My first question to any JW who sees this would still be 'What would your response be if this were any other religion?'
AUSTRALIA | TRANSCRIPT of Child Abuse Inquiry into Jehovah's Witnesses and Watchtower Society - April 2013
by jwleaks 54 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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breakfast of champions
Love this exchange regarding the secrecy around the Shepherding book:
Mr T. O’BRIEN — It is exactly what is in the Bible. Yes.
Mrs COOTE — Therefore why is it confidential?
I have a feeling these guys know something's up here. They ain't stupid.
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problemaddict
2 cases? In Victoria? Both disfellowshipped? How do we verify this very interesting information by chance. It sounds like a lie.
THIS HOWEVER DOES NOT.
What I would like to know is th at once somebody has read the Shepherding textbook, had a look at that and then gone to have a look at Deuteronomy and the scripture, what happens? Who has the upper hand here? The Bible or the Shepherding textbook? Mr
T. O’BRIEN — But I do not see the difference,sorry.
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brinjen
" I have a feeling these guys know something's up here. They ain't stupid. "
Inquiries are usually set up well with people known for their investigative skills and their talents for finding out the absolute truth. The National Royal Commission that is kicking underway will go even further. Those guys do not muck around and any little fib said to a Royal Commission makes the consequences of lying to the Supreme Court look small time. You can't use 'selective wording' in an effort to cover up the truth... they will find out if you do. The WTBTS is in for a run of a few bad years here in Australia... guaranteed.
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problemaddict
I liked it when they asked this question.
Do you accept the principle that perhaps an
overly internalised pr ocess that reports to authorities only when the lawy ers tell people to do so is potentially pr one to a lack of reporting for reasons that are not so good, becau se they are not what the child wants but are in order to protect the reputation of the organisation?
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brinjen
From the transcript... page 11
Mr McGUIRE — You said earlier that you do not feel that as ministers of religion it is mandatory to report child sexual abuse to police. Why not? Given that, you know, child rape is a heinous crime.
Mr T. O’BRIEN — Sorry, can you repeat the question? I am not following your line.
Mr McGUIRE — You said earlier that you do not feel that as ministers of religion it is mandatory to report child sexual abuse to police. What I am saying is: why not, given that child rape is a heinous crime?
Mr T. O’BRIEN — Yes, but it is the act of Parliament. It is not an act of our theocratic society. If Parliament legislated that ministers of religion in every case should mandatorily report to the police, we would cooperate.
Mr McGUIRE — You do not think that as a matter of course you should do it anyway?
Mr T. O’BRIEN — There are different issues, I guess, that come out with the victim. Why Parliament chose to follow the course they did — we are not sitting in judgment on that, but we know there would be victims who would rather not have the matter brought before the public forum, so rather than the minister take on that responsibility or that right from the person — — But having said that, as we said earlier, if they did choose to report it, we would support them fully.
Mr McGUIRE — I guess there is just a gap there that I am trying to work out in terms of why you do not think you should do it. Do you just support that this change should occur — that it should be made mandatory?
Mr T. O’BRIEN — Again, we do not want to presume to take the responsibility of Parliament.
Mr McGUIRE — I am happy for you to presume.
Mr T. O’BRIEN — If Parliament did do that, then we would support it, as we do in countries where it is mandatory. Unfailingly. We see benefits in it. We see, obviously the same as Parliament has to date, some drawbacks too.
Mr McGUIRE — Even though your church has congregations in all Australian states and territories, your guidelines are issued from New York and there is no specific advice to elders on local Victorian laws and mandated organisational responsibilities in respect to child protection. Why is this?
The grilling continues on page 12... they will be called again.
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mP
Interesting how women are challenging the JW spokesmen...
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breakfast of champions
Interesting how women are challenging the JW spokesmen...
That's Satan's Nasty Ol' System for ya!
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Aussie Oz
Terry is ill equipped to be answering these questions, he admits to basically knowing nothing about the subject. All he can do is state the party line and say 'i dont understand'...
well now they have a real delema, seems legal just stitched HQ up:
Mr WAKELING
Could I put to you, Mr O’Brien, the evidence that you have presented thus far is that
you have indicated to us that because of the legislation your organisation will not report, and your legal counsel
has just indicated that you will now report. For the purpose of this inquiry, can you please clarify what in fact is
the position of the Jehovah’s Witnesses church here in Victoria? When your organisation becomes aware of
child abuse, not only morally, but is your organisation proactively going to report these incidents?
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bats in the belfry
Mr D. O’BRIEN — I just want you to be very clear. Although we have not sworn you in, obviously you are aware of the contempt. I am not wanting to have a go at you. I am trying to recall what you said. I thought you said that you were aware of some in stances where the child did not want to report it to police. I am not necessarily going to put you on the spot here; I just would like to know if that is what you said and if that is the situation.
Mr D. O’Brien (Member of Committee) commenting on Mr T. O’Brien (Director of Society and Acting Branch Coordinator)
It is sad to see how they hold in contempt the 'superior authorites' in all of this (Romans 13:1). So much so, even the 'superior authorites' notice it.