Yes, Defendants claimed they did not report child abuse before 1997 because they were not required by law to do so. This was the legal reason for not reporting, but after the law was passed they still did not report child abuse if they could get away with it. For all practical purposes, the rationale behind Defendants and the rest of this religious group to not report child abuse has always been “…to not bring reproach upon God’s name and his organization,” and not expressly to protect pedophiles, although I’m certain there were exceptions. But what does the expression, “…not bring reproach,” mean in real terms?
This paragraph clearly shows that they were not at all interested in the spirit of the law. What is the 'spirit of the law' as regards child molesters?
Would it not be a human understanding of the depth of the damage done, and the criminal nature of the act, of violation of an innocent child? And a need to prevent that sort of damage to our children, and to punish the offender, protect society in general, and send a message that we don't tolerate criminals who prey on our children?
Clearly, this is not understood by the WTS. They are interested only in how they look to the outside world, and how they are affected within.
If a child is raped, it is not so much that this person has been victimized to them, as it is that someone sinned, and can we prove scripturally that they are a sinner worthy of punishment inside the congregation. They do not care about the 'crime' of child-rape per se. They only care about the sin and how it should be handled in the congregation, They are not trained to handle any of it. They only play the 'blame game' anyway. Everything is black and white, or ignored if it isn't.
Jeff
