Jehovah’s Witness denies sex charges

by yalbmert99 13 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  yalbmert99

  Jehovah’s Witness denies sex charges

  Tuesday, September 13, 2011

  http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/jehovah_s_witness_denies_sex_charges_1_1020203
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  cantleave

  Typical, cover-up and denial.
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  wobble

  I have signed up and left my comment under the name of "Infoman" on the newspaper's site.

  Perhaps others would like to add theirs ?
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  wannabefree

  Certainly not what Jehovah's Witnesses the people are about, nor a characteristic of the religion, but it sure shows the failure of the policies of a religion that claims to be better than anything else on earth ... Jehovah's Organization it definately is not.
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  DesirousOfChange

  “It was left very much to these two young people to decide if they wanted the police involved. The decision wasn’t taken by the elders and as the girls didn’t want to go to the police nothing was done in 2000,” said Mr Thompson. He said that at the time neither of the girls felt strong enough to take the matter further

  Let's be fair:

  Any defendant, in any court of law, would plead NOT GUILTY. That's the way the game is played here (US) to negotiate a reduced charge, if nothing else.

  How can you fault the WTS if the girls nor their parents were not inclined to pursue the matter themselves? What's wrong with these parents?

  I do not see where this incriminates WTS as much as it does the parents who evidently did nothing to protect their daughters or other potential victims.
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  Alfred

  Desirous... onvolving the police would bring reproach on jehovah's organization... can't have that... the parents might lose privileges and their status as exemplary JWs... this is clearly mor imoprtant than protecting their kids... heck, they'll get over it if they pary a lot and go to FS...
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  Mad Sweeney

  The elders represent the Borg, DOC, and they did NOTHING. Nothing to help the victims and nothing to prevent Wood from continuing to victimize others. You blame the victims and the families? And you talk about fairness? Frankly, you're just dragging a red herring across the trail to protect the Borg and spread blame.

  And wannabefree, this IS a characteristic of the religion because it goes on worldwide all the time. That's what a characteristic IS.
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  wannabefree

  Mad Sweeney: I agree, thank you for clearing that up for me.
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  Scully

  DOC:

  Any defendant, in any court of law, would plead NOT GUILTY. That's the way the game is played here (US) to negotiate a reduced charge, if nothing else.

  How can you fault the WTS if the girls nor their parents were not inclined to pursue the matter themselves? What's wrong with these parents?

  I do not see where this incriminates WTS as much as it does the parents who evidently did nothing to protect their daughters or other potential victims.

  To put the burden of reporting on the victims is just one more layer of abuse. Children probably don't understand the enormity of the CRIME of sexual abuse, and frankly from your comments, it's clear that a lot of adults don't understand it either. Compound that with unfulfilled promises by the Elders™ to "take care of it" and the pressure within the JW congregation to "not bring reproach on Jehovah" or to 'not drag your Brother™ into court' and possibly other subtle or overt threats regarding potentially losing Privileges™ or accusations of "slander" against the perpetrator, and you have a very unhealthy environment that allows child molesters to have free reign under the protection of gag order on the victims and their families.

  One of the most common beliefs of victims of child sexual abuse is that they did something that caused it to happen to them. There is a lot of self-blame and a lot of perpetrators and enablers capitalize on this self-recrimination by victims by blaming the victim - the 5 year old who dressed provocatively, the 8 year old who danced around and got him aroused, the 7 year old boy with the nice butt cheeks that are so damn grabbable. The molesters claim they are victims themselves, as if they have no control over their urges - just like the radical muslims who rape who aren't dressed in a burqa or who go out alone or unaccompanied by a male relative.

  The WTS has a duty to take a hard line against offenders and alleged offenders. If the parents don't have the balls to report a child molester to the police, its agents (Elders™, Ministerial Servants™, Circuit Overseers™, Pioneers™, Brothers™ and Sisters™) ought to have a duty to report [and it can be reported anonymously to Child Protective Services] any knowledge or suspicions they have of child molestation. An agency relationship has been established within the Congregation™ setting, and just like school teachers, principals, custodians who work in a school have a duty as "mandated reporters" to report those crimes, so should anyone within the JW heirarchy.

  This is the one social issue within the JWs that makes it impossible for me to ever go back. I could probably tolerate being taught bull$h!t prophecies, but this blatant disregard for the safety of children is a deal breaker for me, because I can never, in good conscience, invite another human being to become part of that Organization™ as long as this continues. And the fact that it has continued, unabated worldwide, for decades, is proof enough for me that this Organization™ has no moral authority worthy of recognition.
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  DesirousOfChange

  Frankly, you're just dragging a red herring across the trail to protect the Borg and spread blame.

  Sweeney, it's not my job to protect the Borg and that's not my intent. The most recent allegation is at least 15 years ago. A lot of things have changed regarding reporting abuse since then. I have no idea what the laws were in the UK back then. In the US, it was still the case that not all US States required reporting of such things by clergy. Blame the politicians/law makers for going soft on the issue. I would suspect that in the past, such things were considered confidential under ecclesiastical privilege/immunity. I suspect many a clergyman may have struggled about issues where he would have liked to violate ecclesiastical privilege. (Read John Grisham's (fiction) The Confession.)

  Did the WTS really handle the issue of child abuse worse than any other religious denomination? Please don't condemn me for asking. I am aware of the WTS's (seems like) $16M settlement several years ago. But there are similar claims against other denominations. And we won't even try to address the Catholic Church's abuse troubles worldwide.

  Even just one case that could have been avoided is deplorable. But the same could be said for mistakes involving capital punishment, but that hasn't stopped Texas (or many other states). If Mr Wood had abused one of my kids, he would never have abused anyone again. Ever. Trust me on that one. Just call that taking personal responsibility.