WHY DO THEY IGNORE PEDOPHILIA?

by Mary 7 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Mary

  Why do you think the Organization, the Governing Body in particular, are so reluctant to deal with the issue of Pedophilia head on? After all, they'll disfellowship elders without a moments hesitation for adultery, fornication, smoking, doing drugs, gambling, homosexuality, even murder........what makes the issue of dealing with elders who are guilty of one of the worst crimes of all, raping young children, so foreign to them?

  My own opinion is that the Organization is just starting to learn how to live in the 20th Century.......forget the 21st Century; they won't be there for another 80 years. In the early 1900's and right up until probably the late 1970s or early 80s, no one wanted to deal with this issue, period. My grandfather told me (shortly before he died), that when he was growing up in the early 1920s, his step-father tried to have sex with him.....he was 10 years old at the time. He fought back and ran to tell his mother what had happened. The result? She beat him for "telling such lies". She had apparently been a "good mother" up until this moment and he said he never forgot the look on her face when he told her what her "new husband" had tried to do........these people were not Witnesses, but there was that "we don't talk about that here" mentality that I think pervaded society in general. Best to just ignore it and if anyone brings it out in the open, just beat that person, even if they're the victim. After all, we wouldn't want to spoil our "image" as a happy, loving family now would we?
• 

  Amazing

  HI Mary;

  In the early 1900's and right up until probably the late 1970s or early 80s, no one wanted to deal with this issue, period.

  Actually, in earlier times people engaged in vigilante justice and simply shot the sons-a-bitches pedophiles in the back woods - and that was that. Nowadays, with all the politically-correct-touchy-feely-do-gooder-afraid-to-piss-weak-spined-gutless-cowardice ... things like this do not get addressed as they should.

  The basic reason that the GB does not want to be courageous and face it head on like the Catholic Church has finally done is founded on three things:

  1. They care more about image of their organization than they do about justice ... this is corruption.

  2. They are in denail of the severity and how they stink before God.

  3. They dont give a good goddamn. This is the biggest factor.

  Edited by - Amazing on 21 July 2002 22:0:49
• 

  plmkrzy

  My own opinion is that the Organization is just starting to learn how to live in the 20th Century.......forget the 21st Century; they won't be there for another 80 years.

  You're probably right about that to a degree.

  They can't seem to separate the or better yet combine the proper amount of reason with the proper scriptural references.
• 

  sunshineToo

  Mary, it is because of the image and reputation, I'm afraid. And it is not just the WTS, but many cultures did and still do.

  Before the 20th century, in Korea, women used to carry a small knife which the handle was usually made with silver. It was for self-defense, and incase of being raped, to commit suicide. I read not too long ago about a woman whose mother was a Korean and father was an American G.I. I don't remember exactly whether she and her mother was abandoned or her father died in a battle. She didn't say whether her mother was raped or not. But she and her mother left in Korea, and her uncle and her grandfather hung her mother to death. They excuted her for being disgraceful to the family. And the worst part was that they did it in front of this young child. Yes, she saw her mom dying. Can you imagine?
• 

  waiting

  Hello Amazing,

  The basic reason that the GB does not want to be courageous and face it head on like the Catholic Church is founded on three things:

  Soooooo, you think the Catholic Church is courageous and facing the problem face-on, eh? Ain't no way. The bastards got caught with their pants down literally a thousand times too many. Again, I believe it's been written that the Catholic Church has paid out more money than any other church to settle cases of child molestation. I also read where the Catholic Church was the first church to lose their insurance coverage against being sued for acts their priests commit.

  And Catholic clergy has only been getting talked about outloud for about 20 years - and that's only those that "squeal." As the old saying goes about molestation victims, that's about 1 out of 10.

  The ONLY reason, imho, that the Catholic Church is talking now is because they've got their collective asses against the wall and people are finally strong enough to be mad, sue, talk to police, and withhold money. It takes that - because the church's morality sure as hell won't bring change about.....just like it won't with Jehovah's Witnesses either.

  It's all about Power, Public Perception, and Money. The churches got it, and don't want to lose any more of it. It really doesn't have much to do with the children.

  waiting
• 

  scumrat

  Pedophilia is a problem in which the ORGANIZATION has to deny. because if they admit it exist, they would be sued for aiding, abetting and harbouring criminals. Look at that poor young sister from the UK. she was molested by the same pervert who molested her sister years ealier. The Elders knew, and never told anyone in the congregation. Nor did they go to the civil authorities. As a result, another victim. Adultery, fornication, smoking ect. affect only those immediately involved. Those are not criminal activities. But allowing the type of activity such as child rape and pedophilia to go on within the confines of the the Watchtower society, they can be found criminally negligant and thus sued.
• 

  plmkrzy

  Pedophilia is a problem in which the ORGANIZATION has to deny. because if they admit it exist, they would be sued for aiding, abetting and harbouring criminals.

  They have already admitted that it exists.
• 

  Crystal

  If the active JW really cared they would start a "reform group" Just the like the Catholics!!But all they care about is covering it up!!

  THE NATION
  Reform Group Calls for Church Changes
  Religion: Voice of the Faithful asks the pope to adopt the policies that U.S. bishops approved on priest sex abuse.

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  , Associated Press

  BOSTON -- At its first national meeting Saturday, a non-clergy reform group born out of the Roman Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal called for drastic changes in the way the church is governed.

  An estimated 4,000 Voice of the Faithful members from 35 states and seven foreign countries signed a petition urging Pope John Paul II to endorse the reform policies that U.S. bishops approved in June.

  In a statement, the group vowed to find ways for lay Catholics to "actively participate in the governance and guidance of the Catholic Church." Included among proposals under discussion were policymaking power for lay church members and giving parishioners a role in the appointment of bishops and pastors.

  Father Thomas Doyle, keynote speaker and an Air Force chaplain in Germany, said the abuse scandal resulted from "the delusion that the clergy are somehow above the rest." He said some clergymen's "unbridled addiction to power" was a contributing factor.

  The word "democracy" strikes fear in many clergy, he said, but lay Catholics need to shed "timidity or fearful deference to the very structures that have betrayed us."

  Catholics must also "stop enabling through financial support the power structures" responsible for the "horrific consequences" of the scandal and cover-ups, he said.

  Panelists at the meeting included Thomas Arens of Germany, an organizer of a petition drive in the mid-1990s urging the church to accept married priests and women priests, and lay theologian Lisa Sowle Cahill of Boston College.

  Although the group has not called for Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law to resign, participants planned a procession later Saturday to the cathedral to express their unity and solidarity with victims of abuse by priests.

  Law has come under criticism for allegedly letting abusive priests keep getting new assignments in parishes that were not warned of the priests' prior conduct.

  Since February, the reform group says it has attracted 19,000 supporters, forming chapters in 68 parishes around the nation, half of them in Massachusetts.

  Voice is "the fastest-growing Catholic lay organization in the world," James E. Post, a Boston University professor and the group's president, said.

  The group called on members to fill out forms rating bishops' compliance with reform policies. Results are to be issued before the bishops' November meeting.

  If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.
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