I wrote the following letter and will be sending it to my school board, superintendent, principals of the middle and high schools and the high school civics teachers. If anyone has any additions/corrections or wants to use it for their own school system please feel free. Writing such a letter was prompted by the post found here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/159208/1.ashx that reads:
If your child is in middle or high school, please contact his teacher or school administrator to request that his school participate in the "Community Classroom" program sponsored by PBS and the Independent Television Service.
KNOCKING has selected for "Community Classroom" and will be offered to public schools across the United States for free.
The story lines in KNOCKING have been developed into a curriculum with supporting video modules from the film. Educational content was created with guidance from the National Council for the Social Studies, the National Association for Multicultural Education and PBS Teachers. The content will use the story of Jehovah's Witnesses to educate students on civil liberties, religious tolerance, medical ethics and standing for what you believe.
For more information about how your child's school can participate, please visit this link: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/classroom/knocking.html
To request a free copy of the video modules and educational materials, contact [email protected] (Be sure to mention KNOCKING in your correspondence)
You may want to bring this to your teacher's attention now, in the final weeks of the school year, and remind him again in the fall.
FYI: The free DVD only has short segments from the film, each under 10 minutes long, that correspond with the educational curriculum to facilitate classroom discussion.
To order the film in its entirety, go to www.knocking.org KNOCKING is also available in Spanish at www.llamando.org
Please forward this information.
MY LETTER IN RESPONSE
I recently learned that excerpts of the documentary entitled “Knocking” are now being included in the Community Classroom program sponsored by PBS and the Independent Television Service and will be offered to public schools across the United States for free. The content includes the story of Jehovah's Witnesses to educate students on civil liberties, religious tolerance, medical ethics and standing for what you believe.
Our school system very well may be solicited by Jehovah's Witnesses to permit the use of “Knocking”, and I respectfully request your careful consideration of this important matter. Although Jehovah's Witnesses and their leadership known as the corporation of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society have a reputation for their litigiousness regarding freedom of religion and speech in the past, they have recently been embroiled in court cases of a different nature.
In February 2007, nine lawsuits involving 16 victims of sexual abuse were settled with Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society. A gag order was placed on the victims. For at least the past six years, child molestation within and the cover-up of such by the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses has been in the news. Please see the following links for more information:
http://www.silentlambs.org/education/multimedia.cfm
http://www.watchtowerdocuments.com/downloads/Secrets_Commentary_Version_2.pdf
Many court documents and news events prove that Jehovah's Witnesses require two witnesses when a child comes forward with allegations of molestation within the congregation. Such allegations have customarily been treated as sins instead of crimes and are only reported to authorities when it is required to do so by law, (which varies by state). It has also been shown that child molesters within the organization usually have not been identified to the congregation members or the public at large. These people engage in a door to door ministry, possibly exposing children to pedophiles. Although the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society claims that known pedophiles are accompanied by a non-pedophile in such work, there is no law stating that such a practice must be followed.
If our school system finds it beneficial to introduce children to Jehovah's Witnesses through a Watchtower Bible & Tract Society-friendly lens, I hope the school administration at least gives a well-balanced view of this organization by also discussing their current legal problems. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.