AndersonsInfo
JoinedPosts by AndersonsInfo
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Abuse by JW in the Netherlands: 276 victems registred in Q1, 2018
by Gorbatchov inhttps://www.metronieuws.nl/nieuws/binnenland/2018/05/meldingen-misbruik-bij-jehovahs-getuigen-opgelopen.
276 victems registred now in q1 2018, abused by jw's in the netherlands.. state secretary says branche has to speak with victem group official.. g..
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Major Article in Today's Philadelphia Inquirer on JW Child Abuse
by Room 215 inhttp://www.philly.com/philly/news/jehovahs-witnesses-sexual-abuse-children-beliefs-rules.html.
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Norwegian Article in English: THE ELDER
by AndersonsInfo inyou’ll find this article very long and very interesting.
it was published as part of a series of articles in a quality newspaper in southern norway.
as seen from the article, the journalists have been working on this article for several months.
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AndersonsInfo
You’ll find this article very long and very interesting. It was published as part of a series of articles in a quality newspaper in Southern Norway. As seen from the article, the journalists have been working on this article for several months. It is not sensational and the issue is looked upon from various angles.
https://www.fvn.no/nyheter/norgeogverden/i/xRWkJp/The-Elder
The Elder
Around the world, the Jehovah's Witnesses are faced with thousands of accusations that they are not doing enough to prevent child abuse. A Norwegian citizen and former Elder is sentenced to jail in Spain, having abused a four-year-old girl. The same man is said to also have abused children in Norway.by Tarjei Leer-Salvesen and Connie Bentzrud
This is a translated version of an article that was first published in Norwegian language on April 13, 2018. https://www.fvn.no/nyheter/lokalt/i/1kXEkq/Den-eldste
Spain, November 2014:In the small and inviting town Altea, slightly north of Alicante, an 84-year-old Norwegian man lives with his wife. He has been married twice earlier, but now he has settled. At Costa Blanca, the White Coast, the man lives in company with many Norwegians, most of them pensioners.
A number of his friends are members of the Scandinavian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Altea.
In his congregation, he has a high status. He is an Elder. This means he is a man who speaks at meetings, one whom the others listen to, one who counsels others who share his faith. He is among those who maintain contact with the hierarchy in the organization surrounding their congregation. He is one the others look up to. Being an Elder is a privilege.
READ MORE: https://www.fvn.no/nyheter/norgeogverden/i/xRWkJp/The-Elder
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Major Article in Today's Philadelphia Inquirer on JW Child Abuse
by Room 215 inhttp://www.philly.com/philly/news/jehovahs-witnesses-sexual-abuse-children-beliefs-rules.html.
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AndersonsInfo
Thought you'd like to know that this article will appear in hard copy of the Philadelphia Enquirer, April 29th Sunday edition.
Lots of older folks in Philadelphia subscribe to the Sunday paper so they can have a lazy Sunday morning reading the paper while eating brunch. Bet this gets their attention! Just saying.
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News from Australia: Tasmania Anglicans to sell property for redress
by AndersonsInfo inhttp://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/tas-anglicans-to-sell-property-for-redress/news-story/f56eb0caabc16212229c3b0d6d940e3c.
tas anglicans to sell property for redress.
survivors of child sexual abuse in tasmania will get a payout after the anglican diocese announced the sale of more than 120 churches, halls and houses.. kaitlyn offer - australian associated press april 22, 2018 2:30pm.
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AndersonsInfo
Tas Anglicans to sell property for redress
Survivors of child sexual abuse in Tasmania will get a payout after the Anglican Diocese announced the sale of more than 120 churches, halls and houses.
Kaitlyn Offer - Australian Associated Press April 22, 2018 2:30pm
Tasmania's Anglican Diocese will sell off scores of churches and other properties to find $8 million to redress survivors of child sexual abuse.
Bishop Richard Condie announced the sale of churches, halls, houses and land on Sunday, saying the diocese hopes to be a part of a national scheme.
"With an estimated liability of around $8 million in new and additional payments to survivors, it will require decisive action and significant sacrifice for everyone across our diocese," he said in a statement.
"We intend to raise these funds from a proportion of Parish and Diocesan investments, through selling Parish properties, and by direct Parish contributions."
Every parish in the state will be affected and at the June meeting of all parish representatives, it will be suggested more than 120 properties be sold - nearly half of all of the church's real estate.
Bishop Condie said while he understood the sale would cause hurt for church members, it had a commitment to justice, recognition and support to survivors.
"We have not yet finalised the list of the properties that will be identified for sale, however I expect that we will be able to release these details within the next few weeks," he said.
As well as wanting to join the National Redress Scheme, the diocese will continue to operate its own Pastoral Support and Assistance Scheme and this week agreed in principle to increase the payment cap to $150,000 per claim.
The federal government is urging all states and territories to join the scheme, stemming from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The NSW, Victorian and ACT governments have signed up, but other jurisdictions are yet to join.
Payments will be assessed on a case-by-case basis with a maximum of $150,000.
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British Psychological Society Research Digest Article: What are the psychological effects of losing your religion
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/04/06/what-are-the-psychological-effects-of-losing-your-religion/amp/.
what are the psychological effects of losing your religion?.
bps research digest.
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AndersonsInfo
https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/04/06/what-are-the-psychological-effects-of-losing-your-religion/amp/
What are the psychological effects of losing your religion?
BPS Research Digest2 weeks agoFor many, their religion is a core part of their identity, the meaning they find in life, and their social world. It seems likely that changing this crucial aspect of themselves will have significant psychological consequences. A devout person would probably predict these will be unwelcome – increased emotional distress, isolation and waywardness. A firm atheist, on the other hand, might see the potential positives – perhaps the “deconvert” will grow in open-mindedness and thrive thanks to their newfound free thinking and spiritual freedom.
A new study in Psychology of Religion and Spirituality is among the first to investigate this question systematically and over time. The findings, which are focused on Protestant Christians, paint a complex picture. At least for this group, there is no single pattern of changes associated with losing or changing one’s religious faith, and the predictions of both the devout person and the atheist are, to some extent, accurate.
Harry Hui at the University of Hong Kong and his colleagues asked their Christian Protestant participants, all Chinese, to complete the same set of psychological questionnaires on six separate occasions over a three-year period. These questionnaires measured their personality, values, beliefs and psychological symptoms.
Over 600 participants provided complete data and, of these, 188 stopped describing themselves as Christian at some point through the study. Just over 82 per cent switched to describing themselves as non-believers, a few re-identified as Catholic, Buddhist or Taoist, and the remainder changed their self-label to “other”.
Hui’s team were most interested in any psychological changes that were different in kind or magnitude between those who lost or changed their religious identity and those that kept it (they ensured both groups were matched for gender and age and student status – a majority of both groups were students).
Perhaps surprisingly, there were no clear differences in personality change between the continuously religious and those that lost or altered their religious identity (for some reason the sample as a whole showed some decline in extraversion and agreeableness over time, but this was no different for the two groups). In terms of values and beliefs, the religious exiters increased more in “fate control” (believing that fate governs what happens in life, but that it is also possible to intervene in this process); and not surprisingly, they also showed a sharper decline in religiosity.
The most striking difference between the groups was that those who lost their Christian Protestant identity showed much greater variation in their mental well-being over time. About half of the “de-converts” showed a reduction in depression and anxiety compared with the consistently religious group, and about half showed a greater increase in depression and anxiety, although within these broad strokes were further variations in their precise emotional “trajectory”. The de-converts as a whole also showed a greater improvement in their sleep than the consistently faithful.
A key factor seemed to be the de-converts’ personality and psychological state prior to losing their religion. If they were more extroverted and had adequate psychological resources, losing their faith seemed to be an opportunity for growth and even greater psychological resilience. In contrast, those who were neurotic and more mentally and physically vulnerable prior to losing their faith were more likely to experience greater psychological distress after becoming a non-believer (or in a small minority of cases, a believer in a different faith).
READ MORE: https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/04/06/what-are-the-psychological-effects-of-losing-your-religion/amp/
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Judge Orders Jehovah's Witnesses to turn over Internal Documents re: Childhood Sexual Abuse
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://nixlaw.com/news/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-turn-over-internal-documents-related-to-childhood-sexual-abuse/.
judge orders jehovah’s witnesses to turn over internal documents related to childhood sexual abuse.
april 12, 2018. .
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AndersonsInfo
NPR stands for the law firm, Nix Patterson & Roach LLP
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Judge Orders Jehovah's Witnesses to turn over Internal Documents re: Childhood Sexual Abuse
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://nixlaw.com/news/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-turn-over-internal-documents-related-to-childhood-sexual-abuse/.
judge orders jehovah’s witnesses to turn over internal documents related to childhood sexual abuse.
april 12, 2018. .
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AndersonsInfo
JUDGE ORDERS JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES TO TURN OVER INTERNAL DOCUMENTS RELATED TO CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE
April 12, 2018
On April 5, 2018, Judge James Manley of Sanders County, Montana ordered the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization to produce documents and testimony related to internal reports and investigations into the childhood sexual abuse of NPR’s two clients.
In this case, the two Plaintiffs were sexually abused as children by a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Elders in the local Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Thompson Falls, Montana were aware of the abuse and failed to report it to the police, choosing instead to handle the reports and investigations internally pursuant to Jehovah’s Witness guidelines. Their decision not to report the abuse to authorities allowed the perpetrator to remain in the congregation and continue to abuse one of the Plaintiffs.
Throughout this case, and similar childhood sexual abuse cases across the country, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have refused to produce documents related to their internal handling of reports of sexual abuse and related investigations and disciplinary actions claiming that the information is protected by the clergy-penitent privilege and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Through briefing to the court, NPR convinced the Judge that Defendants’ privilege claims were unsupported and improper under the law. The Court agreed that Defendants could not blanket everything related to their investigations in secrecy and that they must turn it over to the Plaintiffs. Often, this is the very evidence that can win or lose a case like this against a religious institution.
The case of Nunez, et al. v. Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York, et al. is set to go to trial in September of 2018.
The plaintiffs in this case are represented by NPR partner D. Neil Smith and associate Ross E. Leonoudakis.
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Aeon: How tyrants work up crowds. [Interesting reading. Think Rutherford; Think JW Conventions]
by AndersonsInfo inimportant reading:.
https://aeon.co/essays/the-omnipotent-victim-how-tyrants-work-up-a-crowds-devotion.
after reading the article, please read the commentary: .
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AndersonsInfo
Important Reading:After reading the article, please read the commentary: -
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NBC News: Cults are terrifying. But they're even worse for women. (JWs child abuse issue is mentioned)
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/cults-are-terrifying-they-re-even-worse-women-ncna862051 alexandra stein, ph.d. is an honorary research fellow at birkbeck, university of london.
her latest book, "terror, love and brainwashing: attachment in cults and totalitarian systems" was published in 2017cults are terrifying.
but they're even worse for women.
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AndersonsInfo
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/cults-are-terrifying-they-re-even-worse-women-ncna862051 Alexandra Stein, Ph.D. is an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. Her latest book, "Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems" was published in 2017Cults are terrifying. But they're even worse for women
Women’s abilities to control their own reproductive choices are often determined by cult leaders.
Apr.02.2018
In a cult, the ability to decide if and when to have a child — perhaps the most basic decision in a woman’s life — is taken over by the leader as a demonstration of the leader’s control and in an attempt to undermine the attachment between mother and child. The goal is to focus all feelings of attachment on the leader or group, and on them alone.
This is one reason why, though women and men both suffer in the iron grip of charismatic and authoritarian cult leaders, women followers face a unique set of life-altering issues — and those unique issues often become the focus of media coverage of cult cases. Women’s sexual lives, their lives as mothers and their ability to control their own reproductive choices are all upended within cultic organizations.
For instance, former members from both Scientology and the New York-based political cult the Newman Tendency have reported women being forced to terminate pregnancies so as not to interfere with their duties to the organizations. On the opposite end of the spectrum, though, cults such as the Children of God controlled reproduction by forbidding any form of birth control whatsoever. Another cult leader reportedly decided who was “developed enough” to have children and who was not as a way to individually control, punish or reward women followers. READ MORE:
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/cults-are-terrifying-they-re-even-worse-women-ncna862051
For those who don't have the time nor the inclination to read the entire article, here's what the author stated about JWs:
"And, what parental attention is available to children may have to be played out within the particular structure of the group. Mothers in the Watchtower organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, may have to take their young children out for hours every week to “witness” to the public and, when not witnessing, nearly every evening is devoted to studying of JW materials either at home or at the Kingdom Hall.
"Recently, thousands of cases are being exposed of child abuse and sexual abuse of women in the JWs, where the organization refused to take judicial action against the accused unless victims could comply with its “two witness rule” — a horrific rule that stated that abuse could not be proven unless the victim could provide two eyewitnesses to the same abusive event. Mothers in these types of closed cultic groups then end up in a position in which they are unable to protect their children."
By 
