Trial Will Destroy Pitcairn: Missionary [Sex Trials to Begin]

Herald Sun ^ | September 24, 2004 | Unknown

[Scenic Sounds]

A LEADING member of the US-based Seventh Day Adventist Church called today for the immediate adjournment of a series of sex trials on the remote British Pacific colony of Pitcairn Island.

The trials, in which seven men face 96 separate charges under Britain's Sexual Offences Act, start Monday on Pitcairn, a 50-strong community founded in 1790 by Fletcher Christian, leader of the infamous Mutiny on HMS Bounty. The Seventh Day Adventist Church has been the majority faith on the island since 1890 and its Pacific Union College in San Francisco hosts a Pitcairn Island Study Centre headed by former missionary Herbert Ford.

"There has been so much irregularity, so much seeming pre-agreement toward a given conclusion, so much that smacks of possible illegality demonstrated in documented form, that any trial conducted before these very serious matters are carefully studied and resolved would be a gross miscarriage of justice," Mr Ford said in a statement today.

He said British police officers who investigated the alleged crimes had acted improperly and that Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) had refused to study alternatives to the trials.

The Pitcairn trial as presently being pursued, in addition to the possible incarcerating of individuals, has the potential to destroy an entire indigenous people group and in written form (the FCO) has said it doesn't matter if that happens," Mr Ford said.

"Already the United Kingdom's open-to-the-entire-world, dogged pursuit of a traditional destroying courtroom trial has wreaked irreparable harm to the fragile fabric of Pitcairn society."

Pitcairn Island Chief Justice Charles Blackie and two other judges, Jane Lovell-Smith and Russell Johnson - all New Zealand District Court or lower court judges - arrived this week on Pitcairn, a rocky, forest-clad five-square kilometre island 2160km south-east of Tahiti.

The seven accused face a variety of allegations stemming from a complaint laid in 1999 by a Pitcairn woman.

Pitcairn was uninhabited until Christian's mutiny on April 28, 1789, against Captain William Bligh, who was set adrift.

Eight mutineers along with six Tahitian men, 12 Tahitian women and a small girl then searched the South Seas for a haven, reaching uninhabited Pitcairn on January 15, 1790, where they remained undiscovered until 1808.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church was founded in New Hampshire, USA, in 1844. Its beliefs are similar to the Methodist and Baptist faiths.

The church claims around 14 million members worldwide with around 100,000 in the South Pacific.

[Scenic Sounds]

According to another source, one-half of the adult males in Pitcairn will be tried in this case.

[billhilly]

Missionary sex caught my attention. Is the article about missionaries having sex or is it the position? Will read the answer tomorrow. Thanks.

[Servant of the 9]

he Pitcairn trial as presently being pursued, in addition to the possible incarcerating of individuals, has the potential to destroy an entire indigenous people group and in written form (the FCO) has said it doesn't matter if that happens," Mr Ford said.

47 inbred people is hardly a stable population anyway.

So9

[BipolarBob]

I've also read that before the trial begins all guns will have to be turned in (but will be returned afterwards) because of fears (another mutiny?). Something about the whole thing doesn't smell right. Maybe a ploy to take over the island.

[ghost of nixon]

Sex trials? What kind of sex will be tried?

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

Hurry, somebody tell Bill Clinton. I hear he is feeling better after his surgery.

[savedbygrace]

The Seventh Day Adventist Church was founded in New Hampshire, USA, in 1844. Its beliefs are similar to the Methodist and Baptist faiths.

The second sentence isn't true.

[Waco]

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[no more apples]

weird, just weird...

[Havoc]

The second sentence isn't true.

According to what I've read and studied on them, it is mostly true. They believe in the trinity, etc; but, they also have themselves a prophet who's prophecies never have come true - ie a false prophet. So they are similar; but..

[PAR35]

The second sentence isn't true.

On several different levels.

Baptist and Methodist beliefs are different, and SDAs are different from both. In fact, what became the SDA was founded on the belief that Jesus would return in 1843, later postponed until March 1844 and when that didn't happen October, 22, 1844. They had to modify their teachings after that.

[savedbygrace]

You forgot to mention their reliance on works to save them, as in Saturday worship. That's a pretty basic point of disagreement with the other two, which strongly believe that salvation is from the blood of Jesus alone.

No, the article's statement is NOT true.

[Havoc]

They said similar, not exact ;) I'm looking at it from the standpoint of a religion. It is similar. I stick with that word because it begs an obvious question. There is Christianity, then there are pretenders to it that are "similar". They follow philosophies dipped in Christian imagery and want to call themselves Christians. Following a philosopher and pretending to Also follow the second master - Jesus the annointed. Philosophers seem to dumb to realize that "you can't follow two masters" means precisely that. But hey, men will always try to be smarter than God.. and always fail.

[Joe 6-pack]

Trial?!?! Why don't they just get Janet Reno to burn 'em out?

[BlackVeil]

The background to this, is that Pitcairn Island was a remote place - nearest centre of civilisation is across the sea in New Zealand. Since the 19th century, it had a small population, descended from British seafarers, of a rough, lawless type. Since the 1980s, the population has fallen to less than 50, but it used to be more populated.

It was a local tradition, at Pitcairn, that men would seduce very young girls, and keep them as their "girlfriends" for several years. This was not a marriage, but a serial, exploitative relationship. The girls were socialised to accept this as normal, but many suffered depression, and inability to form stable relationships in later life. Some girls were targetted by men on Pitcairn, and subjected to series of pack rapes.

Sounds like a great place.

Recently, there have been attempts to address this through the legal system. That half-witted Adventist missionary, is taking the line that sex crimes should be covered up:

He said British police officers who investigated the alleged crimes had acted improperly and that Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) had refused to study alternatives to the trials.

If a crime has taken place, there is no alternative to a trial. Church authorities do not come out of the Pitcairn story looking good.

[concentric circles]

History of Pitcairn Island - Pitcairn Islands Study Center, Pacific Union College

Pitcairn, “The Rock of the West.”

The village of Adamtown is comprised of newer and historic homes scattered about among the greenery of Pitcairn on a few acres of the Island’s flattest land.

In Pitcairn’s General Store islanders and visitors can find groceries, toiletries, clothing, kitchenware, stationery, and a host of other basic need items for sale.

One of HMS Bounty’s anchors is kept on the Square of Adamstown. Here Fred and Parkin Christian pose with the relic.

One of Pitcairn’s cherubs enjoys a ride in the traditional island wheel barrow.

This is a typical example of British administration; extended periods of neglect punctuated by the occasional, arbitrary imposition of British law and inevitable punishment. Remember the complaints of the American colonies? Unfortunately there is no room for a humane and insightful solution to the difficulties on Pitcairn.

I recall reading about the remarkably hardy constitution of these people, diminished only by a tendency for dental caries. They are a good example of the fact that inbreeding among strong individuals carries no negative consequences. It is only among already weak lines that inbreeding produces defective progeny.

[Verginius Rufus]

I believe Pitcairn Island was named for the first man to catch sight of the island, the son of the Major John Pitcairn whose men fired on the Minutemen at the battle of Lexington. Major Pitcairn was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill.