The following news item was reported on January 27, 2007, on the Jehovah's Witness Discussion Forum:
Jehovah’s Witnesses Lose Court
Battle to Suppress Freedom of Speech
In a Denmark court ruling December of 2006 Jehovah’s Witnesses lost a key
decision to suppress freedom of the press. They were ordered to pay
legal fees of 50,000 kroner to one of the largest newspapers in Denmark, Ekstra
Bladet.
Ekstra Bladet reported a series of articles on the epidemic of child
abuse within the JW organization. Since May of 2002 reports of child
abuse problems have been circulated by media worldwide. Stories include
the New York Times, Dateline and eight different countries offering
testimony from sexually abused kids within the religion.
In the autumn of 2004 the Denmark newspaper ran a series of articles that
blasted the religion for polices of covering up abuse allegations. The
Jehovah’s Witness local Branch Office Committee in Denmark filed a 350,000
kroner, slander lawsuit against Ekstra Bladet and the editor of the
newspaper. The religion went further and attacked victims of abuse that
interviewed for the newspaper articles. Victims were told they would be
sued into poverty if they did not retract the stories given to the newspaper
of being raped as children. One girl due to intimidation withdrew her
story and other victims went into hiding. This is a continuation of
religious persecution against members that have spoken out on abuse. In
the summer of 2002 five Jehovah’s Witnesses were disfellowshipped (expelled)
for appearing on NBC’s Dateline and providing factual proof of child sexual
abuse not being reported to authorities at the direction of the Watchtower
Legal Department. The Jehovah’s Witness Public Relations Official, J.
R. Brown actually suggested to media that the reason members were
disfellowshipped was due to possible sexual sins or theft. As a result
of these comments, Joe and Barbara Anderson filed a $20 million dollar lawsuit
for slander and the reversal of the disfellowshipping decree. After a
three year long battle the appellate court finally dismissed the case saying
that the “First Amendment” would not allow them to rule on the case.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have long touted their record as being a defender of
“freedom of speech.” They currently claim on their website they have
won over fifty lawsuits supposedly establishing the freedom of people to speak
as they wish or practice their faith. There is a film/propaganda piece
circulating around the USA called “Knocking” that will soon air on PBS
touting how Jehovah’s Witnesses protect freedom. Yet another side the
public are not informed of is the inverted use of these legal victories to
punish and humiliate people they do not like. “Disfellowshipping” a
word created by Jehovah’s Witnesses, is used as a weapon within the religion
to destroy families and silence members through intimidation to obey whatever
they are told to do. If a member is “disfellowshipped” all family
and church members view them as dead and will not acknowledge their existence,
even if a son walks into the same room with his mother, she will not speak to
him. The shunning is indefinite until the deposed member renounces
anything the church tells them to and submits totally to church leadership.
For example victims of child abuse have been disfellowshipped for attempting
to expose the member that molested them. Their “freedom of speech”
was taken away by no church member being able to talk to them and in many
instances they were put out on the street by their families as directed by
church leaders. The right of the Jehovah’s Witness religion to take away
“freedom of speech” from their members has in large part been won by their
successful Supreme Court litigations.
If a whistleblower for a large wealthy corporation tried to alert the public
to a child molestation scandal that was covered up with victims blackmailed
into silence, they could be sued out of existence in the event they tried to
destroy the lives of the individuals that reported the crime. When abuse
survivors and advocates attempt to do this against a religious corporation
they are bullied into silence with the full endorsement of the US courts.
“Freedom of speech” is a relevant term in the United States, for if you
choose to speak out against a religion for committing crimes against children
you can expect while that religion destroys your life the courts will remain
silent. The court’s “see no evil” decisions are based on twisted
perversion of the first amendment that Jehovah’s Witnesses fought and won
sixty years ago. So the next time a church chooses to destroy you
financially, spiritually, mentally and emotionally because they do not like
you exposing their crimes against children, you can say a silent thank you to
Jehovah’s Witnesses for making sure their perversion of the “First
Amendment” guarantees any religion can destroy your life without punishment.
How could a documentary film on Jehovah’s Witnesses miss this common
practice in the religion? Jehovah’s Witnesses are well known on their
website for press releases touting their legal victories in the international
courts. If you go to the Jehovah’s Witness media website you can see
them here www.jw-media.org
. Sadly there is no reference to the Denmark decision anywhere on the jw-media
website. In recent California court decisions, Jehovah’s Witnesses
have also lost key court rulings on civil child abuse litigation against the
church as well, but again this has been omitted from their website.
[Read about the court ruling here]
http://www.silentlambs.org/courtrulingnapa.htm
It would appear when they lose their court battles to suppress
“freedom of speech” they appear to be silent. Could one of the
reasons be the misuse of donated funds to hurt people? When a
Jehovah’s Witness calls at your home he is taught to memorize this
commentary at the end of offering you some free literature. “Our
literature is offered without charge but we would gladly accept a small
donation for the Worldwide Work of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
When the public reaches into their pocket and makes a donation to this group
they are funding many different things. While part of the money goes to
make more magazines and books, a significant amount goes to fund litigation.
In the last five years over seventy lawsuits were filed involving the
mistreatment of abused kids. When you donate to the “Worldwide Work”
you fund the defense of the pedophiles that molested them. In the
Denmark litigation 50,000 kroner of “Worldwide Work” donations will be
spent to pay legal fees in an attempt to suppress child abuse policy expose
articles written by a newspaper. Would anyone that understands what is
actually happening wish to donate their money to assist pedophiles and
suppress freedom of speech? Even if it was just a few cents of each dollar
they donated?
At silentlambs we call for the immediate cessation of funding for pedophile
defense litigation and suppression of freedom of speech that Jehovah’s
Witness leadership has approved. It is a sad day when Denmark, a small
European country can give Jehovah’s Witnesses a “slap on the ear” for
suppressing “freedom of speech” and a few weeks later the U S Courts
continue to give Carte Blanc privileges to the Jehovah’s Witnesses and
anyone else that wishes to silence victims of abuse and misuse “good
faith” donations to hurt the innocent. The next time a Jehovah’s
Witness happily approaches you to offer their magazines, if you are inclined
accept their offering and then inform them that you prefer not to donate to
their “Worldwide Work” until they stop hurting victims of abuse.
So while Jehovah’s Witnesses brag to the public regarding court victories
that they say make them champions for freedom of speech, the facts show that
lawyer/elders funded by a multi-billion dollar corporation are making a
mockery of the US Constitution. They persecute good people like Joe and
Barb Anderson and use the Supreme Court as a knife to cut out the tongues of
people that are victimized by this religion.
[See more information at the following links.]
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20070125.html
http://www.silentlambs.org/Denmarklawsuit.htm
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