Newspaper Articles and Website News Articles:
Pioneer Press News - July 2nd 2002:
Two file sex abuse suit against Jehovah's Witnesses congregation
BY STEPHEN SCOTT, Religion Editor
Two women filed a civil suit Tuesday alleging they were sexually abused as young girls by a fellow member of a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in Annandale, Minn.
The women, both now 22 and living in the Twin Cities, say the religion's very tenets make it virtually impossible for victims to come forward, because at least two witnesses are required to corroborate any act of wrongdoing.
After these incidents, said the plaintiffs attorney, Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, these women went to the elders, and they were told, 'We dont really believe you, because we require two witnesses to this for it to have happened, and if there aren't two, you are giving false testimony.'
At issue is Jehovah's Witnesses understanding of the Bible, specifically Deuteronomy 19:15, which says a single witness shall not suffice in convicting a person of a crime or wrongdoing.
Although Jehovahs Witnesses do not interpret every passage of the Bible literally, they base their beliefs solely on principles found in the Bible.
If the accused denies the charges and there are no others who can substantiate them, the elders cannot take action within the congregation at that time, says the groups official statement called Jehovahs Witnesses and Child Protection.
Both plaintiffs allege that while they were between 10 and 12 years old, they were fondled by a male member of the congregation who was eight years older.
Named as defendants are Derek Lindala, 30, of South Haven, Minn., who is alleged to have fondled the girls on separate occasions either in his family home or while on church-related activities; the Annandale congregation; and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, which is the Jehovah's Witnesses incorporated headquarters.
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Christianity Today - July 8th 2002:
http://christianitytoday.aol.com/ct/2002/008/14.15.html
Watchtower Ousts Victims, Whistle-Blowers
Jehovah's Witness members allege sect policy protected child molesters.
By Stan Guthrie
A former Jehovah's Witness elder, who campaigns against what he says is a sect policy that protects sexual abusers of children, says sect leaders have disfellowshiped nearly 50 members or abuse victims who have gone public with their criticism.
Local leaders of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, which oversees Jehovah's Witness congregations, are considering whether to disfellowship former elder Bill Bowen, 44, of Draffenville, Kentucky, for "causing divisions." Bowen, 44, has enlisted 30 supporters to speak on his behalf and has been a leading public critic of the Watchtower's handling of molestation cases.
"I think there will be an uprising," Bowen told Christianity Today. "We don't challenge Jehovah's Witness doctrine and belief. But what they have got to stop is breaking the law."
Bowen says Watchtower leadership is aggressively severing ties with those who publicly criticize the movement. Leaders recently booted out three members after they appeared with Bowen in a May 28 expos broadcast on Dateline NBC.
Watchtower spokesman J. R. Brown disputes Bowen's figures. Brown says offenders are excommunicated only for biblical reasons. "No one has to be disfellowshiped," Brown told CT. "Only unrepentant offenders are disfellowshiped."
Bowen founded silentlambs inc., which monitors allegations of sexual abuse by Jehovah's Witnesses (Christianity Today, March 5th, 2001, Page 23). He says 1,000 people have contacted his organization with credible reports of sexual abuse.
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BBC Panorama News Story on their Website - Friday, July 12th 2002:
Secret database protects paedophiles
The Jehovah's Witnesses organisation keeps a sex offenders register that nobody outside the church is allowed to see, a former "elder" tells Panorama.
Bill Bowen, who has spent his lifetime as a Jehovah's Witness and nearly twenty years as an elder, says the organisation covers up abuse by keeping this database secret.
His sources indicate there are 23,720 abusers on the list - who are protected by the system.
"They [the Jehovah's Witnesses] do not want people to know that they have this problem", he tells Panorama.
"And by covering it up they just hurt one person. By letting it out, then they hurt the image of the church."
Bible-based policy
Victims of abuse feel they cannot speak out
According to the Jehovah's Witnesses' interpretation of the Bible, allegations of child abuse must first be reported to the organisation's legal desk. The police are sometimes never told.
Action can only be taken within the congregation if there are two witnesses to a crime or a confession from the accused.
And if a member of the congregation is suspected or even convicted of child abuse, this fact is kept secret.
Bill Bowen, from Kentucky in the United States, resigned as an elder in 2000 in protest at this child protection policy. He told Panorama:
"These men remain anonymous to anyone outside the organisation and anyone really inside the organisation unless you are personally reporting the matter."
Danger ignored
The story of one young Jehovah's Witness from Scotland whom Panorama spoke to illustrates the danger of such a policy.
Alison Cousins was let down by the Jehovah's Witnesses' policy on child protection
When Alison Cousins was abused by her father she followed the procedure she had been taught - she turned to one of the elders.
Unknown to her at the time, her sister had also reported her own abuse by their father in the same way.
Despite having known for three years that Alison's father was a paedophile, the same elders sent Alison back home, where she continued to be abused.
In the end Alison went to the police and her father was sentenced to five years in prison.
We have a duty to protect and if we're not told, we're unable to protect
But the police had been the last to know.
Detective Sergeant Wallace Burgess of Strathclyde police said: "They had told several people before coming to the police and these people had not reported it either to the police or the social services.
"We have a duty to protect and if we're not told, we're unable to protect."
Legal advice: "walk away"
"With regard to any allegation concerning child molestation, the first edict elders are given is to call the legal department", says Bowen.
Little over a year ago, Bowen, as a concerned elder, rang the legal desk and asked for advice on how he should handle a suspected case of abuse in his congregation.
The advice was:
"You just ask him again: 'Now is there anything to this?' If he says 'no', then I would walk away from it...
"Leave it for Jehovah. He'll bring it out."
Despite this, the Head of Public Relations, J R Brown, maintains: "We have a very aggressive policy to handle child molestation in the congregations and it is primarily designed to protect our children."
When asked by Panorama about the number of suspected paedophiles on the database, Paul Gillies from the Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information in the UK said: "It is not meaningful to focus on the number of names we have in our records".
With regard to their policy on reporting abuse to the authorities, he referred us to the 8 October 1993 issue of Awake!, page 9, which states:
"Some legal experts advise reporting the abuse to the authorities as soon as possible. In some lands the legal system may require this. But in other places the legal system may offer little hope of successful prosecution."
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BBC Panorama News Story on their Website - Friday, July 12th 2002:
Alison Cousins: taking a brother to court
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that they should not take another member of their church to court.
1 Corinthians 6:1, 5
"Does anyone of You that has a case against the other dare to go to court before unrighteous men, and not before the holy ones?"
"I am speaking to move You to shame. Is it true that there is not one wise man among You that will be able to judge between his brothers, but brother goes to court with brother, and that before unbelievers?"
Alison's story
Alison Cousins is grew up in the small Ayrshire town of Stevenson, just outside Glasgow, where her parents were active members of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
When she told the elders of her local congregation that her father was abusing her they told her they would deal with it.
They did nothing however, and eventually she went to the police.
Her father was imprisoned for five years.
Alison told Panorama:
"They told me that one of the scriptures in the Bible was that you should never take your brother to court.
"And I said to them: 'well what are you meant to do then if he's doing something wrong?'
"And they said: 'Come to us and we'll deal with it'.
"I said to them: 'Well I've already spoken to you and you've told me I'm a liar'.
"I ended up having to go to the police because they were the only people that I thought would believe me."
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BBC Panorama News Story on their Website - Friday, July 12th 2002:
Simon Brady: two witnesses
The Jehovah's Witnesses' policy means they do not act upon allegations of child abuse unless there are two witnesses to the event.
Deuteronomy 19:15
"No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin, in the case of any sin that he may commit.
"At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good ."
1 Timothy 5:19
"Do not admit an accusation against an older man, except only on the evidence of two or three witnesses."
Simon's story
When Simon Brady was growing up in Birmingham he was sexually abused by a man in his congregation.
He informed the elders, who wanted to know if there had been any other witnesses. Otherwise, this was just one person's word against another's.
Even after the man had been found guilty and sent to prison, the elders still have not taken any action because they lack their required second witness.
Simon told Panorama:
"They believe there has to be two witnesses to prove anything.
"It scared me, that scared me at nine years of age.
"There are going to be other kids out there now who are involved in this organisation and basically the guideline says they need two people to be believed or even to be taken seriously.
"Basically the chances are you're not going to have two witnesses."
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BBC Panorama News Story on their Website - Friday, July 12th 2002:
Sara Poisson: obedience
The "elders" within the Jehovah's Witnesses church are regarded as God's representatives on earth. Other members are expected to act upon what the elders say.
Hebrews 13:17
"Be obedient to those who are taking the lead among you and be submissive for they are keeping watch over your souls."
Sara's story
Sara Poisson was a member of a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in New Hampshire in the USA.
She went to the elders because her husband was violent.
She also suspected - rightly, it transpired - that he was sexually abusing her daughter.
The elders told her she needed to pray more and be a better wife.
She believed them and the abuse continued.
Sara explained to Panorama why she did not simply leave with her children:
"The elders are in place to govern on earth as a substitute I guess - I can't think of a better word - they're God's representatives on earth.
"God's representatives on earth have told me repeatedly this is my fault.
"I haven't figured it out yet... 'keep working at it and it will end'...
"OK, so I did, and I kept trying to do that.
"It would never have occurred to me to take this outside of the congregation."
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BBC Panorama News Story on their Website - Friday, July 12th 2002:
Child abuse policy
Panorama investigates the Jehovah's Witnesses policy on child abuse
The Jehovah's Witnesses deal with child abuse according to principles they interpret from the Bible.
They stress the need to "abhor what is wicked", but after applying two very specific verses of scripture.
First, if any allegation is made against someone, that person must confess or there must be two witnesses to the act for it to be proven:
"No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin... At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good." (Deuteronomy 19:15)
Secondly, there is an admonishment against taking legal action against a fellow Jehovah's Witness.
Members are encouraged to keep matters resolved within the congregation and not go outside to worldly courts for assistance:
"Does anyone of YOU that has a case against the other dare to go to court before unrighteous men, and not before the holy ones?" (1 Corinthians 6:1-11)
Internalised
The Jehovah's Witnesses do not, in any of their policy letters sent from the headquarters to the elders of each congregation in the world, tell the elders to report immediately any allegation of child abuse to the police or other authorities who are trained to investigate such claims, unless they are required to do so by law.
They are however required to report the matter to the "Bethel" legal department of the Jehovah's Witnesses headquarters in that country.
The local elders themselves must carry out an investigation, interviewing the victims and the alleged abuser.
They are not provided with any training in how to deal with child abuse.
Official procedure
Two elders meet separately with the accused and the accuser to see what each says on the matter.
If the accused denies the charge, the two elders may arrange for him and the victim to restate their position in each other's presence, with elders also there.
If, during that meeting, the accused still denies the charges and there are no others who can substantiate them, the elders cannot take action within the congregation at that time.
This is because of their adherence to the Bible passage in Deuteronomy: "No single witness should rise up...".
However, even if the elders cannot take congregational action, they are expected to report the allegation to the branch office of Jehovah's Witnesses in their country, if local privacy laws permit.
As well as making a report to the branch office, the elders may be required by law to report even uncorroborated or unsubstantiated allegations to the authorities. In this case, they are expected to comply.
Additionally, the Jehovah's Witnesses publicity information states that the victim may wish to report the matter to the authorities, and it is his or her absolute right to do so.
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www.SundayHerald.com News - July 14th 2002:
Jehovah's Witnesses accused of building 'paedophile paradise'
Scottish branch of world church alleged to have sheltered abusers and kept information from police
By Torcuil Crichton
The Jehovah's Witnesses Church in Scotland stands accused of sheltering child abusers and keeping secret files of known paedophiles within the organisation which it refuses to share with police.
After a successful prosecution over child abuse within a Jehovah's Witnesses family in Ayrshire, Scottish police are understood to be preparing to bring a further case to court in the northeast.
The Jehovah's Witnesses church, which has six million members around the world, has been convulsed by revelations that its elders have protected sex offenders, failed to report accusations to the police and even punished children and families making accusations.
The Watch Tower, the church's worldwide head quarters in Brooklyn, is struggling to regain its battered authority after a string of child abuse cases stretching from the US to Scotland. An investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme has discovered that the Watch Tower Society keeps a worldwide database of members accused of child abuse. The list, which is claimed to contain more than 20,000 names, is based on details held by each Jehovah's Witnesses congregation and many of the names on that list have never been reported to the police.
Allegations of child abuse within the church first emerged in Scotland in the quiet seaside town of Stevenson in Ayrshire when 19-year-old Alison Cousins went to the police after being branded a liar by church elders to whom she had turned for help.
Cousins, who was brought up in the Jehovah's Witnesses, went to her church elders three years ago with the shocking allegation that her father, a respected member of the congregation, had been sexually abusing her.
Cousins, who followed the strict church rules that any allegations of wrongdoing must be dealt with within the congregation, broke down as she told her story to the men who dispensed moral guidance to the flock. In return she was told that she should do nothing.
'They told me that one of the scriptures in the Bible was that you should never take your brother to court,' Cousins told Panorama. 'And I said to them, 'Well what are you meant to do then if he's doing something wrong?' And they said, 'Come to us and we'll deal with it.''
The church law which dictates that members must turn to elders rather than the police also demands that there must be two witnesses to a crime before taking any action. The biblical citation for this is found in Deuteronomy 19:15: 'No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good.'
In instances of child abuse, where there are no witnesses other than the child involved, critics of the church say the guide lines amount to a 'paedophile paradise'.
Eventually, because she didn't have corroborating witness state ments for the elders, Cousins went to the police last year and as their investigation began, she made a shocking discovery. Church elders had known for three years that her father had been abusing her older sister, that he had confessed to the church but that no action had been taken.
Her father, Ian Cousins, who has since been prosecuted and sentenced to five years in jail, had merely been reprimanded by the elders and sent home where his abuse simply shifted from one sister to the other.
The way Cousins's case was dealt with by the church is not an isolated incident. The Jehovah's Witnesses are now reeling from a series of scandals worldwide and allegations that its self-styled Child Protection Policy does nothing but protect abusers and fails to ensure allegations of abuse are reported to the authorities.
According to its critics, child abusers within the organisation are protected by its strict biblical laws and the threat that any member disregarding the advice of elders by going to the police faces the prospect of being denounced and cast out of the congregation.
The organisation insists that it has a strict child protection policy and defends the database of self-confessed offenders as part of its strategy of dealing with abuse without referring to the judicial system.
The church keeps the existence of the list a closely guarded secret. Watch Tower states that it uses the list to monitor the activities of the men who stand accused of raping and molesting children. But former members of the church claim that keeping the list secret effectively shields abusers and allows abuse to continue. In the American Bible belt of Kentucky, Bill Bowen, who has spent his lifetime as a Jehovah's Witness and more than 20 years as an elder, claims the organisation covers up abuse by keeping this database secret.
According to Bowen, who has become a thorn in the flesh of the organisation, his sources inside Watch Tower indicate there are 23,720 abusers on the secret list -- who are protected by the system.
'Every detail is written down about what happened ,' said Bowen. ' If this man moves anywhere, then if any allegation surfaces again, this is the way they monitor these people.'
The church in the UK and the US refuses to discuss the list or its details with anyone not personally involved in a case. It was that wall of anonymity that allowed Cousins's father to remain at home and unchecked with his daughters at risk.
Bowen began his campaign to expose the church after having to handle an abuse case in his own congregation and becoming disturbed by the pressure it puts on the victim.
'When an allegation of abuse happens, parents are required to go to the elders first,' said Bowen. ' If the abuser denies the charge, they will turn back to the child and say, 'Do you have two eye witnesses to what happened?' That means the child and one other witness .'
According to Bowen, if there is not a basis to establish the allegation with two witnesses, the pressure is then turned on the accuser. If there is no corroborating evidence, the members making the allegations are warned not to repeat them against an 'innocent' or cause division in the church on pain of being 'disfellowshipped' -- effective lifetime exile.
'They're told if they don't obey these elders that God will kill them, and how God kills them is that when you're disfellowshipped, you're viewed as being dead,' said Bowen. 'It's like the biblical edict of stoning. Your own mother and father will not acknowledge you in public. Your own children will not speak to you.
'And they have a choice, they can be silent and retain their family and every friend they've known for the last 40 years, or, if they speak out, they will lose all that overnight.'
The wall of silence around abuse cases and the stipulation that there must be two witnesses before any action is taken has prevented thousands of prosecutions, according to US police.
Jack Zeller, a US police officer who dealt with several child abuse cases sees the irony. 'Unfortunately, most kids don't have several witnesses observing them get raped,' he said.
The same levels of obstruction and unco-operativeness have been encountered by police in the UK tackling allegations of child abuse within the church. Police investigations into allegations of sexual abuse within the Jehovah's Witnesses community in Birmingham were frustrated for a long time by elders in the church.
Steve Colley, an investigating officer with West Midlands police, was shocked by the determination of elders not to co-operate with his inquiries into allegations of abuse in a Birmingham congregation.
'I was surprised,' said Colley. 'They actually said to me unless I could provide two Jehovah's Witnesses who'd actually seen the offence, then as far as they were concerned the offence hadn't taken place.'
Despite this, each congregation keeps copious records regarding any spiritual infraction or wrongdoing committed within the church. Records of Ian Cousins's abuse of his eldest daughter were lodged but were only obtained by Cousins under data protection legislation. The papers show that the Jehovah's Witnesses in Ayrshire and in the organisation's headquarters knew for three years before she asked them for help that her father was a self- confessed paedophile. Instead of enabling elders to monitor him, the records showed they twice turned a blind eye to his abuse of his daughters.
'It is a paedophile paradise created by Jehovah's Witnesses,' said Bill Bowen.
'An abuser can go into any congregation, remain anonymous, have access to more children through activities in the church, and all he has to do is just keep denying it and he will have the confidentiality clause in Watch Tower policy to enable him to continue .'
Panorama's Suffer Little Children is on BBC1 tonight at 10.15pm
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The Press and Journal News - July 15th 2002:
CHURCH AT CENTRE OF PAEDOPHILE ALLEGATIONS
CLAIRE STEWART
The Jehovah's Witness Church in Scotland has vehemently denied allegations that it shelters paedophiles.
A Panorama programme screened last night on BBC TV claimed the church had records of known paedophiles within the faith that it refused to share with police.
The programme profiled an Ayrshire teenager who allegedly told elders at her church she was being abused by her father.
She claimed to have been told not to go to police, despite the fact that the man had already confessed to elders that he had abused her.
A spokesman for the British branch of Jehovah's Witnesses condemned paedophilia as "abhorrent" and stated the programme had failed to examine cases in which the church had approached the police.
The investigative programme claimed that the Watch Tower Society kept a worldwide database of members accused of child abuse. The list, which is claimed to contain more than 20,000 names, is based on details held by each Jehovah's Witness congregation and has many names that have never been reported to police.
Panorama claimed a code of silence existed within the faith based on Biblical teachings that members should turn to elders and not the police, and that members believed a crime had not taken place unless two members of the faith could give evidence of it.
Spokesman Paul Gilles yesterday denied that any Jehovah's Witness congregation would shelter a paedophile from the police.
"Sexual abuse of children is not just a terrible sin but also a crime that can leave lasting emotional scars on its victims," he said. "Jehovah's Witnesses everywhere abhor the sexual abuse of children and will not protect any perpetrator of such repugnant acts from the consequences of his gross sin."
Explaining why the church had chosen to snub the programme, Mr Gilles said: "We decided not to take part for two reasons.
"One is Jehovah's Witnesses are featured in the programme. We follow the Bible in everything we do and the way to resolve difficulties between spiritual brothers and sisters is not in the public.
"Our views are based on deeply held convictions which can't be expressed just in a few soundbites which might be edited. That's why we have chosen to address the allegations on our own website so we can give detailed answers in context."
However, the church did provide the programme with information on its policies towards child abuse.
Mr Gilles, speaking before the programme was aired, said he did not expect it to give an even-handed view.
"I don't expect it to be a balanced programme from what I have seen so far," he said. "They have highlighted cases which could have been handled better. We told them we can't discuss specific cases.
"They have trawled newspapers to find cases where things had gone wrong, but they didn't trawl newspapers to find cases where we had gone to the police."
The spokesman did accept there were cases of child abuse within the faith that could have been dealt with better and expressed regret at them.
Explaining the Jehovah's Witness process for reporting such matters, Mr Gilles said: "When a report is received, elders contact our national office in London for guidance to ensure that, firstly, the alleged victim and other potential victims are protected from possible abuse, and secondly that counsel is given to report crime to the proper authorities and to comply with any additional legal requirements.
"Jehovah's Witnesses further believe that it is the absolute right of the victim, his or her family or anyone else to report the matter to the authorities if they so choose. There are certainly no sanctions against any congregation member who reports an allegation of child abuse to the authorities."
About 8,600 Jehovah's Witnesses made the trip to Perth yesterday for the final day of the Zealous Kingdom Proclaimers Convention. The conference attracted visitors from throughout the UK and as far afield as the US. Organiser Bill Reid said: "The people of Perth have responded very well to us being here, from taxi drivers right the way through."
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The Paducah Sun - July 20th 2002:
Bowen wants hearing delayed
* Former Jehovah's Witness elder Bill Bowen said he is unable to attend Wednesday's rescheduled hearing.
Staff and Wire Reports
DRAFFENVILLE, KENTUCKY,
A former Jehovah's Witness elder is asking that an excommunication hearing rescheduled for Wednesday be pushed back again because of the short notice.
Bill Bowen, 44, of Draffenville faces expulsion from the church f for publicly criticizing the church's handling of sexual abuse allegations. In a letter to the elder who will chair his judicial hearing, Bowen said he is unable to meet Wednesday and hoped to reschedule on "a date acceptable to all concerned."
Bowen had a hearing scheduled in May, but it did not take place, because the elders scheduled to bear the case did not show up, Bowen said.
Bowen resigned as, a church elder in December 2000 to protest the church's policy on handling sexual abuse cases. He 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.
Church leaders have denied wrongdoing.
J. R. Brown, a spokesman for the ' denomination, has said that parents are not punished by the church for going to the police first in cases of child molestation.
He also said if the church judicial committee finds a member guilty of molestation the member is removed from all positions of responsibility and may not evangelize door-to-door without being accompanied by a fellow Jehovah's Witness.
Members of the church, even family members, are required to shun those who are excommunicated or disfellewshipped. Three others who have spoke out against the church's policies' have been disfellowshipped in recent months. They are Barbara Anderson, of Normandy Tenn. and Carl and Barbara Pandelo, of Belmar, NJ.
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The Scottish News of the World - July 21st 2002:
Church 'harbouring fiends'
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES STORM
By Ken Adams
SCOTS Jehovahs Witnesses are harbouring dozens of sex beasts within their ranks, the News of the World can reveal.
Campaigner Bill Bowen claims that at least 40 perverts across Scotland have been allowed to evade justice because of a church cover up.
The 44-year-old has been swamped with e-mails after a BBC documentary lifted the lid on the Christian fundamentalists.
He said: Concerned parents tell me the abuse is happening right now and is being covered up by church elders.
These children need to be protected fast, yet the authorities have not been involved.
Attacked
Bill, a former Jehovahs Witness elder, founded the US victim support group silentlambs, after a member of his own congregation was attacked. He told us: "I got a call from one Scot whose wife had been sexually abused as a child. Her abuser has since moved to another congregation. He has not been convicted and is free to keep abusing."
Bill, from Benton, Kentucky, added: "I urged the couple to go to the police."
The News of the World was shown some of the e-mails sent by Scots victims. One revealed: "At the age of 10 I was molested by the son of an elder." Another victim wrote, "I was abused by my brother."
The church's sordid secrets were exposed when Alison Cousins told how she was molested by her father. The 19-year-old, of Stevenston, Ayrshire, went to cops after elders ignored her claims. Her father Ian, 43, was later jailed for five years.
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The Paducah Sun Newspaper - July 25th 2002:
Bowen observes hearing from afar
The former Jehovah's Witness elder observed three elders enter Kingdom Hall. He said his request for another date was never answered.
By Matt Sanders, [email protected] -- 270.575.8650
DRAFFENVILLE, Ky. -- As a panel of three elders discussed his future within the Jehovahs Witnesses on Wednesday night, Bill Bowen sat in his pickup truck across the street from the Kingdom Hall.
Bowen, of Draffenville, faced disfellowship, or expulsion, from the church for publicly criticizing its handling of sexual abuse allegations. He had asked church officials to reschedule the hearing for a time that would be convenient for his witnesses. Bowen said he did not receive a response, and although he sat across the street from the church during the 30-minute hearing, he still refused to attend.
I saw three elders walk in, but there were no witnesses, Bowen said. For any allegation of wrongdoing to be established within the church, there have to be at least two witnesses. Who serves as their witnesses, the three judges? I am not going in there when they have no witnesses and my witnesses are not here. There is no justification. This is not fair, its not impartial, its just a kangaroo court.
Bowen has complained that child-sex allegations are generally not reported to secular authorities by the Jehovahs Witnesses because of the churchs closed nature and insistence on handling problems internally. He resigned as a church elder in December 2000.
Church leaders have denied wrongdoing.
The hearing began at 7:30, and Bowen, still in his pickup truck, said he saw the elders leave the church around 8, but they did not speak to him.
Before the hearing, George Bandarra, an elder in the Murray congregation and one of the elders reviewing Bowens case, said elders would not comment on the proceeding because it was a private church matter. He added that the elders would not make their verdict public but would telephone Bowen Wednesday night with the result. Bowen said the elders did not call.
A church hearing had been scheduled in May but did not take place, because the elders scheduled to hear the case did not show up. When the hearing was rescheduled for Wednesday, Bowen requested a postponement in writing because of short notice and said he had witnesses coming from California, Michigan, Tennessee, Florida and Louisiana.
Who schedules a meeting on a Wednesday night? I asked for a weekend meeting to give my witnesses time to come here. Its my right, according to church protocol, to be able to produce witnesses to speak on my behalf. (The elders) have not shown up twice, and when I have legitimate reasons for a postponement, they will not give me a reason.
I received no response from my letter. I received a letter from their attorney stating (the church) received my letter.
Bandarra did say the elders were picked from outside the Marshall County congregation to ensure an impartial verdict. He said after the elders review the case, they would pray and vote until a unanimous decision was reached. The other elders were Jeff Steen, also of Murray, and Ron Carey of Central City. Carey is an assembly overseer, who is in charge of the churchs circuit assembly, Bowen said.
Both Bandarra and Steen seemed concerned over the recent publicity that Bowens case has attracted, and again stated the case is a private matter. However, Steen mentioned that there are about 6 million Jehovahs Witnesses worldwide, and about 40,000 are disfellowshipped annually for various reasons.
Members of the church, even family members, are required to shun those who are disfellowshipped.
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icBurmingham.co.uk News - July 26th 2002:
Church's stance attacked
By Staff Reporter, Evening Mail
A man whose son was sexually abused by a Jehovah's Witness has criticised the church after leaders said they would consider keeping the paedophile in their ranks.
The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims Jaswant Patti is still a member of the church, which requires its congregation to be "morally clean".
A Jehovah's Witness spokesman confirmed the church is carrying out an internal investigation into the case, after which Patti could remain a member if he shows "genuine repentance".
Patti was jailed for five years in 1999 after he was found guilty of four offences of indecent assault and one other serious sexual assault against two boys, then aged nine and 14.
Following the conviction, church leaders of the Rubery Congregation of the Jehovah's Witnesses, in New Street, Rubery, backed Patti. Philip Price, one of the church's elders, even questioned the verdict, querying the strength of the evidence.
The father of one of the victims said: "The church has a policy of disfellowshipping which can be applied to a person who has got a smoking problem and finds it hard to give up.
"Why is it Jaswant Patti, who has been convicted and whose name will be on the sex offenders' register for the rest of his life, hasn't been disfellowshipped?"
The spokesman for the UK headquarters of the church said he was not able to comment on specific cases.
But he added: "If someone has committed repugnant acts they will be disfellowshipped but it depends on a person's attitude.
"If a person shows genuine repentance it might not mean they are expelled. That's what the elders in the congregation would have to determine.
"To be one of Jehovah's Witnesses you have to be morally clean and we try our utmost to keep the depraved out. The person would have to go a long way to prove they're genuinely repentant.
"If they remained a member they would never occupy a position of responsibility."
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The Paducah Sun Newspaper - July 26th 2002:
Bowen learns of disfellowship
The former Jehovah's Witness elder said he will appeal the decision, but he expects his appeal to be denied.
By C.D. Bradley, [email protected] -- 270.575.8650
DRAFFENVILLE, Ky. -- Former Jehovah's Witness elder Bill Bowen, who resigned the leadership position in December 2000 to protest the church's handling of child molestation cases, was disfellowshipped after a brief hearing Wednesday night, he said Thursday.
Bowen said Jeff Steen of Murray, one of three elders on the committee, called him Thursday morning, but Bowen told the elders to communicate with his attorney, Rush Hunt of Madisonville, and hung up. Bowen said Steen then called Hunt and said Bowen had been disfellowshipped but provided no other information.
Neither Steen, nor the other elders on the panel George Bandarra of Murray and Ron Carey of Central City returned phone messages Thursday.
Bowen has said the church protects pedophiles by not reporting accusations to police and encouraging victims not to go to authorities to discuss the matter with anyone in the congregation. The church has denied any wrongdoing and claims it follows the law.
Bowen said he plans to appeal the decision, made at a hearing that Bowen had asked be rescheduled and was held without him. Bowen said he was across the street from the Kingdom Hall and the elders locked the door and blocked the windows. He added that the three elders appeared to be the only people present.
"The thing they have nailed to the wall is that they require two eyewitnesses before a child molester may be convicted" in the church, Bowen said. "I have flatly denied these charges against me, and they brought no witnesses against me. It's a vast inconsistency in the organization. If I was a child molester, they wouldn't have had a hearing. Because I'm a person who spoke out to protect children, they disfellowship me in 30 minutes."
Bowen said he received the return receipt from a letter Hunt mailed asking that the meeting be rescheduled so that his witnesses, coming from all over the country, could attend.
"They've stepped over about all their protocols, so I think they'll ignore my request for an appeal," Bowen said.
Bowen said being disfellowshipped which requires Witnesses, including family members, to shun him is the religion's equivalent of death.
"From my standpoint, the real crime is not disfellowshipping me," Bowen said. "The real crime is, now they're going to silence anyone in the organization who needs help or support. They will face disfellowshipping for logging onto the Web site."
Bowen, who started a support group for Witness abuse victims at www.silentlambs.org, said visitors to the site are split about evenly between current and former Witnesses.
Bowen becomes the fourth Witness disfellowshipped this year for speaking out on the issue, following Barbara Anderson, of Normandy, Tenn., and Carl and Barbara Pandelo, of Belmar, N.J.
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The Courier-Journal - July 28th 2002:
Man vows to appeal Witnesses' expulsion
By Peter Smith
[email protected]
A man is fighting a move by elders in the Jehovah's Witnesses to excommunicate him, saying he is being punished for his claims that church policies protect child molesters.
Bill Bowen of Benton, KY, says he will file an appeal Monday of a decision by three church elders to "disfellowship" him on charges of "causing divisions." Bowen said he was notified Thursday of the action after the elders met without him the previous evening.
If the excommunication is upheld by a separate three-elder appeals panel, Bowen would become the fourth person expelled this year from the church after criticizing policies on child molesters. The church denies such criticisms.
Jeff Steen, one of the elders who Bowen says decided to disfellowship him, would not confirm or deny the elders' action, saying church discipline is conducted confidentially in "a spirt of mildness, not confrontation."
Phone messages from The Courier-Journal were not returned by the other elders or by the press office of the Jehovah's Witnesses' headquarters in New York.
Bowen said the action against him is "absolutely not" justified.
"I have committed no sin against God; I have broken no law in the Bible," said Bowen, who resigned as an elder in December 2000 to protest church policies but had remained a member in good standing. "This is nothing but a kangaroo court to silence me."
Bowen contends Jehovah's Witnesses keep incidents of child molestation secret and refuse to let victims warn other members of predators in their congregations.
The Courier-Journal reported in February 2001 of 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, sometimes in violation of state law. Since then, new lawsuits making such claims have been filed in New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Washington state.
Officials with Jehovah's Witnesses have said that they abhor child molestation, report cases to authorities in states that require such reports and allow members to report fellow members to police.
Under church rules, Jehovah's Witnesses are to shun an expelled person socially as well as in religious contexts, and even family members are restricted in their relationships with disfellowshipped relatives.
Others expelled this year include Carl and Barbara Pandelo of Belmar, N.J., who have been outspoken in saying Jehovah's Witnesses treated their daughter's abuser with more compassion than her, and Barbara Anderson of Normandy, Tenn., a former employee at church headquarters in New York who has criticized church policy.
Anderson, who said she learned Sunday that her appeal was denied, said the church is acting ''so that Jehovah's Witnesses will feel that they are justified to say to others that we are liars.''
She said Bowen should not be punished for publicizing the issue. "It takes a very brave Jehovah's Witness to go forth and do what he did," Anderson said.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, says Bowen is being treated similarly to whistleblowers in the molestation crisis in the Roman Catholic Church.
"The hierarchy should consider him a hero, not a pest," said Clohessy, who has corresponded with Bowen for 1 1/2 years.
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Tribune Courier - August 4th 2002:
Witnesses expelled Bill Bowen
By Johnnie Davis, Tribune Courier Staff Writer
Former elder of the Draffenville congregation of Jehovahs Witnesses, William H. Bowen, received notification Thursday morning that he had been disfellowshipped.
Bowen resigned his position in December of 2000 as a way to protest the handling of child molestation cases by the church.
Three elders from congregations outside of made up the panel that decided to disfellowship Bowen. They were Jeff Steen and George Bandarra of Murray and Ron Cary of Central City.
Bowen has accused the church of protecting pedophiles by not reporting cases of child abuse brought before it. Church leaders deny wrongdoing and claim to follow the law.
"My purpose in doing this is to protect the children in the Jehovahs Witness community, Bowen said in an interview Friday. The children who come forth should be praised as heroes, not ostracized and treated as villains."
Bowen said he will appeal, which must be done within seven days of the disfellowship. The appeal was to be made on Monday. The panels decision is not final until it is announced to the congregation Thursday. Bowen said he anticipates the appeal committee to make it decision Friday. Bowen was to make his appeal before the three original panel members and three members of the appeal committee.
Disfellowship is the harshest of decisions made by Witnesses. It results in the person being shunned by Witnesses including members of his own family.
"Religion is protected by the First Amendment,' Bowen said. 'The religion will laugh at the courts if I try to pursue this legally."
Neither Bowen's attorney, Rush Hunt of Madisonville, nor members of the disfellowship panel could be reached for comment.
"It is the policy of the Watchtower to silence people by disfellowship, Bowen said, 'they want people silenced." The Watchtower is a Jehovahs Witness organization.
Bowen has started a support group for abuse victims at www.silentlambs.org.
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NEW YORK TIMES - August 11th 2002 Edition:
Ousted Members Contend Jehovah's Witnesses' Abuse Policy Hides Offenses
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
William Bowen always considered himself a devout Jehovah's Witness. As a child, he felt it was his duty to go door to door passing out the church's magazine, The Watchtower. Later, as an elder in his congregation, he said he saw it as his duty to inform church officials that a fellow elder had abused a child.
But when Mr. Bowen contacted the church's headquarters in Brooklyn, he says, he was rebuffed. Frustrated by the church's inaction and by its confidentiality provisions, which he said prevented him from sharing the information with others, Mr. Bowen resigned as an elder in December 2000. A year later, he started a group to monitor child sexual abuse in the church.
Late last month, Mr. Bowen, 44, was excommunicated from the church. Behind a locked door, with plastic bags taped over the windows to ward off onlookers, he said, three church elders meeting at the church's Kingdom Hall in Draffenville, KY, found him guilty of "causing divisions."
The punishment was "disfellowshiping" complete shunning.
In the past three months, four other people have been expelled from the Jehovah's Witnesses after accusing it of covering up the sexual abuse of children by its members. For Mr. Bowen and other critics of church policies on sexual abuse, the expulsions are part of a concerted effort to keep such abuses quiet.
Expelled Witnesses say the church's own policies and culture conspire to conceal abuse. A panel of church elders, all men, meets in secret to decide each case, a procedure which critics say prevents members from knowing there is an abuser in their midst. To prove an accusation, a child must have a witness to the incident, a condition that is usually impossible to meet.
"This is evidence for the world to see how the Jehovah's Witnesses treat abuse survivors and those who try to protect them," said Mr. Bowen. "They silence them with the threat of disfellowshiping."
J. R. Brown, director of the public information office at church headquarters, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, in Brooklyn, said the church had exemplary policies for handling sexual abuse, which were based on biblical standards and had been widely published in church magazines.
"We're not trying to say we handled everybody in the right way and our elders are all-knowing, all perfect," said Mr. Brown, who declined as a matter of policy to comment on individual cases, including Mr. Bowen's. "But we say, if you take what our policy is for keeping our organization clean morally, it far outpaces anybody else's."
While the Roman Catholic Church has been engulfed in its own sexual abuse scandal, the same issue is beginning to plague the Jehovah's Witnesses, a denomination that claims one million members in the and six million worldwide.
But the shape of the scandal is far different than in the Catholic church, where most of the people accused of abuse are priests and a vast majority of the victims were boys and young men. In the Jehovah's Witnesses, where congregations are often collections of extended families and church elders are chosen from among the laypeople, some of those accused are elders, but most are congregation members. The victims who have stepped forward are mostly girls and young women, and many accusations involve incest.
The scope of abuse in the Jehovah's Witnesses is a matter of considerable debate. The church has recently been sued by eight plaintiffs in four lawsuits alleging abuse, one filed in July in Minnesota. Mr. Bowen says that his victims support group, "silentlambs," has collected reports from more than 5,000 Witnesses contending that the church mishandled child sexual abuse.
The church keeps a database of members and associates who have been accused or found guilty of child abuse. Mr. Bowen said church sources had told him the database contained the names of more than 23,000 people in the , and . The church says the number is "considerably lower," but wilot say what it is.
The church has a firm framework for handling sexual abuse cases. Members who suspect abuse are advised to go first to the elders, who are considered spiritual and moral leaders to whom the members are to turn with their personal problems. Mr. Brown said that the church's legal department advised elders to follow the law in states that have mandatory reporting laws, and in cases in which children appear to be in danger.
The elders are the ones required to judge whether someone has committed a sin like child abuse. If the abuser confesses and is forgiven, the only notice given to the congregation is an announcement that the person has been disciplined. No reason is announced. However, the elders report the person's name to headquarters, where it goes into the database so that abuser is banned from serving in a position of authority.
"If a person can cry a good tune, there are virtually no repercussions and nobody besides the elders ever knows," said Jean Kraus, who said she went to elders in her Queens congregation years ago accusing her former husband of abusing their daughter. She said that he confessed, was reprimanded and was still an active Witness. "They told me that he wasn't a wicked man, that it was a weakness," she said.
The church spokesman, Mr. Brown, said: "We view such judicial hearings as an extension of our shepherding work as ministers. In other words, we're there to save a person's soul. In these cases we are not going to be vindictive because these are our brothers, and we would hope that they would change."
If the accused denies the allegation, the victim's testimony alone is not sufficient unless there is at least one other witness to the act. The church says its policy is based on a scriptural injunction in Deuteronomy 19:15 that says two or three witnesses are necessary to prove a man has sinned.
Heidi Meyer, a third-generation Jehovah's Witness in Annandale, Minn, said she went to her elders in 1994, when she was 15, to say that from the ages of 10 to 13 she had been repeatedly molested by a fellow Witness eight years her senior, the older brother of a friend. The only eyewitness was her brother, who had once seen the man grab her buttocks as she got out of a car.
The elders asked explicit questions that made her uncomfortable, she said. According to an internal Witness document "Pay Attention to Yourself and to All the Flock," the elders must determine in which category the accusation fits: if it was "uncleanness," a one-time touching above the waist; "loose conduct," touching below the waist or more than once above; or the most severe, "porneia," direct sexual stimulation or activity resulting in orgasm. Each offense carries different penalties, with the most severe for porneia.
The man she was accusing insisted that Ms. Meyer had misinterpreted what happened. The elders agreed.
"I was expecting spiritual guidance," Ms. Meyer said. "I was expecting them to genuinely, sincerely attempt to find justice and protect the rest of the congregation from this same thing happening. And none of that happened."
She, like several other alleged victims and theielatives, said in interviews that the elders warned her against reporting the abuse or talking about it with other members.
"They told me if I spoke about it with anybody, I needed to be careful because I could face a judicial committee for gossip or slander," she said. "If they felt I had committed that sin, I would be disfellowshiped."
Ms. Meyer says she learned only years later that Amber Long, another young woman in the congregation, had at age 12 gone to the elders with her parents to report that she had been molested by the same man. Ms. Long, who is now 23, said she and her parents received a letter from the Witnesses advising her to "leave it in Jehovah's hands."
"They said we shouldn't hold ill feelings about our brothers," Ms. Long said. "Since there weren't two eyewitnesses, they said there wasn't much they could do."
Neither Ms. Long nor Ms. Meyer is still active in the Jehovah's Witnesses. On July 2, the two women filed suit against the man they accuse of molesting them Derek Lindala, 30, of South Haven, Minn,-- the local congregation, and Jehovah's Witness headquarters. Mr. Lindala did not respond to a message left at his home seeking comment.
Barbara Anderson, of Normandy, Tenn, said that when she and her husband lived and worked at church headquarters in Brooklyn in the 1990's, she was asked to gather information about child abuse in the congregations. She said she handed over to church leaders dozens of letters complaining about how cases were handled. For her it was a revelation.
"Jehovah's Witnesses like to say that we have one of the most crime-free organizations," Mrs. Anderson said. "But all problems are taken to the elders, and the elders keep them quiet." She said that the documents prompted an internal debate among church leaders, and that when there was no action, she left headquarters disheartened in 1993, after 11 years of volunteering.
Carl A. Raschke, a professor of religious studies at the University of Denver who has written about the Jehovah's Witnesses, said the group was no different from many other insulaeligions that aspire to theological and moral purity.
"Groups that tend to be very tight-knit and in-grown historically have a higher incidence of sexual abuse and incest," Dr. Raschke said. "That's an ethnological fact. When a religion tries to be thoroughly holy or godly, it's not going to acknowledge that people aren't living up to the ideals of the faith."
On July 25, Mrs. Anderson was excommunicated. A week later her husband, Joe, who had earlier resigned as an elder after 42 years, was also expelled.
"It is inconceivable to think elders would investigate an allegation of murder to determine guilt or innocence, so why would we investigate an allegation of child abuse?" Mr. Anderson wrote in his resignation letter. "This is just not our field of expertise. We are ministers of God, not police."
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The Paducah Sun Newspaper - August 16th 2002:
Witnesses elder says claims meritless, rules followed
The conductor of the church service wound up announcing earlier than planned that Bill Bowen has been disfellowshipped.
By Shelley Street, The Paducah Sun
DRAFFENVILLE, Ky.--When elders of the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation did not announce his disfellowshipment at the midpoint of Thursday's meeting, former elder Bill Bowen moved things along.
Interrupting elder Lee Stockwell, who was about to begin speaking on experiences that members have had while handing out biblical literature door to door, Bowen said, "I object to this announcement. I object to this proceeding. I have broken no biblical law. I have broken no law of the organization. The governing body has ordered my disfellowshipment to prevent my presentation of evidence that proves them to be lying hypocrites.
"I now am a silent lamb, as are the thousands of abuse survivors whose lives have been ruined by Watchtower policy on child molestation."
Stockwell started to speak over Bowen without addressing him, but Bowen became so loud that his attempt was futile.
Nearly 40 members of the congregation sat in shocked silence, listening. When Bowen was finished, Stockwell said, "William Harvey Bowen has been disfellowshipped."
"You got it," Bowen said and walked out of the meeting.
Bowen has said the church protects pedophiles by not reporting accusations to police and encouraging victims not to go to authorities to discuss the matter with anyone in the congregation. The church has denied any wrongdoing and claims it follows the law.
The actual decision to disfellowship Bowen was made July 24. He appealed, but he was told Monday that the decision had been upheld.
The disfellowshipment announcement had been scheduled for the end of Thursday's meeting, not the midpoint, Stockwell said.
"We've tried to follow what we consider theocratic arrangements, not make it into a media circus," Stockwell said in the first statement to the media by anyone connected with the congregation.
Of Bowen's outburst he said, "He's just trying to antagonize, to provoke some kind of conflict."
Stockwell said he had expected Bowen to try to interrupt the service in some way and even had spoken to the Marshall County Sheriff's Department earlier in the day about how the church should respond. The sheriff's department was not called Thursday night.
By church law, members even other members of his family are required to shun Bowen, his wife and children. "My children haven't seen their grandparents in two years," Bowen said.
The shunning started when Bowen arrived for the meeting.
"I was being spoken to by two elders," said Bowen, who attended the meeting alone. "Everyone else, I think, has been in terror just to speak to me. ... I walked in and nodded to a few people and said hello, and they just looked and turned away."
It had been 13 months since Bowen had attended a service.
"If he were in a life-threatening situation and he needed help, we'd help, but we're not going to socialize with him," Stockwell said. "If he were broken down on the side of the road, we'd help him."
Stockwell said Bowen's allegations of local child molestation are groundless, and he questioned other allegations, calling Bowen devious.
"It hurt the different ones here who knew him when he first moved here and considered him a friend ... For us it's a sad occasion that it has come to this."
Bowen said he doesn't blame his disfellowshipment on church members.
"The sad part is that none of these folks here understand," Bowen said. "They believe what the church has told them. These people are afraid to speak to me about this issue, because the church told them not to. So, I'm not angry with these people; I'm sad."
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St. Petersburg Times Newspaper, Published August 22nd 2002:
Spiritual shunning
By SHARON TUBBS, Times Staff Writer
When Jehovah's Witnesses excommunicate, or "disfellowship," a member, even the closest human ties can be severed without question.
ST. PETERSBURG -- As far as her children and 6-million people around the world are concerned, Shirley Jackson is as good as dead, has been for seven years.
In 1995, Jackson, a home health care worker and a nanny who lives in St. Petersburg, was "disfellowshipped," or excommunicated, from Jehovah's Witnesses. Disfellowshipping is among the Witnesses' highest forms of discipline, reserved for those who disobey religious teachings and will not repent.
Witnesses are told to immediately shun the disfellowshipped, who are said to be certain to die at Armageddon. Witnesses must pass them on the street without so much as a hello. Sons, daughters, mothers and fathers are expected to cut off relatives, making exceptions only in cases of family business or emergency.
"No matter what they tell you, you will always be my daughter and I will always love you," Jackson recently wrote in a letter to her daughter, to no avail. Rather than strengthen families, Jackson says, the Witnesses tear them apart.
Disfellowshipping is little known to outsiders, who recognize Witnesses only as the people who pass out magazines on Saturday mornings. But scandal in the denomination has opened a door to its core beliefs and operations.
In recent months, at least three Witnesses were disfellowshipped after talking to Dateline NBC about church leaders' handling of child molestation allegations. The action made national headlines and spurred former Witnesses worldwide to step forward with their stories.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe disfellowshipping is an act of love, intended to inspire sinners to change their ways so they eventually can apply to be readmitted to the faith.
The sanction is based on I Corinthians 5, which directs Witnesses to "remove the wicked from among yourselves" and is necessary, said Witnesses national spokesman J.R. Brown, to preserve the religion's "moral integrity and cleanliness" in a corrupt world soon to be destroyed by God Jehovah.
Jehovah's Witness elders -- all are men -- are the equivalent of ministers in other religions. Though unpaid, they take on responsibilities such as teaching Bible lessons and passing on denomination policy. They also investigate Witnesses accused of committing crimes against other Witnesses. In some of these cases, the police are never called.
Among the elders' primary tasks is serving on small judicial committees that hear confessions and decide whether an offense is worthy of excommunication.
Excommunications are announced to the congregation, but elders never say why a person was expelled. Witnesses can only guess from a long list of offenses that range from smoking cigarettes to manslaughter. Homosexuality, fornication, drunkenness, slander, fraud, gambling, apostasy, fits of anger and violence, and adultery are others.
The excommunication announcement tells members to begin shunning that person. If they don't, they, too, risk being disfellowshipped. Fear of being disfellowshipped is gripping for many Witnesses. Because they believe that only Witnesses will be saved from death, many don't associate with non-Witnesses.
Being disfellowshipped, then, means losing your circle of friends, not to mention family members who remain in the faith.
Elders disfellowship 50,000 to 60,000 Witnesses around the world each year, Brown said.
"It's not an unusual occurence, as far as we're concerned," he said.
Jackson, 54, had been a Witness for nearly 20 years when she began having doubts.
In 1993, she said, her husband gathered his belongings in the middle of the night and abandoned her as she and her children slept. She said he had been violent, and she decided to divorce him. But Witnesses told her the only biblical justification for divorce is adultery, which she could not prove he had committed.
Jackson was also on shaky ground with the Witnesses because she had close friends who were not in the faith, she said. In interviews, Jackson and several others said Witnesses are not allowed to socialize with non-Witnesses unless they are proselytizing.
Brown, the Witnesses' spokesman, said this is not true, although differing interests sometimes make such relationships difficult.
After her husband left her, Jackson continued going to the Kingdom Hall five times a week and performing 10 hours of door-to-door service each month, but she didn't feel very spiritual. One day while going door to door, Jackson mentioned to another Witness, "When I go into a Kingdom Hall, I don't feel God's presence is there."
She became even more disillusioned in the mid 1990s when, she said, elders dismissed her suspicions that a fellow Witness was sexually abusing his 8-year-old daughter. No one called the police.
But law enforcement authorities eventually got involved, and the girl was found in a trashed home, having eaten ketchup sandwiches to quell hunger, Jackson said. Some months later, Kenneth Donald Weaver was arrested and placed on community control in 1995 for sexual activity with a child. Weaver, who has a lengthy criminal history, is now in prison.
Wavering in her beliefs, Jackson decided not to attend an annual assembly for Witnesses.
Her daughter was upset and told elders. They went to her home for a visit. They had charges against her, Jackson said:
One charge was "speaking out against a brother" with regard to the child molestation, she said. She said they told her to stop cavorting with her non-Witness friends. And someone had told them what she had said about not feeling God's presence in the Kingdom Hall.
The elders told her she had 24 hours to change her ways, Jackson said. She refused to comply and was disfellowshipped, her name announced in front of the congregation. She was not present.
Her daughter was 17 at the time. She moved out to live with other Witnesses, has not held a conversation with Jackson since and is now married and living in Alabama.
Two of Jackson's three sons are also Witnesses and don't speak to her, she said.
As with the Catholic Church, child molestation cases have brought the inner workings of Jehovah's Witnesses to the forefront. One case in Kentucky prompted former elder William Bowen to start asking questions.
At the center of the cases is the two-witness rule. The Witnesses abide strictly by their Bible, the New World Translation. The translation is published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the nonprofit organization in Brooklyn, N.Y., that acts as the Witnesses' headquarters and overseer.
Deuteronomy 19:15: No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin, in the case of any sin that he may commit. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good.
As far as the Watch Tower is concerned, that means Witnesses can't take action against someone unless at least two people can verify an offense happened.
That standard is difficult to meet in cases of child molestation, where often only the victim and perpetrator are present.
About two years ago, Bowen began to suspect that a fellow elder in his congregation near Paducah was abusing the elder's daughter. In a review of Witness files, Bowen found that the elder had previously been accused of molesting someone else. Bowen says he got further proof that the daughter might also have been molested.
In keeping with Witness policy, he called the Watch Tower's legal department in Brooklyn for guidance. The department is staffed with lawyers who are Jehovah's Witnesses.
When Bowen described the situation, he says, he was told there was nothing to be done -- the man had denied it, so there weren't enough witnesses. He would have to "leave it in Jehovah's hands."
Other former Witnesses who served as elders around the nation have since reported similar experiences.
Disgusted, Bowen resigned as an elder and started a nonprofit organization and a Web site for Witnesses who were victims of molestation.
Thousands logged onto his "silent lambs" site, he says. Many told stories of abuse that elders did not believe.
Bowen, 45, went public with his story. He and several other Witnesses were featured on Dateline NBC. One woman, Barbara Anderson, had worked in the Watch Tower's research department and was concerned that the organization wasn't following up on abuse cases.
Bowen contends that tipsters told him the organization keeps a database with the names of 23,000 accused molesters.
Brown, the Witnesses' spokesman, would not discuss specific cases, but he scoffed at allegations that Witnesses protect child molesters. Yes, Witnesses believe in the two-witness rule, he said, but that's not the only way wrongdoers can be caught.
"It cannot be said that we will do nothing unless there are two witnesses," Brown said. He said Witnesses are not required to report crimes to elders before calling civil authorities. Victims and their families are free to call police at will, he said, although some don't choose to.
Elders' investigations work hand-in-hand with what Witnesses sometimes call "Caesar's law," Brown said. "We're not handling the criminality of this," he said. "We're handling the sin."
The Watch Tower does keep records of people accused of molestation, but the number in the database is far fewer than 23,000, he said, declining to give a specific figure.
Watch Tower officials use the database to ensure that a person against whom a credible allegation of molestation is made won't be elevated to positions of authority. Also, Brown said, if a person is accused in separate incidents, Witness officials have a record of that history and will look into the matter seriously.
After the Dateline program aired in May, Bowen, Anderson and Anderson's husband were disfellowshipped. A couple who said their daughter had been abused by a Witness were also threatened with excommunication.
The modern Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society began with a small group of Bible students near Pittsburgh and was incorporated in 1884. Back then, about 50 believers traveled door-to-door full time, spreading their beliefs.
They were largely successful in the next few years in convincing people that the end of the world, or Armageddon, was imminent and that only Jehovah's Witnesses would survive.
Witnesses don't believe in a burning hell. Non-Witnesses will simply be killed in the end. The vast majority of Witnesses will live forever on Earth, which will become a paradise once rid of the evil perpetuated by a society of nonbelievers. A select group of Witnesses -- 144,000, to be exact -- will live in heaven with Jesus Christ. This, based on a passage in the Book of Revelation, is referred to as "the heavenly hope."
The denomination's governing body and a workforce of other Witnesses operate a massive and well-organized religious base with a legal department, publishing house and printing facilities that ship Witness literature and Bibles all over the globe.
The Watch Tower keeps detailed accounts of the number of hours each Witness goes door-to-door, the number of home Bible studies completed and records of those who have been disfellowshipped.
The governing body also establishes policy for Witnesses to live by that it says is based on the Bible. Witnesses cannot vote, receive blood transfusions or salute the flag, among other restrictions.
Not even the marriage bed is beyond the Watch Tower's purview.
Brown said Witnesses believe that sexual activity between men and women should "follow the normal course" of things. "We feel that oral or anal intercourse would go beyond that."
Couples are often counseled accordingly before marriage, Brown said. Guilt-ridden Witnesses have gone before judicial committees to confess wayward sex acts with their spouses.
The Watch Tower predicted several times in the 1900s that Armageddon would occur. The organization grew as people were baptized Witnesses, hoping to join the only "true" religion before it was too late.
Joseph F. Rutherford, once the Watch Tower's president, was convinced that 1925 would mark the year that forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would return to earth. Rutherford had a large mansion built in California so they would have a place to live. The mansion was later sold.
Decades passed. Then Witnesses declared that the end would arrive in 1975. Some sold their homes, packed up and hit the road, going door-to-door to recruit as many people as they could. Young adults refused to go to college. Couples put off having children.
Diane Gholson of Spring Hill was among those anticipating Armageddon. In 1974, she feverishly wrote letters to her husband's Baptist relatives, begging them to become Witnesses before it was too late.
"When it didn't come, my husband said, 'Maybe they're off by a year,' " she said.
They waited. And waited.
By 1980, Gholson said, they'd had enough. In 1982, they were part of a group of Witnesses who participated in a march at Watch Tower headquarters. Watch Tower leaders, they charged, were nothing more than "false prophets."
Gholson was disfellowshipped.
Shirley Jackson, who had been baptized in 1974 in case the end did come, was unswayed, however. She accepted the Watch Tower's explanation that the "light" of God's word was getting brighter.
Brown says disfellowshipping inspires wrongdoers to come back to the religion. Those who want to reapply can do so, but they must adhere to Witnesses' policies. They are allowed inside the Kingdom Halls but are ignored by the other congregants until readmitted to the faith.
Each year, Brown said, 30,000 to 40,000 are reinstated, having "come back to their spiritual senses."
Jackson now goes to Glad Tidings Assembly of God church in St. Petersburg. She is happy there and says she can sense God's presence in the sanctuary. She regrets ever believing what the Witnesses taught her.
Only her youngest child, a 17-year-old son, was not baptized a Witness. He lives with Jackson and her new husband.
"It hurts," Jackson said of her broken family. "But I'm not bitter. I want to help people who are going through this."
-- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report --
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The Toronto Sun Newspaper - September 1st 2002:
REPORTER'S EMAIL: [email protected]
Woman sues church
Claims Jehovah's Witnesses hid sex abuse
By BRODIE FENLON -- Toronto Sun
A New Brunswick woman claims two Jehovah's Witness elders and the Canadian church hid the sexual abuse she says she suffered at the hands of her father.
The woman, whose trial begins next Monday in Toronto, is suing the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Canada and two elders of her former congregation in Shelburne, just north of Orangeville, for $700,000.
The church and elders Brian Cairns and Steve Brown deny any wrongdoing and plan to fight the action in court.
The 31-year-old stay-at-home mom, whom The Sun won't name, says in her statement of claim that she was sexually abused by her father from age 11 to 14. The abuse was never reported.
Years later, while working in Toronto as a live-in nanny, the woman claims she suffered from guilt and severe depression.
She approached the elders in her Jehovah's Witness congregation, who turned for advice to church headquarters in Georgetown.
INTERNAL HANDLING
She says in her statement of claim that the main branch advised the case be dealt with internally by the Shelburne congregation and "advised the Toronto congregation three times not to report the abuse to the Children's Aid Society (CAS)."
In her claim, the woman says that Cairns, Brown and the Watchtower Society:
# Refused to report suspicions of child sex abuse to the CAS as required by Ontario law.
# Conspired to hide or bury the charge internally.
# Told the woman she didn't need psychiatric or psychological counselling as "God's way alone would be beneficial."
# Forced the woman to confront her abuser and relive the abuse through repeated interrogation that caused her "permanent emotional injury."
Church spokesman Clive Thomas said that while the church has sympathy for her case, the lawsuit is misdirected.
"The elders were trying to provide her with spiritual help during a difficult time and the elders feel that she is basically biting the helping hand," he said.
In their statement of defence, the defendants insist the elders "were instrumental in ensuring the matter was reported" to CAS by the father. No charges were ever laid.
No one hindered the woman from seeking help from psychologists or psychiatrists, the statement of defence says.
As well, the church argues the woman never sued her father, and never complained to the elders or church about how her case was handled until the lawsuit was filed in 1998.
None of the allegations in either the claim or defence have been proven in court.
'READY TO FIGHT THEM'
"I have so much anger ... that I'm ready to fight them until the end," the woman said in an interview with The Sun.
"They don't realize the damage that they have done to people and to myself," she said. "I don't care if you want to be a Jehovah's Witness. All I'm saying is that the way they deal with child abuse is wrong and it has to be stopped."
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The Toronto Sun Newspaper - September 1st 2002:
Storm in the hall
Jehovah's Witnesses deny secrecy in dealing with family sexual abusers
By Brodie Fenlon -- Toronto Sun
Jehovah's Witnesses vehemently condemn child abuse. But several victims from within the sect have gone public in recent months claiming that "monsters" are hiding behind the church's policy on handling child abuse.
Critics say the policy favours secrecy and the redemption of the sinner at the expense of victims.
The policy creates "a pedophile paradise," said Bill Bowen, of Kentucky, a former senior minister with the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society, who left in protest after 43 years.
"There's a sly, devious evil that's happening ... and Witnesses are not even aware of it," said Bowen, who launched a victim support group in 2000 called Silent Lambs.
Clive Thomas, spokesman for the Canadian church, said the accusations are unfair. While the church is concerned about the spiritual well-being of abusers, he said, "We care about children. We do not condone or take a soft view of child sexual abuse or any other abuse."
Bowen said he's already heard from more than 5,000 victims of abuse since he set up his Web site (www.silentlambs.org/).
The church keeps a database of all members accused of abuse at its world headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y. Bowen said church sources have told him the database holds more than 23,700 names from the U.S., Canada and Europe. The church admits the database exists, but won't give a specific tally, saying only that the number is much lower.
Some of the victims' stories -- of betrayal and coverups at the hands of church leaders -- have grabbed headlines in the U.S. and Britain. Bowen said the American church is facing seven lawsuits over the handling of claims of abuse.
As The Toronto Sun has learned, the Canadian church is not immune to the growing scandal.
A New Brunswick woman is scheduled to take the stand in a Toronto court next week in her lawsuit against the Canadian branch and two elders over allegations they concealed abuse she suffered when she approached them years later as an adult. The church denies the allegations.
The Canadian church also keeps a database. Though Thomas wouldn't say how many are on it, he confirmed 12 abusers have been identified in Ontario in the last two years.
In his book, Father's Touch, Donald D'Haene describes how he was repeatedly sodomized, fondled and abused in what his father called "a game."
In 1973, a family member shared the secret with an elder in the family's Jehovah's Witness congregation in Aylmer. Following church protocol, elders investigated and spoke to the D'Haene children. The questions they asked were "cold, blunt, and matter of fact," D'Haene, 41, recalls in the book.
His father confessed. The elders announced to the congregation that he was "disfellowshipped," or excommunicated from the church, but no reason was given. D'Haene's mom was also publicly rebuked for failing to come to church leaders.
No one called police or Children's Aid.
Donald D'Haene went to police several years later. In 1982, his father was convicted of three counts of gross indecency for what the judge called "indescribably vile acts."
"Religion doesn't create monsters," D'Haene said. "Monsters use religion."
Winnipeg's Shirley Hardiman was 11 in 1963 when she says her mom's boyfriend sexually abused her. Her mom reported it to elders of their Montreal congregation.
"They told my mother to keep it quiet, to send me away," she says.
Hardiman spent the next five years in foster care until she was reunited with her mother at age 16. Her abuser, who died 10 years ago, was never reprimanded by the church, she said.
"There's this really strong belief that you can not do or say anything that brings shame on the organization," said Hardiman, 50, who now works as an abuse counsellor.
Times have changed. Church elders in Canada are required by law to report allegations of sexual abuse to authorities and were ordered by the church in 1988 to comply with the law.
"We abhor the molestation of children," the church says in a press release. "It is not just a terrible sin but also a crime ... We do not protect any perpetrator of such repugnant acts."
While secular authorities are notified of allegations, the abuse is also investigated internally by elders, who are considered administrators of God's law.
Elders are required first to contact church headquarters in Georgetown, where a lawyer instructs them on how to handle the allegations. Two elders are then appointed to investigate. Family members, the victim and the accused are interviewed, sometimes together, and explicit detail is sought.
If the accused denies the abuse happened, the charge is dropped unless another witness can corroborate the story.
That rule is based on the Biblical book of Deuteronomy: "No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin."
In effect, the child's accusation is dismissed unless another person saw the abuse or another child comes forward with an allegation against the same church member.
"We are bound by the scriptures," Thomas said. "But we would still report it to the authorities with only one witness" so the victim gets "the protection of the secular authorities."
But abuse is seldom reported in jurisdictions where there is no mandatory reporting requirement, Bowen said.
If the pedophile confesses the sin, he is punished, often by disfellowship. A permanent confidential record is kept by the elders and the Georgetown office is notified. But the congregation is never told of the crime -- only the punishment.
Family members and the victim are also forbidden from talking about abuse to other congregation members.
Disfellowship, or excommunication, involves being shunned by the community and family for at least a year. The shunned member is still expected to attend meetings.
Should a pedophile move to another congregation, elders there are notified and records transferred.
Thomas said elders must protect the privacy of an accused, especially if he has repented, but are instructed to carefully monitor him and prevent him from being alone with kids.
Bowen, who was excommunicated last month after being found guilty of "causing divisions," decried the process, noting the cloak of secrecy allows pedophiles to go door to door "witnessing" without anyone but the elders in the know. The requirement of two witnesses is ridiculous in cases of sex abuse, he said. And though elders may be well-meaning, they aren't trained to question or handle victims, he said.
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
# A Christian sect with 6 million members (110,000 in Canada).
# Founded in the 1870s as a Bible study group by Pastor Charles Taze Russell.
# Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas or Easter. They believe Armageddon is imminent and that they will survive.
# Witnesses believe taking blood into the body through the mouth or veins violates God's law, and thus they shun blood transfusions.
# They will not swear allegiance to any organization or nation. As a result, Witnesses will not join the armed forces, sing the national anthem, vote in elections or run for public office.
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I will post more soon.
Edited by - UnDisfellowshipped on 2 September 2002 7:19:17