by OUTLAW 24 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
This quote is from the document at the link Blondie gave.
What if the molestation occurred in one of the thirty-six non-reporting States? Then the attorney will say, -Brothers your obligation has been fulfilled you are to remain neutral on reporting to law enforcement.-
I used to believe Christian neutrality was a good thing.
BTW, the number at that link
says over TWENTY - THREE thousand,
not twenty-seven thousand.
23, 720
BUT that was posted in Nov 03, we're now in May 07, seems reasonable to have had an extra 4k added since that date
This reminds me that they should be following their own counsel. The Bible talks about removing the rafter from one's own eye before worrying about the straw in your brother's. They worry about the straw in the Catholic church's eyes. Well, they did have a serious pedophile problem there, too. However, they are trying to come clean on that issue. While it doesn't totally make up for the damage it did, they are trying to stop further damage.
The Craptower Society, on the other hand, is trying to make itself look like the spiritual paradise that they advertise. So, instead of coming clean about it, they make even more efforts to hide it. Which means that the victim gets silenced with the threat of getting disfellowshipped for slander if they call the police or warn other members about the danger. This all but assures that the problem will continue. Which is the rafter: the straw was the original molestation, which the Catholic church is now trying to fix. The rafter is the stubborn attempt to make themselves look totally innocent.
Not only that, but the Catholic church is not guilty of other major forms of child abuse. Catholic children are allowed to play with worldly children. Catholic children celebrate all the holidays and birthdays, instead of having to head to time out to dodge them. Catholic chiildren are allowed to salute the flag. They are allowed time to play after school instead of getting dragged out in service immediately after. They don't have meetings until 10:30 PM on school nights. They don't have so many problems with getting spanked for not being able to sit still for hours at a time. They don't have to stay dressed up for days at a time for some stupid a$$embly. They don't make the children targets for persecution at school and then take away all the good experiences. The Witlesses do all the above. Hence, I think the Witlesses have many rafters in their eyes. And they have the audacity to try to bash the Catholic church for the straw in their eyes.
OUTLAW,
Here is an archived page in the SL guestbook, which has links from this site, that seem to no longer be working:
sKally
http://www.reexamine.org/wtobserver/apps/pbcs.dll/article364a.html?AID=/20040401/NEWS3/40401003
Silentlambs recognized by The Watchtower
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The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society has recognized Silentlambs, and agrees with Silentlambs goals. This interesting news was published from their world headquarters by their public affairs spokesman, JR Brown, according to Associated Press.
Kent Steinhaug
Present and former Jehovah's Witnesses who claim they were sexually abused by congregation leaders gathered in their first national caucus Saturday, sharing grievances about the religion's handling of abuse complaints and discussing legal strategy. Victims from as far away as Sweden attended the conference, and Watchtower Observer was informed Swedish TV was there to make a program about it.
William Bowen of Silentlambs said that more than 6,000 alleged sexual abuse victims have contacted a group he founded in 2001 to express "outrage at being silenced by the bad institutional policies" of the faith.
The interesting thing about this is that William Bowen’s fight against child molestation seems to have an effect on the Watchtower itself, and he seems to have gained respect for his work from the Watchtower Society. AP wrote this about Brown’s statement:
J.R. Brown, public affairs spokesman at the world headquarters of the Witnesses' Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in New York City, said the religion agrees with silentlambs' goal "to minimize or eliminate the sexual abuse of children" but disputes the group's specific allegations.
Brown also disputed silentlambs' contention that Witnesses are discouraged from taking abuse complaints to secular police. Official policy says, according to Brown, elders should report abuse allegations to police if state laws require this, as is now the case in many states.
For the first time we can confirm this can be done these days. Some place on the west coast of Norway, a 36 year old Jehovah’s Witness raped his step daughter on a public lavatory. He had also abused another stepdaughter and two daughters. The girls are today from five to 23 years old. He told the congregation elders about this, and they actually contacted the police!
As far as we know, this has never before happened in Norway, and we are absolutely sure this turn in policy is a direct result of the work of William Bowen and Silentlambs.
This is clear evidence it is worth while to fight for children’s rights. We are talking about human rights for children – and Silentlambs is the spear point in this work.
my post was badly written - I meant there has been one (or more) in every congo I have served in
Hope you reported that to the proper authorities, still.
I`ve been away for a bit..Thank you all for your posts..Both sad and informative..I wish the abused and thier familys well.....Skally and Blondie,thank you for your links..The link works fine now SkallyWagger.....I`ve looked all over and found plenty of comments about the 27,000 JW pedophile number,but nothing that proves it..It`s interesting that so many people,from different places,have heard the same information.....I also found "This Thread" on Google!..I didn`t put it there..???..I`m famous now!..I`ve been Googled!!..LOL!!...OUTLAW
Well OUTLAW, you've always been googlicious in my eyes.
sKally
