Bris Times/SMH tipping a bit of a bucket on the Australian branch of the JayDubs.
There's the Seekrit Cult Leader Control Manual, and:
Its main registered charity, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of Australia, takes donations and bequests and enjoyed a healthy financial position in 2022, with $10.4 million in assets.
The Bethel headquarters in Sydney and each congregation is controlled by a group of all-male “elders”, though the church does not routinely publish the names of all those in leadership positions. If an elder breaches rules he can be removed from his role or kicked out of the church. The term for this is “deleted”.
There is no place for women in the upper levels of the church hierarchy.
All members of the church are encouraged to engage only with church-approved literature, and seeking higher education can be grounds for discipline and punishment. According to the elders’ handbook, an elder may have his position reviewed if “he or a member of his household pursues higher education”.
Believers are taught that Satan has controlled the world since 1914, and only devout Jehovah’s Witnesses will survive a looming Armageddon.
You can probably see why I don't let the buggers on to my property.
two dogs wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 12:57 pmA recent encounter, captured by my doorbell camera:
Succinct and effective, and that child may benefit from learning that there are people out there who equate religion with fairy tales.
My favourite rant was a bit more long-winded... I said "I hope you don't mind me interrupting, but it looks like you're hoping to get people to join your religion, and that's OK, but can I first say, I'm an atheist, I think it's much better NOT to believe in god, and I'd like to give you the same opportunity... so can I urge you to give up your religious practice, and stop believing in god, stop going to church, and join me as an atheist?"
I just recalled another occasion when a door-knocker recruited a child to join in. His role was to hold up a page from a picture book and inform me that at some stage in the future, animals won't be scared of people any more, just like in the Garden of Eden. I can't remember which sect it was.
Unfortunately the adult evangelist and I descended into an ill-tempered religious argument, and the poor little child (he seemed to be about 7 or 8) was trying to help by pointing at his picture and saying "the animals, the animals!" I felt bad afterwards because he seemed to be distressed by the situation.
They really shouldn't bring children along, but it's best to avoid making this nasty practice worse for the kids. That's another reason I think the "fairytale" line was a good one.
(Would perhaps have asked Mum whether we should "go into the biblical examples of god-sanctioned infanticide" - that might have been far enough above the little chap's head, even if he can reach doorbells.)
Greedy fuckers cannot self-regulate.
Prove me wrong.
Irrev-Black wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 4:37 pm
(Would perhaps have asked Mum whether we should "go into the biblical examples of god-sanctioned infanticide" - that might have been far enough above the little chap's head, even if he can reach doorbells.)
There should be a special mark you can put on your door to stop them from knocking. To show respect and keep it biblical, I suggest the blood of a sacrificed lamb. If it was good enough to stop God's angel of death from killing the firstborn son (so sexist), then it should be good enough to keep the modern-day door-knockers away.
Just thinking about that whole story arc, no wonder the world is fucked, with over 50 per cent of the world's population under the influence of this crazy mythology.
stylofone wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 4:49 pm
There should be a special mark you can put on your door to stop them from knocking. To show respect and keep it biblical, I suggest the blood of a sacrificed lamb.
(SNIP)
That email I sent their world HQ contained:
please note that I am now conducting regular sacrifices to a dark Lord whose Name I may not utter, and that the human and animal blood and body fluids involved will be sprinkled liberally on my gates, gateposts, and boundary fence.
Not only have I not needed to remind them every few years (as used to be the case), but I'm pleased to report that Witness crews doing my street now veer off the footpath and pass on the other side of the road.
They really don't like blood-related bad juju!
Greedy fuckers cannot self-regulate.
Prove me wrong.
