In 2015 at the Australian Royal Commission’s Inquiry into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, governing body member Geoffrey Jackson tried to explain in his testimony that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not shun former members as long as they leave unofficially by merely ceasing to attend meetings. But if they formally wish to disassociate themselves so […]
Category: Shunning
Some 30 cases involving Jehovah’s Witnesses came before the U.S. Supreme Court in the five-year period between 1938 and 1943. The decisions of which have greatly led to the protection of religious freedom. However, what happens when a member decides they want to leave the religion? Is their freedom to do so respected? This video […]
Vart Land January 19, 2024 The case of Jehovah’s Witnesses is a good example of the paradigm shift that the Religious Communities Act has undergone: Before, the religious communities were allowed to govern themselves. Today, the protection of the individual is much stronger. Jehovah’s Witnesses have filed a lawsuit against the state after they were […]
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Standing On Opposite Sides
Vart Land January 19, 2024 By Jor Hjulstad Tvedt On Friday, the parties went their separate ways in the Oslo District Court, after the two-week dispute between the state and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Ben Elder and Jan Frode Nilsen have followed the case from different sides. On Friday, the parties made their closing statements in the […]
Vart Land January 13, 2024 “One of the worst nights I’ve had” Rakel Fjelltvedt (26) left Jehovah’s Witnesses because of the exclusion system. It’s one of the worst nights I’ve had. It felt like I was opting out of a lot of people that I love. One October evening just over three years ago, Rakel Fjelltvedt […]
Vårt Land By Jor Hjulstad Tvedt January 12, 2024 Jehovah’s Witness board member about cutting contact: – Up to the individual family COURT: Kåre Sæterhaug, board member for Jehovah’s Witnesses, explained himself to the court on Thursday and Friday. Here he claimed that the religious community has no rules for contact with expelled family members […]
A new ruling from a Madrid court supports that the Jehovah’s Witnesses can be called an “extremist and destructive sect” MC | EFENEWS January 10, 2024 A judge has issued a second ruling that endorses, under the umbrella of freedom of expression , the criticism expressed by the Spanish Association of Victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses towards the religious confession, in this […]
In the next two weeks, the court will decide whether adults in a strict religious community have real freedom. If Jehovah’s Witnesses lose, it will cause a stir far beyond their own ranks. Morten Marius Larsen, news director Vart Land January 9, 2024 The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ practice of exclusion has become well known in the Norwegian […]
In a recent morning worship talk, Robert Ciranko, helper to the governing body, doubled down on the Watchtower society’s shunning policy. This video shows that the two main scriptures, 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 and 2 John 9-11, most often used by the organization do not support their claims. Instead of being a practice engaged in by […]
“It can be compared to a feeling of sadness. But it is difficult to describe,” Per Ole Nilsen searches to find the words when he is asked about his son. The distance from Grimstad to the son’s home in Risør hasn’t changed, but the father no longer travels to visit as before. Nilsen is a member of […]