In Rutherglen, - Scotland Police will not tolerate religious hate crime against Jehovah’s Witnesses

by Sol Reform 4 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

• 

  Sol Reform

  'Offensive leaflets circulated in Rutherglen target religious group'

  "Hundreds of leaflets have been issued in the Rutherglen Main Street area, claiming to reveal the “frightening truth about Jehovah’s Witnesses”.

  They make several false and offensive claims against the religion.

  They include stating that: “confessed paedophiles may be put in positions of authority over others”

  Apparently Mr. Henshaw hadn't been to JWFacts.com

  "However, the 2010 Elders manual indicates that it is possible for a child abuser to serve as an Elder or Ministerial Servant after "many years" have passed.

  "Moreover, the nature of the sin may reflect greatly on his qualifications to serve. For example, the sin may involve past child abuse, and this would likely disqualify him for many years.- w97 1/1 pp. 26-29; w77 pp. 697-698. "

  http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/paedophilia.php

  Privileges' may be restored to known child sex offenders if "considerable time has passed," at the discretion of local elders. [29]

  1. "To All Bodies of Elders", October 1, 2012 par. 23
  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses'_handling_of_child_sex_abuse

  Sol is not certain if “confessed paedophiles that may eventually be put in positions of authority' can be considered a hate crime targeting Jehovah Witness minors?

  Or that even repeating this speech is now a hate crime in Scotland?

  http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/offensive-leaflets-circulated-rutherglen-target-4540241

  Scottish law has been referenced to from the USA Senate floor in the past during President Clinton's impeachment.

  "My position in the matter is that the case has not been proved. I have gone back to Scottish law where there are three verdicts: guilty, not guilty, and not proved. I am not prepared to say on this record that President Clinton is not guilty. But I am certainly not prepared to say that he is guilty. There are precedents for a Senator voting present. I hope that I will be accorded the opportunity to vote not proved in this case."

  http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/12/senate.statements/specter.html

  Sol's last post.... yellow boxes were done automatically ???
• 

  happy@last

  The article says the police had not received any complaints about the leaflet drop, I wonder who told the newspaper?

  It's a pity we couldn't see one of them.
• 

  Phizzy

  This does highlight that should any of us consider doing a similar thing, then we need to make sure 100% that we do not contravene any Law.

  I doubt in this case that the Police or Crown Prosecution Service will see the need to try to Prosecute under "hate speech" Laws, the test is, not whether the Tract misinforms, but if it is likely to incite violent action.
• 

  OneEyedJoe

  This could actually end up being good in the long run. If someone is arrested for making "false accusations" they'll get their day in court and will actually be allowed to prove that they're right. Maybe even getting testimony from higher-ups from the local branch forced to admit that they hide known molesters.
• 

  Balaamsass2

  I guess the local newspaper editor does not read the the UPI, AP or other news sources ? Perhaps someone needs tp link to their Facebook or Twitter feed

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  Offensive leaflets circulated in Rutherglen target religious group

  • Nov 01, 2014 08:30
  • By William Henshaw

  Hundreds of leaflets have been issued in the area, claiming to reveal the “frightening truth about Jehovah’s Witnesses” as police say they will not tolerate religious hate crime

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  The Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall in Rutherglen

  Residents have blasted offensive leaflets circulating in Rutherglen, targeting a religious group.

  Hundreds of leaflets have been issued in the Rutherglen Main Street area, claiming to reveal the “frightening truth about Jehovah’s Witnesses”.

  They make several false and offensive claims against the religion.

  They include stating that: “confessed paedophiles may be put in positions of authority over others” and that Jehovah’s Witnesses: “have blamed women for raising rapists”.

  James Wood, an elder with the Kingdom Hall in Rutherglen, said he had seen the leaflets and that they were “clearly the work of some aggrieved person” and said: “There’s a lot of lies in there.

  “We usually just ignore this type of thing.”

  One man, who lives on Rutherglen Main Street, said: “I was leaving for work in the morning and a pile of them had been put through my close door.

  “ I’m not a Jehovah’s Witnesses but I have a family member who is and the content is extremely offensive.”

  Inspector Jim Gillespie at Rutherglen Police Office said the police had not received any complaints regarding the leaflets but said they would look in to any case where a member of the community felt they were being targeted for their religious beliefs: “Our own local community and indeed our entire country celebrates its diverse, multi-cultural society.

  “Should anyone feel they are being inappropriately targeted for malicious purposes for being part of an individual social group such as one based on their religious belief, disability, sexuality or gender, they should contact Police Scotland which takes any allegations of hate crime very seriously.”

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