For those who posted their wish that the WT’s attorney’s talk was recorded, I’d like to offer some thoughts, plus comment on some other issues. And prepare yourself for a long read ahead.
Please note that the attorney's talk was public, given to an audience. WT has a big problem in that a number of good people are willing to vouch for what the attorney said. Who knows but that someone did record it, but I'm not privy to that information. Keep in mind though that Steven presented to the government officials at the recent Parliamentary Inquiry a massive amount of evidence to support every allegation he has made, and this did indeed include sensitive audio recordings which are now protected under a term called ‘Parliamentary Privilege’, so please don't underestimate him. Take it for granted that he has it all under control to prove the WT guilty of harming his family.
Steven is under a gag order right now forbidding him to discuss what went on in that Inquiry, but all in good time the events that took place at the hearing will be made public. It will take, however, months before the government agencies involved are finished with their investigations and everything is presented to the proper authorities for their decisions. Remember, as pointed out in The Age newspaper article, there are at least three investigations launched and probably more if one reads between the lines in that article. And as I said in a previous post, the Fairfax conglomerate that owns that newspaper would not have let those investigations be made known in one of their flagship newspapers, by one of their most senior reporters, if there was no evidence.
I want to point out something important here. Steven and others are not only accusing the WT of wrong-doing, but also the State of Victoria who they begged for help for years with little help given. In years past, Steven notified the State that WT was not abiding by the Working With Children Act that became law in 2008 requiring all clergy to get the WWC card. Now the State has to show why it didn't respond to Steven's cries to do something to protect JW kids from JW molesters or any elders that did not have working with children checks. And the question is asked, Why didn't the last four court hearings that ended in February of 2012 result in penalties given to the WT who broke the WCC law since 2008?
The kids were victims of crimes and the State did nothing. In The Age article, it stated that the child (who launched a private criminal prosecution against JWs) "asks why the government and police let the church 'get away with non-compliance...'" Now the State has to get to the bottom of this and find out why elected officials ignored parent's accusations of child abuse in the WT org. Now, it appears that the present Victorian administration is trying to figure it all out.
Keeping that information in mind, just think of the scope that the governmental investigations will take to try to unravel why public officials and WT officials didn't listen to the cries of the children and take action to protect them. Who knows, maybe some politicians and government officials have to learn a severe lesson that anyone who breaks the working with children laws, even themselves, can be in a lot of trouble, even the possibility of facing criminal charges.
I wish many woes (penalties) to come upon all those responsible at Watchtower’s Australian Branch headquarters because of what they didn’t do to help protect their own member’s kids. And I wish many woes (penalties) to come upon those same Watchtower officials because of what they did to the Unthank family and other families to cover-up the acts of pedophiles who were known to them to be molesters. The men who are responsible for the harm that came to little kids are appointed agents of the Governing Body that operates the Watchtower Society worldwide. For the sake of justice, let the buck stop at their New York desks.
Steven once wrote… “You can’t win if you don’t try, and if you don’t try you can’t win.” My motto has been, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Recently, an XJW wrote me and said his present philosophy in life comes from a quote that goes like this: “What you think about you bring about” or what you focus on you will get. Well, for years, Steven in Australia and me in the United States thought and thought about the WT’s indifference to the suffering of children from sexual abuse that was reported to them, and asked ourselves what could we do about it? So maybe there’s truth to the quote, “What you think about, you bring about” because our thinking resulted in our focusing on the issue at hand and then taking action despite expected harassment or worse from JWs. In time, our actions slowly resulted in wins and gains in our pursuit of justice for the victims. We have refused to be guided by negativity in what we set out to do, so the negative thoughts expressed on this board by some does not impact our present or future actions.
Furthermore, I want to express my appreciation for the positive words from supportive posters who make up the majority. No doubt in my mind that your thoughts are sending shivers down the spines of cowards in New York.
Barbara
From the San Diego Fugitive Task Force -