Jehovah's Witnesses
Once again the BBC has shown a documentary about the all too common problem of pedophiles operating in institutions.
Tonights Panorama program dealt with Jehovahs Witnesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
This week an elder was jailed in Britain for 5 years for assaults on 2 boys, but this was just one of the rare cases where a degree of justice is done.
The program talked with a former J.W. who had worked in the New York headquarters and had resigned due to the inaction of the organisation when dealing with S.A.
Bill Bowen claimed, with confidence, that the J.W. had a database with 23,720 names on it, all church members accused of, or admitting to, sexualy abusing children. Even those who ADMIT to it are hidden away by the church elders.
The victims and survivors of the abuse who were interviewed told the same story consistantly, that the elders would not believe them when told.
These victims and their mothers were so gripped by the power of the church that reporting the abuse to the police was not an option open to them.
The elders require 2 witnesses to any misdeed before taking action against a church member. Especially men, who are in charge and hold enormous power over women and children.
How often is there a witness to sex abuse ?
The attitude of the J.W. seems to be that the reputation of the church must be preserved at all costs, indeed, when one man was found guilty in court of several offences of SA, violence etc against his daughters and jailed for many years the church still maintained he was innocent and continued to support him, because there weren't 2 witnesses to the actual incidents taking place.
The hypocrisy of the elders interviwed was staggering, and next time they knock on my door the polite refusal of their services I've given in the past isn't likely to happen !!
Lloydy
Tonights Panorama program dealt with Jehovahs Witnesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
This week an elder was jailed in Britain for 5 years for assaults on 2 boys, but this was just one of the rare cases where a degree of justice is done.
The program talked with a former J.W. who had worked in the New York headquarters and had resigned due to the inaction of the organisation when dealing with S.A.
Bill Bowen claimed, with confidence, that the J.W. had a database with 23,720 names on it, all church members accused of, or admitting to, sexualy abusing children. Even those who ADMIT to it are hidden away by the church elders.
The victims and survivors of the abuse who were interviewed told the same story consistantly, that the elders would not believe them when told.
These victims and their mothers were so gripped by the power of the church that reporting the abuse to the police was not an option open to them.
The elders require 2 witnesses to any misdeed before taking action against a church member. Especially men, who are in charge and hold enormous power over women and children.
How often is there a witness to sex abuse ?
The attitude of the J.W. seems to be that the reputation of the church must be preserved at all costs, indeed, when one man was found guilty in court of several offences of SA, violence etc against his daughters and jailed for many years the church still maintained he was innocent and continued to support him, because there weren't 2 witnesses to the actual incidents taking place.
The hypocrisy of the elders interviwed was staggering, and next time they knock on my door the polite refusal of their services I've given in the past isn't likely to happen !!
Lloydy