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Message 16055. The links are live on the talkboard;
The NBC show Dateline is scheduled to devote this coming Tuesday's show to child abuse within the Jehovah's Witness (JW) (or Watchtower Society)community.
Coming up on Dateline
Of course, much attention is currently being given to child molestation by Catholic priests,
and rightly so. However, what is happening in the Jehovah's Witness religion is, in some
ways even more disturbing, if only because victims and their families have officially been
excommunicated for contacting the authorities, or criticizing the way the religion handles
the problem of child molestation.
It's interesting - and disturbing - how the Jehovah's Witnesses are reacting to an ever
growing number of molestation incidents, going a long way back, in their church. It is quite
incredible; the WTS has somehow co-opted - most likely through misinformation and
deception - the help of fairly prominent individuals to produce web videos, designed to
put an entirely dishonest spin on this problem, on their organization's web site.
These videos are no more than transparent attempts to whitewash the whole thing -
essentially damage control after the fact. The intransigence and stupidity of the JW leaders
is incredible given what's happened with the Catholic church.
Ihe latest video can be viewed here.
WT Video Release: Progressive Understanding
One particularly ridiculous excerpt is the following:
"People didn't have the body of knowledge 18 or 20 years ago to say that this is
something that will harm your child emotionally, if you don't address it. Parents
didn't know the seriousness ... and the long-term effects."
The WTS's own literature from 20 years back, put the lie to the claims made in this
interview, since they were happy to fault other religions back then for what they were
covering up as well. Also, even a cursory search of the professional literature reveals that
the seriousness of child sexual molestation has long been considered a serious problem
with damaging effects. This video occurs alongside another by the prominent
sociologist-of-religion Rodney Stark;
Rodney Stark Video: Education Through Publications
Certainly, WTS publications might sometimes appear to be very supportive of protecting
the child, and, what they say may make some sense. That's just good PR. The basic
problem, however, with the JWs is that if the abuse occurs at the hands of one of their
own, their instinct, often enforced through the threat of excommunication, is to cover the
matter up so as "not to bring reproach on Jehovah God's name" as they put it. Actually,
that's just code for protecting the leaders.
More information on the scope of the problem of molestation in the religion can be found
here:
SilentLambs Website