Reader comments on the website already show his cause has public sympathy.
MrMonroe
JoinedPosts by MrMonroe
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19
Australian campaigner concedes defeat on Working With Children checks
by MrMonroe inhttp://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/door-closes-on-jehovahs-witness-campaign/story-e6frf7jo-1226095887745.
sunday herald sun, melbourne.
jehovah's witness children will continue to doorknock neighbourhoods with adults who have failed to gain police background checks after a bid to stop the practice failed this week.. gippsland carpenter steven unthank, a former member of the religion who says he was abused as a teen by a church elder, was given approval by victoria's chief magistrate to take the unusual step of launching a private prosecution of the religion over its refusal to require ministers to gain police checks, but says he cannot afford the $350 fee for filing the charges.. mr unthank yesterday said he could not pursue the religion on his own.. he said it was a disgrace that neither victoria police nor the justice department would enforce the working with children act, which requires ministers of religion to gain police checks before working unsupervised with minors.. the religion's corporate arm in australia, the watch tower society, says it does not believe its ministers need to obtain background checks to work with children because they do not typically work unsupervised with children.. ``it's an absolute beatup,'' a spokesman said.
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19
Australian campaigner concedes defeat on Working With Children checks
by MrMonroe inhttp://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/door-closes-on-jehovahs-witness-campaign/story-e6frf7jo-1226095887745.
sunday herald sun, melbourne.
jehovah's witness children will continue to doorknock neighbourhoods with adults who have failed to gain police background checks after a bid to stop the practice failed this week.. gippsland carpenter steven unthank, a former member of the religion who says he was abused as a teen by a church elder, was given approval by victoria's chief magistrate to take the unusual step of launching a private prosecution of the religion over its refusal to require ministers to gain police checks, but says he cannot afford the $350 fee for filing the charges.. mr unthank yesterday said he could not pursue the religion on his own.. he said it was a disgrace that neither victoria police nor the justice department would enforce the working with children act, which requires ministers of religion to gain police checks before working unsupervised with minors.. the religion's corporate arm in australia, the watch tower society, says it does not believe its ministers need to obtain background checks to work with children because they do not typically work unsupervised with children.. ``it's an absolute beatup,'' a spokesman said.
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MrMonroe
Not a cent, BP. He's made an impact already and maybe that's as far as he's prepared to go now. Maybe that's all he was ever going to do. Maybe financial reality has set in, or the realisation that without government support it all becomes futile: one man against a global religious empire with millions of dollars in assets and lawyers in tow.
Unlike you though, I don't sneer at him for pulling out.
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19
Australian campaigner concedes defeat on Working With Children checks
by MrMonroe inhttp://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/door-closes-on-jehovahs-witness-campaign/story-e6frf7jo-1226095887745.
sunday herald sun, melbourne.
jehovah's witness children will continue to doorknock neighbourhoods with adults who have failed to gain police background checks after a bid to stop the practice failed this week.. gippsland carpenter steven unthank, a former member of the religion who says he was abused as a teen by a church elder, was given approval by victoria's chief magistrate to take the unusual step of launching a private prosecution of the religion over its refusal to require ministers to gain police checks, but says he cannot afford the $350 fee for filing the charges.. mr unthank yesterday said he could not pursue the religion on his own.. he said it was a disgrace that neither victoria police nor the justice department would enforce the working with children act, which requires ministers of religion to gain police checks before working unsupervised with minors.. the religion's corporate arm in australia, the watch tower society, says it does not believe its ministers need to obtain background checks to work with children because they do not typically work unsupervised with children.. ``it's an absolute beatup,'' a spokesman said.
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MrMonroe
Broken Promises, feel free to send him money. His plan involved laying charges against FIVE corporate entities of the WTS about the failure of elders from ONE congregation to gain WWC checks. The $350 fee would have been just the start. He would have been left to file all papers himself and probably prosecute the case in court himself. As a carpenter.
He was hoping that his actions would prod Victoria Police or the Director of Public Prosecutions into taking over the case. Unfortunately neither has shown much interest.
He has done what he can: gained some publicity and raised public attention about the fact that one religion believes it is above the law. But look, if you think he's failed, feel free to lend a hand or take over. If you think protection for defenceless children of Jehovah's Witnesses is a good cause.
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19
Australian campaigner concedes defeat on Working With Children checks
by MrMonroe inhttp://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/door-closes-on-jehovahs-witness-campaign/story-e6frf7jo-1226095887745.
sunday herald sun, melbourne.
jehovah's witness children will continue to doorknock neighbourhoods with adults who have failed to gain police background checks after a bid to stop the practice failed this week.. gippsland carpenter steven unthank, a former member of the religion who says he was abused as a teen by a church elder, was given approval by victoria's chief magistrate to take the unusual step of launching a private prosecution of the religion over its refusal to require ministers to gain police checks, but says he cannot afford the $350 fee for filing the charges.. mr unthank yesterday said he could not pursue the religion on his own.. he said it was a disgrace that neither victoria police nor the justice department would enforce the working with children act, which requires ministers of religion to gain police checks before working unsupervised with minors.. the religion's corporate arm in australia, the watch tower society, says it does not believe its ministers need to obtain background checks to work with children because they do not typically work unsupervised with children.. ``it's an absolute beatup,'' a spokesman said.
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MrMonroe
Sunday Herald Sun, Melbourne
JEHOVAH'S Witness children will continue to doorknock neighbourhoods with adults who have failed to gain police background checks after a bid to stop the practice failed this week.
Gippsland carpenter Steven Unthank, a former member of the religion who says he was abused as a teen by a church elder, was given approval by Victoria's Chief Magistrate to take the unusual step of launching a private prosecution of the religion over its refusal to require ministers to gain police checks, but says he cannot afford the $350 fee for filing the charges.
Mr Unthank yesterday said he could not pursue the religion on his own.
He said it was a disgrace that neither Victoria Police nor the Justice Department would enforce the Working With Children Act, which requires ministers of religion to gain police checks before working unsupervised with minors.
The religion's corporate arm in Australia, the Watch Tower Society, says it does not believe its ministers need to obtain background checks to work with children because they do not typically work unsupervised with children.
``It's an absolute beatup,'' a spokesman said. ``We do what we have to under law.''
But Mr Unthank said the religion's stance left thousands of Victorian children of Jehovah's Witnesses unprotected from abuse by adults as they accompanied them in cars, in private homes and in one-on-one religious instruction.
He said police seemed afraid to lay charges against a religion.
Victoria Police say they continue to have contact with Mr Unthank over his allegations and are ``seeking advice regarding potentially investigating the matter''.
A spokeswoman said: ``For any charges to be laid police must have evidence an offence has occurred.''
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15
Singer finds her voice after leaving JW's
by Gopher ingood story about rene marie.
she speaks frankly about a good effect she found by joining the jw's, and how and why she left never to look back.
http://www.pacpub.com/site/myzwire.cfm?newsid=15292956&brd=1091&pag=461&dept_id=343157&rfi=6
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MrMonroe
marking
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33
What keeps a JW in the religion? A new angle.
by Hobo Ken inthere are many reasons why but i wonder if there could be a dominant mental mechanism at work?.
i've done a bit of research and written this article on the subject.. the comparisons between stockholm's syndrome and jw behaviour are striking.. what keeps a jw in the religion?.
matt.
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MrMonroe
I started thinking about Stockholm Syndrome again this week after reading some comments on the talk page behind the Wikipedia article on Jehovah's Witnesses (where I spend some time). The discussion was about shunning, and prompted by a user's claim that use that word in relation to JWs' codes of discipline was wrong because it was a pejorative term.
A user, who I think is Czech, joined the conversation with his own take of disfellowshipping:
- The term shunning means that someone is ignored, not spoken to. Disfellowshipped JW are treatet like that. The Witnesses do not greet them. BUT, if there would be any need for help, (nursing, feeding, help out with personal finance, or working as colleagues) than the Witnesses do talk to them, but just about the basic needs or about the job. That does not fall under the term Shunning.
- Disfellowshiping means (At least on what the witnesses self understand) that do not socially gather, and talk with eachother in terms of friendship.
- In all cases where someone gets disfellowshipped, witnesses will not greet them, sit down with them. If a DFS is in need, he/she approaches the elders, who can point out members to help, or family members can help out with some basic personal need (Finances, Health care, or in case of dissasters, building houses again, etc. Black Cab, being an EX-JW can vouch for this. I myself have worked along side with a DSF JW. We didn't lunch together, but we discussed our work on daily bases. That is allowed. But I would not greet him on the streets.
- The reason is this.. The DSF JW has done something which was against the rules of the bible or the society. He therefore gets punished.
- Like a child at school, who had to stand in the corner, faced to the wall. Why? Otherwise the others would get the Idea that it is okay to do something wrong. But when he falls, he would be helped up again. This is the principle which has been practised long before Jehovah's Witnesses existed.
- Shunning is something else. A member of a community, who gets expelled, is neither helped, or spoken to. The community turns their back at this expelled person. The meaning of the word Shunning and Disfellowshipping are quite simular. Never the less, there are differences.
It's sad that people who are so indoctrinated scramble so hard for analogies that defend and justify the harsh and unchristian policies of those who run their religion. "Like a child at school who had to stand in the corner" My God, these are adults we're talking about, not children in a 19th century schooling system that relied on humiliation to extract obedience. "We discussed our work on daily basis. But I would not greet him on the streets. He has done something which was against the rules of the bible or the society. He therefore gets punished."
Indoctrinated Germans living under the Third Reich would have found some way to defend the barbaric conduct of their tyrannical masters, and JWs inevitably find justification for the vice-like grip in which they're held by the JW leadership through policies of disfellowshipping and informing on congregation members.
Monty Python's Piranha Brothers sketch summed it up well:
Interviewer: I've been told Dinsdale Piranha nailed your head to the floor.
Stig: No. Never. He was a smashing bloke. He used to buy his mother flowers and that. He was like a brother to me.
Interviewer: But the police have film of Dinsdale actually nailing your head to the floor.
Stig:(pause) Oh yeah, he did that.
Interviewer: Why?
Stig: Well he had to, didn't he? I mean there was nothing else he could do, be fair. I had transgressed the unwritten law.
Interviewer: What had you done?
Stig: Er... well he didn't tell me that, but he gave me his word that it was the case, and that's good enough for me with old Dinsy. I mean, he didn't *want* to nail my head to the floor. I had to insist. He wanted to let me off. He'd do anything for you, Dinsdale would.
Interviewer: And you don't bear him a grudge?
Stig: A grudge! Old Dinsy. He was a real darling.
Interviewer: I understand he also nailed your wife's head to a coffee table. Isn't that true Mrs O' Tracy?
Mrs O' Tracy: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Stig: Well he did do that, yeah. He was a hard man. Vicious but fair
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39
May I enter?
by Eclectic init is a pleasure to read some of the topics posted in this forum.
finally i decided to register.
i have now the certainty that when i am sitting down at the kh listening to teachings i do not accept i am not alone in this world, maybe thousands feel the same way.
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MrMonroe
Hello Eclectic, welcome. I left the JWs three years ago after 22 years on the inside, recruited at the doors, believe it or not! I believed it completely for many years, then began to look around me and wonder. Even when I realised I didn't enjoy it at meetings and conventions because a lot of what was said and written was self-congratulatory, self-affirming stuff, I felt I still could not break my ties completely.
The turning point, as it was with many ex-JWs, was reading Ray Franz's "Crisis of Conscience." Franz, if you;re unaware, was a member of the Governing Body who, like you, became uneasy with what was going on in the organisation. He began to think, and reason, and then question. For that he was punished and publicly vilified. Many JWs still believe he is the devil incarnate.
His book, however, (easily obtained) is a very sincere and fair examination of the highest echelons of the religion from the inside, and reading it rips back the curtain on how the religion has become what it is and why it treats people the way it does. Once you've read it, it's very hard to see the religion in the same way.
Be warned: Franz was disfellowshipped and therefore Witnesses are forbidden to read it. But you must ask yourself if a "Christian" organisation has the right to determine what you read in order to make informed decisions about your life. What do they have to hide?
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61
What made you leave "The Truth"?
by Chemical Emotions infor me it was many things.
most concerned certain teachings that invloved genders, children, sex, sexuality and sexual orientations, disfellowshipping, apostates, blood, rape, and few other things, as well as the jw's unloving attitude toward so many people..
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MrMonroe
Resentment that a faceless group of men was controlling my life and taking up all my time without a valid reason. I became sick of living in the pocket of soulless, gossiping, small-minded people who claimed to "love" me but didn't seem to actually like me. And, after I read Crisis of Conscience, the stark realisation I'd been lied to for more than two decades about it being "God's organisation". Once I realised there was no God in Jehovah's Witnesses, the fear of consequences of quitting disappeared.
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30
What do you think of the pictures (both illustrations and photos) in WT literature?
by Chemical Emotions ini used to really like the drawings as a kid.
the artists, i think, are usually pretty good, not so much at portraying emotions but in technical ways.
the photos always seemed silly to me.. so what do all of you think?.
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MrMonroe
The depictions of "worldly" pursuits -- gambling, clubbing, gangs, crime, flirting -- were always embarrassing because they were so obviously used with good Dubs pretending to be baaaaad.
I remember being distracted at a Watchtower study one Sunday morning by a picture of Noah and his sons building the ark in which horizontal planks of timber along the side of the vessel were being joined at a point between the verticals. In other words the ends of those horizontal planks weren't fixed to anything, they just butted up the next one. I guessed that whoever drew (and approved) that illustration had never built anything of timber. Maybe they'd gone straight to Bethel instead of trade school.
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The Most Insane Thing Ever Printed by the Watchtower?
by Leolaia ini found this while perusing through old golden ages at the new york public library.
it is so patently ridiculous and offensive, i thought i'd just post the thing without comment.
*** g27 11/30 pp.
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MrMonroe
Funny how "in modern times" God has only ever been interested in guiding the destiny of one country on earth: the United States. How his "restoration of true Christianity" took place in that same country and all members of his governing body came from that same country. Is God American?