I have read some of what is being said about the Ray Franz/Bill Bowen incident. I did not read the first post by Bill Bowen and only came to know about it recently, but from what I have read things are blown out of proportion. The mistake that I think that is being made here is that this seems to be a Bill vs Ray fight. Well, guess what? Neither of them are God's. Neither is perfect. Why are we expecting them to be? Why does this continue to be an issue? From what I understood, Bill was sorry for the way things were said and believes Ray to be a good man.
I am so grateful that Ray Franz did the right thing and left the WTS and wrote books that have helped thousands of people. I would not have endured being ousted from the WTS the way I was if there had not been something there to help me see that it was ok because it was not "the truth" anyway. I am eternaly grateful to Ray.
I am also grateful that Bill Bowen had the courage of his convictions to stand up and say enough! of this rotten child abuse policy. When he started I am sure he did not know how big this would get. Many of us had talked about the problems of abuse before, but he made it an organized effort. He got the publicity we need to get things changed. He also helped MANY that were hanging on as witnesses see that there are some REALLY big problems with the WTS. Bill did not do this alone. He had a lot of help. But he got it started. I am eternaly grateful to Bill.
BUT, THE BIGGEST ISSUE TO ME IS THIS: Now we have people arguing that child abuse is not a bigger issue amoung JWs than it is elsewere sothey believe that Bill and Silentlambs have no cause to make a big deal of it. BULLSH*T! That is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard! Lets put aside whether or not the problem is bigger with JWs than other religions. In fact, lets just say for aguements sake (though I don't believe it) that the problem is less prevelant amoung JWs. Does that make the issue less important???!!!!! Isn't it true that one child hurt by a bad policy is one too many??! I am not a Catholic and therefore I have no info on abuse amoung Catholic's other than what is on the news. I am not and have never been a member of another religion. I HAVE been a JW and I DO know about the problems there FIRST HAND. I have a VERY dear friend who was abused by her "annointed" step-dad for many years. I was told BY THE ELDERS that they could not help and that I was not to go to social services. I was 15 and I listened to the elders. Bad policy prevented this from being reported to the authorities. She was sexually & physically abused for 3 years after that. I could tell you several other stories. I personally know 8 people now that were abused by 3 different elders or "annointed".
If I were a member of another religion that had a bad policy on abuse I would be vocal about that. But I happen to have been raised a JW and am VERY vocal about the bad policies of the WTS. Let us not get consumed in a stupid argument. Let us each fight for whatever cause has affected us the most and let others do the same.
Many have been hurt by the blood policy.Others have been hurt by the shunning. Whatever the cause, just because they focus on that, don't accuse them of not caring about child abuse. (I think that is where Bill made a mistake. Ray focused on other things) Let us all pull together and understand the hurt we have each been through and try to support each other. I know that it is not reasonable to think we will all agree all the time, but it just seems silly to let our focus turn to some stupid statements that have been made by imperfect people. Lets move forward and focus on the important issues.
Just my thoughts, for what they are worth.....
Laurie Fitzwater
