Australian Congregations announce Child Safeguarding Policy is available upon request

by wifibandit 52 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  wifibandit

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  The announcement was made last night in our congregation, in a very cursory way, it did not elicit any response in the audience and I did not see anyone approaching the COBE or secretary afterwards... as it was to be expected.
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  smiddy

  The Australian announcement of Child Safeguarding Policy by the WTB&TS /Jehovahs Witnesses available on request to any member of this religion is not acceptable for obvious reasons to ex JW`s .

  The response by Jehovahs Witnesses is not acceptabile and ,should not be acceptable by anyone.

  The ARC has been demonised by the JW religion as being a part of Satans System of things under the control of the God of this system of things Satan the Devil .2Cor.4:4 According to Jehovahs Witness Governing Body.

  So by far the majority of JW`s will not even ask for this policy because it will flag to the Elders who are questioning the authority of the Governing body of elders

  And no JW wants to be looked upon as a weak JW or one who is going to cause trouble to the religion or bring reproach on Jehovahs name.

  By complaining to the Australian Royal Commission about jehovahs Witnesses.these people will be ostracised .,shunned and excluded from family and friends no matter how long they have been associated with the JW religion.
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  konceptual99

  So, how, konceptual, is it a problem for admitted (by the very fact that they are "repentent" ) child molesters to be excluded from the congregation permanently?
  And this doesn't even touch the fact that these admitted, "repentent" child molesters are unreported to the police, and none of those civil protections can be enacted unless the law compels them to.
  DFing would be the only protection other congregants could get.

  If we were talking about a situation where people are not reported then that is the key issue and it is this that has to stop. In this case I don't care about DFing as it protects nobody in the long run - an allegation has to be investigated by the authorities and appropriate action taken with the individual.

  It it were my club then I'd not let a pedo in but the Witnesses (and pretty much any other Christian religion) is very unlikely to ever ever refuse a convicted pedo from ever a being a member. It's not consistent with a teaching of forgivness, redemption etc.

  Now we all know that pedos are not the same as someone who as committed some kind of misdemeanour but even if a person was DF'ed then, assuming they have done the time and are being monitored by the state, then why would they never be allowed to be reinstated?

  Even if they were DFed for ever more there are still cases where the org may no be able to DF for whatever the reason is, maybe even where the state cannot substantiate an allegation and convict yet there is still reason to be concerned. People may come into contact with the congregation through a number of circumstances that cannot be managed simply by refusing people entry.

  This is why a single, clear, publicly available document that identifies all these risks and details appropriate measures to handle them is critical. It's why they need to look beyond the confines of the congregation and understand that their actions (or inaction) have an impact on the community as a whole and they need to engage with the organisations best placed to keep the public as a whole safe from an individual.

  This is where the Australia document really falls down.