by garbonzo 99 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Please sign the petition to remove tax free status from religious cults that shun!
White House.Gov Petition
r/Atheism post:http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/taerk/please_sign_this_petition_to_remove_tax_free/
Please upvote and comment something sad for r/atheism guys to see how much this law is needed!
Good job garbonzo (and/or garbonzo607)!!
Promoting this petition is a good way to start educating people so that they discuss how detrimental shunning is to people and society, and how to discourage using it.
In the April 1887 Watchtower magazine on page 923 Pastor C.T. Russell, the founder of the WB&TS, was against shunning members and wrote “With the implied threat of disfellowship, they urge their ministers and students not to search continually for truth, but to accept the voice of their sect as infallible." Please read the article http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/disfellowship-shunning.php on ww.jwfacts.com to learn how the WTBTS Presidents (Knorr and Freddie Franz) probably started using shunning to control dissention by top leaders in the WTBTS.
How many other doctrines did Freddie Franz help create to alienate JWs from "Worldly" people?
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
If I may, you're going to lose this issue. Just the battle, mind you, not sure about the war.
I love the idea. It needs to be done, but it wont be done today. As of my writing this, the petition's already been up for around 10 days and only has 53 out of the 25,000 necessary signatures. Unless there is some kind of boom advertising this message, it won't meet the cutoff date, unfortunately.
Cults hid behind theocratic beliefs to keep the money they con people out of. It's a shame. In the WTS' case, they'll argue it as unconstitutional since they can angle the Scriptures any way they need to. See, recognized members need to believe the current doctrine, otherwise, they can't claim tax exempt. After all, exempt status comes from the size of the congregation and if the WTS was trying to claim Catholics as WTS followers, it'd be fraud.
So they shun (disfellowship). When you are disfellowshipped, you are no longer one of the congregation, and they have the paperwork to prove it. This is a major reasoning in why those who disassociate are put in the same regard as the disfellowshipped ones. The major reason disassociated people need to write a formal letter to be recognized as such.
If there was no paperwork, someone calling themself a Jehovah's Witness who believed different doctrine could shift their whole exempt status. This is where faders are most prominent. Unfortunately, if any faders came forward, the WTS would immediately disfellowship them under grounds of Apostacy or some crap like that, long before the motion to investigate the Society's claim ever begins.
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You need to advertise wherever you can. The next petition to remove exempt status from cults needs to be a consuming movement. You'd need to identify yourself as a Christian to every person you introduce this petition to so they can understand you're aiming specifically at radical fundamentalist cults. Not mainstream religion.
Facebook, twitterbombing with well-organized hashtags, flyers, etc. Go to Kinkos or some copy store and make a petition yourself. Go door to door with it. This cannot be won easily with everyone staying home.
You're essentially asking people to move a mountain with a puppy and a sled. You need to equip people with the right tools and motivation and THEN you'll get your 25,000 signatures. But not this time. You need to prepare that this time is a losing battle. Prepare for the loss and move on to prepping the next battle.
My childhood wasn't ruined my adulthood was..didn't join till I was married.
Can I sign "Snoozy"..?
Snoozy
actually I think they should remove it for all religious organizations, except for the actual charitable acts, they do. Hmmm feeding the poor, no. Building hospitals, no. Educating the poor, no. Feeding the poor, no. Oh well, no charitable acts, no tax exemption.
I was watching Bill Marr last night and he raised an interesting quesion. Who should have the tax exemption. He shows a picture of a local free clinic, surviving on donations, and then the Morman church, in all it's glory as a castle. He could have used the buildings in New York as well, would have made the same point. Take it away from all of them, unless they actually partici[ate in charitible acts
Ya I think all religious non taxed crap should be done with. I signed up to sign and will once I get an e-mail
u wonder where the corporation ends and the charity begins. Or does the charity only exist to cover the corporation.
This country was formed by dangerous cults. The Mayflower Pilgrims were a dangerous cult to the established Church of England. I grew up with black and white educational films that showed the trip to Holland, the Mayflower, the Compact, and the colony through Thanksgiving. Sometimes I wonder if I was the only to notice the film.
The Church of England was a dangerous cult to the Roman Church.
I posted on the two other threads concerning this. You can't target one religion. The Catholic Church, Protestants, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. will stop it.
John Lennon is echoing in my head. "you say you want a revolution...change their minds instead."
One could argue that by exempting religion, this country favored religion. I have yet to hear any sort of proposal for how one taxes religion. Everyone's favorite religion or politcal party was once a cult. Free speech and religion are dangerous. The way this proposal is presented is censorship.
Do you know what a cult is?
Band on the Run - I posted on the two other threads concerning this. You can't target one religion. The Catholic Church, Protestants, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. will stop it.
Hi Band on the Run, You have posted on the following two threads concerning this: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/members/politics/225023/1/URGENT-Please-Sign-White-House-Petition-to-Protect-Americans-from-Dangerous-Cults-Modify-USC-Title-26-c2a7-501-Tax-Exemption-Requirements and http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/225068/1/New-US-Government-Petition-re-Cults-and-Tax-Exemptions . I'm still waiting for you and other people who have expressed their objections to the White House petition in the aforementioned threads to ask me any clarifying questions about what I wrote. If you want to know what a dangerous cult is, please read any of Steve Hassan's books (i.e., "Combatting Cult Mind Control" and "Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Speak for Themselves"). Why do you continue to say NO, NO, NO to this petition, instead of engaging in a dialogue about how to write a better petition encase 25,000 people do not sign this petition on or before May 26th. If 25,000 people do not sign the petition by May 26th, I plan to submit another petition that is better than the 1st.
To everyone else, I would encourage anyone with objections about this petition, would like to learn more about what consitutes a dangerous cult, and/or would like to know how a law might be implemented to protect Americans' freedom of religion and speech to read the aforementioned threads. Personally, I like the idea that religions must do something charitable that benefits individuals and society besides spread religious doctrines. I didn't write the petition to pick on only religious organizations, because a dangerous cult can also be a non-religious organization according to Steve Hassan.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
P.S. - Thanks a million garbonzo for starting this thread and getting a positive response from members.
