Simple Question:Why Won’t JWs Just Report Child Abuse As The Law Requires?

by minimus 30 Replies latest jw friends

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  Finkelstein

  Lets make it clear that sexual abuse of children was just seen by the JWS leaders as just another act of sexaul misconduct, so they handled these situations in similar fashion.
  

  Someone admitted to the act, then they Dfed them , someone didn't admit to the act , they just left it alone and they would say leave it in Jehovah's hands and they further influenced its members to not contact local law authorities, in spite of knowing it was an serious illegal crime.

  Now all of this activity by the WTS has come to bite them in the ass, just like how the intentional coverup of the Catholic church and its internal problems.
  
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  Finkelstein

  The other problem which the JWS religion is that it supports the two witness rule for egregious acts, sexual or otherwise.

  If the accused doesn't admit to what they've supposedly done, they take other action.

  And wouldn't know it that many have exploited that rule to their advantage in escaping discipline or judgement.
  

  The JWS cult operates within itself from each member to another, the GB leaders or past Presidents make the rules of action or set doctrines for everyone in the organization to obey and follow..

  There is constant propagation of identifying its members and the overall organization to its righteousness and integrity and one might say that people intentionally hide behind that veil of pretentiousness.
  
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  blondie

  In general I have found that most people are reluctant to report abusers, their own and those of others. jws should be better but they prefer to hide it to protect their so-called reputation which has been true of the Catholic Church, Boy Scouts, other religious groups, etc. I am not excusing the WTS but rather that it is an institutional problem. I call it the sweeping it under the rug and hope it goes away syndrome. Before anyone thinks I am out of touch, I was abused sexually by my non-jw father and it was ignored by my jw mother. He went on to abuse the rest of his children after he became a jw. I personally saw the sweep it under the rug procedure when I came to the aid of my younger siblings; fighting the local elder body and seeing how weak or nonexistent the laws were in the secular world. It is a situation that needs to be fought on a field larger than the WTS and current laws have to be made stronger regarding reporting and the statute of limitations. Laws vary from state to state which also makes it more difficiult. So I work in my state to make the laws stronger and try to support those who are victims, especially adults that have no legal recourse any more.
  
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  alecholmesthedetective

  Thanks for your perspective, Blondie. It mustn't be easy to share. Thanks.
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  truth_b_known

  If you are ask to why the leadership (aka "Governing Body") of Jehovah's Witnesses does not freely advocate the report of child abuse to law enforcement, the reason is money. Where there is criminal litigation there is often civil litigation, especially if there is money to be had. Which is ironic as if the Watchtower policy had started with "Immediately notify local law enforcement and give them your full support" I am sure it would lessen the liability.

  As far as rank and file Witnesses go - the organization is everything and does all the decision making. Literally - rank and file members live and die at the words of the organization. To them obedience to the organization equals salvation from Jehovah. To take action with out the expressed approval of the local body of elders is a deep and serious sin in their eyes.

  This is why the comparison to child sacrifice to Muloch is no different then the scores of children sacrificed to the Watchtower.

  This mindset goes beyond sex crimes involving child victims. It extends clear out to just about any criminal offense committed by any congregation member. Sure, the local body of elders will disfellowship the criminal offender, but in the end its all about maintaining the "reputation of the organization." It is never about protecting the public or pursuing justice. They excuse themselves by quoting Romans 12:19, but that has to deal with vengeance. Although those two things are similar, they are not one and the same.
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  Ding

  Turning JWs over to the police would be an admission that there is a lot of gross sin going on in "Jehovah's clean organization" and help "bring reproach on the name of Jehovah."

  Of course, covering it all up makes it even worse in the eyes of outsiders, but by not admitting anything they can portray themselves to JWs as victims of persecution by the world's justice system.

  Also, thanks to Rutherford's influence they still consider worldly governments to be among the prime opposers of Jehovah's kingdom. They can't stomach the idea of cooperating with them by turning JWs in to them.
  
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  Vidiot

  Another big reason is that the WT leadership will not even remotely tolerate anything that might lead rank-and-filers to suspect that the Society isn't God's Earthly Organization.

  After all, being an active, dutiful JW isn't actually the easiest or most pleasant lifestyle... so if it's not "God's Earthly Organization", where's the incentive to stay?

  (Not to mention than by the WT Org's own internal standards, a religion that isn't "God's Earthly Organization" is "false".)
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  Finkelstein

  Well said Ding

  Brainwashed JWS think their organization is the cleanest and most righteous among all other religions so to openly expose that it is not to outside non-JWS would as they say bring reproach onto Jehovah's earthly arrangement.

  Jws are trained to put up a white sheet of purity around the organization and to each participating member as to show how righteous and wholesome they are, unfortunately some people are willing to hide behind that imaginary veil and the two person rule adds to the problem.
  
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  My Name is of No Consequence

  If they reversed course now, they would open themselves up to even more lawsuits.
  
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  caves

  Vidiot-Not to mention that the WT leadership will not even remotely tolerate anything that might lead rank-and-filers to suspect that the WTS isn't God's Earthly Organization.

  Exactly!

  If they set that in motion it would bring them down rather rapidly.

  If they apologized it would put them on the same level as other "false religions" the R&F think they are above.

  In near every congregation in nearly every place they are, this abuse goes on. If publicly made known in each place across the board, it would be catastrophic for the GB. They don't have that kind of money and their "attaching gods people due to the end" analogy would rip through the congs so fast it would make there heads spin. Im sure the GB knows this. And the laws and their money are still mostly in their favor at this time. Unfortunately, as others have stated.