You are babbling now, Richard.
I do not plan on letting the lipstick rule the pig on this issue.
The WT states that viewing child pornography (child sex abuse material) is not considered child abuse. I refuse to look at any of the legalese surrounding that until the statement changes to - "viewing child pornography IS child abuse".
There are a couple reasons why I am stuck on this point and they are important reasons.
First. This effects all children in the world, not just JW children. The WT institutional policy on this point has an impact on all children everywhere. Worldwide. Viewing child sex abuse images is part and parcel of child sex abuse. The WT must acknowledge this and they must change the wording of that sentence before it causes any more damage to vulnerable children everywhere. Attitudes have to change and those attitudes are shaped by institutions like the WT.
Second. This point is really important to active elders. Really important. Listen carefully.
If a body of elders is made aware that a congregant is viewing child sex abuse material, and they follow the WT's direction on forming a judicial committee, etc, without contacting the proper authorities to report the possible viewing of child sex abuse material, then it will be up to the elders to determine if the images that were being viewed actually are child sex abuse material.
If you are responsible for determining if a congregant has looked at images of child sex abuse, how can you do that without looking at the images yourself? And do you know what happens the moment you look at those images, and they do, indeed, prove to be images of child sex abuse? You, JW elder, you will have broken the law BIG time.
If you follow the directives in the WT Branch Manual, it will turn out that the WT has asked you to break the law. And it is a pretty ugly law to break. Tell me, if you are an elder, do you want to be put in the position of determining if the images on JW Joe's computer are images of child sex abuse? Do you want to look at that? Or would you rather let the police determine that, with people trained to deal with the trauma of looking at images of children getting raped?
If all you active JW elders are okay with the WT telling you that you have to sit on a judicial committee, and gather all the evidence for a hearing into whether a person has looked a child sex abuse material, then all of you, every one of you that will do that, are child sex abusers. You are laypersons. You do not have the legal authority to examine child sex abuse images. If you do, you are guilty of viewing child sex abuse material. Interpol wants you.
Yes. It is just one tiny little phrase. A person would miss it if they didn't read carefully enough. A tiny little phrase that puts all JW elders into the position of having to break the law.