by clarity 63 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
She continues to describe how the kids refused to listen and were "angry at God for what had happened to them and nothing was going to change their minds."
Indeed . . . how does a God that let's this happen propose to "judge" those who have forsaken him because of it? . . . let alone provide them with a satisfactory explanation?
Coming back after a day of internet connection problems ...I'm shocked to see more added to the list. A memorial of sorts, in more ways than one.
Tears blur my eyes at your words.
Yesterday I said ... "to all the scared kids who can't figure out why the elders or daddy/mommy or god doesn't help them," I really didn't want that to be true.
Reading Lee's link, shows it to be devastatingly...true, I wished that god had stepped in! :-(
"At the traumatic moment, the person confronts his or her own vulnerability [powerlessness] and eventual mortality [psychic death]" (p.22). The worst possible situation would occur if the event was caused by someone known and trusted.." "the victim's world view may be shattered".
Lady Lee thanks for your input & helping us to understand the full inpact of these heinous acts.
Truthseeker, so very sorry ... how do you keep from beating the crap out of a creep like that!
Magwitch, really incomprehensible. How mind boggling to be told on one hand, that this is the only true religion (god will kill you if you don't believe that!) but on the other you are seeing something else entirely! So sorry.
If my count is right, 21 dear people personally know of all these things.
The count is well over a 100. May we never underestimate the degree of this problem.
What will we do about it? What can we do?
clarity
You might want to check out this thread - 48 on the first page alone and a total of 183 - http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/7595/1/POLL-Elders-vs-Molesters
The results to his poll are at: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/7807/1/REVISED-PEDOPHILE-POLL-RESULTS
It is quite the read and staggering that a "clean" religion has hidden this abuse for so long
Stunning link Lee, thanks. Really worth a read!
There were 64 who responded, and the number of jw molesters they knew about totalled 183!
The difference is, we were counting the people who were abused by these perps!
c
Many of the instances of abuse described in this thread are legally actionable.
If these assaults occurred in the US, please contact me.
SOME accountability is achievable!
kimberlee d norris
attorney at law
Kimberly d Norris, Attorney at Law
Thanks for your interest. Would you care to give us a bit of legal information here?
Regarding:
"Many of the instances of abuse described in this thread are legally actionable."
What facts would make them "legally actionable"?
This could be good news for some people!
clarity
Me. (by a former elder)
My childhood best friend. (by a circuit overseer)
That makes 2 more. Nothing ever happened in both of our cases, and our parents were, in hindsight, disgustingly complacent about the whole matter. I don't understand it at all, because I have daughters, and I would feel a blinding rage if anybody touched my girls (or my son) like that.
Tracylee, so sorry you had this experience.
Parents ignoring the abuse of their own daughter, just has to be even worse!
Show's how mind controlled we were. They probably felt they had to hide the disgrace to god's "name" at any cost. You and your best friend paid the price.
Did you notice the Lawyer's post? (above) I am hoping for further contact on this subject.
There is an email address, but until we can be sure of who this person is I would advise caution before giving out any personal information!
Thanks for sharing TL
clarity
For anyone interested in the Kimberley d Norris post (Lawyer) this link may be of help to you.
http://thirdwitness.com/childabuse/Norris.html
clarity
The elders report to the local authorities if there's a mandatory reporting law requiring them to do so, or if they believe a child's welfare is at stake. Even if a congregation member is repentant and there's a mandatory reporting law, the elders still report it.
w97 1/1 p. 29 Let Us Abhor What Is Wicked
Depending on the law of the land where he lives, the molester may well have to serve a prison term or face other sanctions from the State. The congregation will not protect him from this. Moreover, the man has revealed a serious weakness that henceforth will have to be taken into account. If he seems to be repentant, he will be encouraged to make spiritual progress, share in the field service, even have parts in the Theocratic Ministry School and nonteaching parts in the Service Meeting. This does not mean, though, that he will qualify to serve in a position of responsibility in the congregation.
In 30 years, I know of one instance where there was a pedophile in the Christian congregation. He was unrepentant and was abusing his own children. When the elders acquired knowledge of the dangerous man they immediately contacted the local authorities. The man's children were placed in the Christian congregation instead of being placed in the foster care system. The male pedophile was incarcerated and imprisoned. To those that buy into the idea that demographically, there's a higher number of pedophiles in Jehovah's Organization in comparison with other demographics, what are these statistics based on?
As a comparative example:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/mar2002/chur-m29.shtml
The crisis over sexual abuse by members of the priesthood underscores the profoundly reactionary and anachronistic character of the Catholic Church as an institution. Its corrupt and hypocritical officials, living like kings, preach against sin and vice, oppose birth control and abortion, inveigh against homosexuality, enthusiastically advocate censorship and intellectual repression, universally ally themselves with the powers that be and generally make life miserable for tens of millions of people.
There are a host of questions bound up with the abnormal psychology often found in the priesthood that are beyond the scope of this article.
Every aspect of the sexual abuse crisis—the pain and suffering of the victims, the misery and sexual dysfunction of the priests, the callousness of Church officials—suggests a diseased institution whose practices and beliefs run counter to elementary human needs and inevitably breed the unhealthiest of psycho-sexual climates. The Catholic Church’s essential being flies in the face of modern society.
