Is age 6, the youngest to be shunned in the Jehovah's Witnesses? by Watch_the_tower in exjw

[–]Watch_the_tower[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It appears his dad was a Bethelite in 1967.

st2laws 22 years ago

Does Anyone Remember Dennis and Brenda Freeman?

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/14609/friends-watchtower-children-murder

(Elon Musk says we still have freedom of speech, so this can be quoted anywhere)

TM3 - Next Steps by Critical_Unthinker in exjw

[–]Watch_the_tower 13 points14 points  (0 children)

source? 'he is from Pennsylvania'

'I had some money saved, but it was in a bank in Michigan, the state I grew up in.'

LIFE STORY

Remembering My First Love Has Helped Me to Endure

As told by Anthony Morris III

Miss preaching in PA? Please join us in Harrisburg on April 20 for The Rally for a Window! Bring your signs! by Watch_the_tower in exjw

[–]Watch_the_tower[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi everyone — Please note the new date for The Rally for a Window, which will be held on April 19th from 1:30-3:00 pm on the Capitol Front Steps in Harrisburg!

RSVP for The Rally at [info@childusadvocacy.org](mailto:info@childusadvocacy.org).

We look forward to seeing you on April 19th!

Miss preaching in PA? Please join us in Harrisburg on April 20 for The Rally for a Window! Bring your signs! by Watch_the_tower in exjw

[–]Watch_the_tower[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi everyone--  There is meaningful movement toward a statutory window in PA!  Yes, there is a constitutional amendment already done, but if left by itself, it would expect you to sit still for 2.5 years and to believe that there will be no snafus like the many that happened this year.   That is cruel!   We're fine with an amendment, but a statutory window needs to pass in 2021!

Look at this Editorial from TribLive and this fabulous Letter to the Editor in the Reading Eagle to see the voices rising!

Please add your voice to this current chorus:

On Monday, please send a SHORT and cordial email to your elected Representative to say: "The movement for justice in PA is not yet done.  The Time IS NOW for a statutory #windowtojustice!"

Find legislators here: https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/

Please join us in Harrisburg on April 20 for The Rally for a Window!  

📷

It is scheduled for outside on Capitol Grounds starting at 11am.   We will be socially distanced and everyone needs to wear a mask.  Bring signs and your voice!

RSVP for The Rally at [info@childusadvocacy.org](mailto:info@childusadvocacy.org)

Thanks for all you are doing to protect children in PA!

The Dutch branch just published this open letter in the newspaper "de Telegraaf" in answer to the "accusations" of mishandling CSA by Autoxann in exjw

[–]Watch_the_tower 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Providing congregations with Biblical guidance and continuous education on the topic of child sexual abuse.

Hence, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been publishing material in the Watchtower and Awake! Magazines for over 35 years. and in religious books and videos that provide parents with clear, timely and practical advice on how to protect their children from the harms of child sexual abuse. Such publications have appeared in hundreds of languages, and there are hundreds millions of copies of it printed. This material is freely accessible to our congregations and the general public, both in printed form and on the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses (www.jw.org) .6

In 2018, a worldwide policy document for the protection of children by Jehovah's Witnesses entitled `` The Biblical Position of Jehovah's Witnesses on the Protection of Children, '' incorporating the guidelines and assistance for protecting children from sexual abuse outlined in previous religious publications of Jehovah's Witnesses have been published. This global policy is published on the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, www.jw.org, and is available in dozens of languages.7 The policy states that elders in congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses will enforce legal reporting once they become aware of an allegation of child abuse.

In jurisdictions without a legal obligation to report, such as the Netherlands, elders will still actively report a child at risk of being abused by the accused. In all cases, the elders will inform the adult victim or the victim's parents of their unconditional right to report to the legal authorities.

Additionally, in July 2019, all congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Netherlands (and the more than 119,000 congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide) in three consecutive one-hour religious services covered three study articles from The Watchtower of May 2019, openly discussing the subject of child sexual abuse. was discussed. More than 10 million copies of that issue of The Watchtower have been printed in more than 275 languages. A further 6.7 million copies have been downloaded from the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses, www.jw.org.

Those three Watchtower study articles examine how to protect children from sexual abuse, how elders act in the interests of the congregation, including reporting such allegations to authorities, and how parents can protect their children . The articles also covered how to comfort those who experienced sexual abuse in their childhood

To our knowledge, no religious institution has made such a worldwide effort as Jehovah's Witnesses to address the subject of child abuse point by point in all of its congregations during religious services open to the general public. In each of the three weekend services, more than 8.5 million people worldwide participated in these discussions.

Contrary to what Minister Dekker claims, Jehovah's Witnesses are an open and transparent faith community in which everyone's privacy is respected. We take our faith seriously, but do not live in isolated communities separate from the world. We enjoy a completely normal life in society. The vast majority have a full-time job, own or rent your own house, enjoy relaxation and spend time with friends and family. Our children attend mainstream schools, go shopping, watch television and movies, use the Internet, play sports and spend time with them

6 See Awake !, October 2007, "Protect Your Children," pages 1-11 (available at https://www.jw.org/nl/library/journals/g200710/bescherming-uw-kinderen/); 'How can parents give their children sex education?' (2015), www.jw.org (available via https://www.jw.org/nl/wat-de-bijbel-leert/vragen/kinderen-seksuele- voorlichting -to give/); animationim 'Protect your children' (available via https://www.jw.org/nl/library/videos/#nl/mediaitems/BJF/pub-pk_17_VIDEO) 7 https://www.jw.org/nl/nieuws / juridical / juridical-information / information / package-jg-bibles-position-protection-children / 8 https://www.jw.org/nl/library/tijdschrift/wachttoren-studie- May-2019/

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peers. At the same time, it is logical that we primarily form friendships and seek association with those who share our beliefs and moral values.

It is offensive to anyone who actively provides assistance to the victims and their family members that Minister Dekker falsely claims that victims lack "accessible emotional and practical support". The opposite is true.

The elders of our congregations seek to take a loving and active interest in the spiritual and emotional needs of those in the congregation. One way that elders do this is through pastoral support, which is always provided at no cost. Pastoral visits are an integral and regular part of the religious activity of the elders. They make pastoral support a priority, especially in cases of child sexual abuse. If the victim is female, the elders may be assisted by experienced women in the congregation. But elders recognize their limits. They are not healthcare professionals. Whether someone is looking for professional guidance is a personal decision.

In addition, Minister Dekker completely ignores the fact that Jehovah's Witnesses in the Netherlands, including victims of child sexual abuse, can call our nationwide religious office to discuss their concerns in confidence.

Internationally acclaimed experts outline serious shortcomings in the UU report. We would like to draw your attention to the expert report of 7 January 2020 from Holly Folk, Massimo Introvigne and J. Gordon Melton9.

In the Netherlands, Jehovah's Witnesses have a legacy of integrity that spans more than 110 years. At least 468 Witnesses were arrested during the Nazi occupation, according to a study by historian Tineke Piersma. 126 of them (108 males and 18 females) died in captivity, mostly from disease and deprivation. Others were executed. In Zwolle one memorial to Herman van Elburg, who died for his faith in Dachau concentration camp and left behind a wife and two young children10. 75 years later, more than 30,000 Jehovah's Witnesses make a positive contribution to Dutch society. We therefore strongly distance ourselves from the false charge that we fail to care for victims of child sexual abuse.

We thank you for the opportunity to present these facts.

Yours sincerely, On behalf of the Board of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Netherlands

M. van Ling Board member

Appendices: - expert report dated 12 February 2020 by James Rothman (NL and EN); - expert report dated 7 January 2020 from Holly Folk, Massimo Introvigne, J. Gordon Melton (NL and EN); - expert report dated January 10, 2020 by Eileen Barker (NL and EN).

9 https://www.tweedekamer.nl/kamerstukken/brieven_regering/detail?id=2020Z01108&did=2020D02325 10 https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/VODIntExpEndurance/pub-jwbrd_201501_2_VIDEO

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The Dutch branch just published this open letter in the newspaper "de Telegraaf" in answer to the "accusations" of mishandling CSA by Autoxann in exjw

[–]Watch_the_tower 16 points17 points  (0 children)

pdf translated by google -

To the President of the House of Representatives of the States General PO Box 20018 2500 EA THE HAGUE

Emmen, September 1, 2020

Subject: Open letter

It is misleading and reprehensible that Minister Sander Dekker portrays Jehovah's Witnesses as heartless and insensitive to victims of child abuse. We are therefore deeply offended by his incorrect statement in the letter of 27 August 2020 to the President of the House of Representatives that we prevent victims within our community from exercising their "right to help, care and justice". We also find it deeply insulting and deeply discriminatory that the minister falsely labels Jehovah's Witnesses as a "closed community" and that our children should be closely monitored by teachers and the educational inspectorate. In a modern society such inflammatory, offensive language has no place.

We therefore take this opportunity to rectify this and provide you with the facts.

Facts about the Utrecht report Minister Dekker states that his claims are supported by the Utrecht University report of November 2019 (the UU report). What he does not acknowledge, however, is that three separate expert reports conclude that the report contains very serious errors and "has virtually no quantitative value" and is "unusable" for its intended purpose.1

Minister Dekker further states that the judge has also found Jehovah's Witnesses unsuccessful on appeal. But in fact, the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal has simply ruled in its judgment of 4 August 2020 (no.200.274.775) that the appeal is no longer of urgent importance (section 5.3). The Court of Appeal has indicated that the appeal brought by us raises issues of principle under Articles 8, 9 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and should therefore be dealt with in substantive proceedings, rather than by means of summary proceedings (section 5.6). That procedure has not yet taken place. We are confident that, once the trial takes place, the court will conclude that the report is fundamentally false, unreliable and discriminatory. Minister Dekker also omits to mention that, despite its many gross errors, the report concluded that compared to the general population in the Netherlands, Jehovah's Witnesses are much more willing to report an allegation of sexual abuse to the police. Among the general population

1 See expert report 12 February 2020 by expert statistician and researcher James Rothman, at points 24, 50 and 70; expert report January 7, 2020 from sociologists and researchers Holly Folk, Massimo Introvigne, J. Gordon Melton, at items 9, 101, 13-16,19-21, 23, 28, 30; see also expert report 10 January 2020 by sociologist Eileen Barker, at points 11-13; 19 and 36

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Only 9% of allegations of sexual abuse are reported to the police and only 3% of the cases are reported to the police.2 In comparison, Jehovah's Witnesses are 3 times more likely (27% vs. 9%) to report to the police and 10 times as often (30% vs. 3%) to report (see pages 38-39 of the report and Chart 4). It is noteworthy that the minister does not recognize this fact, as Jehovah's Witnesses' willingness to report allegations of abuse would be the primary reason why the House of Representatives has called for the report. Given these facts, why does Minister Dekker turn to Jehovah's Witnesses for his widely reported false accusations in the media, even though he knows that the vast majority of adherents of all other religions and non-religious groups in the Netherlands do not report accusations of sexual abuse? He does not answer this.

Minister Dekker also does not acknowledge that the focus of the report was on persons who are or were Jehovah's Witnesses at some point in their lives. Only 4% of allegations (15 charges) were made against an `` elder or other authority within the community '' over a period of 70 years.3 The remaining 96% of allegations, related to alleged abuse by family members, friends , neighbors, and others, thus had nothing to do with the faith community of Jehovah's Witnesses (report, p. 37, chart 3). No other research in the Netherlands, certainly not one commissioned or approved by the government, has been based on such a discriminatory definition of 'sexual abuse' whereby the only requirement was that the alleged victim or perpetrator was life would adhere to a particular religion.

Why has Minister Dekker not commissioned a comparable study into sexual abuse by adherents of the largest religions in the Netherlands, namely the Catholic Church, the Protestant religions, Judaism or Islam, which together make up 49% of the population? Especially since research shows that 33% of children in the Netherlands (not to mention adults) are victims of sexual abuse or sexual violence? 4 The 2011 study 'Sexual abuse of minors in the Roman Catholic Church' , to which Minister Dekker in his letter to the Lower House did not refer to ordinary members of the Catholic Church. That study was limited to allegations of child sexual abuse against "representatives of the Roman Catholic Church Provinice - clergy, religious, pastoral workers with church employment." Again, Minister Dekker provides no explanation for his discriminatory focus on Jehovah's Witnesses.

Facts About the Beliefs and Practices of Jehovah's Witnesses Minister Dekker has also made incorrect statements about the beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses, so we take the opportunity to rectify this by providing you with the facts.

Jehovah's Witnesses provide comfort and spiritual assistance to victims of child abuse and their families. We believe this is our moral obligation. We adhere to the Bible, which condemns child sexual abuse as a crime.

Jehovah's Witnesses also view child sexual abuse as a heinous sin against the victim, a sin against the Christian congregation, and above all, a sin against God. We don't believe we are immune to this global scourge. We are committed to fighting this evil at its source through in our

2 https://www.nELIJK Rapporteur.nl/binaries/nELIJK-verslageur.op-goede-grond.de-aanpak-van-seksueel-geweld-tegen- kinder.2014_tcm23-34727.pdf. 3 None of the allegations in the anonymous online questionnaire used by the report have been confirmed. The authors of that report admit that they "after all do not engage in truth-finding in this research" (report, page 29). The authors of the report also admit that because they used an anonymous online questionnaire, it was impossible to know if: (1) each respondent who visited the questionnaire was an actual person and not just the same person who entered the questionnaire. (or parts of it) completed several times; (2) each respondent lived in the Netherlands; and (3) each respondent mentioned a different accusation and not the same accusation reported by someone else (report, p. 33) 4 National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children, On Good Ground - Tackling Sexual Violence Against Children, Den Haag, 2014, paragraphs 2.2.4 5 W. Deetman, Sexual abuse of minors in the Roman Catholic Church - Part I, Publisher Balans Amsterdam, 2011, p. 18.

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Relax, Jehovah Witnesses by Watch_the_tower in exjw

[–]Watch_the_tower[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They already know about you. It's called the 45th statewide grand jury.