What is a Cease and Desist anyway?
Brian, my nearest legal eagle, wrote a nice neat explanation of Cease and Desist in the comments yesterday. Here’s what he says:
“The letter itself is basically a threat to bring legal action, so the only cost involved is paying a lawyer to draft it. It’s therefore very easy for a large organisation to impose their will over someone whom they know is unlikely to be able to afford legal representation. It can make little difference how strong their case actually is. I notice that a lot of the Facebook groups are referring to US law, whereas it seems likely that SSG would bring a defamation action in the UK. Liberty provides a short guide to the relevant law. Dave should really get himself to a Citizens’ Advice Bureau. The famous “McLibel Two” managed to argue that it was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights for them to be denied legal aid to defend a defamation action, so he might have a chance!”
SO, Dave, Sam Norton, Phil Groom (an, apparently, anyone who has ever commented on Phil’s site) and anyone else who is being bothered by the SSG situation – get thee to the CAB. Still, no need to worry excessively about winding up in court or worse - since according to SSG, we are apparently all destined for the pit anyway…
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
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Thank you for this – it’s very timely.
Hi! And thanks! “Why Forgive?” by Johann Christoph Arnold was my source for this – he’s the one who deserves the credit – and I really recommend it. Bite sized chunks of powerful personal stories. And indeed they are so emotionally challenging to read I don’t really suggest reading it at a sitting – just read a bite or two at a time. It’s very realistic, though, and doesn’t make forgiveness sound at all glib or easy but looks the issues full in the face.
Ax
This is beautiful and an important message to put out there. I wonder if anyone ever gets to a place where forgiveness isn’t hard work. Well, . . . God of course, but besides him. Anyway, it’s good to be reminded to choose forgiveness rather than bitterness. Thanks.
Forgiveness: Great topic to consider today, given the lectionary – martyrdom of Stephen. If he hadn’t forgiven those stoning him, and asked God to, the young guy holding the stoners coat, Saul, probably wouldn’t later have had the vision on the Damascus Road, and Christianity might have ended up a minor Jewish sect. Forgiveness has power!