When the child abuse issue first reared its head, at least one person provided Bill Bowen with information about the number of alleged child molestors that the Society had on file.
Below is a quote taken from the BBC service when Panorma aired...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/2119903.stm
Bill Bowen, who has spent his lifetime as a Jehovah's Witness and nearly twenty years as an elder, says the organisation covers up abuse by keeping this database secret. His sources indicate there are 23,720 abusers on the list - who are protected by the system.
Where would those sources have come from?
Brooklyn Bethel or the Watchtower Patterson Education Centre? It doesn't matter. What does matter is that whoever supplied Bill Bowen with the information, gave a fairly definite number. The individual or individuals concerned must have a conscience, must be able to know and understand the magnitude of the problem, and must feel torn inside serving an organization that protects child molestors and disfellowships whistleblowers.
Over the last three years, the Watchtower has failed..
1) To offer reparation to victims of child sex abuse
2) To report child molestors to the authorities
3) To apologise to whistleblowers
4) To apologise to victims
It doesn't matter how many bad news reports are printed, who is interviewed on the radio or the TV, these wicked men at Bethel refuse to acknowledge a problem and spend WWW donations defending themselves, rather than issuing an apology.
The time has come for more action to be taken.
Those who were brave enough to disclose the existence of the secret database, and the number of child molestors on it, must do more. You are the agents of social change. Make enough noise, email the database to the FBI - but don't sit in your office year after year thinking you've done enough.
Go the extra step. Go the extra mile.
You may lose your position in Bethel. You're friends and family may shun you. You may get death threats.
But think of those that have already made the ultimate sacrifices and lost family and friends.
Be the change you want to see.