OK, well I don't know where I got that from. I thought with the settlements the policy had changed sometime afterwards.
purps
Were you or someone you know sexually molested by a Jehovah's Witness ?
by flipper 381 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
-
-
AllTimeJeff
No I am not an elder but faced with the dilema of letting an innocent victim be demonized for stating acusations against a perp I would start by dissenting.
Then we have common ground here. There are some JW's who do this. Regretably, there are many who don't, because they are indoctrinated not to do so.
-
dinah
There was a sister (elder's wife) in my Mom's congregation who reported an abusive parent to Child Protectice Services. She's a firecracker, who hates injustice. Her husband is a very nice man. I would go as far as calling him a great elder. He spent alot of time 5-6 years ago trying to get me back into the fold.
If all Witnesses were like that couple, without the interference from "Mother", it would be tolerable.
There are some really good men who are elders. There was one when I was growing up, I was so close to him it felt like he was my Grandpa. He called the police on my best friend's dad (anonymously, but we are pretty sure he was the one to make the call).
Nobody has said ALL witnesses are bad. It's their policies!! And the rank and file are too scared to stand up when faced with a situation like this.
-
flipper
FINALLY FREE- That sounds about staus quo that the elders, a Bethelite , would recommend a psychiatrist who would blame your wife for the child abuse she suffered as a girl . Too bad she didn't get a different recommendation for a psychiatrist from a " worldly reference " . Jeez. Sorry she had to suffer like that. I hope others that go through child abuse get the proper counseling from legitimate professional therapists so they can start the healing and recovery process. It's awful what they go through
-
Big Tex
awaretoday
I guess my problem with Jehovah's Witnesses has always centered around their refusal to (1) acknowledge there is a problem; (2) use the Bible to justify rules that are in place for the sole reason of silencing a child and their family; and (3) punishing the victim, or anyone else, who speaks out. This separates Jehovah's Witnesses from the Cathlolic religion, at least in my mind, because the Catholics at least did not excommunicate the child, or the child's family if they reported the crime to the police.
Having said that, I do not think every single Jehovah's Witness is a pedophile or knows about sexual abuse and covers it over. That is all-or-nothing thinking. Real life isn't like that.
I do think they made a step in the right direction by directing elders to report abuse. However, please note that this directive only applies in the United States and only in states where they are legally required to do so. This last little bit is something most Witnesses either don't know or conveniently ignore. Jehovah's Witnesses are infamous for a great deal of smoke and noise in their arguments, but really in the end once the smoke clears, there's nothing there.
I can't help but wonder if Jesus, the apostles or other Biblical characters would have abstained from reporting child abuse simply because they were not legally required to do so.
-
Big Tex
If they live in a state where they have to report, the legal dept will instruct the elders to report it anonymously, from a phone booth.
Sorry Jeff, I didn't mean to step on your toes. I got called away from my post in mid response and didn't know anyone else responded.
-
AllTimeJeff
Sorry Jeff, I didn't mean to step on your toes. I got called away from my post in mid response and didn't know anyone else responded.
No no, its all good.... JW's are way to used to the 2 eyewitness rule to have any one person verify JW teachings.....
-
awaretoday
My brother and i have talked, he is an elder and he feels the obligation to give to Cesar his crime perpetrators first before calling Bethel, it is just the interpretation of a letter after all. A crime is not within the JWS's jurisdiction to process, he wouldn't call the WTS by doing so he woul appear to need guidance and subjected to WTS direction to investigate first instead of calling the police first.
-
AllTimeJeff
awaretoday
Then your brother is a good man, but not a loyal elder. I can tell you as a former elder, having dealt with several pedophile cases, having been at Gilead and the subsequent Elder seminar the following year, that in the US, elders are required to call the legal dept first. Any individual elder is free to disagree and follow the dictates of their conscience of course, but that doesn't mean that GB policy has changed.
I know several elders who disregard direction from the Service Dept. Good for them!
-
flipper
AWARETODAY- Well I admire your elder brother for being willing to go to the police first, that takes courage, but I asure you he will get nuclear fallout from it from his fellow elders and the WT society if they find out he didn't report to Bethel legal first. Just saying