the royal commissions public hearing into the jehovahs witnesses will recommence in sydney on friday 14 august 2015 at 11:00am.. it is anticipated that the hearing will hear from one witness, mr geoffrey jackson, a member of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.. .
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www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2015-08/public-hearing-into-the-jehovah%e2%80%99s-witnesses-to-rec.
Wow, this should be pretty interesting. Not sure if the RC will really be able to force them to make positive change but given the fact they have been able to cut through the theocratic warfare leads me to believe there could be some damming testimony that could be used against them in other jurisdictions.
They will probably spin this as Gog of Magog attacking. LOL - idiots.
if anyone knows which committees gj sits on or what some of his responsibilities are, can you please post here with supporting quotes.
Wouldn't this fall under the Service Committee? Who is chairing that now? I thought I saw not too long ago the names of the folks on all the main committees. It could be that that committee (in conjunction with legal) made the actual policies and procedures. I'm sure the full GB would be briefed. Of course, there's a GB member that chairs each committee and ultimately it's the GB who directs all activities world wide.
It's beyond belief that they are attempting to throw the Australia branch committee under the bus when they were following the same rules promulgated by the GB as the rest of the world.
This is getting very interesting.
are you pleased with the exposure of the society in australia?
do you feel personally vindicated by it?
do you think it gives you credibility with others now that all the things you said were going on, actually are documented?
https://www.revealnews.org/article/jehovahs-witnesses-cover-up-child-sex-abuse-and-oust-a-victim/.
jehovahs witnesses cover up child sex abuse and oust a victim.
topics: criminal justice / religion .
wow - a very well written article. Debbie, your story is a moving one and a sobering one. I don't know how any active JW could read this and not be moved. I'm so glad you're finding happiness and that you had the courage to take the actions you did. And that your daughter is living with you and will grow up free from the WTS.
there is so much information on the website of the hearing.
you can find the full transcripts of each day there as pdf.. but also the evidence list is very interresting.
it contains many confidential letters from congregations but also from the hq to branch offices.. the full list can be seen here: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/exhibits/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.
Great work guys! Also LOL at the WTS having to turn over the BOE letters and Shepherd book.
Good on ya Aussie government!
Note to the GB: I guess you now realize that the protection and hands off attitude you've been given by the US government due to our reluctance to chastise religion in any way since the courts liberally read the constitution isn't the norm in the world. It's fine when you have the majority of the religion in the US but since the majority is NOT in the US, you sort of need to think about this sort of thing.
I hope the pedo database gets into either the RCs hands or better yet, the US court system via a civil case. Then it will really hit the fan.
i don't know if a commercial will come up and i can't find this on youtube as it is probably copyright material or i am just not in a good search pattern today.
anyway, try to view this if you haven't seen it:.
https://rutube.ru/video/0ba7a3ee7e89dbbc730c4af32032e33b/?ref=logo .
I agree this is going to get even bigger. When I was an elder, I remember all those abuse letters and wondered with other folks if there was an issue or they were just being cautious. I also distinctly remember after the 20/20 report I was a bit shaken. I personally never had to deal with the issue either myself or within my family from another JW. So I assumed these things were isolated issues.
But, I do remember the subject coming up in a car group in service. I also remember saying to the entire group that it was rape and a crime and crimes should be reported to the police. I used the murder example and said if you witnessed a murder, your first call should be to the police and then you could talk to an elder or whatever about it. Same with child rape. Everyone in the group agreed. To me, it wasn't being a rebel it was using common sense. They all agreed.
Here in the US, freedom of religion is more important than anything else it seems. There will be no governmental inquiry into how they handled these cases. I don't think there was one with the Catholic Church which is obviously much larger in size. The only way you can get the attention of religious institutions is to sue them. Which has happened already (Conti and others). I really believe the Aussies have helped lawyers in the US because the more things get exposed, the more ammunition US attorneys will have in attacking the process since that doesn't change from country to country.
If nothing else, this is going to hurt recruiting. Hopefully, there will be some common sense policy changes coming out of this but I really doubt it.
so i have not reported a single hour of fs or family worship in over 8 months.
have not given a single comment in a meeting for over a year.
a few weeks ago, my brother in law, who is an ms now, approached me.
The day of the talk, call the TMS overseer and tell him you came down with something and can't give the talk. Or just don't show up and they'll get a sub. When confronted, say you thought it was the next week and you were under the weather that night.
i've mentioned it in a few threads, but i'd like to make it a thread of it's own.. i'm going to make the prediction the gb will schedule a new meeting once a month, starting in jan 2016, for watching the jw broadcasting program.
at the moment it's up to each cong to organize a viewing, but soon the gb will take over the arrangements.. i make this assumption based on the fact that they know that a substantial quantity of pubs are not tuning in every month.. by scheduling a meeting once a month, it's easier for the gb/elders/organisation to gauge how many people are watching, and to make sure everyone is fully indoctrinated with what the gb are saying.
it will also keep the rank and file busy busy busy.. if i was a cult leader, that's what i would do.
well another big bad elder here just wanting to say sorry.. i'm sorry that so many were treated like crap, and shown that god's love is not to be found around jehovah's witnesses.
i'm sorry that inadvertently i've likely taught many to judge and as such see that racism permeates every corner of the jw world, else why else would someone be of the world, or even inactive.
i'm sorry i sat in on a jc, and voted to df.
photo was posted on jw-archive.
j.w.org flags flying at the 2015 r.c.
in fribourg, switzerland..
