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

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.

Karra Porter, a lawyer representing the church, argued there was a difference between the government regulating physical harm and that of the facts in the case, according to the Desert News.

But at least one justice seems not see it that way.

“The allegation here is a mental and emotional equivalent of waterboarding,” Justice Deno Himonas said. “I’ve been a judge for a long time and a lawyer for a long time. I’ve never seen, in court, anything like this that’s alleged.”

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.” 

Lawyers representing the church and the alleged victim did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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.”

This led, her lawyers say, to anxiety, nightmares, loss of appetite, and poor performance in school, leading her to seek damages from the church.

But two lower courts found that the church couldn’t be held liable.

As the Utah Court of Appeals held in 2019, doing would require “an inquiry into the appropriateness of the Church’s conduct in applying a religious practice and therefore violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," which bars the government from instituting particular religious practices. 

Dozens of suits nationwide have accused the Jehovah’s Witnesses of mismanaging or covering up abuse inside the church, including one in early 2020, when the Montana Supreme Court reversed a $35 million judgement against the church for not reporting a girl’s abuse to authorities 

Explosion at cemetery mars Armistice event in Saudi Arabia

An explosion during an Armistice Day ceremony at a cemetery in Saudi Arabia has left four people injured, including a Briton, officials have said.

The explosive device was set off during the service in Jeddah on Wednesday morning, which was organised by the French Embassy, sources told Reuters.

A number of diplomats from EU countries were present at the event marking the end of the First World War.

Hours after the attack, Saudi state-media quoted a local official who said a Greek consulate employee and a Saudi security man were lightly wounded in the incident. The British government said one UK national also suffered minor injuries.

The French foreign ministry described the attack as "cowardly" and "completely unjustified".

"We call on the Saudi authorities to shed as much light as they can on this attack, and to identify and hunt down the perpetrators," they said in a statement.

Greece's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and said a Greek policeman, who had been accompanying a consulate employee to the ceremony, was hospitalized but his life was not in danger.

The French consulate in Saudi Arabia issued an urgent warning to citizens living there, asking them to exercise "maximum vigilance" and "stay away from gatherings".

Saudi state TV claimed the situation was "stable" but has not commented further.

It is the second security incident in the city in recent weeks.

On 29 October, a man was arrested after attacking and injuring a security guard outside the French consulate. His motives remain unclear.

Reference: Sky News: 12 Hours ago

Spanish statue bodge-up is a new rival to Borja's Monkey Christ

In the footsteps of the unintentionally iconic Monkey Christ, the Tintin St George, the near-fluorescent Virgin and Child– not to mention the less than sinlessly executed Immaculate Conception – comes … well, it’s hard to say.

The latest Spanish restoration effort to provoke anguished headlines and much social media snarking is, or rather, was, a carved figure adorning an ornate, early 20th-century building in the north-western city of Palencia.

What was once the smiling face of a woman next to some livestock has been replaced with a crude countenance that bears a passing resemblance to the incumbent US president. Or one of the Sand People from Star Wars. Or something from a cheese-induced nightmare. Or, to be honest, pretty much anything you wish to project on to it.

The bodged restoration came to light after an artist placed pictures of the offending visage on Facebook on Saturday.

“The pictures are a bit blurry, but you can see the prank perfectly well,” said Antonio Guzmán Capel. “It looks like the head of a cartoon character.”

Palencia, he added ruefully, now had an attraction to rival the Monkey Christ that propelled the town of Borja to global fame eight years ago after a devout parishioner took it upon herself to restore Elías García Martínez’s Ecce Homo before it flaked and faded into oblivion.

“I’m sure whoever did it got paid for it,” said Guzmán. “But the bigger crime was committed by the person who commissioned it and then tried to carry on as though nothing was wrong.”

Palencia’s reaction may be one of shock and anger for now, but the authorities in Borja managed to find a way to turn the great Monkey Christ fiasco of 2012 to their advantage.

That year, almost 50,000 people visited the small church where the Ecce Homo is displayed behind a protective screen. Thousands still visit the church every year and a small museum has sprung up where people can buy Ecce Homo key rings, T-shirts, teddy bears and mugs. As well as employing two caretakers, the church-museum also yields revenue that is used to help fund places at Borja’s care home for the elderly.

But for restoration experts in Spain, the latest bodged job is another example of the need for proper training, protection and investment.

“THIS #IsNotARestoration,” Spain’s Professional Association of Restorers and Conservators said in a tweet, adding, perhaps a little unnecessarily: “It’s NOT a professional intervention.”

Catholic Church still prioritising own reputation over vulnerable children, abuse inquiry finds

The Catholic Church continues to prioritise its own reputation over the welfare of vulnerable children after decades of sexual abuse, an inquiry has found.

A report published on Tuesday said the Holy See refused to provide a witness statement and the most senior Catholic leader in England and Wales “cares more about the impact of child sexual abuse on the Catholic Church’s reputation than on victims and survivors”.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which is examining historical abuse across different institutions and organisations, said the “true scale of abuse” is likely to to be far higher than reported incidents.

“This report finds that the Catholic Church repeatedly failed to support victims and survivors, while taking positive action to protect alleged perpetrators, including moving them to different parishes,” it concluded.

“Victims described the profound and lifelong effects of abuse, including depression, anxiety, self-harming and trust issues.”

Between 1970 and 2015, the Catholic Church received more than 900 complaints involving over 3,000 instances of child sexual abuse in England and Wales and since 2016, there have been more than 100 allegations each year.

Professor Alexis Jay OBE, chair of the inquiry, said some progress had been made but there needed to be lasting cultural change to avoid repeating past mistakes.

“For decades, the Catholic Church’s failure to tackle child sexual abuse consigned many more children to the same fate,” she added.

“It is clear that the Church’s reputation was valued above the welfare of victims, with allegations ignored and perpetrators protected.

“Even today, the responses of the Holy See appear at odds with the Pope’s promise to take action on this hugely important problem.”

The report was critical of Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who is the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

IICSA said that he should lead by example as the most senior leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, but made “no acknowledgement of any personal responsibility to lead or influence change” while giving evidence.

“Nor did he demonstrate compassion towards victims in the recent cases which we examined,” the report added.

“He did not always exercise the leadership expected of a senior member of the Church, at times preferring to protect the reputation of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales and in Rome.”

IICSA’s report said it first requested a statement from the Holy See’s ambassador to the UK, the Apostolic Nuncio, over the handling of abuse at Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School.

The inquiry also sent its request to the Holy See through “established diplomatic channels”, with the government’s support.

No information was provided and when further requests were made ahead of wider hearings in late 2019, “the Holy See confirmed that it would not be providing a witness statement”.

It provided a document on measures to prevent child abuse, but IICSA said the information provided was “little more” than what was already in the public domain.

The inquiry has the power to compel evidence, but it does not apply to the Apostiolic Nuncio because the post has diplomatic status.

“The Holy See and the Apostolic Nuncio, its ambassador to the UK, did not provide a witness statement to this inquiry despite repeated requests,” the report said. “The inquiry could not understand their lack of cooperation.”

IICSA said the response appears to stand in direct contrast with Pope Francis’ public statement on child sexual abuse in 2019, which called for “concrete and effective actions that involve everyone in the Church”.

The Apostolic Nuncio at the time, Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, retired from the post in January.

Time and again, IICSA was told that attempts to complain of sexual abuse were dismissed by senior Catholic priests.

In one case, the mother of an alleged victim was told to “go away and pray” for the abuser in question, and to “not bring any scandal on the church”.

Another woman described being “groomed” by her priest from the age of 15, who sexually abused her on church grounds, including in front of colleagues, who turned a blind eye.

The woman was later raped by the priest, the inquiry heard, but that her complaints to Cardinal Nichols were effectively dismissed.

She later discovered she was being described by the church behind the scenes as “deeply manipulative” and “a needy victim”.

Responding to the report, Cardinal Nichols said he recently offered his resignation to the Pope because of his age after turning 75, but that the offer was turned down.

“I have received a very unequivocal reply, and that is that he tells me to stay in office here, so that is what I will do,” he told the PA news agency.

“We accept this report, we are grateful to IICSA for bringing the light and giving public space to those who have been abused, we are deeply sorry this happened.

“Together as a body we are really sorry – really sorry – for all that has happened over these years and I want to assure everyone we are here to learn and improve, and to keep that steady improving response going.”

The report said that senior leaders had been “resistant to external oversight” and only partially implemented the recommendations of previous reviews.

“Failure in some of these areas contributed to more children experiencing actual abuse and many others being exposed to the risk of sexual abuse,” it added.

The report made seven recommendations, including mandatory safeguarding training for all staff and volunteers, and for the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service to be externally audited.

The inquiry continues to examine the extent to which institutions and organisations have failed to protect children in England and Wales from sexual abuse.

A final report of overarching findings from all 15 sections of the investigation is due to be laid before parliament in 2022.