abbagail

Joined

• started 71 topics
• posted 2,176 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by abbagail

• 
  25

  Barbara Anderson article - outstanding!

  by waiting in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  mikepence posted this article over at bboy's forum and it's well worth bringing over here.

  if i offend anyone - it's not my intention.

  it is my intention to continue with helping to shed new light on this hideous crime.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  abbagail

  Tying in the two threads where this article is posted, merely FYI, so everyone can read all the great replies! Grits

  LittleBit posted it here as well: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=35933&site=3
• 
  11

  Seattle - Silentlambs Press Release

  by Trauma_Hound in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my fax modem is currently working it's butt off right now, faxing a huge list of media contacts.

  i also e-mailed a huge list of media contacs earlier today in the seattle area:

  for immediat release september 3rd, 2002. .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  abbagail

  Great work TH! Smokin' up that fax machine!

  At the below thread, Undisfellowshipped posted a whole slew of email addresses and links to news media in the cities where the press conferences are scheduled to be held, if you'd like to smoke up that fax a little while longer!

  Also, and I'm not sure if Bill has changed his mind by tonight, but in his post as of last night: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=35856&page=1&site=3#483200 he said he did not want to publicly publish the locations of the press conferences but that anyone who wants to know where they were going to be held to email him and he would put everyone in touch with the rep from whichever city:

  Sep 2, 2002 22:36

  For locations email silentlambs and I will forward to those who are handling the press conferences. Now why would I want to let WT know exactly where we are going to be? ... silentlambs
• 
  17

  THE SILENTLAMBS - QUEST TO PROTECT CHILDREN

  by UnDisfellowshipped in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's john larson.. john larson (dateline reporter) reporting:.

  but bill bowen says many others in the church accused of sexual abuse have never been reported to police.

  america's most watched, most honored news magazine, dateline, will be right back.. announcer speaking: from our studios in rockefeller center, here is stone phillips.. stone phillips speaking: she was just 5 years old when she says she was first molested by a respected member of her jehovah's witnesses congregation.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  abbagail

  HI Un! You're welcome again! Yes, a well known JW site like this gets mooocho visitors, so unless Simon Says Stop, I'd say keep up the comprehensive thread. Here's another article posted at this thread about Barbara Anderson, "An Unlikely David." GREAT STUFF! Grits http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=35937&page=1&site=3#483419

  The original article can be found here: http://www.toasted-cheese.com/ezine/2-3/morris.htm

  An Unlikely David:
  Barbara Anderson's struggle to stop predatory pedophiles in the cloistered world of Jehovah's Witnesses
  By Michael Morris

  While the Catholic Church is forced to publicly wrestle its demons of pedophilia, Jehovahs Witnesses refuse to acknowledge any similar problems in their midst. Barbara Anderson, a former insider from the uppermost echelons of the secretive sect, has stepped forward to reveal that such problems have been a source of denial, debate and division at the highest levels of the organization for at least a decade. While Witness leaders insist that sexual abuse of children is not tolerated or concealed in their congregations, as a former Jehovah's Witness, and as a parent who recently discovered my own childrens molestation within the group, I strongly disagree.

  In the patriarchal world of Jehovah's Witnesses, Barbara Anderson of Normandy, Tenn., a sharp-witted lady from New York, rose to a level of influence that was unheard of for a woman. She assisted in compiling the official history of the group, and wrote articles that serve to instruct the 6 million Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide, including the 1 million in the United States (though her gender, under Witness rules, would not allow her to read aloud in a Kingdom Hall the very words that she wrote). She regularly rubbed shoulders with members of the Witnesses' elite governing body, a committee that currently consists of 11 men, charged with overseeing the group.

  Anderson was also privy to the many letters and phone calls coming into the group's Brooklyn Heights headquarters from members of the faith, responding to published articles, or inquiring about various topics that had not been addressed in print. This feedback was reviewed in meetings among the writers to shape the content of future publications. For Jehovah's Witnesses, the printed word from headquarters provides a pharisaical canon, an ever-shifting lens through which to see more clearly the word, and will, of God.

  The formerly taboo subject of child sexual abuse was entering the public discourse in the late 1980s and early 90s, and the correspondence coming into headquarters reflected the angst of those who now felt comfortable coming forward with their own recollections of abuse in the insular communities of the Witnesses. These abuse survivors were turning to their congregation elders for guidance, and these elders, too, were writing to headquarters, seeking guidance.

  Parents of most denominations would not hesitate to call police first when sexual abuse of their child is reported. But to the Witnesses, all outsiders - even police and social workers -- are co-conspirators with Satan, part of the condemned world soon to be destroyed by God. As a Witness, when dealing with any wrongdoing "you go to elders first, and then elders make the decision for where you go [from there]. To bypass the organization would be treason," said Anderson.

  But these same elders "volunteer, and are essentially untrained clergy," according to a Jehovah's Witness spokesman in the Paducah Sun. They attend no seminary, and have no minimum education requirements, beyond basic literacy. They are equipped for nothing more than enforcing organizational guidelines, delivering biblical platitudes and offering a moment of prayer. When encountering a case of child sexual abuse for the first time, their instructions are first to "call the Legal Department" at the group's headquarters.

  The list of mandated reporters of suspected child abuse varies by state. Church spokesmen assert that in those jurisdictions that include clerics as mandatory reporters, the elders are instructed by the Legal Department to make such reports. A recent fax to the BBC in response to a program exposing sexual abuse among the Witnesses noted that "it can be quite a challenge to keep abreast of the reporting requirements, but our Legal Department makes every effort to do so." It should relieve their lawyers to know that The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information is funded by the US government and tasked with maintaining a web site with just such information, which shows that only 16 states require reporting by clerics. The hand of divine justice apparently is cut short by a lack of supporting legislation in other jurisdictions.

  The assertion that such reports are made by elders when called for by the law has been called into question. Two lawsuits recently lodged against the Witnesses claim that mandatory reporting laws were disregarded, and the abuse continued. In one case, a member is said to have been expelled for making such a report against the advice of the elders, after the elders failed to act. A taped telephone conversation from early 2001, between an elder reporting sexual abuse and headquarters, featured on a recent episode of NBC's Dateline, documented an official from the group advising the elder to "walk away from it," and to "leave it for Jehovah," even though the elder was calling from a state that mandates reporting by clerics.

  Some particularly conscientious elders sought to step outside their restrictive bounds as spiritual counselors in seeking to assist those traumatized by abuse. They were holding sessions that amounted to group therapy with victims of abuse, but this was quickly ended by a March 23, 1992 letter to all bodies of elders in the United States, stating that elders are not to hold such sessions nor "spend time reading secular publications dealing with worldly psychology or psychiatry."

  "Jehovahs Witnesses are a government that operates within all of the governments of the world. I believe that is the big issue here. They want to decide who is guilty or not guilty," said Barbara Anderson. Witnesses are well known for their defiance of secular governments. The Encarta World English Dictionary includes in its definition of Jehovah's Witnesses that the group "rejects secular law where it appears to conflict with the divine."

  So, the investigation of the alleged abuse and the deciding who is guilty or not guilty, falls on the local elders. The burden of proof, barring a confession, is that there must be two members of the faith who can serve as eyewitnesses to the crime, no matter what the infraction. Otherwise, the accused is exonerated and the abused is admonished to treat the accused as innocent in God's eyes and not to repeat the charge to anyone else - even other potential victims, like younger siblings -- or face expulsion from the congregation and shunning by fellow members, including friends and family. Needless to say, child molesters don't usually seek an audience. So the cycle of abuse continues, while the victim, who summoned the monumental courage to come forward, is now forced back into silence by their spiritual leaders.

  All members are guided by the two principal publications of the group, the Watchtower and Awake! journals. Each had different editors, with differing opinions, in the 90s, which can be problematic for a group that points to its unity of belief as a sign of exclusive divine favor. Awake!, on whose staff Anderson served, often presented the group's softer side, while the Watchtower delivered stern doctrinal dissertations. "They would sometimes contradict each other, especially on societal issues," said Anderson.

  Barbara Anderson and other senior staffers knew that the age and cloistered lives of the governing body gave them no frame of reference to empathize with the plight of the abused and their families. Something more than arbitrary application of ancient edicts was required.

  Stories of the disastrous results of similar policies awaited Anderson on her summer vacation in 1991. The Witnesses choose to apply certain Old Testament rules literally, such as the command that a woman who does not scream during a rape should be considered a fornicator. "I was gravely disturbed hearing accounts of Witness women who were disfellowshipped (expelled and shunned) for not screaming while being raped. To illustrate: A Jehovah's Witness came back to his house unexpectedly while his house was being cleaned by a woman who also was a Witness. The trauma of his raping her at that time was so severe that she completely blocked out the experience until she discovered she was pregnant. It was then she faced what had happened and went to the congregation elders. She accused her spiritual brother of raping her; however, he denied it until tests confirmed he was the father of the child. Then he said it was consensual sex. She denied it. Nonetheless, she was disfellowshipped because she couldn't remember if she screamed during the rape and her attacker said she didn't. So, when I came back from vacation, I went in to see the man in the Writing Department who I was working with and told him what I had heard. To me it was horrendous that this girl was disfellowshipped. She was victimized twice."

  The implications of such policies were clear to Anderson. "I began to see how pedophiles could act easily within the congregations and get away with it," she said.

  Members of the Writing Department began pushing for change. When the October 8, 1991 Awake! on child abuse seemed to reverse earlier feelings against psychotherapy and against "repressed memories," there was widespread confusion. When congregation elders called headquarters for clarification "they [the Service Department, in charge of the elders] did not go along with that," said Anderson. "That article was viewed as a mistake. There was a battle going on at Bethel [headquarters] between these two factions. The man who was the head of the Service Department and the man who was head of the Writing Department -- both members of the governing body -- didn't agree on these things." said Anderson.

  An avalanche of phone calls and letters came in response to the October 8, 1991 Awake!. Even the cloistered governing body became aware of the widespread claims of abuse, not only abuse being perpetrated by lay members, but by church leaders as well. "The governing body knew in 92 that this was a very real problem, that men in authority were molesters, and they were molesting children. The accusations that were coming to them were not merely against average attendees, but against men in authority, and you couldnt get the Service Department to recognize that. They were having a terrible time," recalls Anderson.

  Barbara Anderson and her husband would leave headquarters at the end of '92, after serving there for ten and a half years. She continued to support the writing staff as an outside researcher until '97. "It was during my last year at headquarters while doing research for a senior Awake! writer that I learned to my horror that the organization had severe problems with sexual child abuse. I knew when I left that it was understood that I would continue to send information in on child abuse. This was to try to influence the governing body to change their policies."

  Anderson was also aware of the implications of such policies for those outside of the organization. Accusations of child molestation, even a known history of criminal child rape, would not preclude a member from engaging in the Witnesses door to door preaching work. "I begged [governing body member and friend] Lloyd Barry, begged him by letter in July of 1993, not to allow molesters to go door to door." said Anderson. Lloyd Barry, now deceased, never responded. Instead, some three and a half years later, speaking of a molester who may have recently been released from prison, the Watchtower of January 1, 1997 states "If he seems to be repentant [to the untrained elders], he will be encouraged to make spiritual progress [and] share in the field ministry [door to door preaching]."

  Neither would a history of child molestation disqualify a member from being appointed as an elder, a leader and exemplar in the congregation. Although the January 1, 1997 Watchtower stated that a "known" molester "would not qualify for congregation privileges," such as becoming an elder or ministerial servant (deacon), a secret letter to all bodies of elders three months later, on March 14, 1997, quietly backpedaled: "An individual known to be a former child molester has reference to the perception of that one in the community [emphasis ours] and in the Christian congregation." And as for determining whether those already in a position of authority had a history of molestation, the letter directed that "The body of elders should not query individuals." Unknown to the faithful, who had taken the January 1st Watchtower at its word, pedophiles could remain in positions of authority, under this don't-ask don't-tell policy, at all levels of the organization. One is left to wonder who pushed for such a change, what they had to hide, and why the contents of that letter, leaked on the Internet, remain, to this day, a secret to the rank and file.

  "I cant go to my grave knowing what I know." Anderson's struggle for change from within the group ended when a letter from a member of the headquarters staff in early '97 indicated to her that such symbolic changes were in response to a rising tide of litigation, not out of concern for the welfare of children. "I couldnt go to the Kingdom Hall and hear all of the bragging about how wonderful this organization was from the platform, and sit there and listen. I thought "I cant go to my grave knowing what I know." She resolved to continue to push for change from outside the walls of the Kingdom Hall.

  Barbara Anderson came to be among five members disfellowshipped from the group in recent months, following a spate of media attention, for speaking out about rampant sexual abuse and cover-ups among Jehovah's Witnesses. "I had a very, very interesting life as a Jehovahs Witness. My husband and I brought eighty people into this organization," she remembers. While she takes exception to the policies of the leadership that harm children, she holds out hope that the voices that pushed for change in the mid-'90s may prevail. Among those voices are the group's powerful Legal Department, which pushed for a uniform reporting policy among congregations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia - perhaps to be relieved of the arduous task of keeping track of all those laws -- only to be shot down by the governing body. Anderson also cites a group of elders in Dallas, Texas, which worked with a local mental health facility to tailor care for Jehovah's Witnesses, only to be removed from their positions en masse by the leadership. And there were those elders who sought to bring a little therapy into their shepherding. To be sure, there were kindhearted people easily found in the group. "They are good people. I am not going to say they werent and they arent dear people to us," she said.

  Perhaps if these people had succeeded in moving the organization to adopt a call-police-first policy in handling cases of child sexual abuse, just as they advise members to seek the help of a physician when ill, or of a fireman during a fire, there would not have been the chance for children, such as mine, to have been abused, their lives forever changed. Instead, we, like so many others, are left to fight a difficult and emotionally painful legal battle against a coy perpetrator in a position of authority, with the backing of his church.

  In our case, the alleged abuser continues, to this day, to beam piously from the platform and to hold children on his lap during the services at our former suburban Philadelphia congregation, even as criminal and civil actions are pending, to the full knowledge of the local body of elders.

  But it seems the short-sighted preservation of the image of the group has been the priority of the governing body, over the welfare of their flock. Better, they seem to think, to silence the victims, shun the whistle blowers, deny, deny, deny. I recall that Jehovahs Witnesses are expert in itemizing the sins of the Catholic Church, including the harboring of pedophiles. Perhaps now they will have the humility to turn that scrutiny inward, protect the victims in their midst, adopt a call-police-first policy everywhere, and stop allowing a de facto conspiracy of silence to protect pedophiles in their congregations, and on our doorsteps.

  Michael Morris grew up a Jehovah's Witness punk rocker in the suburbs of Philadelphia in the 1980s. He spent several years serving as a full-time preacher in the Witnesses' door-to-door preaching work, unwittingly learning much about life and faith from those whom he presumed to teach. E-mail Michael to comment on this article, here: [email protected]

  Michael posts at Toasted Cheese as Dances with Cactus. "An Unlikely David" was first posted at What I Tell You Three Times Is True, our non-fiction critique forum.
• 
  30

  Great response by my brother to my JW Family

  by Trauma_Hound in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  he does take care of matters in his due time.. (1 samuel 2:12-17) now the sons of e'li were.

  attendant of the priest came and said to the man.

  be an old man in your house.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  abbagail

  Those last two paragraphs by your brother, TH, were fantastic. Who can refute such scriptural reasoning?

  Did you see this article about Barbara Anderson yet? It, too, is unbelievable, with telltale things I had not heard yet, about the GB, etc. What an attitude they have! Despicable! The article is posted here, and maybe your Dad/brother would like to see it too. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=35937&page=1&site=3#483419

  Grits
• 
  25

  Barbara Anderson article - outstanding!

  by waiting in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  mikepence posted this article over at bboy's forum and it's well worth bringing over here.

  if i offend anyone - it's not my intention.

  it is my intention to continue with helping to shed new light on this hideous crime.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  abbagail

  Holding back the tears -- lump in throat...
  It's downright CHILLING what this article reveals about the GB... dastardly b*******s!

  There are incidents in this article I had not even heard yet, the therapy by the elders, the health facility in Dallas, even the WT attorneys were "pushing for change." How about that? (Guess they are not all of them sharks afterall!) These touching parts, however, expose even more flagrantly how despicable the GB has acted.

  GREAT ARTICLE!!!

  Grits
• 
  2

  Lambs in 9/02 Issue of Evangelicals Now

  by abbagail in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this just rolled in from silentlambs.... .

  jw silent lambs protest.

  september 27 2002. is a day the watchtower society is likely to remember.. protest marchers are due to walk just seven city blocks in brooklyn, new york to 25 colombia heights, the headquarters of the jehovah's witnesses, now considered one of the world's wealthiest religions.. .

  1. 
  2. 
• 

  abbagail

  I really loved THIS quote from the article:

  Following the [BBC] programme the Silentlambs website logged around 200 emails in the first 24 hours. By the end of July around 50 new cases of abuse had been reported over the net. Interest in the programme can be gauged by the email response of over 1,000 letters to the BBC, the second highest the Panorama programme has ever received.

  The responses to the programme were split 50/50, with JWs in the main stressing there were no serious problems, but others telling a rather different story. Viewing figures indicate this was the most-watched Panorama of the past ten productions.

  The Sorry? paragraph was tooooo good! Overall, this was an excellent article, and written in a way I hadn't quite seen yet. WELL DONE!!! Now, how/where do we write the author/reporter, Richard E.Cotton, to say thanks? Is Evangelicals Now a printed magazine or an online publication?

  Grits
• 
  17

  THE SILENTLAMBS - QUEST TO PROTECT CHILDREN

  by UnDisfellowshipped in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's john larson.. john larson (dateline reporter) reporting:.

  but bill bowen says many others in the church accused of sexual abuse have never been reported to police.

  america's most watched, most honored news magazine, dateline, will be right back.. announcer speaking: from our studios in rockefeller center, here is stone phillips.. stone phillips speaking: she was just 5 years old when she says she was first molested by a respected member of her jehovah's witnesses congregation.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  abbagail

  New Article just rolled in from Silent Lambs:

  LAMBS in EVANGELICALS NOW, September 2002 Issue, FRONT PAGE ARTICLE entitled:

  JW silent lambs protest

  September 27 2002
  is a day the Watchtower Society is likely to remember.

  Since I don't know what to make of nancee's remark, I will not put the entire article here. It's at a new thread here:
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=35928&site=3
• 
  2

  Lambs in 9/02 Issue of Evangelicals Now

  by abbagail in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this just rolled in from silentlambs.... .

  jw silent lambs protest.

  september 27 2002. is a day the watchtower society is likely to remember.. protest marchers are due to walk just seven city blocks in brooklyn, new york to 25 colombia heights, the headquarters of the jehovah's witnesses, now considered one of the world's wealthiest religions.. .

  1. 
  2. 
• 

  abbagail

  This just rolled in from silentlambs...

  JW silent lambs protest

  September 27 2002
  is a day the Watchtower Society is likely to remember.

  Protest marchers are due to walk just seven city blocks in Brooklyn, New York to 25 Colombia Heights, the headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses, now considered one of the world's wealthiest religions.

  Compared with most protest marches the participants will be few in number. Some will be JWs or ex-JWs, other people may have no religious affiliation at all. Yet the marchers will be united by a common theme: they will all have experienced or been eye-witnesses of the machinations of the secretive Governing Body running the cult, which, it seems, has allowed Watchtower policy to physically harm and emotionally ruin children.

  Woolly lambs
  Outside the headquarters individuals will speak briefly about the hurt they have either witnessed or personally experienced. It is intended that each individual should carry a small toy woolly lamb, to represent themselves or another person. The event will be unique as, although protest marches among JWs are very rare, protest marches against the Governing Body are totally unheard of.

  The lambs are not just for ornament. They have become a symbol for a rapidly-growing group of people who have suffered at the hands of the Watchtower Society. This group, calling itself 'Silentlambs', was begun by Bill Bowen, a JW of 43 years' standing, 20 of them as an elder. While an elder Bill had become aware that a fellow-elder had abused a child several times. Bill wanted to notify the police, but found the matter was being covered-up in his local Kingdom Hall. Eventually he telephoned the legal desk at the Watchtower headquarters, and was told not to get involved. Stunned and profoundly shocked, he resigned from his eldership and went public. But how to reach out and help those abused ones?

  Bill had no idea where they were or how many might be suffering. So was born the website 'Silentlambs'. Bill may have expected a trickle of emails, but he suddenly found himself inundated. Many months later he still gets emails every day, and has had over 27,000 visitors to the site.

  Silentlambs became for so many hurt souls their first chance to write and tell of their personal grief and pent-up guilt and anger. Some, incapable of speaking openly of their ordeals in the cult, chose to write poems. Again and again the themes were played out in the emails, as abusers were often believed, but the children were branded as liars by disbelieving elders. The correspondence confirmed to Bill that the cover-up mentality was not just a local one, it was endemic in the entire cult. As he expressed it, the movement was a 'paradise for paedophiles'. Since the group began Bill Bowen estimates that he has received around 1,000 stories while another 5,000 people have emailed or contacted him via the internet or by telephone. In May members staged a candle-lit vigil outside the Kingdom Hall in Benton, Kentucky.

  BBC Panorama
  When the BBC's Panorama investigated the problem in mid-July it dealt with cases in the UK and the USA. Following the programme the Silentlambs website logged around 200 emails in the first 24 hours. By the end of July around 50 new cases of abuse had been reported over the net. Interest in the programme can be gauged by the email response of over 1,000 letters to the BBC, the second highest the Panorama programme has ever received.

  The responses to the programme were split 50/50, with JWs in the main stressing there were no serious problems, but others telling a rather different story. Viewing figures indicate this was the most-watched Panorama of the past ten productions.

  Sara Poisson
  Particularly tragic was the story of Sara Poisson. A battered wife, with daughters whom she suspected were being abused by her JW husband, she went to the elders at her Kingdom Hall for help. Rather than dealing with the problem they told her to go home, pray more and be a better wife. As time passed and the evidence of ongoing abuse continued to mount, Sara went again and again to plead for help and protection. Still she was turned away - with the same instructions. As she was totally dominated by the eldership it never occurred to her to seek outside help.

  Eventually, when the school reported substantial bruising on her children, social workers stepped in. The ultimatum was clear: leave your husband or your children go into care. Knowing that to leave him would see her cast out of the local congregation she did just that. This left her homeless, penniless and shunned by all her former JW friends.

  Some time later, Holly, one of the abused daughters, went to the police and told them all that had happened at the hands of her father. It was another four years before the father, Paul Berry, was charged with 17 charges of aggravated sexual assault. Even then, after the testimony of the family to the court, some two dozen JWs came forward to offer character witness for the accused.

  Phone-in
  Following the Panorama presentation the BBC ran a phone-in programme on Radio 5. Again and again individuals called in (often using assumed names) to relate their own experiences of child abuse in the Watchtower cult. Running through the narratives was a theme of guilt and pain combined with an eldership that often seemed not to believe or did not want to believe the facts presented to them.

  The response of the JW movement is that for someone to be found guilty of anything there must have been two witnesses present. This may be well and good, but it must be admitted that paedophiles do not usually operate with bystanders about, unless they are fellow paedophiles.

  It goes without saying that the vast majority of JW parents are loving, kind people who cherish their children and the idea of abuse is total anathema to them. The Watchtower movement is not unique in having this problem. Yet it is also very plain that something is seriously wrong with any organisation that cannot face the reality of what is going on inside it. The Panorama programme noted the reticence of some elders to co-operate with police even when individuals were reported by their victims.

  One officer spoke of elders as being 'criminally negligent' when they failed to pass information to the police. In some cases recorded on the Silentlambs website, Jehovah's Witnesses who reported abusers to the police have been excommunicated from the cult.

  Sorry?
  One thing was very noticeable in the Panorama presentation: the lack of the simple word, 'sorry'. No one from the movement expressed any regrets to the poor traumatised individuals who painfully told their experiences. If we take the material on the Silentlambs website, there are many hundreds of people whose lives have been wrecked and defiled at the hands of evil individuals. What of those elders who have disbelieved suffering children? Can we expect apologies from them? Or does an external sanitised version of the cult come before truth and justice?

  Is it possible that when that little band of sufferers stand outside the Brooklyn headquarters in late September at least someone will come out to them and say 'sorry'. It would be a kindness to do so but the Watchtower has a very long history of not apologising for its errors. It is doubtful if it will do so now.

  Richard E. Cotton

  [email protected]
  http://info@silentlambs.org

  Copyright Evangelicals Now - September 2002

  Edited by - Grits on 3 September 2002 17:16:33

  Edited by - Grits on 3 September 2002 17:18:29
• 
  11

  Can You Support Press Conferences In Your Area?

  by silentlambs in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we have arranged for press conferences in the following cities, if you wish to support the effort to get the word out on the march please support those who are doing the conferences.

  if you can just show up and stand with the group it will help make a stronger statement.

  if you would like to be part of this please let me know and i will forward the local representatives email to you.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  abbagail

  Congrats on adding the two new cities!

  I sent out an email to 73 addresses I could find for the State of Florida (addresses I got from the xJW list http://disc.server.com/Indices/46743.html, and one from the SL guestbook, etc.) to inform them of the 2 press conferences in FLORIDA (Orlando and Panama City). Here's the outcome so far:

  Mail Returned:
  2 - try again later
  2 - mailbox full
  1 - address incomplete
  19 - User Unknown/Accounts Disabled/Discontinued
  24 Total Undelivered.

  So as of now, 49 of the emails DID go thru... not bad, eh?
  That's 49 more people that may not have already known about the Press Conferences. And just MAYBE a few of them could attend one of the Florida press conferences.

  If I had thought of this much sooner, I would have gone thru every state on the xJW list, in order to send out emails to addy's in the other states where press conferences will be held. Anybody wanna take your own state and try this? If so, go to http://disc.server.com/Indices/46743.html and pick out names/addy's for any of the below states, and send them all an email. And if anyone knows of any other way to get names/addy's of JWs or xJWs for whatever state, let me know! A sample copy of the email I sent is further below, so you don't even have to think out a new letter, just copy/cut/paste it into a blank email, add the addresses and zap! (Be sure to fill in the correct city/state, however). THANKS/Grits

  STATES STILL TO BE DONE

  ARIZONA
  Tuscon, AZ

  CALIFORNIA
  Los Angles, CA
  Sacramento, CA

  GEORGIA
  Atlanta, GA

  KENTUCKY
  Louisville, KY (Bill will be doing the conference in Louisville, so far he's alone, anyone want to come?)

  MISSOURI
  Kansas City, MO
  St Louis, MO

  OHIO
  Dayton, OH

  OREGON
  Portland, OR

  TEXAS
  Dallas, TX

  UTAH
  Salt Lake City, UT

  WASHINGTON
  Seattle, WA

  SAMPLE EMAIL YOU COULD SEND:

  SUBJECT: JW-ANNOUNCEMENT-Can You Help???

  Dear xJW:

  I got your name and email address from either the public xJWs list here: http://disc.server.com/Indices/46743.html, or the SilentLambs guestbook, or J-W.com.

  I am writing to let you know about, and ask your support of a very important issue and event. Are you familiar with Silent Lambs? www.silentlambs.org. Briefly, the purpose of Silent Lambs is to expose the detrimental policies of the WTS regarding child abuse in the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses, the coverup of such abuse; the harboring of the molesters/abusers/pedophiles who perpetrate these crimes against women and children JWs, along with supporting the individual silenced lambs who have been harmed by these abusers and from WTS policies.

  As you may or may not already know, there will be a Silent Lambs March on the World Headquarters of the WTS on 9-27-02 regarding these issues, in the hopes of appealing to the Governing Body to amend their harmful policies.

  To get the word out about that March, Silent Lambs is holding press conferences this coming Thursday, 9-5-02, at 10:30 am, in __________________________ (as well as 10 or so other large cities across the nation).

  If you are able, would you please show your support by attending the press conference in __________________? You do not have to do anything but merely stand there and show support.

  If you can attend, please email me XXXXXX -- OR -- Mr. Bill Bowen, [email protected], and he or I will provide you with the exact street address of the Press Conference in _________________________.

  Also, if you would like to hold a press conference yourself in any other city, it's still not too late. Please contact Bill Bowen #1-877-WT-ABUSE, ASAP for details on how to set up a press conference in your city.

  Even if you are not able to attend in person but would like to learn more or lend supprt to Silent Lambs and/or the 9/27/02 March on HQ, please visit the website: www.silentlambs.org, or call #1-877-WT-ABUSE, or write to: [email protected]. Everyone is welcome to attend the March on HQ on 9/27/02 as well.

  And if you would like to sign up for the SilentLambs email list, in order to stay informed of future developments, please send your request to [email protected].

  Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you know who may be able to attend the Press Conferences this Thursday in ________________________. One does not have to be now or formerly associated with Jehovah's Witnesses to care about child abuse.

  Thanks in advance!
  Florida Resident/Former JW
  XXXXXXXX
  Email: XXXXXXXXXX

  --or---

  Bill Bowen, Founder, SilentLambs
  www.silentlambs.org
  Email: [email protected]
  #1-877-WT-ABUSE

  PS: This is not a joke. This is not junk email! And I apologize for the short notice, but I just got this idea as another way to spread the word about the press conferences.

  Edited by - Grits on 3 September 2002 16:38:55

  Edited by - Grits on 3 September 2002 16:40:54

  Edited by - Grits on 3 September 2002 16:46:40
• 
  26

  local elder admits..........

  by heathen in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we don't know what jesus was doing during the period of 1914-1919. contrary to the wt doctrine an elder during tonights bookstudy for no apparent reason made this statement after the last paragraph for tonights book study was commented on .most unusuall don't you think?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  abbagail

  Maybe it's a new "ploy" by the WTS to see if there are any "reactions" for the dubs at the bookstudy. If anyone said, "Wow, yeah, I was thinking the same thing lately..." the dub would be pegged as possibly being one who had read that 1914 was NOT the end of the Gentile Times when Jesus began reigning afterall...

  Or, maybe I have been hanging around this forum too long... :-)

  Grits