If some kids got molested, the parents should have told the police, it wasnt the watchtower's fault.... (page 2)

So now it's the parents fault. Really? So having a child molester in the KH without any warning to others is now the parents fault. Appointing this person as an elder and giving him access to publishers who are underage is now the parents fault. The person molesting the child and having his sin covered and protected from everyone else's knowledge is now the parents fault.

Wow

sizemik

Faulty reasoning . . .

If you're in a position to make the decision to report it to the Police . . . the abuse has already happened. Duh!

It's the Watchtower's fault because they condone paedophilia by decree. period. It shouldn't happen in the first place in "God's Theocratic Organisation"

Lady Lee

How convenient that they forget the oft cited scripture that you should not take your brother to court. The procedure is to

talk to the person who you have a conflict with and try to sort it out
if that doesn't work take a couple of people along as witnesses
and if that doesn't worl go to the elders.

JWs would never even think about going to the elders of the abuser is not a JW. And if they did the elders would immediately tell them to go to the police. But when the accused is a brother - all complaints have to follow the above although most often the parents would most likely go straight to the elders skipping steps 1 and 2

ex360shipper

Even today, they will tell you its up to you to report the matter, but that "it will bring reproach on Jehovah's organization." Perverts.

00DAD

Two words: Mandated Reporters:

In many U.S. states and Australia, mandated reporters are professionals who, in the ordinary course of their work and because they have regular contact with children, disabled persons, senior citizens, or other identified vulnerable populations, are required to report (or cause a report to be made) whenever financial, physical, sexual or other types of abuse has been observed or is suspected, or when there is evidence of neglect, knowledge of an incident, or an imminent risk of serious harm. For example, in South Australia, a school teacher must report a child attending school seeming malnourished or presenting with bruising, complaining of neglect or otherwise demonstrating neglect or abuse at home, to child welfare authorities.

These professionals can be held liable by both the civil and criminal legal systems for intentionally failing to make a report but their name can also be said unidentified. Mandated reporters also include persons who have assumed full or intermittent responsibility for the care or custody of a child, dependent adult, or elder, whether or not they are compensated for their services. RAINN maintains a database of mandatory reporting regulations regarding children and the elderly by state, including who is required to report, standards of knowledge, definitions of a victim, to whom the report must be made, information required in the report, and regulations regarding timing and other procedures.

Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect: Summary of State Laws

All States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have statutes identifying persons who are required to report child maltreatment under specific circumstances.
Privileged Communications: Mandatory reporting statutes also may specify when a communication is privileged. "Privileged communications" is the statutory recognition of the right to maintain confidential communications between professionals and their clients, patients, or congregants. To enable States to provide protection to maltreated children, the reporting laws in most States and territories restrict this privilege for mandated reporters. All but three States and Puerto Rico currently address the issue of privileged communications within their reporting laws, either affirming the privilege or denying it (i.e., not allowing privilege to be grounds for failing to report).7 For instance:
The physician-patient and husband-wife privileges are the most common to be denied by States.
The attorney-client privilege is most commonly affirmed.
The clergy-penitent privilege is also widely affirmed, although that privilege usually is limited to confessional communications and, in some States, denied altogether

It is both interesting and informative to note that one potential conflict is concerning clergy-penitent privilege. While this is a recognized conflict, it most assuredly does NOT apply when it is the VICTIM that reports the wrongdoing to a "clergy" member as is usually the case in the congregations of JWs.

rebel8

Everyone is responsible for their own actions.

The molester is responsible for molesting.

The parents or others who kept quiet are responsible for that.

The elders who pressured the parents/others to keep quiet are responsible for that.

The wts leaders who made the policy while having benefit of a planet's worth of stories about it's impact, and still kept/enforced the policy to their clergy, are responsbile for that.

No one gets a free pass here. That's not how life works; I think your bro fails to comprehend this basic truth about life.

He said that that should not have happened, but the watchtower is not at fault.

I'm willing to bet he plays that both ways. When a wts flaw is pointed out, the elders were right, that was just an organization, which is not the same as jws themselves. And then when the elders were wrong the wts was right. Very handy.

red21

Wonder how that could have helped when my wife's mother, a single mother of 3 had two of her girls molested by a man in the congregation and the elders "handled it". Back then, you were NEVER to go to the authorities because you had a fear in you to present a "bad witness" and bring disgrace on Jehovah when the disgrace were on MEN to begin with that would allow pervs to operate in the congregation!!!!

OnTheWayOut

Yes, it is true that the parents should have told the police. But......
they are in the frigging cult that is supposed to be everything to them. The elders should be putting the welfare of the child first and foremost ahead of making some other elder look bad or hurting the name of "Jehovah and His Witnesses." The organization should tell elders to go with the child and their adult supporters (often parents) and accompany them to the police. That doesn't mean they are saying anything about innocense or guilt that violates their two-person rule. It just helps the child to move forward. The organization should defer to experts in law and counseling in these cases. They should discourage children from ever working with anyone but their parents in the door to door work or else only as a third party in a group that always includes at least one woman or family member.

I am going to stop now. Tell this Bozo how they were told that when the law requires they report accusations of child abuse, they were told to phone the police anonymously after they were informed of the accusations.

ABibleStudent

Hi Joliette, Ask your brother if he has seen this NBC news report?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLAC9kS_EqM&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL779AC2D138CA14BC

Then, ask your brother why the WTBTS settled 9 court cases instead of fighting the cases? When has the WTBTS ever backdown from litigation?

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

If some kids got molested, the parents should have told the police, it wasnt the watchtower's fault....

Joliette

wha happened?