HELP needed from folks in UK, esp. in Scotland!

by WTS Archive 101 Replies latest jw friends

  • WTS Archive
    WTS Archive

    TL;DR: If you live either in Scotland or in other parts of UK and you don't mind traveling, you might be able to help a fellow Ex-JW by being present during a courtcase where she alone has to face more than two dozens of JWs who have ruined their business. Please contact me directly for details on when and where the court case will be held (I will know these details in few days probably).

    PS. This story was also posted on Reddit.

    Main story:

    So everything started with this sister from Poland and currently living in Scotland, a mother of few children with a "wordly" husband, who just got baptised about one year ago. She was enamored with the Witnesses - she thought they are kind, friendly and honest, so when she started a small hotel (just a couple of rooms, nothing very big), she hired over time 24 JWs to work there. There were only few non-JW workers in there.

    One day she decided to invite few JWs over to her place for dinner. The Scottish brothers asked her to play some Polish kingdom songs, so she opened YouTube and searched. But instead of kingdom songs, a film about a judicial committee in Berlin popped out. They all watched it, and while most of the guests said it is definitely a hoax, that it couldn't be true, she didn't buy it. She saw with her own eyes that something was off in this recording (it's pretty damning for JWs, but it's only in Polish) and started digging. After three months she was certain that she don't want to be a JW anymore, and even though she was invited to a judicial committee just for sending a text to another JW about her doubts, she just sent a letter of dissassociation. So that's it, end of story, right?

    Wrong. She didn't even knew that she will be announced on that day, so imagine her surprise when on the next day she received a phone call from a concerned customer telling her that her hotel is completely empty! No one at the reception, the kitchen is closed, no one to hand out the breakfast. She grabs the phone and tries to call all her employees, but nobody picks up. So she drive to their homes but again - nobody opens the door, even though she saw people inside the house. Finally she asked her non-JW husband to call them and one person answered. He told him, that this woman is now "spiritually dead to them" so they cannot associate with her and disconnected.

    So imagine what she had to go through because of this - explaining this mess to her guests, didn't get them to pay anything for their stay as a reimbursement and basically become unemployed over night, because she had to close down the business. At this point she was in contact with us, and we advised her to not let JWs get away with this, so she went to the court. The prosecutor heard the story and couldn't really believe what she was hearing, but set a date for a case to be heard.

    So again, imagine the surprise of the court when on that day the courtroom was empty - none of the 24 JWs who were ordered to come showed up. They only sent a letter to the court that they will not show up because... their christian conscience forbids them to show up! facepalm. The judge was enraged, said that this is an insult to the court and set a new date for the case saying, that if this is necessary, those people will be escorted by the police to the courtroom. So then our sister leaves the courthouse. Just outside the door she sees a local elder and his wife, both her ex-employees. The elder shouts to her - "how you dare to speak against the organization!", and his wife approached and... spit the sister in the face. She was shocked. The people she genuinely thought were they friends were now not only unfriendly, they were actually aggressive. She went back to the court and explained what just happened, to which the prosecutor replied that there is a camera outside and the whole thing is most probably on the tape. This tape will be available for her later on. What's more, a big local newspaper picked up this story, and just today the sister went there to give an interview on how this "loving" organization turned up against her and ruined her business.

    Now for the part where you can actually help her out. If you live in this general area (I don't know exactly which city the case will be held in, but I will know in the coming days) I encourage you to think about going there to support her, because she is all alone over there, she doesn't know any Ex-JWs in the area and if no one comes, she will be all alone against 24+ wolves who will try to intimidate her even more. What's more, the word is that even a circuit overseer will show up on this case, so it's possible that UK branch office already knows about the case. So please, let me know if you will be able to make it there in about 1-2 weeks from now. If you don't, spread the word in other places that you know Scottish people are in. Let's not leave this brave woman alone in this hard time for her, especially after how hard she fought until now!

  • Tenacious
    Tenacious

    For once, I wished I lived in Scotland!!

  • Crazyguy
    Crazyguy

    Me too

  • DesirousOfChange
    DesirousOfChange

    I hope anyone who is nearby rallies around this lady!

    JWs, and esp the WTS believes that they are above the law!

    Here, spitting on a person is assalt -- a crime.

    Here, I believe she would have a case of religious discrimination against the Cong and perhaps the WTS.

    I love it that the media has shown an interest..

  • Simon
    Simon

    Don't employ people just because they share the same religion.

    She obviously discriminated against people who didn't when she was hiring.

    Now she get's to feel some discrimination as well - it works both ways when your primary decision making point is "same religion as me".

  • nicolaou
    nicolaou

    That's quite a . . . . story you've got there. Forgive my jaded cynicism but have you got any verifiable details? Names? Congregation? What is the newspaper you claim has picked this up?

    Any links to unbiased sites?

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    For once, I wished I lived in Scotland!!

    Hey, what's this "for once", business?

    I've not heard of Polish people becoming JWs en masse in Scotland, but then, how would I know. I remember, around ten years ago, being struck by how many Polish people live in and around Blairgowrie, a congregation I knew at one time. I wonder if it's there, or possibly elsewhere in Perthshire. But there are plenty of Polish people in Glasgow and elsewhere too.

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    The story does sound a bit incredible. "Speak against our prganisation" and spit in people's face? Sounds like a caricature rather than real JW behaviour. But you never know. Maybe it's an embellished story with some truth to it.

  • Mephis
    Mephis

    If it's been in the local newspaper, any link to, or image of, the story they printed?

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    I can't find any story. I was also thrown by the "big local newspaper" comment, because Scotland doesn't exactly have a thriving newspaper industry these days. The Herald, The Press and Journal, The Evening Times, The Courier, are biggish regional newspapers. I don't know what you would call a "big" local newspaper, they are all in steady decline. Probably tangential comment but I'm interested in the fate of print media!

    However I found this funny story.

    http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12070403.Witnesses_apos__church_gets_in_way_of_festive_lights/

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