I will apologize ahead of time for the longevity of this post. Most of my posts are short, to the point, and light hearted. But even I have a serious side. Many of you are aware that as a boy, I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. Many of you know Jehovah's Witnesses as that seemingly peaceable group of people that have a quirky habit of knocking on people's doors. But what I am willing to bet, is that most of you are unaware of the problems of sex abuse of children in that organization on a world wide basis. I happen to believe that the abuse of a child is the most egregious, despicable and cowardly act that a human being could possibly perpetrate. But equally nauseating is the lengths that an organization will go to in order to cover it all up.
This is not a knock on religion or church as a whole. Pedophiles exist both inside and outside of church environments. The problem exists when members of the church, who are untrained in the ways of how to investigate and handle child abuse allegations, attempt to handle it themselves anyways, without the inclusion of the police. You see, the ruling faction of the Jehovah's Witness religion (The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society), instituted a rule decades ago that still exists today. It is known as the "Two Witness Rule". Using a couple of different cherry picked scriptures taken out of context, the gist of the rule says "an allegation against a member of the organization must be accompanied by either an admission of guilt from the accused, or TWO eye witnesses to the situation. If neither of those two criteria are met, then the church elders are not allowed to act on the situation." I trust you now see the problem. How often is an instance of child abuse actually witnessed by two people?
Thus if a family comes forward to the church elders with an allegation that their child was molested by a congregation member, the church elders will do nothing about it, so long as the above criteria has not been met.......unless.....they live in a state that REQUIRES them to report it to authorities. Even then, according to Chapter 12, Point 18 in the secretive guideline, or manual, for church elders known as the "Shepherd the Flock of God" book, (which I have a copy of) the FIRST step church elders should take when learning of an abuse situation is not to contact the police.......but to contact the branch office of the Watchtower Society immediately and await further instruction. Depending on whether or not the state they live in has mandatory reporting laws will determine whether or not the local church elders will be instructed to call the police. In the effort of fairness, the manual goes on to instruct church elders to "never suggest to anyone that THEY should not report an allegation of child abuse to the police or other authorities." But I have two problems with this approach. The first is that it should be the bounden duty of any clergy member to immediately report any allegation of child abuse to the authorities that are qualified to investigate the problem......REGARDLESS of what state laws say. It should be a matter of doing the right thing and protecting the child first and foremost. The burden of notifying and cooperating with the authorities should not be the sole responsibiliy of the victim.
The second problem is that even if the local authorities are notified (either by the church elders if they are located in a mandatory reporting state or by the victim or the victim's family), and the accused is later found to be guilty in a court of law, strictly from a social/congregational standpoint, the elders will do nothing unless the perpetrator admits to the accusation, OR there were TWO eye witnesses to the offense. No action against the guilty party will be taken. No announcement of a pedophile in their presence is made to the congregation. Aside from the obvious publicity that may surround such a court case, there would be no way for any congregation members who have children to know that there is a pedophile in their midst. And that is the point. Parents shouldn't have to rely on searching for police reports or media coverage to find out if there is a danger in their church. That should be information that is lovingly and willingly shared by church clergy for the protection of all. Furthermore, what if the perpetrator moves far away? If he is a convicted molester, he will have to register as such no matter where he resides. But will the members of the NEW Jehovah's Witness kingdom hall he now attends (this is what they call their churches) KNOW his history unless they do a background check on him? How could they? No congregational action was taken against him in his former congregation because there weren't "two witnesses" to the crime he was convicted of, therefore they feel there is no reason to warn others.
To make matters worse, if you, as an individual congregation member, were to do a background check on a new member of your congregation, and discovered that he was a convicted child abuser, you may be obligated to keep quiet about it! Remember, just because a court found him guilty, doesn't mean the "two witness" rule has been met. And if the "two witness" rule hasn't been met, then congregationally speaking, he is innocent. If you, out of a sense of duty to protect children, warn others about him, YOU may in turn be accused of slander against the perpetrator and potentially subject to disfellowshipping (excommunication) and subsequent mandatory shunning by your former friends and yes, even your family. All for doing the right thing and warning others of the danger in their midst.
I do not personally believe that the policies and procedures that the brass of the Watchtower Society have put in place are the results of men that actually WANT children to be abused. Rather, I believe that policies and procedures such as the "two witness rule" are the sad byproducts of what happens when men seek FIRST to protect an organization. Why else institute such an egregiously unempathetic rule if not to eliminate or at least contain the amount of damage, both financially and from a public relations standpoint, that abuse cases bring? Again, my issue isn't that there are pedophiles within the ranks of Jehovah's Witnesses. There are pedophiles that belong to all sorts of different churches, groups, and organizations. My issue is the rules and regulations imposed by the leadership of the Watchtower Society that enable abusers to fly under the radar, thus putting more and more children at risk every day.
The next time a Jehovah's Witness comes to your door, ask them about the morality of the "two witness rule". Odds are, whomever is at your door won't know what you are talking about. Unfortunately, most witnesses are blissfully unaware that this rule even exists. By nature of this, they are similarly unaware of the child abuse problem that accompanies it. They are unaware for two reasons. One is that the rule is really only expounded upon in the secret elders manual mentioned earlier. And this manual is off limits to anyone who is not a church elder. The other reason is that the Watchtower Society keeps strict information control tabs in place. Jehovah's Witnesses are taught to ignore any and all information that comes from former members OR that is critical of their organization or leadership. Obviously accusations of the facilitation of child abuse is quite critical.
The purpose of this lengthy post was not just to rant on a particular religion. My hope is that through the efforts of social media, the general public can make a difference. If enough Jehovah's Witnesses are made aware of this problem, some of them may begin to inquire of the validity of the accusations. And if enough of them are concerned, it may force the leadership of the organization to rebuke this woefully inhumane practice of protecting pedophiles.