In just a few short months, the Netherlands based Reclaimed Voices foundation has accomplished some astonishing things on behalf of those who have suffered Child Sex Abuse inside the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Consider the following:
- They have gathered together almost 300 survivors of child sex abuse inside Jehovah’s Witnesses and obtained legal representation for those survivors.
- They have successfully engaged the Dutch media and placed Watchtower’s appalling and dangerous child protection policies firmly in the public spotlight.
- They have caused the issue of Watchtower’s neglectful and deceptive behaviour in the area of child safeguarding to become a serious political issue, with multiple debates and motions being held in the Dutch Parliament, which may lay the ground for the non-reporting of child abuse to be curtailed by law.
- They have forced Watchtower to begin negotiations to provide survivors with any documents and information that Watchtower holds.
However, there is still much to be done. Watchtower is currently attempting to stall negations, refuse to meet Reclaimed Voices and evade this issue both in the media, in government, and via legal means. This means that Reclaimed Voices and the survivors they represent have a long fight ahead of them.
Part of this fight will include legal costs; Watchtower is a global religion that can throw millions of dollars into legal fees, whereas Reclaimed voices do not have access to such funds. Watchtower knows this, and when faced with such an uneven fight may attempt to simply stall Reclaimed Voices until they run out of money.
We cannot allow this to happen.
Reclaimed Voices Needs YOUR Help
Reclaimed Voices does not want survivors to have to bare any of the costs of this fight, and so they are engaging in fundraising efforts to allow them to pay for their legal costs and continue the fight against Watchtower. One such fundraising effort is currently underway.
This is where YOU can help.
Aswin Suierveld, a member of the Reclaimed Voices team, is currently engaged in a 1,600 kilometre (1000 mile) charity walk from Duncansby Head in the Northeast of Scotland to Lambs Head in Southwest Ireland. The goal is to raise funds for Reclaimed Voices ongoing work. She hopes to raise 1 Euro for every mile she walks.
I know we can help her reach that target and beyond.
Please, please, please consider donating to Aswin’s fundraiser. I know that many of us are not financially well off, and that every penny counts; I’m certainly not someone who can throw money around without counting the cost. This month, I’ve taken the funds I’d usually spend on the occasional treat; a coffee from Starbucks, and then contributed them to Reclaimed Voices instead.
It is very brave of Aswin to undertake this arduous walk, and demonstrates how committed Reclaimed Voices are, not only to getting justice for survivors and protecting children in the Watchtower religion, but also to ensuring that those survivors do not have to bare the brunt of the financial costs of doing so.
The website is in Dutch, but it is possible to switch the language to English to make donations easier– here is how.
Please Support Aswin’s Brave Charity Walk
Please share this article far and wide– the more funding Reclaimed Voices can get, the better the chances of them being able to force Watchtower to make real changes, fight any legal battles that are required, and support abuse survivors.
For further information on Reclaimed Voices, please see the following articles that have previous appeared on JW Survey.
Reclaimed Voices Foundation: Holding Watchtower to Account
Reclaimed Voices Foundation Sends Powerful Open Letter to Watchtower
You can also review the two editions of Watchtower in Focus on the John Cedars Youtube channel where the activity of Reclaimed Voices has been discussed.
You can also review the debate that took place in the Dutch parliament on the issue of Watchtower’s failure to adequately address the issue of Child Sex Abuse inside its ranks below. (You can click on the CC button to turn on captions and select English subtitles if you prefer.)
Follow me on Twitter @covertfade
This is very encouraging, CF. Hopefully, this will garner some media and public attention as well. We all should do our part to take the fight to Watchtower. Go Aswin !!!
What a great opportunity for all of us to come together and show our strength! Thank all of you in the Netherlands!
I will definitely be making a donation. Watchtower is not nearly as strong as all of us!
I attempted to make a donation using my debit card. Unfortunately, my debit card type is not listed under the options tab. The only option available is bancontact, which I am not familiar with. Please let me know what I need to do in this regard so that I may make a donation. Thank you.
Were do you live?
Debit Card payments are only possible for people in Belgium (Bancontact is a Belgian system).
You have probably theree options:
1) donation by PayPal (you need an PayPal account)
2) donation by creditcard
3) donation directly to the bankaccount of Reclaimed Voices by international money transfer
Options 1 or 2 you can choose directly on the donation page.
For option 3 please contact me at r.hintjes@reclaimedvoices.org to provide you with our IBAN and BIC (swift).
– Raymond
I live in the U.S.
I will use PayPal, instead. Thank you.
Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues
-Math 10:17
And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be save
-Math 10:22
For those rulers are an object of fear, not to the good deed, but to the bad. Do you want to be free of fear of the authority? Keep doing good, and you will have praise from it
– Romans 13:3
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
This may veer off-topic a bit, but hey, anything to stick it to Watchtower.
Wouldn’t it be something if religious addiction was classified as a mental illness???
How did Moses climb a mountain wearing only sandals and a robe, then climb back down again carrying two tablets of stone? What was the point of placing the flaming blade of a sword at the entrance to the Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve would have been like, WTF is that? Swords hadn’t been invented yet, and probably neither had fire. Why did Jesus walk on water? Did the Meschiak come to Earth to perform circus stunts? Hadn’t he already proven his so-called powers by his first so-called miracle, turning water into wine, then healing sick folks? The writers obviously added the water-walking thing for drama. And it worked. Yet, if you don’t believe, the Christian will say, That’s because you don’t have faith. Well, doesn’t faith = belief? So, that’s the same as saying, You don’t believe because you don’t have belief. Senseless. Like saying, You’re not hungry because you have food in your stomach. Or, Your car is out of gas because your fuel tank is empty. Duuuuuuuu. The Muslim will point to the so-called scientific statements in the quran. Like, mountains have roots. OK, that’s not too hard to figure out. Even Iron-Age camel herders could have come up with that one on their own. Or, the bones of a fetus develop before the muscles. Well, no sh*t, Sherlock. It might be a little awkward the other way ‘round. And the practitioner of the Judaic faith, well, he never has to prove anything to you because he’s always right. Yahweh told him so. At least he told Abraham. And Goddammit, that’s good enough! And at the center of it all is poor Watchtower, struggling for its life.
I swear to God, organized religion is a Three-Ring Circus that has probably caused more harm than good.
PS If you want to fall off your ass laughing, check this out – it’s not a joke, it’s real –
http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.ca/2012/01/islam-its-mostly-about-going-to.html
Tell a person there’s an invisible man in the sky who made everything and he will believe you. Put up a sign reading ‘wet paint’ and he has to touch it to make sure.
Figure that one out.
I am sure all the disgruntled exJWs are going to reach down in their pockets and donate. Resister now is your chance to show how you really feel. Can we put you down for $1,000?
Markle, shouldn’t you be enjoying your Honeymoon with your new husband, Prince Harry?
I have a feeling the “solidarity” of such a walk unfortunately falls short of eliciting any meaningful change in this destructive cult. Nice, but just nice.
I thought of standing outside Bethel with TV crews filming while I pour petrol over myself and light myself up in protest of the unchecked bullying that permeates this organization. But it wouldn’t bring meaningful change, so why waste my life.
How to bring meaningful change to the org?
The ARC brought some change in Australia. But only Australia.
It’s incredible, no, phenomenal, that many JWs still regard the Governing Boneheads with awe.
It calls to mind the scattered scarecrow-parrot-sheep who still support Trump.
Deluded.
When I was still a programmed operative of the Borg, I would sometimes experience a dilemma when I needed advice from the Schmelders. Whom would I approach for the spiritual life guidance I needed? The window washer? The janitor? The mailman? The car wash owner? Or perhaps the contractor with the summer home?
Your first mistake was to even think about going to the elders. In regards to your childish reference to Prince Harry above are you a homophob? And what can you donate?
Or are you going to blame the borg for not going to college?
I don’t know. What’s a homophob?
Yeah folks, I went there.
Mookie, it looks like you’re the one who was deprived an education – or at least, several billion brain cells.
You know what it is. Just a Typo. I am sure I have more education then you. Sure I make more money then you too.
What have you donated? Has any of your disgruntled ex JW friends donated anything?
Oh Boo Hoo Hoo. Markie, the disgruntled JW, makes more money than me. Shall I cry in my pillow? Or go runnng to Mummy? Big f—-ing deal, Einstein. Take a look around. Get some Situational Awareness. You think money means what it used to? People can’t pay enough for peace of mind these days. Look at the President of the United States. He’s one of the richest men in the world, and everybody hates his guts. His own wife refuses to so much as hold his hand. I have things that money can NEVER buy. Freedom. Peace of mind. Honor.
Listen, Pharisee, if you’ve got your panties tied in such a knot over who’s putting how much into the Donation Box, why don’t you give me your account number, and I’ll make a generous donation on YOUR behalf so you can ease your conscience and sleep at night. Otherwise, stfu. You’re obviously just another JW Windbag. Heaven help you when that bubble bursts.
P.S.: Are you the kind of Pharisee that would beat the poor old widow for dropping in only two coins of small value? I’m sure you are – provided no one else was around, and she had no one to protect her. You and your friend “Messenger” (provided you’re not the same person) are the quintessential passive-aggressive Internet Warriors. You are the very definition of a waste of time.
Have a nice life.
Folks, don’t let degenerates like Markie / Messenger, etc. project their guilt onto you. It’s a psychological phenomenon called Transference. Mookie keeps prodding me about how much I donated. Truly I tell you today, No figure will ever be enough. Not $1. Not $1000. Not $1000000000000. Not ALL the money in the Universe will be enough to fill the gaping voids in their souls.
Correction: I “missed the mark” slightly. lol … What I was talking about is called Projection, not Transference. Transference is something else.
FYI Transference is punishing someone for the wrongdoings of someone else, kinda like scapegoating. However, it could also mean treating someone extra nicely because they unconsciously remind you of an old friend or something.
Here’s a kicker for my fellow Star Wars fans out there who haven’t heard this. Not sure what the Universe is trying to tell us here. In the newest instalment of the franchise, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Lando Calrissian is a “pansexual” (fancy word for bisexual). The character Lando is played by the actor / comedian Donald Glover, who was raised a Jehovah’s Witness. I’m no expert on Karma, but this tastes a little like Sweet Revenge.
Suck on THAT, Watchturd !!!
:D :D :D
Here’s another kicker. It’s Glover, our very own celebrity apostate, doing a kind of “reverse apostate” humor rap song. Messenger and Markle, you may want to pick up some pointers from this. LMAO
https://youtu.be/qepCaKQOLjg
Here’s an interview where Glover talks about being raised JW, briefly, starting at 2:22. I’m not just throwing this out there. People (including us) need to see that the truth is coming out, and Watchtower types can’t hide anymore.
PS He talks about his parents being supportive when he entered show business, but I’m sure he mentioned in another interview that his dad is Disfellowshipped. Can’t find the clip, but it was also on Late Night With Stephen Colbert, about a month ago.
https://youtu.be/itE8Cd85-QM
@Resister, I think it’s time to take your meds. Looks like you are tripping.
And thank YOU for your glorious contributions, m’Lord.
In life, there are the players, and there are the spectators, and never the twain shall meet. Before you can soar with the eagles, you must cease scratching with the turkeys.
Sorry, I should have said, spectators … and CRITICS – who are also mere spectators as well. Let’s just call them “opinionated spectators”. LMAO
Hey, those who can, do.
Those who can’t, criticize. :D
Again, don’t mean to flood the page with YouTube clips, but this is a must-see. It reminds me of how Jehovah’s Witnesses treat members of the “Governing Body”. Glorifying / worshipping men to the most sappy, disgusting, vomitous level. Yes, it involves Trump (at 1:55), and yes, it’s an old Hart to Hart TV movie, and yes, in the context of the story, some “shock and awe” is indeed warranted. However, it goes way beyond that, as I said, to the point of being laughably sappy, as well as vomitously disgusting. Do humans crave dynamic leaders, and those who set an example, who motivate us? Of course. But this kind of thing is ridiculous, toxic, and ultimately self-destructive.
OK, that having been said, now I’ll give you the clip. :D
https://youtu.be/Hen4pt45iWs
LMAO … Just watched it again. Love the part where everyone’s jaws literally drop. I totally picture the same reaction in a room full of JWs, if one of the Governing Bimbos were to enter.
Have you researched the scriptures fulfilled in cedar point Ohio? Maybe they stayed on the roller coaster too long.
Hello, I saw you mentioned the Finnish case and interview in a recent video. Here is that video with English subtitles:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19r0qURBM4
Wow! Thanks for posting that. Great interviewer. That WT spokesperson was a snake in the grass with his answers.
I can’t believe it. Did he actually say SORRY? What a brilliant interview. Thank you for posting it .
Yes it is quite unusual. He did say sorry and also kind of suggested that 2 witnesses are not needed in child abuse cases. And he said that shunning family members is a “conscience matter”. The GB would not be happy with this interview.
I have never seen Hakkarainen this nervous. He used to be a CO and DO before he went to Bethel some years ago.
Yeah, I noticed his mouth went a little dry on a couple of occasions when he had to think carefully about his response to her. You could see she was trying to close in on the truth but he managed to do the carefully scripted political answers but I could tell that she knew it was bullshit.
The 2 Witness Rule – a soon to be thing of the past. Time is running out for Watchtower. A child sexual abuse incident right inside the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The father caught the abuser with his hand in the cookie jar.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/jehovahs-witnesses-sexual-abuse-children-beliefs-rules.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/jehovahs-witnesses-children-sexual-abuse-arrest-20180524.html?mobi=true
Great article you attached, many thanks
@Markie, there is so much bad news yet to happen for Watchtower. The child sex abuse court cases are just starting- get ready for this to be the new normal for Jdubs. The worldwide decreases are soon to begin. In the West we are about to see congregations dwindling, being combined and excess halls sold off.
All the nonsense from this organization is about to bite it on its rear end. Just wait for the Weinstein moment to hit, when the rank and file find out they can’t trust the leadership, feel betrayed and yet are bewildered as to what to do and where to go.
This site is helping so many people like myself to see that we aren’t imagining the nonsense- it is happening.
This site isn’t about to die- not when so many people are reading it. And as I have said, things are going to get more interesting very soon.
Not all of us are nut jobs. Resister just forgets to take his meds sometimes, and Jado, well what to say.
If you want to be well informed about how much nonsense the organization is up to, stay tuned.
Ricardo….you might remember a question asked a couple of survey’s back, question 18 if my memory serves me, – ‘if your belief system was proven to be false, would you still believe?’ To the ordinary person that might sound like a dumb question, but it’s not. It’s a real thing and it happens and some people will hang on no matter what and there will be JW’s who will do just that. Nobody likes to be wrong, especially when their whole life has been built around something and they’ve been harping on for decades about how ‘right’ they are but remember, to wake up is to die. Is there any stronger motivation for one to lie to oneself?
It looks like my response was deleted. I guess its okay for resister to say childish things about me but I can’t replay in kind because I am not anti-Jehovie.
Now, now don’t be feeling sorry for yourself. I’ve had comments that aren’t being posted too so it’s not just you. I do have to say that there is a lot of gibberish on this site at times.
I don’t say childish things, Monkie.
I wonder what would happen to the “2-witness” rule if the majority of cases involved male victims. After all, Watchtower is a patriarchy, and it simply would not do to have a generation of fine, strong, future WT “leaders” psychologically scarred and emasculated. How quickly would “New Light” appear on the horizon in that scenario? And as far as most victims in reality being female, that may very well fall in line with Watchtower’s sinister agenda. It virtually guarantees that the next generation of Witness “sisters” will be meek, submissive wives and Cong members, who have been “put in their place” at an early age. Perfect for a mysoginistic, patriarchal cult which regards women as a notch or two above slaves. Hmmm, perhaps there is some Method to WT’s Madness. Perhaps the Governing Bozos still have a handful of working brain cells among them. You know, like Zombies – most of the brain has ceased functioning, but there’s still enough cerebral activity to keep the jaws moving up and down, trying to consume the brains of the living.
Too creepy.
Does anyone know where i can get the UN paperwork proof?
@Whip It: try googling Watchtower UN NGO
http://www.4jehovah.org seems to have something set out well
Whip it, jwfacts is always the best start.
No need to lash out, Ricardo. Jehovah loves you.
And I’m sure the Governing Baboons do as well.
Sorry folks. I just really wanted to say “Governing Baboons”. :D
Also, I find these little back-and-forths rather stimulating.
So, to add a little something to my previous comment, yes, it seems experts claim that rape is more about power and control than it is about sex. A form of domination and subjugation. Historically, rape has been used as a terror weapon in warfare. I assume the aforementioned Governing Baboons encourage that behavior by turning a blind eye, in order to show young female Witnesses “who is Boss”. Wouldn’t want “worldly” influences like Equal Rights for Women contaminating Jehovah’s pure order. I just wonder where the #MeToo movement is in all of this? Perhaps it’s just not important enough for all our glorious Hollywood celebs. Perhaps it only counts when it happens to adult starlets.
Oh well, we peasants can still dream.
you’re a bit of track there, resister. You have to remember that the GB are totally out of their skulls with delusion about Jehovah and themselves. They are sick and live in a different world and if they have to choose between what they firmly believe Jehovah wants and whats right and decent in a secular world, Jehovah wins out every time. Jehovah needs two witnesses and that’s that. To them, keeping the Org going and following Jehovah’s will until Armageddon arrives is top priority and they’ll be trying to balance this world with the next as best they can. Of course we can see that those two worlds just don’t mix, but they can’t. They are every bit as deluded as people who fly planes into buildings for the greater good. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting they’ll fly planes into buildings, they won’t, but only because Jehovah hasn’t told them to. Everything they do is in line with what they believe Jehovah wants. They don’t mean to perpetuate evil, but neither do suicide bombers. The GB are the result of runaway extreme belief and when society has eventually had enough of these dumb idiotic cults, they’ll get kicked into touch. It’s a sickness and unfortunately, it’s tax deductible. That needs to stop.
The Governing Bigots are getting up in years. And they don’t look like the physically active type. I can see them suffering from health problems soon. Maybe even the odd heart attack.
Ricardo, great website, hadnt seen that one before, plenty of info, i did find a letter on the UN, 7 saved a copy to my computer for further distribution,
An elder here says it is not true that Watchtower was affiliated with the UN; it is a lie spread by apostates. I am in the process of readying a letter to the local branch and to London bethel, in this elder’s name, seeking confirmation.
Interestingly, I asked the local CO if it is true and he said that from research he has done, it is legit. So we have an elder blaming apostates and a CO giving the credit to Watchtower.
But give the elder some slack- there is no information about this on jw broadcasts, jw.org, or in any theocratic books or magazines. The elder, trusting that the organization is not hiding anything, has been totally fooled. Although we know better, who is going to believe us? But at least we know.
Did anybody see the special TV show yesterday called “Cults and Extreme beliefs’? I accidentally saw it as I was surfing the TV. A&E put it out and thee is a 1 hr segment on JW’s along with other cults. It is quite interesting. The segment was about a sister who had been molested an d how she still dealt with the molestation years earlier. Officially she was still a JW but drove up the WT HQ to send in her letter of resignation. Here is a link. You can also google it.https://www.aetv.com/shows/cults-and-extreme-belief/season-1/episode-2
Cults and Extreme Beliefs S01E02 Jehovah’s Witnesses – Video …
▶ 44:09
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6kp6u4
A link with the TV show. WT does not like this exposure.
@Holy, an excellent documentary which should be watched by every Witness. Thank you.
@Holy Connoli
Great doc. Thanx.
@outandabout
I agree. Religious Addiction / Fanaticism / Fundamentalism truly is a mental illness. However, you’ve raised the age-old question, Do all these Nut Jobs really and truly believe all the Royal Steaming Crapola they serve to their eagerly drooling constituents? I mean, how does one understand sociopathy without actually being a sociopath? How do you get into the head of a religious sociopath who has made a career of manipulating ignorant masses? Do they really believe the nonsense in their unholy scrolls, or do they just use it for their purposes, and make up whatever other sh*t they need along the way? Since I have no definitive answer, no empirical proof, since I can’t shrink down and enter one of their brains, like in The Fantastic Voyage, I will come to the most simple-minded conclusion and say, it’s BOTH. It’s true, as you stated, that the Governing Bongheads do everything they can to uphold the J-man’s statutes and Royal Decrees from his Throne on High. However, it is equally true that they’ve fabricated their own unique extra-curricular Steaming Loads along the way. Like the “Overlapping Generation” scam. That’s not in the bible. They just up and made that up. The blood thing in the bible is open to interpretation. But they just put on their tinfoil hats and decided, on their own, that it must apply to transfusions as well. And all the changing dates – 1919, 1935, 1975, … They don’t even do that anymore ’cause it’s been wrong so many times, like the Boy Who Cried Wolf. They’ve had egg on their faces so many times you could lie them on their backs and cook an omelette. And those dates and other predictions of The End were again personal interpretations put forward as Truth, because it served their own narcissistic purpose. They may believe some of their doctrinal nonsense, but they are also cold-blooded manipulators and liars.
Also, keep in mind, SOMEBODY had to write all those Unholy Scrolls in the first place. So, if you don’t believe in God, or don’t believe that those scrolls came from God, then what’s the logical conclusion? Obviously, that those things were produced by cynical, sociopathic, power-hungry, greedy, manipulative con men. And if that type of person could exist back then, why not now?
And as far as the question of consciously perpetuating evil, I see these folks as having 2 distinct personalities. One is the Holy Joe. He is the Pious One who sees the “big picture”, believes the doctrine, and obsessively follows “the rules”. Then there’s the Enforcer. He does whatever it takes to propagate his organization and its agenda, including, but not limited to, lying, coercion, deceit, fabrication of doctrine, intimidation, false accusations, perjury, and browbeating the slaves.
In their sick, depraved, degenerated minds, they see absolutely no conflict between those 2 points of view.
… Just to clarify, I meant that those 2 personalities are within the same person.
I’ve been down the track you’re currently on, resister. Keep going.
Well, it won’t matter after they all die of cancer.
This is a letter, I sent to Watchtower to remove their presence off my property:
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am authorized to inform you that your implied invitation to visit my home is hereby revoked. Should you choose to enter my home, I will immediately contact the police with the intent of pressing criminal trespassing charges against you.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Very truly yours,
[Your full name here]
[Your full address here]