One of my sons is a really gung-ho JW. Here's a response i sent to my son after he sent me an e-mail about the recent publicity over Dateline. What do you think? It couldn't get me df'd could it, if he turns it over. I believe he is a total "party man."
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Dear *****,
Thanks for your e-mail and your explanation of the pedophile policy in the JWs. By the way, did you see the Dateline program, so you really can know the complete picture, including the victims' side of the story?
In your e-mail, you said:
-as required by law, elders must report to local authorities any
incident(even if only one witness(i.e. victim)
I understood this to be applicable in only 14 states and has not always been done by the elders. In other cases, the families have been strongly discouraged from going to the proper authorities in order to protect the reputation of the congregation.
-no person who has ever committed or been convicted of committing sexual abuse against a minor would ever be allowed to hold a position of responsibility in cong.(pioneer, elder, servant, etc.)
How does this protect children? This does not slow down the molester by such loss of privileges. In fact, this does nothing at all to stop the crime. Additionally, it's my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, that a sealed envelope accompanies the molester's file and the elders can therefore keep their children away from him, but the congregation is not warned.
be assured that the Jehovah's Witness' biblical policy on sex-related issues will continue to be refined so that the kids in the cong. will be protected
Children have not been protected in the past, due to a reluctance of elders to have the congregation's name besmirched in the community. As shown on the Dateline program, a life-long JW in good standing, who admits that he has always molested children, been df'd 2-3 times, still goes door-to-door. And the congregation, unless he admits it, is ignorant of his proclivities. Then they allow their children to associate with such a family. Although, as I stated, the elders have access to this information. The "new" WT policy, as stated in the letter, does little to change this and I don't see how a child can be protected unless the molester is prosecuted by the proper authorities.
their policy of course is based on the bible primarily and is as follows:
-2 witnesses to establish an accusation that would lead to congregational judicial action; though they could be 2 witnesses of separate incidents.
Since the policy is based on the Bible, it is a religious rule. Child molesting is a criminal action and should be dealt with by the proper authorities that deal with criminals. Families should not feel they will be penalized by pursuing this. Congregations also need to have a way of warning other families that there may be a child molester among them.
JW policy differs vastly from that of the Catholic church who still are contemplating letting a priest serve if having committed no more than one incident. of course, they are deciding that still
Actually, the JW has access to more children than the priest, it seems to me. Because of the families who closely associate and have no warning. The priest doesn't go door-to-door either, thereby giving the JW access to a wider group of people. Plus, the JW, while not serving in the congregation is hardly slowed down by such loss of privileges. In fact, this does nothing at all to stop the crime.
the witnesses have biblical and lawful view on the matter and whatever "scandal" there has been is isolated and is condoned in no way.
Again, since it is a religious law, it should not intervene in criminal cases. Additionally, in the case in Othello, Washington, the molester was supported by dozens in the congregation who were present for both of his trials, thus it was tacitly condoned. The victim was shunned, even though she was not, and still is not, disfellowshipped. The child molester, Manuel Beliz who was an elder, was convicted twice & is now imprisoned for 11½ yrs. He rec'd congregation support at the 2nd trial, even after his 1st conviction. He was permitted to go in field service between his two trials.
Certainly at least some congregations have handled it wrongly in the past. A Circuit Overseer relayed the message that all the elders associated with the reinstatement of Manuel Beliz, the convicted JW child molester, have been deleted as elders. This was one of the primary persons on the Dateline program.
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There seems to be mixed feelings on the recent letter read in all the congregations about the situation. I heard that it has angered many abuse survivors in the organization. They express it is a whitewash of old policy, once again leaving the victims in harm's way. A sister in California commented, "How dare they arrogantly ignore the protection of children and pat themselves on the back for doing nothing." One brother in Florida finished his student talk and stated, "I will never set foot in a Kingdom Hall again till the Governing Body changes their policy to protect children." He then walked out. In another congregation in Tennessee, as the letter was being read an elder of over 40 years took his Kingdom Hall keys off the ring and walked back to give them to the PO. After the meeting when asked why, the elder stated, "I can no longer serve or support the policy on molestation stated in that letter." Several individuals have expressed the desire to pursue the injustice committed against them by the way the home office handled their abuse by going to the courts and filing legal action as a result blatant disregard for victims offered in the letter read to all Jehovah's Witnesses in the USA.
I believe you're an eminently fair person and care very deeply about issues. The only way to be fair is to hear all the sides of the issue. So, FYI: the Dateline program will re-air this weekend on MSNBC. MSNBC is a news program along the format of CNN, Dateline has a contract through NBC and when they have an exceptional program MSNBC runs it again. The program will is called "Dateline Weekend Edition" which airs 2-3 times over the weekend. You'll need to check your local listing for the time in your area. That is this weekend June 8-9 and there should be more than one airing.
It's nice to have a frank discussion ...
Love,
Mom
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I haven't heard back from him and if and when I do, it's probably going to just drop as it's stressful to have this "discussion," when i know that it's angering both of us. Plus, i don't want to completely alienate him.
Just wanted some opinions!
Pat