35 VOLUME 5 |ISSUE 3 |2014
Holmes’ attorney Hoole said the statute makes sense in many
cases to ensure equality when an impoverished spouse and a
wealthy spouse are engaged in a custody battle, but Holm’s wives
had good legal counsel throughout the case and demonstrated
no financial need before the ruling. Enforcement of the statute
also would place a burden on the hundreds of other formerly
polygamous fathers who have been similarly ejected from the
FLDS community and severed from their families, many of whom
also would like to gain custody of their children. Six former FLDS
men who watched Holm’s court case with interest have filed
declarations with the court on Holm’s behalf to show that his
former wives and others still living within the FLDS community
have the ability through the church to pay their own legal fees.
The apostate church members are told by the FLDS to repent of
their often-unspecified sins before they can return. “These are
men who have given everything they own to the church and they
got pushed away, thrown out,” Hoole said. “They’re sent away, …
told to write letters of repentance and …just beat themselves
up writing anything and everything they can possibly think of,”
Hoole said. “In the meantime, their families are poisoned against
them.” According to Hoole, the most commonly stated reason
men currently are being sent away is for killing unborn children.
He said he doesn’t know if that relates to FLDS members using
birth control or something else. “These men have no idea what
that means.”
The conclusion of Holm’s 3-year-long custody case was the last
ruling handed down by Judge James Shumate, who recently
retired. The legal fee payment matter is being handled by Judge
G. Michael Westfall and hasn’t been submitted for a decision yet.
Ultimately, the fees issue for attorneys will come down to a ruling
and possibly an appeal. In the meantime, although Holm has
physical custody of his children now, Hoole said that getting them
back mentally and emotionally will be a longer process. “They’re
coming around slowly,” he said. (Dixie Press Online, 5/17/14)
Hare Krishna Gets Evangelical
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness arrived in
the United States in 1966 by 1980, many Americans considered
the faith a cult. Today’s Hare Krishna temples, which currently
support claims of 250,000 US devotees, have been sustained
over the years by Indian immigrants they host mostly Indian
congregations and sing mostly Indian music. But devotee Howard
Resnick, who helped lead Hare Krishna at its US peak, along
with others who include devotee Emily Penny, intend to reverse
that trend. Westerners such as Resnick and Penny want to bring
founder Swami Pradhupada’s teachings to Americans again by
removing the group’s increasingly Indian overtones so Westerners
can connect directly with Krishna.
As a white American from North Carolina, Penny originally
struggled to find a place in the community dominated by Indian
immigrants. She says, “The music is Indian. The dress is Indian. The
food is Indian.” But “Krishna never told us to wear saris.”
But Pradhupada wanted to separate Hare Krishna from traditional
Indian Hinduism and even created a specific translation of the
Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu holy book, for his followers. Sarvatma
Dasa, a 34-year devotee and Hare Krishna priest, supports the
evolution, noting that “I have a lot of friends who are still caught
up in the details of the ethnicity instead of the broad philosophy.
There are universal principles that are easily understood, and then
there are local customs that I couldn’t care less about.”
Resnick and his organization, Krishna West, imagine a temple
without saris. Prasadam could be Italian, Brazilian, or Chinese if
correctly offered to Krishna. But what drives Krishna West is more
a profound evangelical spirit than just a desire to adapt. Resnick
says, “We’re seeking intelligent people who want to help change
the world. If Krishna wants it to work, it’ll work.”
Resnick and Penney believe Hare Krishna can bring peace to
American lives. Devotees believe chanting Hare Krishna, much
like prayer, brings divine energy into the chanters, which they can
then use to better their community. “Pradhupada came because
there was an emergency in our culture,” Penney said. “And it’s not
better than it was 40 years ago, it’s worse.” (OnFaith, 6/16/14)
Jehovah’s Witnesses to Hand Over Top-Secret Manual
Finland’s Jehovah’s Witnesses were to give their religious rule
book to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior
in mid-May so that it could be inspected to ensure that it’s in
line with Finnish rule of law. Until now, only senior members
of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Committee have had access to the
congregation’s secret book of rules.
The disciplinary activities of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Committee
have been criticized for violating human rights. Anna-Maja
Henriksson, Finland’s Minister of Justice, and Interior Minister
Päivi Räsänen met with Witnesses leadership in Helsinki the day
before the planned delivery of the book for inspection. According
to Witnesses representatives, committee practices have changed
recently and the committee no longer addresses or interferes
in member matters that are considered to go against church
guidelines. (YLE News, 5/16/14)
Human-Rights Commission to Study Handling of Lev
Tahor Case
The Quebec Human Rights Commission will study what went
wrong in the case of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect Lev Tahor
last November after approximately two hundred members fled
the Laurentians town of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts and relocated
in the Ontario city of Chatham-Kent to avoid a hearing in Quebec’s
youth court. Sect members had been due in court to respond
to allegations of child abuse and neglect made by Quebec’s
Department of Youth Protection.
After several hearings, the Ontario courts have ruled it would not
be in the best interests of the children to execute a youth-court
order to return 14 children to the province and place them in
foster care. Chatham-Kent’s Children’s Services has also refused to
execute a still-outstanding warrant the Quebec court also issued
in November to remove all 127 children from the community.
The commission will examine whether police, youth-protection
officials, the school board, the health sector, and the legal system
Holmes’ attorney Hoole said the statute makes sense in many
cases to ensure equality when an impoverished spouse and a
wealthy spouse are engaged in a custody battle, but Holm’s wives
had good legal counsel throughout the case and demonstrated
no financial need before the ruling. Enforcement of the statute
also would place a burden on the hundreds of other formerly
polygamous fathers who have been similarly ejected from the
FLDS community and severed from their families, many of whom
also would like to gain custody of their children. Six former FLDS
men who watched Holm’s court case with interest have filed
declarations with the court on Holm’s behalf to show that his
former wives and others still living within the FLDS community
have the ability through the church to pay their own legal fees.
The apostate church members are told by the FLDS to repent of
their often-unspecified sins before they can return. “These are
men who have given everything they own to the church and they
got pushed away, thrown out,” Hoole said. “They’re sent away, …
told to write letters of repentance and …just beat themselves
up writing anything and everything they can possibly think of,”
Hoole said. “In the meantime, their families are poisoned against
them.” According to Hoole, the most commonly stated reason
men currently are being sent away is for killing unborn children.
He said he doesn’t know if that relates to FLDS members using
birth control or something else. “These men have no idea what
that means.”
The conclusion of Holm’s 3-year-long custody case was the last
ruling handed down by Judge James Shumate, who recently
retired. The legal fee payment matter is being handled by Judge
G. Michael Westfall and hasn’t been submitted for a decision yet.
Ultimately, the fees issue for attorneys will come down to a ruling
and possibly an appeal. In the meantime, although Holm has
physical custody of his children now, Hoole said that getting them
back mentally and emotionally will be a longer process. “They’re
coming around slowly,” he said. (Dixie Press Online, 5/17/14)
Hare Krishna Gets Evangelical
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness arrived in
the United States in 1966 by 1980, many Americans considered
the faith a cult. Today’s Hare Krishna temples, which currently
support claims of 250,000 US devotees, have been sustained
over the years by Indian immigrants they host mostly Indian
congregations and sing mostly Indian music. But devotee Howard
Resnick, who helped lead Hare Krishna at its US peak, along
with others who include devotee Emily Penny, intend to reverse
that trend. Westerners such as Resnick and Penny want to bring
founder Swami Pradhupada’s teachings to Americans again by
removing the group’s increasingly Indian overtones so Westerners
can connect directly with Krishna.
As a white American from North Carolina, Penny originally
struggled to find a place in the community dominated by Indian
immigrants. She says, “The music is Indian. The dress is Indian. The
food is Indian.” But “Krishna never told us to wear saris.”
But Pradhupada wanted to separate Hare Krishna from traditional
Indian Hinduism and even created a specific translation of the
Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu holy book, for his followers. Sarvatma
Dasa, a 34-year devotee and Hare Krishna priest, supports the
evolution, noting that “I have a lot of friends who are still caught
up in the details of the ethnicity instead of the broad philosophy.
There are universal principles that are easily understood, and then
there are local customs that I couldn’t care less about.”
Resnick and his organization, Krishna West, imagine a temple
without saris. Prasadam could be Italian, Brazilian, or Chinese if
correctly offered to Krishna. But what drives Krishna West is more
a profound evangelical spirit than just a desire to adapt. Resnick
says, “We’re seeking intelligent people who want to help change
the world. If Krishna wants it to work, it’ll work.”
Resnick and Penney believe Hare Krishna can bring peace to
American lives. Devotees believe chanting Hare Krishna, much
like prayer, brings divine energy into the chanters, which they can
then use to better their community. “Pradhupada came because
there was an emergency in our culture,” Penney said. “And it’s not
better than it was 40 years ago, it’s worse.” (OnFaith, 6/16/14)
Jehovah’s Witnesses to Hand Over Top-Secret Manual
Finland’s Jehovah’s Witnesses were to give their religious rule
book to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior
in mid-May so that it could be inspected to ensure that it’s in
line with Finnish rule of law. Until now, only senior members
of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Committee have had access to the
congregation’s secret book of rules.
The disciplinary activities of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Committee
have been criticized for violating human rights. Anna-Maja
Henriksson, Finland’s Minister of Justice, and Interior Minister
Päivi Räsänen met with Witnesses leadership in Helsinki the day
before the planned delivery of the book for inspection. According
to Witnesses representatives, committee practices have changed
recently and the committee no longer addresses or interferes
in member matters that are considered to go against church
guidelines. (YLE News, 5/16/14)
Human-Rights Commission to Study Handling of Lev
Tahor Case
The Quebec Human Rights Commission will study what went
wrong in the case of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect Lev Tahor
last November after approximately two hundred members fled
the Laurentians town of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts and relocated
in the Ontario city of Chatham-Kent to avoid a hearing in Quebec’s
youth court. Sect members had been due in court to respond
to allegations of child abuse and neglect made by Quebec’s
Department of Youth Protection.
After several hearings, the Ontario courts have ruled it would not
be in the best interests of the children to execute a youth-court
order to return 14 children to the province and place them in
foster care. Chatham-Kent’s Children’s Services has also refused to
execute a still-outstanding warrant the Quebec court also issued
in November to remove all 127 children from the community.
The commission will examine whether police, youth-protection
officials, the school board, the health sector, and the legal system
