On 14 November 2018, Australian-based barristers David Bennett AC, QC and James Gibson presented to Watchtower Australia and the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation their commissioned review and opinion on the findings and recommendations of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse as it related to Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The Royal Commission heard from two survivor witnesses, 12 institutional witnesses and an expert engaged by the Jehovah’s Witness organisation who gave evidence about the organisation’s policies, procedures and practices.
During the Child Abuse Royal Commission Tokley SC represented Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia, Geoffrey Jackson of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the interests of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation.
“The Commission’s dissection of the religious beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses … failed to discriminate between religious beliefs (and the obligations imposed by such beliefs) and the requirements of secular law” . “The Commission’s criticism of Jehovah’s Witnesses Bible-based religious beliefs and practices was misplaced” .
The Royal Commission’s Report of Case Study No. 29 - The response of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd to allegations of child sexual abuse, was released today.
Since the 1990s, Jehovah's Witnesses and their legal entities, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Societies, have been named as defendants in lawsuits alleging they covered up allegations of child sexual abuse.
Funding. Jehovah's Witnesses fund their activities, such as publishing, constructing and operating facilities, evangelism, and disaster relief via donations. There is no tithing or collection, but all are encouraged to donate to the organization.
In 2016, three more properties valued at an estimated $850 million to $1 billion—including the headquarters building—were put up for sale. The WatchTower Society reached a deal to sell the headquarters at Columbia Heights for $700 million.
Candace Conti drew worldwide attention in her fight against the Jehovah's Witnesses when a jury awarded her $28 million in damages – the largest verdict for a single victim of child abuse against a religious organization in U.S. history.
The majority of elders are family men and maintain secular employment to support their families. Jehovah's Witnesses do not have a salaried clergy nor any employees.
70,000 Jehovah's WitnessesAn estimated 70,000 Jehovah's Witnesses are disfellowshipped every year — roughly 1% of the church's total population, according to data published by the Watchtower. Their names are published at local Kingdom Halls. Of those, two-thirds never return.
Nathan H. Knorr, President of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The Watchtower sold the building for $202.5 million in 2017, Finance Department records show. The current owners and developers are investment firm Kayne Anderson with Watermark Retirement Communities/The Freshwater Group and Tishman Speyer.
The Governing Body investigation resulted in the disfellowshipping of several other headquarters staff. On September 1, 1980, the Governing Body distributed a letter to all Circuit and District overseers stating that apostates need not be promoting doctrines to be disfellowshipped.
A statement from the religion's governing body said that the ad-hoc way it had acquired property over the years had led to its campus being far too spread out and therefore difficult to manage, therefore it was selling off the properties and centralising its organisation in the town of Warwick, in upstate New York.
8.7 millionAs of 2021, Jehovah's Witnesses reported a monthly average membership of approximately 8.5 million actively involved in preaching, with a peak of about 8.7 million. Jehovah's Witnesses have an active presence in most countries, though they do not form a large part of the population of any country.
There are almost 8.7 million Jehovah's Witnesses in 240 countries around the globe, Hendriks said, including 1.3 million in the U.S.
The Royal Commission heard from two survivor witnesses, 12 institutional witnesses and an expert engaged by the Jehovah’s Witness organisation who gave evidence about the organisation’s policies, procedures and practices. It also examined evidence from case files held by the organisation which recorded allegations, ...
29 - The response of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd to allegations of child sexual abuse, was released today. The report follows a public hearing held in Sydney in July and August 2015 which examined the experience of two survivors ...
Included in these was the organisation’s retention and continued application of policies such as the two-witness rule in cases of child sexual abuse which , the Royal Commission considered, showed a serious lack of understanding of the nature of child sexual abuse. It noted the rule, which the Jehovah’s Witness organisation relies on, ...
Despite the above cited statement published by the Child Abuse Royal Commission, Bennett QC and Gibson wrote in their commissioned report to Watchtower Australia and the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation that, “In our opinion the Commission’s rejection of … two ‘key submissions’ made by Jehovah’s Witnesses led the Commission to conflate ...
On 11 February 2019 Bennett QC and Gibson presented to Watchtower Australia and the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation their signed eight-page executive summary: “Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australia and The Final Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse”. DOWNLOAD: Legal Report executive summary on ...
JW Leaks exposes and holds accountable the Watch Tower Society and those leaders within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that disregard or violate the laws of the land, and that cause religious harm to sections of the community. Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Proclaimers of “soon” since 1879. Leave a comment.
The Royal Commission’s Terms of Reference require us to consider such matters and other ‘related matters in institutional contexts’. The definitions in the Terms of Reference of both ‘institution’ and ‘institutional context’ are not exhaustive and, in our view, they encompass the institution of the Jehovah’s Witness organisation ...
Counsel assisting Bennett QC in those proceedings was barrister Andrew Tokley SC. During the Child Abuse Royal Commission Tokley SC represented Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia, Geoffrey Jackson of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the interests of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation.
In Australia, Bennett AC, QC won the historic Supreme Court case that redefined religion and granted religious recognition for Scientology. In a speech at the opening of the new Australian-headquarters for Scientology Australasia in 2016, Bennett QC said:
29 The response of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd to allegations of child sexual abuse” the Child Abuse Royal Commission wrote the following in relation to the submissions from Watchtower & Ors:
I don't know what made me even think of this, but I remember one year (could possibly have been more than one year) that they papered over the mirrors in the women's bathrooms at my District convention.
The new Governing Update #8 is pushing vaccines hard! I'm all for vaccines, but this will surely cause so many antivaxx cultists to fight back against the direction of the GB. Watching the fallout from this will be interesting
I thought I would have been angry, but truly all I feel is an overwhelming sadness. A sadness not for me, but for them. For what they are cutting themselves off from, what they will miss out on in the twilight years of their lives. A little backstory:
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