by JT 17 Replies latest jw friends
mommy says:
The fact is the Catholic church has changed their policies and Ted Koppel even asked if it was in part due to the Boston Globes persistent airing of their wrongdoings
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well my grandma always said that "Fresh Air is the best thing for Germs"
Hi Jt,
Hope this finds you and MrsT well!
yanno after you posted this I went to the Boston Globe to check out the news.
And lo and behold there is a story of father Shanley.recently revealed to be a pedophile.Who worked w/ runaways and street kids in the 60's and 70's.
Now I found this fascinating as he was a vocal accuser of father Bruce Ritter a Franciscan priest (the one who started and ran Covenant house)later found to be a pedophile. The story of Ritter is so similar to what ex Jw's know about this problem amongst themselves.
Ritter was never prosecuted,but was forced to step down from running covenant house as he preyed on the young boys he was supposed to be helping.Now turns out Shanley did what he accused Ritter of.
it's a great read if you get time,called Broken Covenant. it has lots of research and stats regarding peds in the church,why there are more than in the general population.Parralels the dynamics that happen in Jwdom and other orgs.
Thanks again Jt.hugs,T
Todays Affirmation:
The complete lack of evidence is the surest sign that the conspiracy is working.
The scandal is becoming better known in the halls too, slowly but surely, and when Dateline airs then people are going to go inactive or in some cases quit - and who can blame them. No wonder they are wanting to push inactives to start reattending. They need every head to count that they can. But it will do them no good. There must be true change, but they are to stubborn to act, besides which there is the Greenlees stuff.
I posted these yesterday:
< http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=22115&site=3
sKally, never setting foot inside ANY church EVER again, nor will she ALLOW her daughter inside one (risk factor is just too high)
If man was supposedly created in gods image, then.....holy krap...we're all doomed.-sKallyWagger
So, you think all pedophiles go to church? Do you think that religious organizations are the only places where pedophiles lurk? It is a human problem, not a religious one. Most religions condemn preying on children, and this sort of activity is prevalent as an ignoring of religious principles, not a practice of them.
The same is true of Jehovah's Witnesses. Where is the proof that they are a "pedophile's paradise," as Silent Lambs said? Where is the proof that any religious dictum of Jehovah's Witnesses condones pedophilia? The last I checked, Jehovah's Witnesses are stringently against all sorts of illicit sex, including incest and pedophilia.
That some individuals among Jehovah's Witnesses have been found guilty of pedophilia does not make the organization a pedophile's paradise, nor does the fact that a few have found a loophole in the Bible requirement of two witnesses to a crime, do so. There are many laws in general society that criminals find loopholes in; this does not make the laws wrong or "protective" of criminals. Would we wish to do away with Miranda Rights and other Constitutional protections, just because some enterprising crooks misuse them?
Pedophilia is a grave sin and an abhorrent crime. But where is the fairness in painting with too broad a brush, in condemning an entire group of people for the bad acts of a few who are in violation of the norms of the group?
Unlike Catholics, Witnesses have no official requirement of celibacy for ministers (which may contribute to unnatural desires), no official boarding houses or camps where child abuse may run rampant, no official policy to shield lawbreakers or unrepentant sinners. On the contrary, the "official" policy is to expel such ones.
That there have been individual breakdowns in the system, and individual shameful, aberrant acts by individual Witnesses, is just what it is, individual acts, and no more.
People with no ax to grind will see that.
"So, you think all pedophiles go to church? Do you think that religious organizations are the only places where pedophiles lurk?"
Do you think I am stupid and do not KNOW that child sex predators LURK EVERYWHERE? I am on constant alert everyday when my child awakes. When she walks to school, only one block away, she and I are on high alert until she gets there. If she doesn't make it, the school calls right after rollcall to inform parents that their kid did not show up and asks if they are homesick. Same for after school; if she isn't here by a certain time, I call them. Plus my daughter knowsthat if she isn't home when she's suppose to be, that I am already nervous and waiting. She seldom is late knowing this is what I go thru when she IS late.
I have gone over graphically what could happen to her if she fails to implement any of the preventative measures that I have instilled in her re: child sex predators. I do not sugarcoat any of it. When I'm not around, she needs to know what to do to prevent any harm to her. These are measures that are repeated verbally, EVERYDAY she wakes up. It is MY responsibilty to INSTILL in her howto defend her very Being whenher mom is not there. Or god, for that matter. It's obvious now, to me, that calling out for gods help will NOT help her in anyway. She must tap into her own strength and knowledge. She knows this too.
Pedophiles are everywhere, yes, yet church is the last place my daughter ever thought they'd be. Shock was not the only thing she felt when she learned this. It scared her. Then it angered her.
I love her. She's very bright and alert. Intend on keeping her just that way.
sKally
If man was supposedly created in gods image, then.....holy krap...we're all doomed.-sKallyWagger
accuracy,
certainly it's appropriate to acknowlwedge that pedophiles exist throughout society in general. But what makes the churches so reprehensible is that they CLAIM to be clean and a safe haven from the common world. Children are taught to put their trust in the religion and to suport the doctrines and policies of their faith. They connect the religion directly to their relationship with God.
It is awful for a child to find out that their teacher or camp counseler is a sexual predator, or even their aunt or uncle. But it is so much worse for these children to discover that their priests, their conduit to their God, is a child mollester. Perhaps only topped by finding out their parent is such. It is a matter of degrees, as is so often the case in criminal activities.
You are right, of course, that the sins of a few individuals does not automatically paint the entire organzation as evil. There is no doubt that most JW's object to the practice of pedophilia. But it still remains that they have placed their organization in the position of Gods clean channel, the only way to God and salvation. To support that claim they choose to place the elders in the position of being "spirit" annointed, or appointed by God through the organization. To allow just one elder to get away with pedophilia belies that claim. But they have so indoctrinated the faithful to believe that the elders and the GB are directed by God that the rank and file will not even consider that the oragnization's policy should share some of the blame for these criminal acts.
Many believing Catholics also object to the spotlight being on the church itself due to the acts of a few priests. But that is just normal community reaction when the claims of holiness do not stand up to the reality of human organizations. This all goes to show that there is no reason to believe that any humans are more holy or godly than any others. Let's tear down the walls and take off the halos and see to it that everyone is bound by the same rule of discipline when found guilty of such harmful acts as pedohilia.
Sean
