WOW! Never thought I'd see actual critical thought processes in action on JWZone, but as your loyal JWZone snoop, I've uncovered a thread where some "independent thinking" appears to be taking place about PANORAMA!
I'm shocked!
Only in one congregation one elder said to the sister who informed him about the programme "Keep it quiet"!
Oh boy.
Here, the matter has been virtually drowned out by the continuing Catholic priestly scandals.
*cough* I suppose the Dub motto is, when in doubt, flame the Catholics!
Now here, for the benefit of the board, I'm reposting the entire post made by one soon-to-be-XJW!
Man, we were whupped good!
There was a harrowing account of a young sister being abused by her father, turning to the elders and being called a liar. What she didn't know was that 3 years earlier he had confessed to the elders about abusing her sister! When Panorama tried to seize an opportunity to interview one of the elders, he came out with a half-hearted platitude and refused to talk any more.
There were a couple more UK instances - upsetting. What came out over and over was the attitude that elders 'dealt with it' internally, the abusers carried on abusing, that only when victims plucked up the courage to go to the Police (even though they felt that it would be greatly disapproved of) did they get believed and the abuser was brought to justice.
There were testimonies from police investigators. One said that some JWs cooperate fully with the investigation, some don't want to get involved and some wouldn't even speak to him. Another said that in the
incident he was investigating, there were attempts (by elders) to cover up and pervert the course of justice.
Bill Bowen was interviewed and so were the Berry girls and their mother.
There were questions put to Ted Jaracz about the 'database' of offenders at HQ, but he side-stepped those questions and said "The Scriptures say 'Don't go beyond the things written'" and walked off. The only other response from HQ was a package of relevant videos, policy details and publications.
The UK spokesman Paul Gillies refused to comment on individual cases (understandably) but said it was to protect the confidentiality of the victims. Panorama said that some of the victims wanted answers, but an interview was still denied. The reporter phoned him to ask whether suspected abusers are reported to the police and recorded him saying that elders were to contact the legal desk. "Why not your local police?" she asks. "Because we want to protect children". "Are you not in fact protecting the church?" "No, we have a child protection policy".
Now, I recognise that media can edit and slant things but it seems to me that that was a lost opportunity to come clean and set matters straight.
I am disappointed that Organisation spokesmen did not open themselves to interviews and instead a lot of fudging came across.
Maybe the U.S. participants are viewed as 'apostate', but at the UK side, there were only broken youngsters telling their stories.
I am upset that there is this black mark against the people who bear Jehovah's name.
Yet, last week we learnt that Jehovah used His enemy Assyria as a rod to chastise his people Israel. Maybe He's doing the same today.
Apologies if I come over too strong - I'm annoyed.
WOW! That's the closest I've ever seen anyone on that site come to actual logical thought! BRAVO!
Where injustice has been done, if it has been done, then the individuals responsible will have to answer to Jehovah for it
Ah yes, "WAIT ON JEHOVAH", that good old Witness edict when dealing with molestation. Excellent. *PUKE*.