Posts by UnDisfellowshipped

82

ARE JW'S MORE HONEST THAN OTHERS?

by minimus in

jw
friends

one thing that the witnesses promote is how they are different from the rest of the world.

in your personal experience , did you find that you could trust a witness more than you could a non-jw?

UnDisfellowshipped

Here is a Link that shows the Jehovah's Witnesses' "HONESTY":

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=35689&site=3

4

Polyheme used by JW

by blondie in

http://www.denverpost.com/stories/0,1413,36%257e53%257e836403%257e,00.html# denver post .

fda oks rare use of synthetic blood .

springs woman's faith prevented her getting ordinary transfusion .

UnDisfellowshipped

I'm just posting this to let people see what the Watchtower Society now allows (I originally posted this on another Thread):

I don't know 100% what the Society's Current Blood Policy is (I don't know if even the Governing Body and Elders do anymore).

However, here is what I have heard is now ALLOWED by the Society:

Vaccinations (Shots) even if they contain Blood!

Organ Transplants even though the Organs contain Blood! (Probably a large amount of Blood too!)

Bone-Marrow Transplants

Hemophiliac Blood Treatments

All sorts of Blood Fractions

Here is a Pharisee-Like List of the "Acceptable Blood Fractions" which Witnesses are now allowed to accept (at least this is what I have heard, not 100% sure):

*Factor VIII
*Gamma Globulin
*Blood Plasma Proteins
*Albumin
*Immune Globulins
*Rh Immune Globulin
*Hemophiliac Preparations
*Clotting Factors
*Synthetic Hormone EPO (Erythropoietin) (contains only "a small amount of Albumin")
*Autologous Blood (Autotransfusion) (Where your own Blood "flows out through a tube to the Artificial Organ that pumps and filters (or oxygenates) it, and then it returns to the patient's circulatory system")
*Hemodilution
*HemoPure (Cow's Blood)
*PolyHeme (From Human Hemoglobin)

Please add to the List if you know of any other "ALLOWED" Blood Products.

Also in a 1960's Article the Watchtower Society said that Jehovah's Witness Doctors CAN GIVE Blood Transfusions to those evil "Worldly People!" (However Witnesses are not even allowed to give Blood to their PETS -- Does this seem odd? I guess the Watchtower Society is basically saying that "Worldly People" are so wicked that it doesn't matter if you give them Blood, yet your Pets are better than Worldly People)

Edited by - UnDisfellowshipped on 4 September 2002 22:46:52

29

JESUS CHRIST -- I AM WHO I AM

by UnDisfellowshipped in

(exodus 3:13) and moses said to god, behold, when i come to the children of israel, and shall say to them, the god of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall say to me, what is his name?

(exodus 3:14) and god said to moses, i am who i am: and he said, thus you shall say to the children of israel, i am has sent me to you.. (exodus 3:15) and god said moreover to moses, thus you shall say to the children of israel, jehovah the god of your fathers, the god of abraham, the god of isaac, and the god of jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.. (john 8:24) i said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you do not believe that i am, you shall die in your sins.. (john 8:28) then jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the son of man, then you shall know that i am, and that i do nothing of myself; but as my father has taught me, i speak these things.. (john 8:53) are you greater than our father abraham, who is dead?

and the prophets are dead: who do you make yourself?.

UnDisfellowshipped

One last Scripture on this Thread to think about (any comments on this Scripture?):

Isaiah 44:6: Thus says Yahweh, the King of Israel, AND His Redeemer, Yahweh of Hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last; and besides Me there is no God.

17

THE SILENTLAMBS - QUEST TO PROTECT CHILDREN

by UnDisfellowshipped in

jw
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.

UnDisfellowshipped

MORE GREAT SILENTLAMBS NEWS ARTICLES ARE BELOW:

The Courier-Journal Newspaper - May 8th 2002:

Jehovah's Witnesses act against abuse-policy critics

By Peter Smith, [email protected]

Leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses are taking steps to excommunicate a Western Kentucky man and three other church members who have publicly criticized what they say is their church's secretive handling of child-molestation cases.

Bill Bowen of Benton, Ky., said he was summoned to a judicial hearing to be held Friday at his Draffenville, Ky., church to answer allegations of ''causing divisions within the congregation and organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.''

Bowen resigned as an elder in the Marshall County congregation in December 2000

to protest the church's handling of a

local case and its policies on handling abuse allegations. He has since formed a support group for abuse victims.

Bowen figured prominently in a CourierJournal report in February 2001 on sexualabuse issues among Jehovah's Witnesses, as did a New Jersey couple who also say they are threatened with excommunication, Carl and Barbara Pandelo.

A former employee at church headquarters, Barbara Anderson of Normandy, Tenn., said she also faces excommunication.

The Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information declined to comment specifically on the four cases, citing confidentiality policies.

The Courier-Journal report cited court cases in several states in which Jehovah's Witnesses officials were accused of keeping secret the allegations of abuse by their elders or members in two cases, allegedly in violation of state law.

Leaders of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, as the organization is formally known, have disputed these claims, saying they obey all laws requiring the reporting of child abuse and do not interfere with police investigations.

They say that in states that do not require reporting of abuse, they prefer taking steps to protect children while not breaching what they see as confidential communications between elders and members.

Church officials say they might advise elders to move victims out of abusive homes or refer them to counseling.

Bowen said he believes the action is being taken to deter Jehovah's Witnesses from listening to him, the Pandelos and Anderson in news reports or on the Web site of his ''silentlambs'' organization (www.silentlambs.org).

He said church members who listen to the words of ''apostates,'' or those who abandon the faith, are at risk of excommunication themselves.

Bowen said he has asked that his hearing be postponed from Friday because of plans for minor surgery.

In its statement, the Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information quoted biblical references in saying elders must use church discipline to ''shepherd the flock of God in their care.''

''In fact, they are required by the Holy Scriptures to see to it that the congregation remains clean and unified,'' the statement said. ''No hasty decision is made in this process.''

The goal is not to expel a member, but to follow the Apostle Paul's injunction to ''try to readjust such a man in a spirit of mildness,'' the statement said.

The Pandelos, of Belmar, N.J., were summoned to a hearing Monday night at their local congregation concerning unspecified ''allegations of apostasy,'' according to a April 19 letter on Watchtower stationery.

Carl Pandelo said he and his wife stayed only five minutes, long enough to deliver letters of protest to the chairman of the disciplinary committee. They have not received a reply.

''It's not like we didn't expect it,'' he said. ''You're not allowed to talk against the church in any way.''

The pandelos, who no longer attend Jehovah's Witnesses services, have told The Courier-Journal that after Carl's father, Clement Pandelo, molested their daughter, the congregation acted more sympathetically to the molester than to his victim.

Elders did tell Clement Pandelo to turn himself in to police, and he pleaded guilty in 1989 to molesting three girls after admitting molesting children for 40 years.

An elder with the congregation told The Courier-Journal that church leaders did the best they could to mediate the situation.

Anderson said she has not seen the charges against her in writing but that her husband, an elder at a Manchester, Tenn., congregation, was told she was accused of ''causing divisions.''

''I categorically deny any of this,'' said Anderson, a former employee at Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she said she first learned about the church's policies on handling abuse cases.

In the past year, two more lawsuits have been filed against Watchtower in New Hampshire and Washington state, accusing local church elders of failing to follow state laws on reporting suspected abuse to police.

In both cases, church members were convicted of sexual abuse.

One suit filed in January by Erica Rodriguez, who said she was repeatedly abused by a church member years ago, claims an elder at her former congregation in Washington state threatened her with excommunication if she reported her abuser to police.

A Watchtower statement denies this, saying that there are no sanctions against anyone who chooses to go to police, and that church elders and Watchtower did not know of the abuse until years after it had occurred.

In New Hampshire, two women are suing Watchtower, alleging elders failed to report suspicions of abuse. Their father was later convicted and sentenced to 56 years in prison for abuse.

Jehovah's Witnesses, founded in the 19th century, number about 1 million members in the United States and 6 million globally.

Best known for its door-to-door evangelism, the church views its teachings as authentic Christianity, though it parts company with other Christian bodies on some fundamental beliefs.

Like some other close-knit religious organizations, Jehovah's Witnesses practice church discipline within their congregations and sometimes ''disfellowship,'' or excommunicate, members who are believed to persist in their errors.
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NewsDay - May 8th 2002:

Jehovah's Witnesses Allege Sexual Abuse

By Ron Howell, STAFF WRITER

Some Jehovah's Witnesses say the group covers up widespread sexual abuse of children within the religion, which is headquartered in Brooklyn and known for sending adherents door-to-door to gain new members.

"Because of the closed community of Jehovah's Witnesses ... the whole issue of protecting sexual abuse among family members is very strong," said Barbara Pandelo, a Belmar, N.J., resident and a Jehovah's Witness.

Pandelo said that in 1988 her daughter was sexually molested by a relative who is also a Jehovah's Witness.

She is one of several critics from around the country who have been commanded by their local superiors to appear at special hearings. Pandelo and the others say they are being targeted because of their outspokenness, especially on sexual abuse of minors.

A national spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses, which says it has 6 million members worldwide, categorically denied the allegations.

"You cannot be a known sex offender and hold any position of responsibility within the organization," said J.R. Brown, the spokesman. "We have a very strong and aggressive policy for handling any sexual molestation that might take place."

In Kentucky, William H. Bowen, a member, said Jehovah's Witnesses have created "a pedophile paradise" because of their tradition of secrecy and reluctance to seriously investigate abuse.

Bowen said that as an elder he tried to investigate a case of sexual abuse, but church leaders told him a year and a half ago "to leave it in God's hands."

Last year he started a Web site, www.silentlambs.org, on which he claims there are numerous cases of sexual abuse committed by members and covered up by officials.

"This is their way of getting rid of us," said Bowen, referring to the local hearings.

Bowen and Pandelo maintain that the tradition of ringing doors and proselytizing new members invites problems for the religion. .

"When Jehovah's Witnesses go door to door they talk to anybody," said Pandelo, a homemaker. "Many times people [who are recruited] bring these [sexually abusive] tendencies into the congregation."

Pandelo said that although she has not worshipped with her local congregation since 1998, she fears being excommunicated.

All practicing members, even her old friends and relatives, would be required to shun her, she said. "You're viewed as if you're dead."

At a Monday hearing, she and her husband, Carl, did not present a formal defense. "But we did draft a letter and presented them with it and left," she said.

Jehovah's Witnesses spokesman Brown said only one hearing has been held so far and no action has been taken yet against anyone.
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NEW YORK TIMES Newspaper - May 9th 2002:

National Briefing: Religion

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES SEX ACCUSATIONS Four Jehovah's Witnesses who have publicly criticized their church's handling of sexual abuse accusations have been summoned to church hearings that could result in their excommunication. The four assert that church elders did not immediately report to the authorities accusations of abuse by family or church members.

By Laurie Goodstein (NYT)
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New York Post Newspaper - May 9th 2002:

FOUR FACING JEHOVAH OUSTER

By DAN MANGAN

May 9, 2002 -- Jehovah's Witnesses leaders are moving to excommunicate four people who have spoken to a television show about child molestation within the church, the four say.

If that happens, they claim, other Jehovah's Witnesses will be barred - also under the threat of excommunication - from watching the upcoming NBC "Dateline" episode detailing alleged abuse in the church and criticism of how the church handles such cases.

A spokesman for the Brooklyn-based religion called that claim "absurd."

Both sides agree that all Witnesses - including relatives of the four - would risk excommunication by having contact with any excommunicated person, except under certain circumstances.

While the four believe the show's impending broadcast has spurred the church's actions, church spokesman J.R. Brown said that before Tuesday, church headquarters had no idea that these people would be on the show.

He also said local congregations decided to charge them with various spiritual violations.
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CNN News Website - May 9th 2002:

Four Jehovah's Witnesses fight church's handling of child abuse cases

Bowen stands in front of his former church in Marshall County near Louisville, Kentucky on January 12, 2001.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- As a pillar of his church, William Bowen sat in judgment of fellow Jehovah's Witnesses who went astray. On a few occasions, Bowen supported the ultimate punishment -- expulsion from the tight-knit religious group.

But now the lifelong Jehovah's Witness awaits judgment himself from fellow members of the faith.
The 44-year-old former church elder is among four Jehovah's Witnesses threatened with excommunication -- or disfellowship, as the denomination calls it -- for sowing discord in the faith by speaking out against the church's handling of allegations of child molestation.

Bowen complains that child-sex allegations are generally not reported to secular authorities by the Jehovah's Witnesses because of the church's closed nature and its insistence on handling problems internally.

The Jehovah's Witnesses shun the outside world in many respects. They refuse to bear arms, salute the flag or participate in secular government. They also refuse blood transfusions.

Bowen is to appear before a judicial committee Friday at his church in Draffenville, a small town in far western Kentucky.
Two others, Carl and Barbara Pandelo of Belmar, New Jersey, had their hearing this week and are awaiting a decision.
Barbara Anderson of Normandy, Tennessee, has also been summoned to appear before a committee. Anderson has said she learned about the church's handling of abuse cases while she worked at its headquarters in New York City.

Like Bowen, the Pandelos say the real motivation is to silence them within the denomination, which claims about six million members worldwide, including about one million in the United States.

In a statement issued from their headquarters, the Jehovah's Witnesses said that church leaders are "required by the Holy Scriptures to see to it that the congregation remains clean and unified."

J.R. Brown, a spokesman for the denomination, said that parents are not punished by the church for going to the police first in cases of child molestation.
And he said that anyone found guilty of molestation by a church judicial committee is removed from all positions of responsibility and cannot evangelize door-to-door without being accompanied by a fellow Jehovah's Witness.

Bowen disputed that, saying he has heard of cases in which parents were punished for contacting the police first, and instances in which abusers were allowed to go door-to-door on their own.
Bowen, who spent two years working at the Brooklyn headquarters, said that he took up the cause a couple of years ago, when he read a confidential file alleging a member had molested a child in the early 1980s. He said he was frustrated in his efforts to try to bring the problem to the attention of the church hierarchy.

"They did not want to face child molestation issues," Bowen said. "They did not want typically to turn perpetrators in. And they used the control of the organization as more or less an undisclosed way to prevent that from happening."

Bowen resigned as a church elder in 2000 in protest, and has formed a support group for alleged abuse victims. He said he has heard from thousands of alleged victims in the past year. The allegations involve both rank-and-file members of the church and, like the scandal engulfing the Roman Catholic Church, leaders of the faith.

"I don't think we're trying to hurt the Jehovah's Witness organization," he said. "They claim they have higher moral standards than other religions and other groups. Well, this works to their advantage in every way to elevate their standards."

Bowen warned that the denomination could face a flurry of lawsuits unless it changes its ways. Two lawsuits already filed against the denomination in the past year in New Hampshire and Washington state accuse church elders of failing to follow state laws on reporting suspected abuse to police.
Steve Lyons, an elder at Bowen's Draffenville church of about 60 members, said Jehovah's Witnesses are responsive to allegations of child abuse.

"I think we do as well as we can do," he said. "We comply with all local laws when it comes to reporting. We do our best to protect children in cases where even there's just been an alleged abuse."

The Pandelos' dispute with the denomination dates to 1988, when their 12-year-old daughter said she was molested by her paternal grandfather, also a member of the faith. Carl Pandelo's father has returned to the denomination, while the Pandelos face possible excommunication.

"It's almost like a public stoning," Barbara Pandelo said.

For example, Jehovah's Witnesses caught having contact with the excommunicated can themselves be expelled, she said.

"Nobody talks to a disfellowshipped person," she said. "They'll look right through you as if you're invisible."

Similarly, Bowen said he has been shunned by family members and has seen his candle-selling business hurt.

"While I may have certain personal regrets, if I had it to do over again, I'd do it a thousand times," Bowen said.
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CNN News Website - May 11th 2002:

Jehovah's Witnesses expel parents of alleged abuse victim

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- A woman said she and her husband have been excommunicated from the Jehovah's Witnesses after speaking out against the church's handling of their daughter's allegations of sex abuse by another member.

Barbara and Carl Pandelo of Belmar, New Jersey, had been awaiting a decision since Monday, when a judicial committee of the church met in New Jersey to consider ousting them, a practice which the denomination terms disfellowshipping.

"They've just made it official now," she said Friday night in a telephone interview.

They are among four Jehovah's Witnesses who were threatened with disfellowship for sowing discord in the faith by speaking out against the church.

One of them, William Bowen, a 44-year-old former church elder from Draffenville, Kentucky , has complained that child-sex allegations are generally not reported to secular authorities by the Jehovah's Witnesses because of the church's closed nature and insistence on handling problems internally.

Anthony Valenti, an elder in the Pandelos' church, did not immediately return phone calls Friday night.

But J.R. Brown, a spokesman for the denomination, said earlier this week that parents are not punished by the church for going to the police first in cases of child molestation. He said anyone found guilty of molestation by a church judicial committee is removed from all positions of responsibility.

The Pandelos' dispute with the denomination dates to 1988, when their 12-year-old daughter said she was molested by her paternal grandfather, also a member of the faith. The grandfather has returned to the denomination.

Carl and Barbara Pandelo have not been active in the church for some time, she said, but she regrets losing the friends they made.

"To take someone and shun and abandon them is the most psychologically damaging thing you can do," Pandelo said.

Barbara Anderson of Normandy, Tennessee, has also been summoned to appear before a committee. Anderson has said she learned about the church's handling of abuse cases while working at its headquarters in New York City.
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The Tullahoma News - May 11th 2002:

Whistleblower could lose her church, family

MARY REEVES, Special to The News May 11, 2002

When Barbara Anderson of Normandy walked into the Kingdom Hall of the Manchester Jehovah's Witnesses Friday afternoon, there was more than a religious affiliation at stake.
Her family, the children of the congregation, the children of Coffee County, and common sense and decency were her main concerns.

She has been a member of the religious group for decades, even working for The Watchtower at the Brooklyn homebase for more than 11 years.

But because of the denomination's policies toward pedophiles, she has not attended since 1997. Because of the church's attitude toward whistleblowers, she is afraid she will never be able to attend again.

"They've ordered me to a judicial (within the church) hearing," said Mrs. Anderson. "They say I'm being divisive in the congregation."

Jehovah's Witnesses, more than 100 years old and tallying more than 1 million members in the United States alone, has several sanctions to apply to members who act outside of the bounds of established church policy. The most drastic is "disfellowship", or excommunication. Members are disfellowshipped, or DF'd in their own terminology, are shunned by other members of the congregation. Even those who live with the DF'd member are forbidden to speak with her on spiritual matters.

Prior to the meeting with the church elders. Barbara was uncertain of the specific charges brought before her on which the proposed disfellowship would be based, but she feels she knows the true reason. It all deals with pedophiles, JW policy, NBC's Dateline television news magazine, and the actions she and others have taken against both.

While charges of child molestation rock the Catholic foundations, priests around the world are condemning the acts and condemning the church for protecting the perpetrators. According to Barbara, and Jehovah's Witness Bill Bowen of Kentucky, the Jehovah's Witnesses are doing something much worse.

According to Bowen, Barbara, and the Silent Lambs organization that Bowen established for abused Jehovah's Witness children, the denomination has protected confessed child abusers, even sending them back out into the field, going door-to-door to profess their faith.

And the victims?

At least two cases have been reported in which it was the victims who were disfellowshipped.

In one case, Erica Rodriguez approached the elders to tell them of another elder (the governing members of the church, always male) had been molesting her. She was told that if she notified the police, she would be the one disfellowshipped. She was shunned. Her abuser was convicted, disfellowshipped by the congregation, and was eventually reinstated.

In another case, the Pandelo family faces being excommunicated and has already been shunned for reporting their daughters' abuser - her own grandfather.

The Jehovah's Witness policy is such that members are encouraged to solve their problems within the church, according to Barbara.

"They say going to the police is a personal decision of the elders, if they know of a pedophile. Not everywhere. In some states, in Tennessee, they are required to report the abuse," she said.

JW policy also states that two witnesses or a confession are needed to prove the abuse occurred, but Anderson siad that even confession didn't protect the victims and futere victims of abuse.

"I know of two in this area - confessed molesters," she said.

Although the policy does indicate that those known molesters should only go door-to-door in the company of another Witness, Barbara stated that this was not always the case.

"The worst part is, I can't tell anyone. I can be disfelloshipped for slander, when he has confessed to being a molester and is not disfellowhipped," she said.

Barbara was not the only one to see the problem. Bowen, who also faces disfellowshipping this week, was outraged and established Silent Lambs. The organization not only serves as a support group for victims and their families, but as an advocate for change within the church.

It is that advocacy that now threatens Barbara's standing in the church. She, Bowen and the Pandelos were all interviewed for a Dateline segment about the issue, tentatively scheduled to air later this month. She, Bowen and the Pandelos all faced charges of "divisiveness" and other spiritual crimes in the same week.

In an interview with the New York Post, JW spokesperson J.R. Brown stated that the threatened exco0mmunications had nothing to do with the Dateline interview and that "church headquarters had no idea that these people would be on the show."

Yet research displayed more than six internet announcements on the program, updates and names, all linked to the Silent Lambs and the Watchtower sites.

Brown also said that local congregation decided to charge the members with various spiritual violations.

"That is not true," said Barbara, who considers the elders of the Manchester Kingdom Hall to be good friends. "That is a lie. They didn't know what it was about. Those orders came down from Brooklyn."

After the meeting , Barbara stated that the specific charges against her dealt with an article she had supposedly written for an apostate publication - apostate meaning one whose teachings were against the faith. Members can be disfelloshipped for visiting an apostate website, much less for writing for one. The article had been cobbled together from private emails she had sent to a friend, one who has since had a nervous breakdown. As for the charges of her being divisive within the Congregation, Barbara shook her head.

"They (the local elders) didn't even know about the pedophile cover-up," she said. "How can I be divisive if they didn't even know the work was doing on that?'

Apparently her leaders agreed, and told her they were sending a letter to the headquarters saying there was no proof of the charges levied against her. In bizarre Catch-22, she was asked if she could write to the apostate publication and request they explain the source of the article and remove it - and act that could get her disfellowshipped.

The real reason behind the charges she believes, is the Dateline program. If all the members scheduled to appear on the show are excommunicated before it airs, no practicing Jehovah's Witness will watch the program, shunning it - and the information it might supply.

Her status within the church is still in question. According to Barbara, she still faces the threat of excommunication, a result that would be devastating.

"This is my life," she said. Her husband of almost 45 years, Joe, is an elder, and her son, daughter-in-law and grandson are all members. If she is DF'd, her husband faces his own sanctions, and her son and his family would have to shun her. It is not a future Barbara wants at all, but it is a result she can live with if she must. The final result she said, must be a change in the church policy that protects pedophiles, so that it protects the victims instead.

"I'll lose my son to help Jehovah's Witness children," she said. "I'll lose my own grandson to help Jehovah's Witness children."
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The Tennessean Newspaper - May 16th 2002:

Jehovah's Witnesses downplay sex abuse, women say

By LEON ALLIGOOD, Staff Writer

Melissa Trice, 30, of Spring Hill says she was molested by a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization.

Two Middle Tennessee women said they have a full understanding of a Tullahoma woman's claim that the Jehovah's Witnesses organization has downplayed or ignored child sexual abuse for years.

''In fact, nothing happened to the man who molested me,'' said Melissa Trice, 30, of Spring Hill, about an incident she says occurred in Shelbyville 22 years ago.

''One of the elders asked me, 'What were you wearing?' like I had provoked it. I will never forget that. I was 8 years old, for God's sake.''

The other woman, who asked that her name not be used, alleged that a teen-ager in her Middle Tennessee congregation molested her repeatedly between the ages of 6 and 8.

''They prayed with him, but he didn't go away,'' said the 25-year-old woman who lives in the Nashville area.

The women were prompted to disclose their experiences after reading a story in Saturday's Tennessean about a Tullahoma woman who faced disfellowshipping, the equivalent of excommunication in the Jehovah's Witnesses faith. That woman, Barbara Anderson, risked shunning because she believed the organization repeatedly had ignored child sexual abuse by congregants.

Anderson was one of four Jehovah's Witnesses who told their stories to the NBC news show Dateline, which has been investigating the denomination for more than a year. A spokesman for the show said the segment is tentatively scheduled to be televised May 28. Two of the four were disfellowshipped last week, while Anderson awaits a decision. The fourth individual, a Kentucky man, is scheduled to have a meeting with local elders in a few weeks.

The Midstate women who said they had been abused were relieved to know someone was talking about the issue.

''Finally, I thought, 'Somebody is trying to do something about this,' '' said Trice, who identified the person she said abused her, now deceased, as a member of the congregation her family attended.

The man was at her home to do odd jobs for her father on the day of the molestation.

''He sent my sister into the front room and called me to him. The elders tried to pass him off as old and senile, but he called me by my name. I don't think he was senile,'' she said.

Henry Carr of Shelbyville, who was identified by Trice as an elder in the church at the time of her abuse, would not comment on the woman's allegations.

''I'm not free to say anything on it, I guess. I don't want to get into all that stuff,'' Carr said in a telephone interview.

After the molestation, Trice said, she ran to her room and waited for her parents.

''I told them he touched me,'' Trice remembered. ''They took the matter to the elders because that's what you do in Jehovah's Witnesses.''

''You don't have associations outside church,'' said the other woman, who said her abuser also went unpunished by law because the now 18-year-old case never was turned over for prosecution.

According to state law, the women's cases should have been reported to authorities.

Since 1972, Tennessee has required that child abuse be reported even if someone only suspects abuse and has no direct knowledge of the abuse, said Carla Aaron, spokeswoman for the Department of Children's Services. Under the law, people who suspect abuse but do not alert authorities can be charged with a misdemeanor.

Trice said church elders advised her parents to keep peace in the congregation by inviting the abuser to dinner.

''Can you imagine how I felt, sitting across the table from him in my own house?'' Trice said.

The allegations of abuses in the Jehovah's Witnesses organization, which has 1 million members in the United States, follows numerous press accounts of allegations of cover-up of pedophilia by Catholic priests nationwide.

Officials at the New York office of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the incorporated name of the Jehovah's Witnesses, deny that there is an organization-wide attempt to avoid prosecution of child molesters so the organization will not be held up to public inspection.

Elders, parents and victims are encouraged to report suspected abuse to authorities, according to church officials and literature.

On one section of the Watchtower's Web site, officials deal with the subject of child abuse through statements from church officials.

Trice and the unnamed woman said the sexual abuse they suffered still affects them.

''I'm in my 20s, and I'm still not over what happened. I suffer with security issues and self-confidence issues. There's a lot that can affect a child for years and years,'' said the woman who asked to remain nameless.

She hasn't been to a meeting at her local Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall since 1997, which she said has caused a rift between her and her parents, who are still active in the organization.

''My parents and I are not on speaking terms. They don't understand.''

Trice said she was left ''thoroughly confused'' by her abuse.

''Nobody explained to me that what happened wasn't my fault, and I thought that I was supposed to respond in a sexual way when a man took an interest in me,'' she said, saying her promiscuity led to disfellowship as a teen.

''It took me a long time to understand that I didn't do anything, but I'm still working through it all, but it's hard.''

Both of the women are mothers and said they have taken extra precautions to make sure their children are not sexually abused.

''This is not going to happen to my child. I don't want it to happen to anybody's child,'' Trice said.

Check out these Links for MORE SILENTLAMBS NEWS ARTICLES:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=27235&site=3&page=4

http://www.watchtowernews.org/pedophilenews.htm

Edited by - UnDisfellowshipped on 4 September 2002 6:9:27

11

Press Release-YOU CAN HELP!

by silentlambs in

jw
friends

the press conference will be on tuesday morning at 10:30 am with a group of about 6-10 persons from the new york area attending at the front door of 25 building.

we ask you deliver an adapted version of the press release below as a representative of silentlambs to your local media and i will provide you with a prepared text to read at the press conference.

at the end you deliver a stuffed lamb/lambs to the local kingdom hall.

UnDisfellowshipped

Here are some Local NEWS TV Stations you can E-Mail about the Press Conferences:

Kansas City, MO Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

St. Louis, MO Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

Dallas, TX Local NBC News Affiliate (English): [email protected]

Dallas, TX Local NBC News Affiliate (Spanish): [email protected]

Los Angeles, CA Local NBC News Affiliate (English): [email protected]

Los Angeles, CA Local NBC News Affiliate (Spanish): [email protected]

Sacramento, CA Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

Seattle, WA Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

Portland, OR Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

Tuscon, AZ Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

Atlanta, GA Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

Orlando, FL Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

Panama City, FL Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

Dayton, OH Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

Louisville, KY Local NBC News Affiliate: [email protected]

Here is the Website Address where you can see a List of all of the Local NBC News TV Stations and Affiliates: http://www.msnbc.com/news/affiliates_front.asp

Here is the Website Address where you can see a List of Local CBS News TV Stations and Affiliates: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/31/utility/main517034.shtml

Here is the Website Address where you can see a List of some Local Newspapers: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/resources/us_newspapers.asp

Here is the Website Address where you can see a List of some Major News Wires: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/resources/major_news_wires.asp

Here is the Website Address where you can see a List of different News Websites: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/resources/other_news_services.asp

Also, I think http://www.worldnetdaily.com would be interested in the silentlambs, you can E-Mail WorldNetDaily at [email protected]

Here are some more News/Media Websites and E-Mail Addresses:

GOOGLE LIST OF TONS OF NEWS WEBSITES -- http://www.google.com/news/

CNN -- http://www.cnn.com/feedback/

ABC News -- http://www.abcnews.com

CBS News -- http://www.cbsnews.com

NBC News -- http://www.msnbc.com

C-SPAN -- http://www.c-span.org/about/contact.asp

FOXNEWS (A List of ALL of FoxNews' Reporters' E-Mail Addresses) -- http://www.foxnews.com/foxfan/contact.html

NEWSMAX.com -- http://www.newsmax.com/contact.shtml

NEW YORK POST -- http://www.nypost.com/contact/contactus.htm

NEW YORK TIMES -- http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html

WASHINGTON POST -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/interact/longterm/stfbio/wpemail.htm

USA TODAY -- http://www.usatoday.com/marketing/feedback.htm

CUTTING EDGE CHRISTIAN NEWS -- [email protected]

News.com -- http://news.com.com/

U.S. News Wire -- http://www.usnewswire.com/

Canada News Wire -- http://www.newswire.ca/

Internet News Wire -- http://www1.internetwire.com/iwire/home

Prime Zone Media Network News Wire -- http://www.primezone.com/

PR News Wire -- http://www.prnewswire.com/news/index.shtml

AP (Associated Press) News Wire -- http://wire.ap.org/

Christian Science Monitor -- http://www.csmonitor.com/

WILLIAM COOPER -- http://www.williamcooper.com

IDG News -- http://www.idg.net/

Internet News -- http://www.internetnews.com/

NPR News -- http://www.npr.org/

The Nation News -- http://www.thenation.com/

WOW! Bill Bowen, Barbara Anderson, silentlambs, and all of you other helpers and supporters are doing an unbelievable HISTORY-MAKING job to protect the children! THANKS TO EVERYONE!

17

THE SILENTLAMBS - QUEST TO PROTECT CHILDREN

by UnDisfellowshipped in

jw
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.

UnDisfellowshipped

WOW! That is an UNBELIEVABLE ARTICLE!

Probably THE BEST silentlambs Article yet!

MEGA-THANKS to mikepence and Barbara Anderson!

3

Justified Lying

by StinkyPantz in

.

i need a quote from a watchtower/awake or watchtower book that says that lying is okay.

they say that some lies are justified, but i'd like a bonafide quote.. thank you.

UnDisfellowshipped

Check out this Link for a HUGE LIST of QUOTES about the Watchtower Society saying that it is a GOOD THING TO LIE to NON-Witnesses: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=35689&site=3

30

"Theocratic Warfare" LYING IS GOOD!

by UnDisfellowshipped in

jw
friends

use theocratic war strategy.

webster's dictionary definition of "big lie":.

webster's dictionary definition of "slander":.

UnDisfellowshipped

Now, below are Quotes showing that what the Society says about HONESTY -- Compare these Quotes to the ones above about "Theocratic Warfare"!

*** Qualified to be Ministers Book (1955), Page 191 ***

"On all occasions we should tell the truth. This does not mean that we should be blunt or try to tell people everything we know at one time. But it means we should be frank, honest and very clear in our remarks and that we should attempt to make these remarks helpful. Often a statement of truth needs to be accompanied by an explanation that will avoid the wrong conclusions the hearer might otherwise reach."

Page 199:

"Be very careful to be accurate in all statements you make. Use evidence honestly. In quotations, do not twist the meaning of a writer or speaker or use only partial quotations to give a different thought than the person intended. Also if you use statistics, use them properly. Statistics can often be used to give a distorted picture."

*** The Watchtower February 1st 1956 Issue, Pages 88-89 Cautious as Serpents Among Wolves ***

45. We dare not lie against God's Word, adding to it or taking away from it, reading into it what it does not say and denying, passing over or explaining away what it does truthfully say. "Every word of God is tried: . . . Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." (Prov. 30:5, 6, AS) We may not tell untruths in his name, for that puts God in the light of a liar. "Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar." (Rom. 3:4, NW) In Jeremiah's day the false prophets prophesied lies in Jehovah's name and lied against his purpose, foretelling in his name what he had not foretold. Therefore Jehovah was against them. He executed judgment against them at Jerusalem's destruction in 607 B.C. (Jer. 23:25; 27:15) Religious liars like them today cannot escape a like judgment but will meet a like end at Armageddon.

46. Never swear falsely in Jehovah's name. Jehovah declares that at his temple he will be a "swift witness against . . . the false swearers." (Mal. 3:5, AS) Never take an oath in his name and then tell lies as a sworn witness. Rahab of Jericho was under no oath in Jehovah's name to tell the facts to the king's officers and hence was not a false swearer or a false witness. "A faithful witness will not lie; but a false witness uttereth lies." (Prov. 14:5, AS) A faithful witness does not love a false oath. So he tells the truth as he swore to do. What he does speak will be the truth. If he speaks at all he will tell the truth. To the extent that he chooses to talk he will state the truth. If for conscientious reasons he refuses to tell everything he will be willing to suffer the consequences if he be judged deserving of a penalty. He refuses to tell everything, not to escape punishment, but facing punishment for conscientious reasons. Even Jesus kept silent before Pilate, refusing to answer though knowing Pilate's power.-John 19:8-11.

*** The Watchtower September 1st 1968 Issue, Page 538 ***

"To be honest means, among other things, to be truthful in one's speech. In the strongest of terms the Bible condemns the practice of lying. Thus Satan the Devil is shown to be the original liar. (John 8:44) How seriously God views lying can be seen from what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. They were immediately stricken dead by God's power because they lied to the apostle Peter, a member of the Christian congregation's governing body. Their punishment would seem to indicate that Jehovah views especially seriously any lying or misrepresentation practiced toward those having the right to know the facts because of having positions of oversight in the Christian congregation, such as the traveling representatives of the governing body today. -- Acts 5:1-11.

"One may think that what Ananias and Sapphira did was not such a bad thing. They did not cause any loss to come to others by reason of their lying; it was not as if they had covered up a theft with lies. Neither had they deprived others of what was due them. What was their sin, their fault? Dishonesty! Hypocrisy!"

Page 540:

"Christians have the obligation also to be honest in all of their dealings with outsiders, those outside the Christian congregation and the family circle."

*** Theocratic Ministry School Guidebook (1971), Page 110 ***

"Jehovah's witnesses are an organization of truth. We should want to speak the truth and be absolutely accurate in every detail at all times. This should be so not only as regards doctrine but also in our quotations, what we say about others or how we represent them, also in matters involving scientific data or news events.

"Wrong statements delivered to an audience may be repeated and the error magnified. Inaccuracies that are recognized by an audience raise questions as to the authority of the speaker on other points, perhaps even calling into question the truth of the message itself."

*** The Watchtower January 15th 1974 Issue, Page 35 ***

Can You Be True to God, Yet Hide the Facts?

WHAT results when a lie is let go unchallenged? Does not silence help the lie to pass as truth, to have freer sway to influence many, perhaps to their serious harm?

What happens when misconduct and immorality are allowed to go unexposed and uncondemned? Is this not like covering over an infection without any effort to cure it and keep it from spreading?

When persons are in great danger from a source that they do not suspect or are being misled by those they consider their friends, is it an unkindness to warn them? They may prefer not to believe the warning. They may even resent it. But does that free one from the moral responsibility to give that warning?

*** The Watchtower June 1st 1997 Issue ***

The Dangers of Religious Secrecy

Certainly no one would want to support a secret organization religious or nonreligious that misuses his trust and causes him to pursue goals with which he does not agree. What can people do, though, to avoid falling into the trap of involvement with secret societies of a questionable nature?

Obviously, anyone considering membership in a secret society would be wise to ascertain its real objectives. Pressure from friends or acquaintances should be guarded against, and decisions ought to be based not on emotion but on facts. Remember, it is likely the individual himselfnot otherswho will be called upon to suffer any possible consequences.

Jehovah's Witnesses are happy to reveal who they are and what they are doing. Following Bible principles is the surest method of steering clear of dangerous groups whose motives are less than honorable. (Isaiah 30:21) This involves maintaining political neutrality, showing love to others, even to enemies, avoiding "the works of the flesh," and cultivating the fruitage of God's spirit. Above all, true Christians must be no part of the world, even as Jesus was no part, and this course precludes participating in worldly secret societies.Galatians 5:19-23; John 17:14, 16; 18:36; Romans 12:17-21; James 4:4.

Jehovah's Witnesses are earnest students of the Bible who take their faith seriously and try openly to live accordingly. Worldwide, they are well-known as a religious group that 'seeks peace and pursues it.' (1 Peter 3:11) Their book Jehovah's WitnessesProclaimers of God's Kingdom correctly notes: "Jehovah's Witnesses are in no sense a secret society. Their Bible-based beliefs are fully explained in publications that are available to anyone. Additionally, they put forth special effort to invite the public to attend meetings to see and hear for themselves what takes place."

True religion in no way practices secretiveness. Worshipers of the true God have been instructed not to hide their identity or to obscure their purpose as Jehovah's Witnesses. The early disciples of Jesus filled Jerusalem with their teaching. They were out in the open as to their beliefs and activity. The same is true of Jehovah's Witnesses today. Understandably, when dictatorial regimes wrongfully restrict freedom of worship, Christians must cautiously and courageously carry on their activity, obeying "God as ruler rather than men," a situation that is forced upon them because of their courageous public witness.Acts 5:27-29; 8:1; 12:1-14; Matthew 10:16, 26, 27.

If it ever crossed your mind that Jehovah's Witnesses might be a secret cult or sect, that was likely because you knew too little about them. That must have been the situation with many in the first century.

Acts chapter 28 tells us of a meeting that the apostle Paul had in Rome with "the principal men of the Jews." They said to him: "We think it proper to hear from you what your thoughts are, for truly as regards this sect it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against." (Acts 28:16-22) In response, Paul "explained the matter to them by bearing thorough witness concerning the kingdom of God," and "some began to believe." (Acts 28:23, 24) It certainly was to their lasting benefit to get the actual facts concerning true Christianity.

Dedicated as they are to the open and public service of God, Jehovah's Witnesses will be happy to reveal the plain facts of their activity and beliefs to ANYONE who cares to know the facts. Why not investigate for yourself, thus being in position to be properly informed as to their faith?

Edited by - UnDisfellowshipped on 4 September 2002 22:39:53

11

Can You Support Press Conferences In Your Area?

by silentlambs in

jw
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.

UnDisfellowshipped

Trauma-Hound, Thanks for the correction. I'm sorry about that error. I have just corrected the E-Mail List above.

17

THE SILENTLAMBS - QUEST TO PROTECT CHILDREN

by UnDisfellowshipped in

jw
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.

UnDisfellowshipped

Thanks GRITS for Posting that Link!

Thanks also for your suggestion Nancee Park, I probably should get a Free Website and post all the News Articles there, however, it might be better to get one of the already-popular JW Websites to Post the Info, since they get a lot of visitors.

Here is the full text of the New Evangelicals Now News Article (September 2nd 2002):

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