Is a religion controlling your life?

Check out this recent publication telling members they should be spending half their time in religious pursuits.
We are embedding this article here for critical review.  Do you think a group pressuring members to spend 50% of their time in religious activities is a healthy one?  Would that lead to a healthy, happy, balanced lifestyle?  Are mainstream religions making similar recommendations?  Please comment.

How to shrink cults

Techniques proven effective in controlling the growth of evil organizations:

Promote regulation and restriction of activities by lobbying lawmakers.

Collect stats and facts so you can stay on message when advocating and know your facts, not just emote and ramble.

Change social norms by influencing public opinion (education, letters to the editor, press releases, etc.).

Promote adoption of voluntary policies that restrict activities (advocate with colleges, malls, etc. to not allow recruitment on their grounds, etc.)

Educate non-legislative decision-makers (keep surgeons/anesthesiologists/pediatricians/gyns informed annually of issues with medical care, child abuse).

Monitor activities and report all violations of the law (trespassing, illegal use of mailboxes, child neglect, human rights violations, stalking).

Expose scandals on a very public scale by use of the media.  (Not small audiences--much less bang for your buck!)

Reduce the growth of new members by keeping potential recruits well-informed about the dangers of cults and their scandals.

Proven ineffective techniques:

    * Pleading with current members to leave
    * Activities and statements that call into question the prejudices and/or sanity of the speaker
    * Telling people facts that don't matter to them (arguing doctrine, for example)
    * Targeting all efforts at current members instead of preventing new members from joining (Eliminating new enrollment would be the end of cults.)

Is shunning a violation of human rights?

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Here are some excerpts which would seem to conflict with ritual shunning.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

http://www.silive.com/newsflash/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1145660369170760.xml&storylist=simetro

Commission rules for ex-Amish woman in discrimination case

4/21/2006, 6:38 p.m. ET By BRUCE SCHREINER The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's Commission on Human Rights ruled Friday in favor of an ex-Amish woman who claimed she was discriminated against by an Amish thrift store owner who refused to serve her.Erma Troyer, the store owner in an Amish enclave at Cub Run in southcentral Kentucky, was ordered to serve Ruth Irene Garrett or others who left the Amish way of life and are shunned by those in the faith.

 

"It feels like a vindication because I just don't see how it's right or how it's fair that they can do this," Garrett said by telephone.

Meeting in Versailles, the commission also ordered Troyer to pay $100 to Garrett for embarrassment caused by the confrontation. Garrett, an author who lives near Glasgow, said she would donate the money to the Salvation Army. Troyer declined comment Friday and referred questions to her attorney. Phone messages left with Troyer's attorney were not immediately returned. 

 

Troyer can appeal the commission's order to circuit court.Troyer used a religious freedom defense, claiming that her church doctrine prevented her from taking money from those shunned by the Amish.Garrett, an author who has written about Amish life, contended that the refusal to serve her was a violation of Kentucky's Civil Rights Act for denial of service in a public place for religious reasons."It was never about the money," Garrett said Friday. 

 

"To me, I've won what I wanted to win. Now it's actually proved that she has to serve everyone, no matter what kind of religion you are."The case stemmed from an Oct. 15, 2003, confrontation at Troyer's Rocky Top Salvage store. Garrett attempted to purchase some groceries, but Troyer refused to ring up the items.She recognized Garrett from one of the books Garrett wrote about the Amish life she left. Garrett claimed that Troyer embarrassed her in front of other customers and took her complaint to the Human Rights Commission.Troyer had said she felt she did nothing wrong. She said that based on her church doctrine, she risked being thrown out of the Amish faith and damned to an eternity in hell if she took money from the shunned. 

 

Troyer had said previously that she even offered to give Garrett the groceries for free.Garrett said Friday that she expected to shop at Troyer's store.Although she left the Amish faith, she still cooks Amish-style and likes to shop at Amish stores to buy ingredients she can't find elsewhere.Emily Riggs Hartlage, a Human Rights Commission staff attorney, said the order could have a ripple effect for any others who were excommunicated from the Amish faith and are denied service at Amish shops."I hope it empowers other shunned Amish people to assert their rights," she said in an interview.

List of successes

Here is a list of our collective successes to date:

• Added non-cult publications about the Watchtower Society's role in the Nazi Holocaust to the library of the US Holocaust Museum.  (For years, the museum had refused to include anything in their library which exposed the Watchtower Society's role in supporting Hitler.  They had only included things written by the Watchtower Sociey themselves, which whitewashed their actions.)
• Educated dozens of healthcare providers regarding unique issues pertaining to assessing and treating Jehovah's Witnesses.
• Educated thousands of members of the general public about the sinister and deceptive nature of high control groups.
• Distributed information to thousands of people regarding possible tort liability of religious leaders who intentionally lie about medical facts.
  

Millions Now Living Will Send Letters

It is amazing a fringe group with a long history of countless end-of-the-world predictions could still be in existence, isn't it?  Yet millions are still duped.

Watchtower Society, also known as Jehovah's Witnesses, has predicted the end of the world dozens of times.  When the dates pass, adherents simply stop talking about the failed prophecy and start talking about what's next.

May 2010 marks the 90th anniversary of one of these predictions.  This prediction was simply, "Millions now living will never die," stated in a book, newspaper interviews, and on signs at bookstands.  The prophecy foretold that millions of individuals alive in 1920 would see Armageddon in their natural lifetimes and, if they joined up, would see Earth transformed into a paradise, populated only by Jehovah's Witnesses.

Despite these inaccurate teachings, millions still belong to this organization and believe Armageddon is right around the corner.  Their current lives are to be ones of sacrifice, spending half of their time in religious pursuits.

You can find a comprehensive list of their failed prophecies, along with literature quotes, at http://www.freeminds.org/doctrine/prophecy/comprehensive-list-of-false-dates-set-by-the-watchtower.html.

SUGGESTED ADVOCACY ACTION:  Send a letter to your local newspaper editor in May 2010.  When published, clip it and mail a copy to Watchtower Society headquarters.  Our goal is to have one million clippings or letters sent to the Watchtower Society in the month of May 2010.  The purpose in sending the clippings is twofold:  (1) Exercise free speech rights to protest their deception.  (2) Get publicity.  Because #2 is important, please make sure to mention in your letters that one million letters/clippings are being sent to headquarters.  Feel free to use the exact wording in this article if you wish!

ANONYMIZED ADVOCACY ACTION:  Post a note and/or the above article on a bulletin board, blog, or Internet forum.  Make sure to mention the "One Million Letters" event!

Please post a comment here to let us know what action you took!