This article came up on Google News, and I just couldn't resist adding my comment. Does anyone else have anything to say?
It hasn't appeared yet, but this was my comment:
Although Jehovah's Witnesses and their leadership known as the corporation of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society have a reputation for their litigiousness regarding freedom of religion and speech in the past, they have recently been embroiled in court cases of a different nature.
In February 2007, nine lawsuits involving 16 victims of sexual abuse were settled with Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society. A gag order was placed on the victims. For at least the past eight years, child molestation within and the cover-up of such by the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses has been in the news. Please see the following links for more information:
http://www.silentlambs.org/education/multimedia.cfm
http://www.watchtowerdocuments.com/downloads/Secrets_Commentary_Version_2.pdf
Many court documents and news events prove that Jehovah's Witnesses require two witnesses when a child comes forward with allegations of molestation within the congregation. Such allegations have customarily been treated as sins instead of crimes and are only reported to authorities when it is required to do so by law, (which varies by state). It has also been shown that child molesters within the organization usually have not been identified to the congregation members or the public at large. These people engage in a door to door ministry, possibly exposing children to pedophiles. Although the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society claims that known pedophiles are accompanied by a non-pedophile in such work, there is no law stating that such a practice must be followed.