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WhyHulud t1_iu2th3i wrote

"Religious people touching kids and covering it up" barely hits the radar anymore, WTF

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MyLittlePIMO OP t1_iu309ba wrote

TBH there’s something different with the Jehovah’s Witnesses accusations that have been surfacing left and right lately.

The Catholics and Southern Baptists hired external auditors and made policy reforms and apologies

The Jehovah’s Witnesses literally have made announcements to members telling them not to read or listen to media, that it’s all lies from Satan, played video demonstrations of JWs literally running away when someone tries to show them a news article that is critical, and remind the members that the end of the world is coming any minute now, so don’t get caught up in these things.

(Link here to watch their broadcast to members, it’s all in the first 30 minutes if you can stomach it and are curious)

I don’t think any of the major religious organizations caught up in this level of scandal has stooped to quite the same level of mass denial. There’s over a million JWs in the US that hang on the leaders’ every words. It’s basically Scientology for poor people except 100x the global membership. Same structures of power, too, shunning and attacking any members that leave.

Pennsylvania is the first state to do an investigation at the state level. There’s been a ton of civil lawsuits and journalists (the Atlantic, the Spokesman-Review, the VICE documentary) exposing a lot though, as well as massive data to come out of Australia’s investigation that found molestation cover up rates 10x that of the Catholic Church per capita, and the Norway rulings over shunning as a social control.

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WhyHulud t1_iu3m6rl wrote

They're a cult. They shun outsiders, they discourage higher learning, they insist followers listen to the leader for their information. There's an excellent YouTube producer who calls himself Telltale. He's an ex-JW. He talks about how they're a cult quite often.

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MyLittlePIMO OP t1_iu4l5st wrote

Yeah. I try not to lead with that word these days because it’s a bit overused, but they absolutely fit most definitions, including the BITE model.

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MrPeePeePaws t1_iu3n552 wrote

Well the broadcast video was both an interesting insight into that world and….. completely bat shit crazy. Yikes.

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jetsetninjacat t1_iu3vbam wrote

It said some had moved. I wonder if the church helped facilitate some of those moves.

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emotionalsupportlion t1_iu31b1c wrote

Republicans spread nonsensical conspiracy theories baselessly accusing people of being pedophiles. Meanwhile, Josh Shapiro prosecutes actual pedos.

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fireballsdeep t1_iu3pdug wrote

This is what I don't get when people are like "Shapiro isn't an exciting candidate for me!"

Dude's taken on the Catholic church and now JWs. Gets a ton of respect in my book.

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[deleted] t1_iu3ziiv wrote

[deleted]

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Looppowered t1_iu4hzgi wrote

Shapiro negotiated between Highmark and UPMC so that 1.9 million Pennsylvanians could have access to healthcare and their doctors.

He literally already delivered healthcare to millions of Pennsylvanians.

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[deleted] t1_iu4i7e1 wrote

[deleted]

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MyLittlePIMO OP t1_iu4owvj wrote

I mean is that practical for a state level official to do? An attorney works in the system they have.

Also, Europe doesn’t ban private hospitals or insurance. Seems a bit extreme.

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mikeyHustle t1_iu42qmm wrote

People we would like better can't currently win statewide elections in this backward-ass state.

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soundecember t1_iu48dvq wrote

Meanwhile, Mastriano is out there saying people are eating children, or whatever nonsensical thing and people are straight up believing it with no proof other than “Josh Shapiro is a democrat”

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pghgreatest t1_iu6x19b wrote

I don’t get it. Shapiro has delivered tangible results for PA, he should be a no brainer shoo in

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NSlocal t1_iu49uif wrote

And it's no coincidence that conservative Catholics are against Shapiro. He's Jewish, and went after the PA diocese.

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ncist t1_iu4fj17 wrote

it's no accident that "groomer" line popped into existence right before two RW CP^1 ^2 groups were broken up

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QuiggityQwo t1_iu4dl67 wrote

Yeah he prosecutes everyone that’s part of his problem.

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AstronautButter20 t1_iu3sbko wrote

Start adding the word "some" into the sentence, you dipshit.

You realize we are about to lose next week because of condescending people like you, right?

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capchaos t1_iu490td wrote

4 day old trump troll account pretending to be a Democrat. 🤦‍♂️

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Lil_Phantoms_Lawyer t1_iu2nnfk wrote

Gross. I didn't know until this year that Jehovah's Witness started in Pittsburgh. That just seems so odd to me.

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MyLittlePIMO OP t1_iu31gi5 wrote

I believe they are still a Pennsylvania-incorporated publishing corporation!

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WikiSummarizerBot t1_iu31hnt wrote

Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

>The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania is a non-stock, not-for-profit organization headquartered in Warwick, New York. It is the main legal entity used worldwide by Jehovah's Witnesses to direct, administer and disseminate doctrines for the group and is often referred to by members of the denomination simply as "the Society". It is the parent organization of a number of Watch Tower subsidiaries, including the Watchtower Society of New York and International Bible Students Association. The number of voting shareholders of the corporation is limited to between 300 and 500 "mature, active and faithful" male Jehovah's Witnesses.

^([ )^(F.A.Q)^( | )^(Opt Out)^( | )^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)^( | )^(GitHub)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)

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RatInTheHat t1_iu4oj0d wrote

The founder is buried in Shaler. There's a small pyramid there that was placed by the original Watchtower society.

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NSlocal t1_iu53hqb wrote

Ross, on Cemetery Road. The pyramid was removed in the spring after another round of vandalization.

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RatInTheHat t1_iu5nuhn wrote

Bummer. It's an interesting historical piece. There is quite a bit of imagery on that thing the JW's would nowadays consider idolatry. I hope I still have the photos I took years ago.

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rhb4n8 t1_iu5xgg4 wrote

Pennsylvania has a lot of religious extremists going way back. The Quakers were too tolerant which is how we ended up with

Hare Krishnas Jehovah's witnesses Harmony society Bruderhof society The Amish Church of life Church of Bible understanding Kelpius monks Not to mention some of these non denomination Christian cults And Probably a ton more weird ones.

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DisplacedYinzer t1_iu3vo34 wrote

Holy shit. I was married to an ex JW - fifth generation - yes abuse like this is not uncommon.

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Adam_Rahuba t1_iu3y7d7 wrote

And cranberry gets a huge Mormon temple, an influx of Mormons, and is 90% pro Trump, but only cried afoul for democrat pedos. But never right wing pedos. Now they’ll be drowning in child molestors out there

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ncist t1_iu4fza2 wrote

This is the right wing media / comms strategy called 'flood the zone' - whenever they are guilty of something, they randomly accuse dozens of their opponents of doing the same thing. That way when the news comes out, their supporters will say "well both sides do it! who can say!" Probably two dozen DC and FL based staffers plus some other states were caught up in a series of CP investigations right after the whole 'democrat groomer' arc

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ComprehensiveCat7515 t1_iu4iyhx wrote

I like that the construction site for that mormon temple is a "no drone zone"

Cranberry is famous for egregiously enormous religious buildings...and the inability to walk, anywhere.

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Adam_Rahuba t1_iu4n892 wrote

No drone zone? They probably don’t want people seeing dungeons and secret hallways not on the building plans .

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ComprehensiveCat7515 t1_iu4nuy5 wrote

Yeah, theres signs that say that all along the fencing. You are probably on to something there though. Freedom of religion is kinda cool concept but when religions are like cults...it gets a lot less cool.

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Adam_Rahuba t1_iu4t582 wrote

I’m pretty sure those signs are just “requests “. I doubt there’s any legally binding law. I’m not sure though. I don’t see no drone zones over other construction sites.

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immargarita t1_iu2v5df wrote

Can I get a witness? #atheistforlife

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oblivia17 t1_iu4hbd7 wrote

I was raised a Jehovah's Witness, left about 25 years ago. Haven't had any contact with my family since. Can confirm all the crazy stories are true.

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04_43770 t1_iu4f6c3 wrote

This is terrible for sure, but i can’t help but really enjoy we got to see the name the user gave to their AirPods.

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OuTLi3R28 t1_iu5bo9x wrote

Religion has always served as useful tool to control the masses through fear. So it shouldn't be surprising to also find it in the toolset of pedophiles and child molesters.

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MedicChuck t1_iu40su5 wrote

Hmmm…interesting timing Mr. Shapiro. Two weeks before the election…🤔🤔🤔

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MyLittlePIMO OP t1_iu4f01k wrote

They’ve been investigating it for three years, and Jehovah’s Witnesses explicitly don’t vote and track down and punish members who do. So I don’t see how this would be a partisan move.

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