“Love Never Shuns!”

JW Protest Melbourne 2019

22-24 November, 2019

Marvel Stadium, Melbourne

740 Bourke St, Docklands, Vic.

During the weekend of 22-24 November, up to 60,000 members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith will be gathering for an international religious convention, themed “LOVE NEVER FAILS!” (Official convention web site: https://2019mic.org/)

To coincide with the religious convention a peaceful protest has been organised adjacent to Marvel Stadium to draw to attention to the religion’s harmful practices, including:

• Shunning and social ostracism

• Child abuse and child protection issues

• Failure to join the National Redress Scheme

• Adverse treatment of former members

The theme of the JW Protest is: “LOVE NEVER SHUNS!”

The aims of the JW Protest are:

1. To inform the Australian community of harmful teachings and policies of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation;

2. To protect everyone, including former and current Jehovah’s Witnesses, living within the Australian community, from the religion’s harmful practices – including family abandonment; and

3. To warn the Australian community about the 1000+ alleged child abusers within the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation in Australia, that the religion failed to report to the authorities (as documented in Case Study 29 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Reponses to Child Sexual Abuse).

The Royal Commission’s report found that “children are not adequately protected from the risk of child sexual abuse in the Jehovah’s Witness organisation and does not believe the organisation responds adequately to allegations of child sexual abuse.” *

Over 1,800 cases of alleged child sexual abuse within Australia were uncovered during the Royal Commission, with not one single case reported to the authorities by the religion. *

The protest will take place, each day, outside the Marvel Stadium, from 8am till 5pm.

Need support? JW.SUPPORT

Graphic design by Nathan Haugh

Quote attributed to Lara Kaput

(survivor and former Jehovah’s Witness)

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses have publicly stated that they will never change their policies, such as shunning and requiring two witnesses to support allegations of child sexual abuse. To date, they have not joined the redress scheme to compensate institutional child abuse survivors. To highlight these, and other failures, I have joined other protesters from around the world to make our voices heard through our democratic right to a lawful and peaceful protest.”

Quote attributed to Renee Pickles

(abandoned and shunned by her Jehovah’s Witness family)

“It has been estimated that worldwide there are over 1.4 million former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide who are being shunned by their family on a daily basis. Through the internet, many of us have found each other and together we have found the courage to speak up, and show the religion is not just a harmless group. No ones escapes the shunning. You are either shunned or you are required to shun.”

REFERENCES

Research and teachings: www.jwfacts.com

Activism: www.saysorry.org

Leaked documents: www.jwleaks.org

Graphic design by Nathan Haugh

* https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/media-releases/report-jehovahs-witness-organisations-released