Jehovah's Witness elders made teen listen recording of her rape for hours, lawsuit claims

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Elders at a Utah congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses allegedly forced a 15-year-old to listen to a recording of her rape over and over again for hours as part of a religious inquiry, a lawsuit before the Utah Supreme Court claims.

The case seeks to hold the leaders and the church at large responsible for inflicting emotional distress.

The church claims, and lower courts have ruled, that to hold them liable would violate the religious freedoms of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, since it involves weighing the appropriateness of religious conduct.

In duelling briefs, as well as oral arguments for the case on Monday (recordings of which are not yet available), the two sides wrestled over the meaning of this bedrock of American civil rights law.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/jehovah-witness-elders-made-teen-232120784.html

[Laffy Kat]

1. "Violate religious freedoms"?

Give me a fucking break.

[Flaleftist]

2. They are arguing the First Amendment gives them the right to force someone to listen?

[MontanaMama]

3. Fucking churches.

Tax exempt and safe houses for pedophiles. The rapist walks free...AND no mention of the fact that he recorded the rape! So that’s okay now?

[JI7]

4. Exactly THIS , Take away their tax exemption .

[Trailrider1951]

5. There's more:

quote:

The suit, originally filed in 2016, argued that the leaders of a congregation in Roy, Utah, made the teen girl sit and listen to the recordings for hours in 2008 as part of a religious inquiry. The woman in question, now an adult in her 20s, said in court documents a fellow Jehovah’s Witness, age 18, bullied her and allegedly raped her three times, including one instance in which the man involved recorded the incident.

This triggered an investigation from the church in early 2008, where the leaders called the girl and her parents into a committee which would decide whether she had engaged in sinful conduct. During the meeting, they played the recording on and off “for hours” in an attempt to extract a confession, according to court documents, as the girl “continued crying and was ‘physically quivering’ from the trauma of having to listen to her assault over and over.”

unquote

So they basically tortured this 15 year old girl emotionally, trying to make her confess to their idea that "she had engaged in sinful conduct". No comment was made as to how they handled the 18 year old rapist. Maybe they just didn't consider his behavior to be "sinful". WTAF???

[Doreen]

6. So, if they are going to let a girl live the terror of a rape be ok

then they might just as well start rounding up those 9 year old Mormon girls and give them back to their 70 year old husband's. It's their damn religion to do that so they should be allowed.

What in the fuck???

Is this what Pence wanted? Is this what the rest of the donny's so ugly administration wants?

[Solly Mack]

7. Abuse is not appropriate conduct, religious or otherwise, and if it is considered as such

then there's something wrong with the religion and the law that protects said religion.

If a religion argues that abuse (or what they are calling "appropriateness of religious conduct" ) falls under the 1st Amendment then they are saying they can commit any abuse and be protected from liability and/or criminal charges.






From the article:

The lawyers on the other side have previously argued that neglecting to challenge the church’s alleged actions here would set a precedent that “would give actors free rein to injure others under the guise of religious freedom—a proposition that the US Supreme Court has rejected repeatedly for over a century.”

[Catherine Vincent]

8. These people are sick!

[Maraya1969]

9. I know money will not solve the problem but I hope everyone has to pay and pay

dearly.

[UpInArms]

10. If it was okay to charge priests with crimes

It is okay to charge these monsters, also