by refiners fire 30 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
..."Refiners you could tip the police off about these 5"....
No I couldnt. The Victims are all grown adults. Am I supposed to call the cops if they themselves wont call the cops? What if the victims and their mothers have said that they dont want anything done? If everyone knows about it but noone does anything about it and speaks of it in whispers, including the victims, why should I report it and earn the victims wrath for revealing a secret they are concealing themselves?
Agreed Refiners, like I said I was probably talking out of my hat, which I am capable of doing on a regular basis, didnt realise they were all adults.
Brummie ( I get tired after 9pm)
Jessica, well said, I felt a little hesitant and posted anyway, its after 9pm though.
I know a guy my age who was caught earlier this year for molesting boys in his neighborhood aged 6 through 9. That really upset me...and it made me realize just how widespread this issue is, though i never heard of any molestation within my congregation
If the problem of molestion is no different than main stream religion then silentlambs has no basis to exist and all the news coverage is just picking on a poor little religion. I don't think so.
if you feel there is no difference between Jehovahs Witnesses and how other churches handle these matters then we could be considered to have a similar ratio of child molestations to other churches. If on the other hand, you see a difference, then you have to accept a much higher ratio of child molestation among Jehovahs Witnesses than mainstream Christianity.
Joanna, who said this?
Find out here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=39318&site=3&page=2
Edited by - Prisca on 28 October 2002 19:53:20
Refiners, you make viable points. I'm sure many non-JW's have "covered up" their childrens abuse due to ignorance or shame. And, as in the case of the Catholics, religions have "silenced" the victims in order to avoid any undue shame on their religion.
So what? The point is, that now that it IS becoming well known, it doesn't change the fact that CHANGE needs to happen - across the board. As more become aware of the problem, more can be done to prevent it from recurring in even greater numbers. The JW's must change their policies, as much as Catholics & any other religion that silences the victims & allow the guilty to continue to practice their disgusting habits without any reservation as to consequences (or a small slap on the wrist).
The more JW's are aware, the more effort more parents may take in guarding their own children to prevent them from being a victim, regardless of whether they remain JW's or not.
Most JW's I know are completely ignorant as to child abuse - "it would never happen in God's true organization" they think. Perhaps with groups such as the Silent Lambs, they will be made aware that it CAN & DOES, which hopefully will prevent more victims.
Petty.
I agree with you of course.
I merely was looking for input as to whether it is more prevalent in the dubs than in the general population. My opinion is that its is 10 percent of the population across the board. Course, I dont KNOW. Im only putting forth my opinion which is based on what Ive observed in life. Evidence might demonstrate me to be in error, in which case, I will alter my opinion.
Actually the statistics (if you can believe statistics) are 1 in 4 women in the US have been molested...that is reported cases.
I think for boys it is 1 in 8.
Along with the other points about abuse within the JW's, I would like to add this. For ex-jw's you know the KH is supposed to be a safe place, a spiritual paradise, a group of morally clean Christians, etc. Most JW's will admit that there are molesters, but believe they are a rarity. Since no one can talk about it, how would anyone know the extent of the problem till now. JW's expect there would be very few molesters in the org. and more importantly, they believe they would be removed, disfellowshipped, reported to authorities, etc. If we hear of a case in our town, we still assume that is a rarity and blame it on the local elders not doing their job correctly. This organization has boasted of its moral cleanness and its ability to change the hearts of all sorts of people; murderers, rapists, alcoholics, and yes, molesters. AND most JW"s believe that is true and they don't know the facts about the rehabilitation history of abusers....so they just go on in their little protected world thinking this is really a worldly problem, a Catholic problem...but it can't really be a problem in the WTS.
Well I am rambling...felt the need to vent...yes, I am still a JW but on my way out and disgusted with the close-mindedness of JW's on this subject.
jazbug
jazbug, I do believe you just quoted the statistics for rape...tho perhaps they are that similar for molestation as well.
: It causes me to wonder, is it REALLY more prevalent in the Org than generally??
: I personally know of more non Witness incidents than I do Witness incidents.What about you?
6 million witnesses, 6 BILLION humans. There are 1,000 people for every witness. You do the numbers on why there are more non-witness "incidents" than witness incidents.
If the numbers were evenly spread, there would be 1,000 non-witness child abusers for every 1 witness child abuser. No wonder you saw more outside the witness community.
If there were as much as TEN times the proportianate number of child abusers (I doubt there are) than in the general communitity, then for every 1,000 child abusers there would only be 10 in WatchtowerLand.
No wonder you see more outside the witness community. Child abusers are with us everywhere. Only the Watchtower society nurtures and protects them with their ancient "Biblical" rules, though. They do flourish in WatchtowerLand. It's a perfect place for them to hide out and ruin lives.
In the real world they are vulnerable. In WatchtowerLand they just might be your "spiritual leader" and "Glorious One(tm)" who needs to give your son or daugher some "spiritual encouragement" in a private room. With the door locked. And no "two witnesses" to document that "spiritual encouragement."
Farkel
...."Most people outside the org report it now do they Amazing? Not according to my experience. 5 out of the 7 havent done anything about it.
I stated earlier, 7 cases out of 100 family and friends. thats 1 in 10. Thats what my opinion is based upon.
As for 23000 cases within the organization, well, lets say that only 10 percent have been to the elders about it and there are really 230,000 cases. Thats still only 1 in 30."....
Thats out of my circle of personal aquaintances, calculated at about 100 people. Not a world population of 6 billion
