by silentlambs 44 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Maximus is right. Barbara is going to do such a great job, and already has, really. She is such a great, elegant, humble lady, and really, really funny too. And pretty, and lots of fun. We just enjoy her so much.
I am glad the cat is out of the bag, and we can talk about her now. Whew!! I just can't wait for the Dateline show. Go get 'em, Silentlambs!
Marilyn (a.k.a. Mulan)
Hi guys,
I've met Barbara Anderson. She took the time to listen to me, and went out of her way to help me out and give me updates on what's going on behind the scenes. When she talked she was honest and straightforward, without any hidden anger or agendas. I wish her all the best in her fight.
Jer.
I've done some checking around and I found some interesting things about Barbara Anderson:
She was a primary research assistant to Karl Adams for the 1993 JW history book Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (Adams has held a number of important positions in Bethel: head of Writing Dept. from early 1960s to about 1980, head of writing teams that produced Insight, Reasoning and Proclaimers books, currently a Gilead Instructor; see Crisis of Conscience for more details).
She was a research assistant to several other senior members of the Writing Dept., doing at times historical research, and research into complaints the Society received about its handling of child molestation and abuse of women by JW men. Likely this research contributed to the Society's change of policy stated in the January 1, 1997 Watchtower, where they for the first time recognized that child molestation was a serious matter and decided that a 'known molester' could no longer serve a congregation in any position of responsibility, or be a pioneer, or serve in any other special, full-time service (of course, the Society still gets around this 'rule' by keeping the definition of "known molester" unclear; a man can be convicted in court of multiple molestations but if a group of elders decides that the evidence that led to conviction is not 'scripturally based', they can ignore the court's findings and still appoint such a molester to some "special privilege").
She wrote several articles that appeared in Awake!.
AlanF
Bill and Barb are the dynamic duo!!! Bad boys bad boys what ya gonna do, what ya gonna do when they come for you?
baja
Who let the cat out the bag?
Well, I'm certainly glad that others have straightened out my thinking! Btw, I did enjoy the chapters of the book by Barbara Grizutti Harrison on Freeminds - still a good book.
Last year, when I came to the web - it was a New World. I found the major sites - the clicks to each other are great for newbies. I read for hours into the night.
Through a personal problem dealing with my incestuous background on a website, I came into contact with a marvelously warm woman, whose husband was an active elder - and she was incredibly knowledgeable of the problem of incest, due to being a previous researcher for WTBTS.
I believe she was the primary researcher for the incest article in the Awake! which had the woman looking into a mirror at a young girl. That group of articles was the first to my memory that dealt with the problem intelligently, and politely head-on. Sisters in my area bought up dozens of extra ones because they ran into the problem in the congregation and in our area so frequently. The articles didn't delve deeply - but touched necessary bases, such as the book titles to read more deeply about this subject. A new idea for the WTBTS - giving other books and authors for references.
Anyway, this gentle woman helped me with a personal situation on the web - and then we went our separate ways. I was never told her real name....but she's impossible to forget.
I have a suspicion we're talking about the same woman here - and I'm delighted for she's a great one to have defending people hurt by others - and then covered up by the WTBTS.
waiting
ps: Btw, what's her husband think about this, if it's ok to ask?
.
bluesapphire,
: Farkel, I take it this is the "big thing" that you talked about on old H2O that had me all crazy for so long. You were right! It is BIG, BIG, BIG!
Yep. For the record though, although I've been privy to much information on this issue, I've actually had very little to do with the actual implementation of it. I did a little "promoting" and that's about it. For all you naysayers over the last year, "I TOLD you so!"
It's almost SHOW TIME, folks!
Farkel
Barbara Anderson, part of a group fighting clergy-based sex crimes, is one of about 20 advocates from around the country who traveled to Adams County for the trial to lend support to Rodriguez. Anderson previously worked as a research assistant in the Jehovah's Witnesses New York headquarters. She said she gave the Dateline news show, which had a crew covering the Beliz trial, documentation describing how the church's leadership is well aware of sexual child abuse within its organization and helps cover it up. The Dateline show plans to air a program this fall detailing how the organization deals with child abuse.
Though no journalist by profession, I think that in the business this is known as "burying the lead." This bombshell needs to be peeled out of this thread and posted as its own. I fear many may be missing its import as the subject line is obscure (and not very distinguishable from a few previous on the same subject) and the Herald article very long before this neon blinks at you. Nobody who ever visits this site and/or has been waiting with bated breath over the months- (years-?) long buildup should miss this temblor.
Just a suggestion.
-AMNESIAN
waiting: how interesting if that were true.
imagine how confusing it must be for Writing to have someone research these human interest awake articles, the same articles that they say receive more favourable mail than any others, mail gushing over how well the society looks after us, adapting to our current needs. and then have the researcher leave the WT because of their research that produced these acclaimed articles.
on the one hand, the publishers say that these are the articles they want to read but the people that write them say that this is not the organization that should be publishing them! cant go forward - cant go backward.
mox
Amnesian, not to worry--all in due time. Barbara is doubtless uncomfortable about being in any spotlight, but she is one committed grandmother and ready to do whatever she has to. Obviously she does not want the issue to become Sister Anderson.
: Bill and Barb are the dynamic duo!!!
Nice characterization, but you will find that Barbara is very much her own person--er, woman--as Bill is his own man--an honest elder who came to his own conclusions.
Think of it, the Society was reduced to sending out some bogus camera crew to interview Bill's own parents to testify against him in a foolish attempt to water down the issue. That smart move backfired. Watch for other clumsy attempts to discredit.
Can you see why the Society has such a problem on its hands? These are plain folks whose conscience and honesty are out there for all to see! Certainly they are on the side of the angels in this issue.
Waiting, it's a joy to see you get stronger and healthier with the passage of time. In answer to your question, as I described above, Brother Anderson is a very loyal elder with an outstanding reputation. He does see the policy problem in connection with child molestation, but then so do many, many honest-hearted elders.
AlanF, once more I see you do your homework exceedingly well.
Maximus
