JW couple beats daughter to death

by saltiest 52 Replies latest jw friends

Room 215

Hi all,
In fairness, it must be said that by far the majority of JW parents I've known understand the difference between a spanking and a despicable criminal act such as this, and would not condone it. Mental instability is mental instability and the religious affiliation of the one afflicted is irrelevant.
You must know that most JWs would react to this bit of news much as we all did, with horror and revulsion, so whatever we think of them, it's unfair to conclude that punishment of this sort is a regular occurrence among them and is deemed in any way acceptable and responsible parenting.
The sad thing is that scripture chapter and verse can be cited as justification of such behavior.
joelbear

True discipline is training, not punishment.
However, training of anything, an adult human, a child, an animal, takes a great deal of time, work and patience on the part of the trainer.
The dangerous thing about giving snippets of advice, like, "use the rod to discipline your children", is that people will apply it in the easiest way they can, which is usually a whipping.
Frustrated parents trying to make a living, keep their relationship together and live up to a very strict set of religious guidelines will have a very tough time having enough time and energy left for the training of their children.
My parents ignored me except when I got "out of line" by their standards. It seems these poor children were treated even worse.
We, as a society, give lip service to children's rights, but we are far from really taking care of their needs.
Joel
Utopian Reformist

It is absolutely unbelievable! While apologetics for the WTBS may claim that these individuals were already unstable or off balance, the simple fact is that for the last 80 years the WTBS has been admonishing, recommending, advising, counseling, educating, condoning, and educating its followers that the word "rod" in the bible is a physical thing.
For years, fundamentalists from many faiths continue the madness of using the word "rod" as a basis for coporal punishment, which usually ends in child abuse and family breakdown during the teen years.
Rods in the bible are used as measuring guides, tools for examination, like a ruler or magnifying glass, depending on the subject of study. Where discipline is concerned, the rod is for MEASURING the results and friutage of the EDUCATION previously inculcated by the child's parents.
If the parents did not input any education and training (discipline) then the rod would reveal negative results. It has always been a tool for double-checking the parent's efforts, and not meant to be a tool for blaming and punishing the child.
It's the bible way of telling parents "garbage in, garbage out". And the rod of discipline if the collection of tools used to measure those results.
It is amazing how many miss this simple point and are quickly caught up in authority struggles with simple children. Even a small child can understand this logic. Yet, all of these so-called spiritual men cannot see past their "spiritual badge of enforcement" issued by the WTBS under the guise of rods and discipline. It is pathetic.
mommy

This story is so sad. The other children are now faced with the death of their sister, and all of the long term effects it has. The oldest child is 17, and I can only imagine the thoughts going through his/her head right now.
It is a fact that the WTBTS does advocate corporal punishment, perhaps this family took it to the extreme, but they were guided to do this. How many of us have seen the children taken in the back for not sitting still? Young children who do not have the ability to sit still for 2 hours! And to spank them for not doing someting they don't have the skills for yet is ridiculous!
I can count on one hand the times I have spanked my children. I can assure you all of the times were for life threatening things they did. I think when corporal punsihment is norm, children are not giving critical thnking skills they need further down the road. I feel it also gives them a roll over attitude as well. Always accepting what others tell them, never challenging anything they are told. This leads the way for woman to be more accepting of abuse form their mates. If you are going to punish your child with violence won't they then settle their problems with violence?
A few months ago, my children went to visit my family for a few weeks. When I finally got them back, they were mad, wild, insane! LOL My sisters had not punished them at all, and they were given full reign to do, say anything they wanted. It took me awhile to gather them back up and make them realize that the rules I have in place are still in place. It was not a very easy task, but I accomplished it without spanking them. My mother was trying to give me advice, even telling me that a Sunday talk she went to was about using the rod on the child. Sorry, I have my kids back without the use of the rod, I of course needed more patience with them. But as a parent I owe it to my children to show them patience, love, and discipline. All of this can be accomplished without spanking.
((((((hugs))))) to everyone here who has suffered beatings that stemmed from parents taken this scripture to heart. I know I carried many a black eye, bruises, sprains, and headaches while growing up. I can assure you that on several occasions I told the elders myself what was going on in our home. I was the one counseled! It is a viscous cycle that can only be broken one family at a time.
wendy
Blind faith can justify anything.~Richard Dawkins
openminded

This sounds eerily familiar to my homelife as a JW. My parents love was the motivation behind many a beating. How grateful I am that they did not spare the rod. I really had it coming. My room was often a mess and Oh how disrespectful I was.
Now that I am grown, I show my appreciation for my strict JW upbringing by not talking to my parents. Its a really nice relationship. As I put myself through college and raise a family of my own, it only seems appropriate that I pay them back for all the "help" they gave me. It just seems appropriate that they havnt been in my new home. I think the prevelence of peace and happiness I enjoy at my home would make them feel uncomfortable anyway.
NameWithheld

Ah yes, the old "this hurts me more than it hurts you" as the spankings were administered. I never got the point of those semi-legal beatings as a child. It just made me resent my parents (whose response to every infraction was yet another spanking). And I was lucky, not really 'beat' upon, but the spankings were fast a furious. Not that they taught me anything, I got to where I just took the beating and got on with what I wanted to do
It really kills me when I saw all those sub-2 year olds being smacked repeatedly to 'be quiet' during a meeting. How un-natural for a 2 year old to try and sit still for 2 hours! And usually with nothing but a book to look at. Maybe thats why so many JW kids end up with ADD.
All that said I'd like to take that cable upside this dude's head for what he did to this little girl. Hope he get's his due in the big house ... maybe he'll be someone's bitch.
outnfree

Sunspot inspired me. And ISP asked some good questions.
Here is what I sent to the Chicago Sun-Times News and Editorial Staff:
Re: Biblical Beating Kills Girl
My deepest sympathy goes to the extended family of Laree Slack, and especially to her siblings, who know the truth of the nightmare she and they have been forced to endure at the hands of unbalanced parents.
As a former Jehovah's Witness, this story disturbs me on many levels. I have questions, and then I have comments if it is really true that Laree's parents were "devoted Jehovah's Witnesses."
Questions: WERE Larry and Constance Slack actually baptized members of a local Jehovah's Witness Congregation?
Oftentimes, when one only begins studying with Jehovah's Witnesses and partially applying the unorthodox teachings of the sect, neighbors are quick to label one a "Jehovah's Witness" when, in fact, one has not actually become a congregation publisher (baptized member). So I am questioning if this could be the case here.
However, there is also the interesting quote from Rev. Lewis, who stated that he had attended Bible studies in their home.
Question: What were the nature of those studies?
If they were personal Bible study sessions, one on one with Larry Slack, that would, indeed, lead one to believe that he was a baptized publisher. However, Mr. Slack could also have been an unbaptized publisher and tried to share his newfound Bible knowledge with Rev. Lewis.
If, on the other hand, they were congregation book studies which are often held in a publisher's home to keep the setting intimate, that would indicate that not only was Mr. Slack a baptized publisher, but he was also considered by the sect to be a publisher "in good standing" -- worthy of the "privilege" of having the book study in his home. In fact, he could also be an appointed elder or ministerial servant in the congregation. Which would lead to more questions.
Question: Was "Brother Slack" holding any position of responsibility in the congregation -- i.e., elder or ministerial servant? If so, according to PUBLISHED Witness protocol this was a grave error. Elders and Ministerial Servants are to meet the following Biblical requirements:
"For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might correct the things that were defective and might make appointments of older men in city after city, as I gave you orders; if there is any man free from accusation, a husband of one wife, having believing children that were not under a charge of debauchery nor unruly. For an overseer must be free from accusation as God's steward, not self-willed, not prone to wrath, not a drunken brawler, not a smiter, not greety of dishonest gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, sound in mind, righteous, loyal, self-controlled, holding firmly to the faithful word as respects his [art of] teaching, that he may be able both to exhort by the teaching that is healthful and to reprove those who contradict."
-- New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, Titus 1:5-8.
Please note that should Mr. Slack actually be an overseer of some sort that two things in the above-cited scripture might come into play:
First, he is to have control over his own household -- a man with one wife and well-behaved, believing children.
Obviously, this scripture could be twisted as was the "forty lashes, minus one, three times" verse into an excuse for child abuse.
Secondly, however, the overseer is not to be "self-willed" nor a "smiter", but "sound in mind" and "self-controlled."
These are contrasting qualities, and Mr. (and Mrs.!) Slack have come up on the wrong side of the list, so to speak.
Question: What was the title of the "training manual for Jehovah's Witnesses" found on the stairs?
A publication such as the "Theocratic Ministry Guidebook", "Organized to Accomplish Our Ministry" or "Pay Attention to the Flock" would indicate at lease unbaptized publisher status in the sect in the first and second instances and a position of oversight in the third instance.
A publication such as "The Knowledge that Leads to Everlasting Life" proves only that some Jehovah's Witness placed the book in the home and that perhaps the Slacks were on the receiving end of a personal home Bible study.
Why am I bothering to write to ask these questions and comment on this matter? It is because I am very concerned about the state of the Jehovah's Witness religion today. My concern led me to disassociate myself (a formal resignation process) from the religion in March of this year, despite the fact and knowing full well that disassociation meant total excommunication ("disfellowshipping" in Witness jargon) or shunning by members of the sect.
I should like to share with you links to some websites which have further information on major problems within the organization today.
The first link is to a thread on a discussion board where I first heard Laree's sad story. Please note in the responses to the story that there are many who experienced unbalanced discipline as children at the hands of Witness parents. While the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society will claim that the "rod" of discipline need not be literal, in practice it usually is. Also, note that the WTBTS phrasing in its publications cited in the thread does imply that more often than not, literal application is just fine.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?site=3&id=15612&page=1
Unfortunately, children are being harmed by members of the Jehovah's Witness religion in other ways as well. In ways that are not always physically obvious, but which are child abuse nonetheless.
Please visit
www.silentlambs.com
to read about cases of JW childhood sexual abuse.
A former Jehovah's Witness elder started the site as a resource and refuge when his efforts to get the Watch Tower Society's policies on child abuse changed from within met only with silence and slander.
Many active Jehovah's Witnesses who disbelieve or will not hear the stories of child beatings, wife batterings and pedophilia, would be shocked to learn the information contained in thread below. Yes, the recent revelation that the Watch Tower Society, which preaches strict neutrality towards "worldly governments" and which has decried the United Nations as "the disgusting thing" in God's sight, has itself been affiliated with the United Nations as a non-governmental organization (NGO) associated with the UN's Department of Public Information (DPI) for about 10 years up until last month. A British newspaper's expose on the matter, found at
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=10732&site=3
(you'll want Page 18 of the thread)
and
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=13754&site=3
helped precipitate the Watch Tower Society's hasty retreat from said association. Guilty consciences, perhaps? The Society CLAIMS the criteria for association has changed since 1991, however, this appears to be a lie. This is a lie that the average JW publisher will swallow because it's easier to believe the lie than to accept the fact that the leadership has compromised its neutrality whereas were a lowly publisher to do so, excommunication or other sanctions would be immediately imposed. In fact, one poster to the discussion board above has been "publicly reproved" (= loss of conregational privileges) for merely ASKING about the UN debacle!
It is hard for me to express the deep and disturbing disillusionment I personally have experienced as I came to discover that the organization which touts itself as (and which I believed it to be) clean, pure, upright, intolerant of wrongdoers and, above all, God's ONLY true channel of communication to humankind is home to a large number deceitful, unbalanced, perverted, and morally compromised members even in positions of authority.
The heinous murder of Laree Slack at the hands of supposedly devout and loving Jehovah's Witness parents is a startling indication of just how far gone from its stated ideals and doctrines the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society has regressed in these "last days."
Child abuse of all types within this religion (and I have not commented here on refusal of blood transfusions) must be ended.
Please consider doing a series on this high-control sect which will reveal to the public at large that the next modestly-dressed, briefcase-carrying, Bible-wielding couple that comes to your door may be something altogether different underneath the facade.
If Constance and Larry Slack were active, baptized publishers, that was certainly the case there, wasn't it?
-------------
(((((((((((((to Mommy and the others)))))))))))) hurt by their JW parents in the name of love! This includes my own kids.
The only thing that makes me feel the teeniest bit better now is knowing that I only ever used an open hand, and that I always DID understand the difficulties of young children with L-O-N-G meetings. Coloring and drawing in notebooks were always OK with me (even after the elders admonished me that I was too "soft" and that they were "old enough" to "take notes" and "pay attention.") I was never one of those pinch-the-kids-to-keep-them-awake-Moms, either. In fact, I brought my youngest's 'blankey' with us and rued the day that the counsel from the platform told us not to allow them toys (not even "loveys"!!!) at meetings or out in field service.
---------
I am completely sickened by this story, whether the parents were actually JWs or not. I cannot fathom striking my child with a rubber hose! And why? Laree didn't jump up quickly enough to help search for the smock? Whose smock do you think it was, if it had credit cards in it?
The 17 year old must be sickened and guilty for not stepping in. The 8 year old is also badly hurt. I hope there are loving relatives who are willing to give these children lots of time and encouragement and who are capable of teaching them normalcy.
Did anyone else notice that there was a Cook County "Domestic Violence Safety Plan" on the stairs? Who brought that home, I wonder? Mom? was the family getting ready to flee? Had Dad been in trouble before? One of the kids? Perhaps Laree? desperate to convince somebody older to GET THEM OUT of this situation?
Cannot comment further.
I am too weighed down and weary.
May the children find peace and Laree be avenged!
outnfree
In dealing with fear, the way out is in -- Sheldon Kopp
Bridgette

This is why when we have the occasional (albeit well meaning) "what were the goodie goodie, happy joy joy things about growing up in the "TRUTH"? threads, my stomach turns. For too many of us, THIS ARTICLE EMBODIES WHAT GROWING UP A JEHOVAH'S WITNESS MEANT.
I am so sickened right now. At first, I thought maybe this is just sensationalism. I had to go check the original link first (no offense, Kent, it just seemed SO outrageous). It's true. The Chicago Sun Times. One could try to console themselves by saying this is an isolated case, but so many of us raised "in" will remind you that this is pretty much the norm. So many of us, including myself, could've been that girl, if the biblical "punishments" had just turned a few degrees. I canonly remember vageries (i.e., before meeting times or ESPECIALLY assembly times, were the WORST--I dreaded them. spilled koolaid (very bad), belts, welts on back and legs. Broken collar bone as a very young child, being "taught" to swim--I refuse to go near water to this day). I have put so many memories behind me and have forgiven my mother. She has mellowed out so much in her old age, especially as she's drifted from the "ORG". She has even apologized. One day, if I should outlive her, I will write a book, methinks. When it does not hurt so much to remember.
I am grieving the loss of this girl. I have copied this article, and will show it to the same school officials I showed the BOE letters regarding "non-reporting" of child molestation and child abuse.
Thank you for your diligent work, Kent and others.
Love,
Bridgette
p.s.
Nelly, you wrote: "I can remember as a child being constantly reminded
how everyone was impressed by how good
jw children were, how nicely they sit still at the meetings/assemblys
how well behaved they were on the doors, I could never understand for
the life of me why everyone assumes that jw kids are born well behaved and never questions how their 'unaturally' good behaviour is"
This is why I keep my school official friend "abreast" of "discipline" techniques and policies of not immediately reporting alleged child abuse of JW's. Because these parents look so shiney, happy, "concerned" blah blah blah, and if they truly are, more power to them, but I want them to be aware that all too often, it belies an abusive (mentally, verbally, emotionally, physically, spiritually) home life.
Rex B13

That's it, Andee.
Paint all fundy Christians with the same brush of smear and slander. No one advocates abusive behavior except abusers.
Nothing beyond a hand or paddle used on the rear is needed but certainly one can't hit any child in anger. Physical punishment is NEVER advocated as the first option, fundy or not.
Parents in families for thousands of years have used some form of physical punishment to correct children. We've got schools that are zoos from total lack of any correction, corporal or non-corporal. People are raising criminals that WE are going to have to pay for, lock up or get mugged/killed by. What's better, a well-placed swat and parental love now or a prison cell later?
Rex
MadApostate

With regard to this tragedy, someone posted in another thread:
One of the most grotesque things about this case is, that the WTBTS will immediately distance themselves and attempt to wash the blood of this girl completely off their hands. No doubt, these parents were unbalanced individuals, but this organization and it's abysmal record on children's rights fed this.
Yes, the WTS will quickly select quotes from one of its' "doublespeak" family articles, which will exonerate itself. Just like many, many other JW issues, carefully selected quotes can completely disguise "reality" in the JW community.
While it is true that such people as these criminals are "unbalanced", the WTS's "OT sanctioned physical violence" mentality is what fosters such extremes.
What person here, who has spent any significant time inside the JW community, has not observed other JWs, who exhibit signs of physically abusing their children in the name of "training/education"?
Reading the News Article, and the comment quoted above, reminded me of a JW family who attended the same Cong as I many years ago.
The father would beat the hell out of his kids during the meetings for things as insignificant as inattention or not looking up the verses.
Everytime he dragged one of his kids down the aisle, you could see kids flinching and adults wincing. Once, I even heard a sister whisper her wonderment whether the elders were ever going to do anything?
This went on for years, and the elders did counsel him, but the only noticable result was that he moved the beatings from the restroom to the parking lot.
Over the years that asshole was "promoted" to MS, and eventually Elder.
Years later, after his children were grown, I heard that his wife left him, finally acknowledging that he also beat her. It wasn't until then, that he was finally DF'ed, after years of beating the hell out of his whole family, while the WTS establishment did little or nothing to stop such.

JW couple beats daughter to death

Share this