Well - I had been wanting to do this for a long time , to question a legal department representative at Bethel about the child abuse settlements and JW child abuse, since last year when the news came out about it. Especially since my dad , an elder for years was never aware of it and has on his own taken steps to see that families with children are informed if a former pedophile is in their congregation. I was curious as to what the current views and policies in place are . Plus I had questions I wanted answers to. You know, inquiring minds want to know !
So on the phone to Bethel I was transferred to the legal desk or department. I acted as an interested relative whose dad was an elder. I talked with a representative who had been in the organization 40 years - ( he made sure to let me know ) . Immediately I cut to the chase , I asked , " My dad, an elder in your church was never informed of the Watchtower child abuse settlements , as the rest of your people weren't - may I ask what the reason was they were not informed ? He heard about it like everyone else, the NBC news report. " The rep said, " Well, we here at Bethel didn't know it was going to be broadcast till the day before ! We at Bethel weren't too upset about it because the media slanted it " bigger than it was " and we figured there was no reason to inform congregations as they'd see the news reports and we felt the elders didn't need to hear about it. "
I said, " Well, I feel felony child abuse going on in your church is a pretty important thing to inform at least your elders about ! Your website says your organization, " hates and deplores child abuse ", but from what I saw in the news reports with the victims being silenced , it does not seem to me that the Watchtower was too concerned about the victims , but more on saving their reputation in the eyes of the public with an out of court settlement , which they did not inform members of ! " I continued , " I talked with another elder who said the elders had been informed to " not discourage " congregation members from going to the police if they knew of child abuse happening. " So I asked the rep, " What is the societies official policy on elders reporting it ? " The rep said, " When we get reports of child abuse we tell elders to immediately report it to our legal department so we can advise them if they are in a reporting state , or non- reporting state as required by law. Then we get details as to where the pedophile lives, what congregation they are in , and any other pertinent information. "
I said , " Shouldn't you report it to the police first ? What happens if the child gets molested again in your lag time between the elders communicating with your legal department ? " He said, " Well, in legally required states we'd report it , but even still, some families don't want to go to the police with the child abuse allegations out of embarrassment . " I stood my ground, continuing" But still , there is a crime being committed here and your elders have a moral obligation to protect these children they are supposed to look after as shepherds " . Then he stated, " Well, the reason some states don't have mandatory reporting laws is because those states don't have as many cases of child abuse. " Typical JW evasion of the issues at hand. He continued, " We get calls all the time from someone who was molested 30 years ago by a grandfather in some remote congregation , and the grandfather would just as soon not talk about it ". This statement floored me ! I told him, " Well, pedophiles use fear to intimidate their victims ! Sometimes victims won't come forward because their lives were threatened or told they would be physically harmed . That is why many stay silent ! Fear of reprisal ! " He sheepishly agreed .
Then he started bragging about the witnesses track record in dealing with child abuse - compared to other religions ! He stated, " Most churches don't do half the things we do to prevent child abuse ! We disfellowship child abusers and some are sent to jail ! " I told him, " I disagree, the Catholics at least openly apologized to the victims last summer publicly after settling the $ 600,000,000 lawsuits with them. At least they acknowledged their liability. I have seen no such remorse from the Watchtower society. Your religion tried to hide it by settling out of court ! " He said, " There was no hint the victims felt compelled to settle ! They were not victimized again ! " I said, " Well, they probably didn't have the financial means to continue going at it in the courts like you did with your Watchtower attorneys ! And, what child abuse victims want to keep bringing the acts up over and over again for years in court ? I'd want to settle too, just to get it done with ! "
So, I left him with the statement, " I feel the Watchtower society has NOT informed your elders or your people enough information about these child abuse cases. You keep them under " information control". I would have a really hard time trusting your organization because you keep too many facts secret that elders and others need to know. I'll talk with my dad and let him know what you told me today . " He told me I could write a letter to the society , but I said, " Thanks . I think you've let me know enough ! " So, I invite your thoughts and comments here. Always look forward to your input ! Same story , different day , they are concerned about appearance, not the victims of child abuse. Sorry this was long, but thanks for reading ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper