a NSW Health spokesperson said.

“Similar to a person giving consent to medical treatment, a refusal of treatment must be freely given, specific and informed.”

According to the elders’ handbook, if blood is administered to a patient, elders at the patient’s congregation are required to set up a committee to “determine the individual’s attitude”.

In a section of the handbook devoted to judging repentance after a member of the religion is deemed to have broken the rules, elders’ committees are given some guidelines.

“The committee must be convinced that the wrongdoer has a changed heart condition, that he has a zeal to right the wrong, and that he is absolutely determined to avoid it in the future,” the handbook says.

“Judging repentance is not simply a matter of determining whether the wrongdoer is weak or wicked. Weakness is not synonymous with repentance.”

5

India Bomb Blast Suspect's Claims Are False And Misleading, Say Jehovah's Witnesses

by Tahoe in

https://www.ibtimes.com/india-bomb-blast-suspects-claims-are-false-misleading-say-jehovahs-witnesses-3717518 .

key points.

three separate blasts ripped through a gathering of jehovah's witnesses last sunday.

Tahoe

https://www.ibtimes.com/india-bomb-blast-suspects-claims-are-false-misleading-say-jehovahs-witnesses-3717518

KEY POINTS

Three separate blasts ripped through a gathering of Jehovah's Witnesses last Sunday
A 12-year-old girl and two adults were killed and about 50 others were injured in the incident
The suspect claimed he targeted the group because he felt their beliefs were "anti-national"

As police in India's Kerala continue to investigate a series of explosions that killed a child and two adults at a gathering of around 2,000 Jehovah's Witnesses last Sunday, members of the sect say they are still recovering from the incident that left everybody "in shock."

Three separate blasts ripped through the prayer hall in the southern state of Kerala on what was the final day of a 3-day event of Jehovah's Witnesses.

"Because of this bomb blast, everybody is in shock. I know friends who were sitting just four rows behind where the blast took place. They are shaking," Joshua David, the national spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses of India, told International Business Times.

Soon after the attack, while scores of people were receiving treatment for injuries, a man, identified as Dominic Martin, posted a video on social media claiming responsibility for the blasts. He confessed to having planted the explosives at the venue and claimed he targeted the group because he felt their beliefs were "anti-national."

"I had been a member of Jehovah's Witnesses for the last 16 years. I realized that their stand is anti-national and wanted them to rectify it. But they were not ready for it. I could understand this is a wrong ideology," the man said in the video. "They inject poison into the brains of children that they should not take even a sweet from others."

Martin later surrendered to the police.

“ We understand that the police are still investigating his claim. The alleged perpetrator, whatever he says, is completely offensive to us. He has had no association with Jehovah's Witnesses for many years," David said.

"His comments are false and misleading, and deeply offensive to Jehovah's Witnesses," he told IBT. "If you know Jehovah's Witnesses, they are the most peaceful. They are known to foster love and find works within the community."

When asked whether Martin had any association with the group in the past or had previously attended their meetings, David said he was not aware of it.

While taking full responsibility for the bomb blasts, Martin, in the social media video, said Jehovah's Witnesses teach its members that the world would perish and they will continue to live.

“Nothing wrong with having a belief. But what they teach is that everyone in this world will perish, and they will continue to live ... Living in this country, they demean the entire people here by calling them prostitutes and doomed. They ask their men not to join hands with others and don't eat food with them. I realized this was a wrong ideology," Martin claimed.

David said those claims were "false and misleading" and that the bomb blasts were the outcome of misinformation.

"Those are false and misleading. Absolutely false and misleading. We respect everyone. Everybody has a right to profess whatever they want to believe. We are sorry that he does not agree with the practices and the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses. But there are so many people who don't agree with Jehovah's Witnesses," David noted.

“T hat doesn't give anyone the reason to engage in such a ghastly attack. We don't agree with people's beliefs. We are happy with that. Each one has the right to believe what they want to and to also disagree. We are sorry that he does not agree with our beliefs right now," he added.

Jehovah's Witnesses, on their website, say the members have been victims of mob attacks and other acts of religious intolerance in India.

"Jehovah's Witnesses have been the target of over 150 violent mob attacks since 2002," the website reads.

David says the group has largely been able to peacefully practice their faith in India with the exception of a few isolated incidents.

"We are an international, multi-ethnic community. We come from all backgrounds and segments of society," he said.

According to David, there are about 8.5 million Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide and they have a 57,000-member strong community in India.

“ We haven't had much of a problem in India. We respect the government for allowing us the freedom of worship," David said. "We are happy. We have had the freedom to worship, to have places of worship, to have these larger conventions. If we had problems, we probably wouldn't have had all these."

This year alone, the group conducted about 74 conventions in different corners of India.

"We've had all the freedom of religion in India. Yes, there have been isolated cases of misinformation," David added. " ... People don't know us. Probably they have been misinformed about us. That is why sometimes when we go out in the house-to-house ministry, people feel differently about us [wondering] why we have come."

"If we could tell people out there, whenever Jehovah's Witnesses come to your door, sit down with them, have a chat and get to know what they want to say," he said. "You don't have to agree with them. We agree to disagree because everybody has a right, a personal choice to make."

David thanked authorities for the support provided to the victims and said the group is cooperating with police on the bomb blast investigation. "This unfortunate incident has happened. We are sad about it and we are trying our best to keep our composure, to keep our peace and continue to help our people in India.“

6

Why a legal bid by the Jehovah’s Witnesses to evade the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care failed

by Tahoe in

link to article .

the jehovah's witness church does not have a "fundamental right to avoid scrutiny" from the royal commission of inquiry into abuse in care, a high court judge says.. .

the church sought a judicial review to be exempt from the inquiry arguing it was beyond the inquiry's scope because it did not run institutions that cared for children or vulnerable people.. the bid was dismissed by the high court last week.

Tahoe

Link to Article

The Jehovah's Witness church does not have a "fundamental right to avoid scrutiny" from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, a High Court judge says.

The church sought a judicial review to be exempt from the inquiry arguing it was beyond the inquiry's scope because it did not run institutions that cared for children or vulnerable people.

The bid was dismissed by the High Court last week. In her judgment, released on Tuesday, Justice Rebecca Ellis set out the reasons why.

"There is no fundamental right to avoid scrutiny, nor is there a right to be subject only to certain degrees of scrutiny, especially in the context of allegations of abuse," Ellis wrote.

"An inquiry does not in itself affect legal rights; an inquiry is just that: An inquiry."

The church accused the inquiry of wilfully "miscasting" its religion and ignoring evidence showing why it should be excluded, which Ellis also dismissed.

"Indeed, the opposite is the case. The evidence suggests that the royal commission has sought to engage actively with, and obtain the views of, the Jehovah's Witnesses and has responded appropriately when concerns have been raised."

The church's claim that its policies prevented elders - who are like ministers - from spending time alone with children, was also thrown out by Ellis, who said evidence provided to the inquiry, and from overseas, showed otherwise.

"Whatever the Jehovah's Witnesses' policies might be, what sometimes happens in practice may be different. It is clear… that elders are sometimes left alone with children.

"I am unable to agree that the mere fact of the policies' existence must operate to protect that elder - or the wider institution - from scrutiny by the royal commission. It goes without saying, I hope, that no faith-based institution would adopt a policy or practice that was intended to facilitate abuse."

The inquiry's scope was expanded to include faith-based institutions in November 2018 after lobbying from religious groups and survivors. The Jehovah's Witness faith is the only group to oppose being involved, culminating in its application for a judicial review in May.

Ellis said the inquiry's primary purpose was "fundamentally remedial".

"It might be thought - although it is plainly not the case - that the pursuit of such purposes would be welcomed by any faith-based institution."

Former Jehovah's Witness elder turned advocate Shayne Mechen said survivors were relieved and happy with Ellis' comments.

"Happy in the sense that the judge had a pretty clear understanding of how the [Jehovah's Witnesses] work and was not allowing the wool to be pulled over her eyes. She basically saw through that they were trying to waste time, like they did at the Australian royal commission."

Former Jehovah's Witness Mikail Steens, a lawyer, said it was unfortunate the church took such a litigious approach given the inquiry's purpose was remedial, not judicial.

"The Jehovah's Witnesses anchor their perspective in scriptural readings and policies, emphasizing parental responsibility. However, the gap between stated policies and their actual practice is evident," Steens said.

"The decision highlights the need for institutions to strike a balance between upholding their internal beliefs and meeting societal expectations for the safety and well-being of their members.

In a statement, the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses Australasia, which oversaw New Zealand congregations and filed the case, said it was studying the judgment and "considering our legal options".

30

Jehovah's Witness' bid to be excluded from abuse inquiry dismissed

by Tahoe in

link to article.

a legal bid by the jehovah's witness church to get out of being part of the royal commission of inquiry into abuse in care has been dismissed by the high court in wellington.. after nearly three years of behind-the-scenes legal wrangling to avoid scrutiny from the inquiry, the church applied for a judicial review in june.. at a hearing, held earlier this month it argued it was beyond the inquiry's scope because it did not operate institutions that cared for children or vulnerable people and the inquiry had uncovered no evidence of abuse in that context.. lawyers representing the inquiry argued that jehovah's witness elders - equivalent to ministers or pastors - exercised a level of control over the congregation that allowed them access to children.. the inquiry informed abuse survivors who gave evidence to the inquiry in relation to the jehovah's witnesses of the news this afternoon.. "we have received advice from the high court that none of the causes of action brought by the jehovah's witnesses has succeeded and the application for judicial review has been dismissed.

the judge's reasons are not yet available, but are expected in the near future," the email to survivors, seen by rnz, said.. the church was the only faith-based institution in the country to legally challenge its involvement in the inquiry, although it had attempted to challenge its status in other countries where similar inquiries have also been carried out.. the inquiry said, in a statement, that the dismissal "means the royal commission can continue to investigate the jehovah's witnesses, and all other faiths, in accordance with the pastoral care approach we have been applying since 2019".. "reasons for the high court's judgment are not yet available but are expected in the near future.

Tahoe

Link to article

A legal bid by the Jehovah's Witness church to get out of being part of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care has been dismissed by the High Court in Wellington.

After nearly three years of behind-the-scenes legal wrangling to avoid scrutiny from the Inquiry, the church applied for a judicial review in June.

At a hearing, held earlier this month it argued it was beyond the inquiry's scope because it did not operate institutions that cared for children or vulnerable people and the inquiry had uncovered no evidence of abuse in that context.

Lawyers representing the Inquiry argued that Jehovah's Witness elders - equivalent to ministers or pastors - exercised a level of control over the congregation that allowed them access to children.

The inquiry informed abuse survivors who gave evidence to the inquiry in relation to the Jehovah's Witnesses of the news this afternoon.

"We have received advice from the High Court that none of the causes of action brought by the Jehovah's Witnesses has succeeded and the application for judicial review has been dismissed. The judge's reasons are not yet available, but are expected in the near future," the email to survivors, seen by RNZ, said.

The church was the only faith-based institution in the country to legally challenge its involvement in the inquiry, although it had attempted to challenge its status in other countries where similar inquiries have also been carried out.

The inquiry said, in a statement, that the dismissal "means the Royal Commission can continue to investigate the Jehovah's Witnesses, and all other faiths, in accordance with the pastoral care approach we have been applying since 2019".

"Reasons for the High Court's judgment are not yet available but are expected in the near future. Until we receive the full judgment we are not able to make any further comment."

A recent RNZ investigation revealed how the church has kept the presence of child abusers attending congregations hidden from most of its followers and had policies that protected abusers over victims, amid claims an elder was told to destroy church documents relating to child sexual abuse cases.

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144 year-old mystery finally solved

by Tahoe in

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Tahoe

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Article: Spain: Jehovah’s Witnesses Win Important Case Against “El Mundo”

by Tahoe in

link to article .

a spanish court ordered the newspaper to publish the reply of the jehovah’s witnesses to a defamatory 2022 article.

the court found the newspaper has been fed false information by an association of disgruntled former witnesses and has uncritically published it.. .

Tahoe

Link to article

A Spanish court ordered the newspaper to publish the reply of the Jehovah’s Witnesses to a defamatory 2022 article. The court found the newspaper has been fed false information by an association of disgruntled former Witnesses and has uncritically published it.

The Spanish Jehovah’s Witnesses won an important case against the Spanish newspaper “El Mundo,” which on November 21, 2022, published a slanderous article based on information supplied by the anti-cult organization Association of Victims of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. On October 2, the Court of First Instance no. 1 of Torrejón de Ardoz dismissed the newspaper argument that responsibility lied only with the Association of Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It ordered “El Mundo” to publish the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ reply and to pay the litigation costs.

In the decision, which is subject to appeal, the court did not limit itself to recognize the right of reply of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It also discussed the merit, finding the allegations of the Association of Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses both likely to cause damage to the religious organization and inaccurate.

The court found it self-evident that the article “generated verifiable damages” to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. To start with, “the title of the article itself included the word ‘cult’ [‘secta’ in Spanish] that has unquestionable negative connotations with respect to any religion.” The stories coming from the Association of Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses are, the judges said, “objectively harmful to the fame and credibility [of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization], such as referring that it is a religious association (which they call a ‘cult’) with ‘cultic’ practices, stating that it causes ‘social death’ to those who leave it, that it ‘compels’ its members not to report crimes, that it alienates its members, and that it ‘encourages physical and moral suicide,’”and so on. Thus, “from any point of view, the article mentions allegations by third parties that cause undeniable damage to the religious association.”

Then, the judges examined “whether the allegations in the article are inaccurate,” and concluded that most are. The decision noted that “the first thing that is striking is the title of the article itself, where the plaintiff entity is catalogued as a ‘cult,’ then throughout the extensive text the terms ‘cultic practices’ are used.” According to the decision, “the information in this case is based on a fact that is clearly inaccurate, since the Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses are a religious denomination registered in the General Section (Minority Religions), inscription number 000068 of the Register of Religious Entities kept at the Ministry of Justice, so we are dealing with a legitimately recognized denomination in our country like many others.

Therefore, to classify the plaintiff entity as a cult is legally erroneous since, in the context of the analyzed article, it implies attributing to the plaintiff some pernicious or harmful features as opposed to the rest of the religious confessions legally established in Spain.”

Second, the article refers to “testimonies of alleged victims of sexual abuse within the religious denomination …, alluding to a certain situation in Australia where allegedly ‘they hid more than a thousand cases of sexual abuse.’”

The article also mentions a “former Jehovah’s Witness who reports that he was allegedly abused ‘among the Witnesses,’ concluding that ‘they kill you in life,’ and “another former witness who explains the context of some alleged rapes and that ‘they constantly threatened him that if he spoke, they would form a judicial committee…’”

The court concluded that, when carefully examined, “these facts are not accurate and further affect the public consideration of the plaintiff since, on the one hand, there is no certain record of any conviction of the religious entity as a whole for the aforementioned unspecific cases of sexual abuse in Australia, so it is an inaccurate fact that the alleged events were concealed in that oceanic country.

On the other hand, with respect to the specific accounts of alleged sexual abuse, it is not so much that the fact is true or not (in fact, no evidence of any convictions arising from such allegations, if any, has been provided), but that at all times the plural and collective number is used when referring to the alleged sexual abuse, to attribute to the religious denomination as a whole the responsibility for ‘sexual abuses perpetrated within the group’ rather than to the persons who in each case had caused the alleged abuses or sexual aggressions.”

Overall, the part of the article concerning sexual abuse should be “classified as inaccurate.”

Third, the practice by the Jehovah’s Witnesses of the so-called ostracism or shunning, i.e., counseling members not to associate with ex-members who have been disfellowshipped or have publicly left the organization, is qualified in the article as sentencing these former members to “social death” and “a silent hell.”

The court found the description of the practices by the Association of Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses as based on “facts that are not clearly proved, since it is one thing to assert the right or freedom to choose to relate with a certain person inside or outside a certain religious confession, and another that, as indicated in the article, ‘when they are inside the cult they are explicitly or implicitly forced to relate only with other faithful’”—which is “inaccurate.”

Worse, the court reports, “the article expressly states that ‘there are double standards, because many elders are either adulterers or pedophiles,’” and that the Jehovah’s Witnesses “encourage physical and moral suicide.” These allegations, the court found, “once again lack a demonstrable objective basis,” and are “inaccurate and extremely damaging to the prestige of the plaintiff entity.”

In summary, the Association of Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses was caught red-handed spreading false information, and “El Mundo” was caught red-handed uncritically reporting it. “It is not a question here of refuting or censuring opinions—explains the court—, but to legally sanction the erroneous or directly false facts that support such opinions.”

The court also confirms that a media “is responsible for the content of what is disseminated”, including allegations made by third parties. “To admit otherwise— the court argues—would be as much as to legitimize any type of publication based on unquestionably false or untrue facts, just because it is a third party who maintains this erroneous view of the facts.”

It is not the first time that media fall into the trap of publishing slander fed to them by anti-cult organizations, “experts” on “cults” (in this case, the “expert” interviewed was Carlos Bardavío, i.e., the lawyer representing the Association of Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses in another case), and “apostate” ex-members.

It is also not the first time that a media outlet—even one that is a member of The Trust Project—refuses to publish a religious community’s reply to an insulting article. The decision should teach these media a lesson. However, it is unlikely this will happen. Some journalists are like the crow in Aesop’s fable, which kept being deceived by the fox and swearing that it had happened for the last time, only to be duped again at the next opportunity

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