News and Links for ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses: Child Sexual Abuse within Jehovah’s Witnesses on Australian TV

Video: Child Sexual Abuse within Jehovah’s Witnesses Australia

The link above takes you to a YouTube playlist that includes videos from Australia regarding their recent (and televised!) investigation into more than a 1000 cases of unreported sexual abuse of children.

Video: Jehovah’s Witness Meeting Changes 2016

For those who haven’t already heard, it sounds like sisters won’t be involved in meetings at all. They barely had anything to do before.

Video: Elders extort

A dispute between an average Jehovah’s Witness and an elder. It pretty much goes down like many of us would expect. It’s a tiny bit Jerry Springer.

Local father offended by Jehovah’s Witness letter, claims its writer is targeting obituaries

A local father who wishes to remain anonymous sent Action News Jax a copy of a letter sent to his family’s church.

The letter read in part: “Sorry about your loss. I read about it from the obituary.”

Jehovah’s Witness literature was attached to the letter.

Jehovah’s Witness grandparents ordered to keep faith to themselves

The couple lost their bid for unsupervised access to the girl because they insisted on taking her to worship at their faith’s Kingdom Hall despite the repeated objections of the child’s mother.

I wish the courts would do the same for my in-laws… Sorry. But also, wow.

‘Abused by my brother, then shunned by my Jehovah’s Witnesses family after I went to police’

Louise Palmer says parents sided with evil Richard Davenport over her, while church offered only prayers and urged her not to go to police

I think the flaws in policies like the two-person rule and telling Witnesses they can’t take accusations to the police without elder permission (elders aren’t cops, though some of them think they are…) should be really obvious by now.

How the Church of Scientology fought the Internet—and why it lost

The title pretty much says it all.

Japan closed 638 Congregations lost 6,000 Publishers in 10 years!!! WHY?

Many seem to think it’s the internet. I suspect it’s at least partially a cultural issue as other religions tend to dominate in Japan. What do you think?

62 apostates mark JWsurvey Day 2015 with a message of love for Jehovah’s Witnesses

Very cool. 🙂 Big shout out to everyone who participated!

Betrayed and exploited: Dismissed ‘special pioneer’ lashes out against downsizing

This website recently reported growing resentment among bethelites over the constant downsizing that’s taking place as the Governing Body hoards its dwindling resources in order to complete the Warwick project.

There’s also a story about the issues that prompted the lashing out.

Watchtower of Britain found liable for actions of child rapist Peter Stewart

Still think the Watchtower Society doesn’t have a pedophile problem?

The Tight Pants Rule: Wearing “disturbing” clothing gets you banned from preaching

Control issues. Yeah. They have them.

News and Links for ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses: “The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses Blame Homosexuals for the Pedophilia in Their Religion”

The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses Blame Homosexuals for the Pedophilia in Their Religion

Go online and look up “Jehovah’s Witnesses and child molestation” and you’ll find site after site that shows their horrific track record in how they handle such abuse within their religion. You can browse this site alone, under the Pedophilia category or JW Victims in the News, and see civil case after civil case being filed, along with cases of active, approved members of their congregations actually serving jail time for the rape and molestation of little children.

I remain steadfast in my believe that the Watchtower Society is getting more obviously crazier with each passing year.

Dear LGBT-Community, I apologize for having been a homophobic Jehovah’s Witness Jerk

Dear LGBT-Community, I was a homophobic assh*le for two-thirds of my life. I am 33 now and it is time for me to apologize.
You see, I was born into a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was a member of this organization for nearly 21 years. I got baptized when I was 14 and left Jehovah’s Witnesses on December 16th, 2003.

Jehovah’s Witness mother refuses blood transfusion leaving behind NINE children

She refused the proper medical treatment on religious grounds until it was too late and she died. Was her death inevitable or could it have been avoided?
Years earlier, Watchtower had subjected Dankwa to a religious tribunal, known among Witnesses as a “judicial committee,” because she had accepted a blood transfusion when giving birth to her previous child.

Jehovah’s Witness parents refuse consent for son’s life-saving blood transfusion
Woman abused as child by Jehovah’s Witness minister wins £275k damages

The defendants claimed that because Stewart was now dead, A had brought her claim too late and they were not responsible, although they accepted he did sexually abuse her [from the age of four].

Jehovah’s Witnesses are liable for Abuse because Organization failed to take “safeguarding steps”, says London Court

London’s High Court has ruled that Jehovah’s Witnesses failed to take “safeguarding steps” to protect a young woman from abuse by a Ministerial Servant. The victim has won a six-figure payout, according to a BBC report.

Jehovah’s Witnesses ‘destroy or seriously disrupt’ Families due to their Shunning Policy, Survey finds

VIDEO: Jehovah’s Witnesses 2015 Regional Convention Saturday PM experience parents shunning children

Cedars writes about this video in an article you can find here.

Teenage Jehovah’s Witness refuses blood transfusion and dies

And he’ll probably be treated as a hero.

One Question in October Watchtower exposes Barbarity of the Undue Influence Jehovah’s Witnesses are subject to

It is a simple question – but it illustrates the cruel simplicity of undue influence at work among Jehovah’s Witnesses: “HAVE you ever thought, ‘Am I the kind of person Jehovah will want to save during the great tribulation and bring into the new world?’”, asks JW.org in the introduction to the Study Article “Give us more faith”. This post will try to explain the scope of manipulation at play here and show the true nature of this seemingly – on the surface – harmless question.

Jehovah’s Witness Leader Rants Against Higher Education, Saying It’ll Lead to “Spiritual Disaster”

Jehovah’s Witnesses Governing Body member Tony Morris is the host of the January video on the new JW online television network and what he says is a terrifying tirade against higher education.

Hemant Mehta has really been paying attention to Jehovah’s Witnesses. That link above goes to one of his articles. You can also see a video he made about Jehovah’s Witnesses here.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Are Low on Funds… So They’re Asking for Kids’ Ice Cream Money

In their latest propaganda video, the Church shows a little girl choosing between buying ice cream for herself… or donating that money to a church.
There’s only one way this commercial can end:

Another article by Hemant Mehta. A link to the video he is writing about can be found at the link.

Boy, 7, taken away from his parents after judge rules he has been damaged by his Jehovah’s Witness mother’s religious beliefs

Finally, Apostate Bird attacks!

Apostate bird has no interest in your tracts!

News and Links for Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses: “California court guts child abuse ruling against Jehovah’s Witnesses”

California court guts child abuse ruling against Jehovah’s Witnesses

Now, three years later, an appeals court has eroded her courtroom victory even further by ruling that the leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses had no duty to warn congregants that a confessed child molester was one of their own. As a result, judges eliminated the punitive damages in the case. Conti still stands to receive $2.8 million.

Some are calling it a victory, but I think that’s debatable. The court did acknowledge that the Society did what it was accused of doing; withholding information from the congregation. But you have to dig through the stories to find that one out. Most people will just see that she lost and move on.

Here’s a little more from the article.

In the Conti case, the panel upheld the lower court’s ruling that the Watchtower and elders in the North Fremont congregation failed to supervise Kendrick when he preached door to door in the community, a practice Jehovah’s Witnesses call field service…
“While the Congregation may not have been able to police Kendrick’s behavior after scheduled field service was over, it could have controlled his access to Conti during the field service,” the judges wrote Monday…
Watchtower officials told the court they allow child molesters to perform field service, but not alone or with a child. They could not, however, produce a written policy for the court…

Conti has 30 days to appeal the decision.

This Guy Secretly Videotaped His Jehovah’s Witness Apostasy Trial

This was better than some videos. The elders really do seem to be engaging with him in a conversation. I’m looking forward to part 2.

16 Shocking Allegations In Scientology Documentary ‘Going Clear’

That link will surely work for atheist readers, too.

Did Jehovah’s Witness shunning drive young Brit towards Islamic extremist radicalization?

UK newspapers are reporting that a young British man, who has been found guilty of plotting to behead a soldier, was radicalized into Islamic extremism after being kicked out of his home by his Jehovah’s Witness parents.

Jehovah’s Witnesses video slammed for threatening kids with death for not paying attention in church

The clip, meant to stress the importance of paying attention in church and meetings, has been criticized for insinuating that not fully focusing during such gatherings can result in dying, even connecting the concept to the story of Noah’s Ark. JW.org has not yet responded to the backlash.

Yep.

Mormon conversion rate lags behind missionary increase

Jehovah’s Witnesses have their share of problems with making converts too. They just don’t talk about it.

Charity Tribunal rejects Jehovah’s Witnesses charities’ latest appeal attempt

Using Scripture as “Proof” that the Society’s “Truth” is the Real Deal

So the Society's "truth" is all about the Bible and scripture, huh?

So the Society’s “truth” is all about the Bible and scripture, huh?

Finally, I added this one as a reminder to Jehovah’s Witnesses who keep asserting that they follow the Society because its teachings are Bible based.

The reality is that even the Society says you can’t arrive at their “truth” by following scripture. Most denominations of Christianity use the Bible just as the Society does: by interpreting it to suit their own beliefs. Not simply following the scriptures “as is.” Having a Bible quote to back up every doctrine is not the key to finding the true religion, if such a thing exists.

To put things into context, look up “true religion” and add the name of any major religion in a Google search and you’ll find papers arguing that the religion you added is the one, true religion. And all of them will quote scripture. I once found one that argues Catholicism is the true religion while refuting the Society’s claims to be the same. All of them leave a bunch of scriptures out while focusing on the stuff they do well.

Using scriptures to back up your doctrines really isn’t a big deal and doesn’t prove much.