by JT 40 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
James,
You nailed the issue perfectly, as usual.
Sam,
: You forget, JT, that those elders have what amounts to a college education full frontal lobotomy by virtue of having read all those Awake! Magazines for the past twenty years
Sorry. I just couldn't resist!
Farkel
Hey did we forget anything?
What if the BOE meet someone who confesses? Huh? Or there are two witnesses? They will ask him if he is 'sorry' etc. Now what? The crafty paedophile knows exactly how to play this one. 'Never do it again etc' Do the BOE inform the police and care authorities? Not if they can deal with it 'internally'. The paedophile gets a reproof and the elders think they have done a good job. Knowingly or not they have covered over criminal activity that would result in a lengthy prison term.
ISP
>> How any self respecting elder could look himself in the mirror and
>> continue to support the current policy is a real eye-opener as to
>> just how far people will go to keep their status.
Perry,
I really believe that there are many elders who don't know anything about the Society's pedophile policy. Remember... Bill was raised in the truth and served as an elder for many years but he only found out about the official policy a short 18 months ago. It's a little comforting to me that more elders *don't* know since it means that there aren't more cases needing to be investigated.
Btw, Perry, the elder that performed my marriage recently happened to run across my wife and gave her the message for me to give him a call. I did and one Sunday afternoon (about a month ago) we met over coffee and cake at a cafe' around the corner from his house. During the friendly chat (Joe is REAL cool), I brought up the pedophile issue.
To make a long story short, seems he *was* familiar with the issue, since he had to recently spend long hours over a judicial committee matter on this very subject with somebody in his Hall. Looking him straight in his eye, I asked him point-blank: "Joe, if you were an elder in the same cong that I attended and you knew of a pedo, would you tell me?"
Without a breath, he said, "no."
(He answered so fast that it seemed to me that, because of his jc, he'd already given the matter a lot of thought. Like I said, he answered my question IMMEDIATELY. So... yeah... some elders know the policy. Not all, I believe.)
He got a little defensive (not his style) and demanded a single scriptural reason for why he *should* tell me. It took me a couple of days, but with New World Translation and Watchtower bound volume references (thanks, Dung, for the CD-rom!) I wrote him a five-page letter... and it could have been much longer.
Haven't heard back from him yet. That was three weeks ago.
angel is so true:
Most of these caring men only last a few years as elders and soon resign or step down to at least have a break from these problems.
We know of many ones locally, and on the international scene the org is losing such loving men in substantial numbers. The consequences of which are the higher percentage of serving elders being theocratic corporate ladder climbers
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this is such a good point- may are stepping aside every month
ISP))))))))))))))))
What if the BOE meet someone who confesses? Huh? Or there are two witnesses? They will ask him if he is 'sorry' etc. Now what? The crafty paedophile knows exactly how to play this one. 'Never do it again etc' Do the BOE inform the police and care authorities? Not if they can deal with it 'internally'. The paedophile gets a reproof and the elders think they have done a good job. Knowingly or not they have covered over criminal activity that would result in a lengthy prison term.
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very powerful point all cases that are deemed repentant for years were simply handled internally
and the parents KNEW THAT THEY COULD NOT GO TO THE POLICE
GREAT POINT
JT,
Another reason Elders have no business handling this type of accusation....they are more concerned with outward appearances than they are with "keeping the congregation clean."
They talk out of both sides of their mouth. "DFing keeps the cong clean." They why don't you AUTOMATICALLY DF a molester? Because no one has found out. It is just the word of the child against the perpetrator. And they care much more about the reputation of JWs than they care about doing the right thing.
Case in point, when I was DF at 19 for immorality. There were MANY young people in our cong. who were screwing everything in sight. I know because the Elders would come and ask me what I knew about "such and such" .... Yet they were not DF'd or even reprooved.
However, because I got pregnant, I was openly told that I was an embarrasment to Jehovah and the Congregation. Therefore, I had to be expelled....not to help *ME*, but to protect the reputation of the congregation. Yep. They told me that.
One of the biggest jokes of all, one of the Elders on my "committee" was the father of a daughter who was looser than any worldly woman I've ever met. She denied all charges of immorality. Nothing happened to her. Although I had CONCRETE PROOF, this because the Elders asked me to tell them what I knew.
Yes, I was punished not for being "immoral" but for being naive enough to get pregnant! LOL! For proof positive on this theory I only had to wait three months. Another young girl in my cong. was DF'd. Four months later she had a son.
YET, NOT ONE of the young people who were TRULY the immoral ones were df'd. Apparently, because they weren't pregnant, they were not an "embarrasment to the congregation!"
Don't you ever forget it----the Elder's primary goal is to maintain the appearance of a perfect, unified congregation. If you get hurt in the process, just like all the other wars, you are just "Collateral Damage."
Lisa
JT, wonderful points made in the two case scenario. If a parent waited on the elders , valuable physical evidence , needed to fully prosecute a molestor , would be washed away after 2 or 3 days. Not to mention, the poor childs emotional state, not getting the needed professional help in the few hours after a rape. My God, they tell this to grown women, we are taught if this happens to us , go directly to the hospital, talk to someone right away, not DAYS later. Is this just a game , a ploy to hide the evidence, to back the child in the corner , so to speak , in hopes of it just disappearing???
I agree Lisa, they are only concerned with outward appearences,,, they are more worried about how it will make the congregation look. They don't care that this little girl(or boy) has been raped, will never ever be the same, had their trust and innocence stolen, not to mention the lose of virginity . Do they even consider that this child may never be able to have children of her own some day, because of what this pedophile has done to her? Just look WT at all this pedophile has taken from the child, ....and it can never be given back to her. At least she should be given the dignity she deserves, by the elders stepping back and admitting the child needs alot more help than they can provide. Why do they care a damn thing about the pedophile at all, who cares if he is sorry? I know there are many elders that are sickened by this kind of thing, but there comes a time to stand up for the children, even if you lose your position or even get d/f like Bro . Bowen.
Little Toe
There was no training of any kind given, especially not on interrogation procedures.
Had I been confronted with a case, would I have known how to handle it? Nope.
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same here I would not have know what to do as well
NO TRAINING AS WELL
I am only in control in who interviews me and my kid in regards to being abused or not being abused and an elder is not even qualified to interview my kat so why my kid...HUMM??? QUEENIE
Case in point, when I was DF at 19 for immorality
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LH
say it ain't so0 smile
