by cedars 74 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
Pardon my French(unless your are or speak French, then you will recognize that this is not French at all and merely strong language some may consider offensive) but
HELL YEAH CEDARS! Nice video. The outro really got me excited! That was the battle cry and anthem for all of us and future anti-watchtower individuals! Nicely done.
WELL DONE!!! That really got my blood pumping at the outro! They are like a vicious cornered animal at this point just biting and snapping at everything. Keep them on the defensive because the more they use the heavy handed measures the more empty their talk about Love and Unity becomes!!!! HOOOORAAAAYY!!!!!
Thank you so much for all your hard work producing this video, on top of everything else you do!
I do have a question - more a case of asking for opinions really. I was discussing this child abuse policy with my sister last night. She's 26, was raised a JW but left at 17 before she got baptized (yes, I'm jealous!!). She wasn't as shocked as I expected and her response was this:
'I don't necessarily see why it should be the elders' responsibility to contact the authorities or police when an accusation of child abuse/molestation is made. Surely it is the responsibility of the parents to report it to the police and then if they find the person to be guilty after a full investigation, then that should be evidence enough for the abuser to be disfellowshipped.'
Now I'm not all that fast a thinker - give me a couple of days to ponder things and I can argue well, but on the spot my brain freezes. What would your response have been to that statement? I can see her point, and think it is a reasonable one, although I personally don't agree and think any accusation should be reported to those who have been trained to investigate. But your thoughts would be welcome, please. By the by, she also stated that anyone who molests children should be removed from society in general, so she isn't any kind of a sympathizer or apologist!!
Thanks all :-)
ItsMyLife - thanks for your kind sentiments. If your sister left the organization aged 17 then likely she has little idea of what goes on in a Witness's head when an incident of child molestation occurs. Witnesses are trained to approach elders first if anything untoward happens involving another person in the congregation. This stems from a fear and dread of the potential congregational consequences of taking brothers to court. (1 Cor 6:7)
Therefore, even though parents SHOULD contact the authorities first, they frequently make their first call to one of the elders - who will reassure them that the matter will be dealt with if they leave it with him and the body to resolve. This is when the Society gets its opportunity to intervene and act as judge and jury in how these cases are handled, and the authorities are frequently bypassed altogether. It might be difficult for your sister to grasp this if she was never fully indoctrinated - but the grip of fear and intimidation that the organization wields on publishers in manipulating their response to such circumstances is considerable.
Cedars
Witnesses are a closed group and they are trained to go to the elders first whatever the issue and to follow the advice of these men as to what action should be taken. Regardless of the internal politics of the witnesses any group has a responsibility to safeguard the children within it and it is standard policy for schools, clubs, and groups to report suspected abuse to the proper authorities. This is seen as part of the community responsibility. As religious leaders it is their duty to have safeguarding practices in place. Jws have none they safeguard their own reputation above the protection of the vulnerable.
Cedars - Thank you for your reply. I hadn't thought of it from that angle. I guess I would have just assumed people would go straight to the police, regardless of who was involved.
To be honest, although I am by no means an innocent woman, I really had absolutely no idea that there was any sort of a problem within the congregations regarding child abuse. I naively just assumed that all JWs were good people (99% of the ones I was brought up knowing were/are). The thought that someone could be a child molester never even occured to me. I was raised as a witness from the age of 18months, and was pretty much taught that all witnesses were as close to perfection as you could get in an imperfect world.
Personally, if anybody even laid a finger on my child, I would probably be arrested for attempted murder! But I would tell the police, the elders, others in the hall, anyone who would listen. But then, I've never been a 100% 'good' JW, I've always struggled with the many rules and regulations, and would be more likely to go as far against whatever advice the elders gave as I could without getting into too much trouble. I'm ever such a disappointment to Daddy...
As an aside, do you know what the legal team at the branch do when an accusation is reported to them? Do they have a system in place whereby they themselves contact the police to determine whether or not someone is a 'predator'? Or do they simply just look at the legal ramifications of it being made public that there was molester in the congregation, and weigh up whether the amount of 'reproach brought on Jehovah's name' is worth making others in the congregation aware that there was a danger among them?
Sorry if I ask too many questions. I am only just starting to wake up to the fact that not all is well and right and actually thinking for myself. I do appreciate the time you and others put in to help and support people like myself, thank you.
All the best x
The Watchtower's attempts to silence our efforts are increasingly resembling a hilarious game of "whack a mole!"
Wack a WBT$ Governing Pope..
............................
... OUTLAW
marked, great job cedars.
Very well done. WT succeeded in confirming the authenticity of that letter to the BOEs and their terrible policies that endanger children.
Marked
