Anyone heard of Watchtower policy change concerning pedophiles

by Robert_V_Frazier 203 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Robert_V_Frazier

  I'm passing this along from someone else on another discussion board. The claim of any substantive change in the policy on pedophiles is news to me. Can anybody verify or falsify this claim? Thanks in advance! Robert V Frazier

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  From gratefuldude: My brother is a jw and we had some interesting discussions about the policy of reporting of sexual abuse and particularly pedophiles in the congregation.
  
  My brother questioned an elder about the two witness rule that they use to determine if one has been abused.If a child for example accuses an elder or member of abusing her/him, the elders interrogate the victim and say essentially if you do not have two witnesses and the pedophile denies it, there is noting they can do. And if one tries to warn the others in the congregation that abuse has taken place, they stand a good chance of being disfellowshipped.
  
  According to my brother, after a meeting where the speaker mentioned the sins of the Catholic Church concerning hiding the abuse and moving the abuser; my brother asked him how they could condemn the Catholics while they were doing the same things. My brother saw the television documentaries and was aware of the payouts and hush money to the victims.
  
  I don't recall the elders answer but my brother called me with good news and said because the WT had to pay out so much money they now reported to the police each occurrence of abuse and dis-allowed pedophiles from going door to door. I suspected this New Light was meant to shut my brother up. I can't see them admitting they were wrong all of these years and having to apologise to the victims.?? I also found it interesting that their reason for changing this policy was due to law suits and not because it was the right thing to do.
  
  So does anyone know if the two witness rule is still their policy? If it has been changed has their been a public statement to let the members know.? And last but not least wouldn't a change that would require the police to investigate all abuse allegations mean their two witness rule was wrong and therefore the Bible was wrong as they interpret it.? There is much information on this subject of sexual abuse at Silent Lambs if anyone is interested. . Thanks for any information one might have on this subject.
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  Big Tex

  To the best of my very limited knowledge, there has been no change.

  The most recent change came a few years ago when Legal mandated elders, after calling Legal first, report the matter to the police only in states where it is legally required that they do so. Other states they are instructed not to report.

  As for the two witness rule, again to the best of my limited knowledge, it still sadly exists.
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  sir82

  because the WT had to pay out so much money they now reported to the police each occurrence of abuse and dis-allowed pedophiles from going door to door.

  In theory, this is sort of the case.

  If someone is a "known pedophile", there is always supposed to be someone with him when he goes door to door - he's not supposed to go to a door alone.

  The problem is:

  (1) it is unenforceable, since usually only elders know who is a pedophile in the congregation - and if a pedophile is out in service and no elder is present, is he really going to volunteer the information?

  (2) Even if enforced, what's to prevent a pedophile from memorizing where a potential victim is & going back later?

  Regarding reporting: If elders learn of an allegation of abuse, if they live in one of the 30-odd states in the US that require clergy to report it, the WT Legal department will advise them to report it - anonymously, from a phone booth. If they live in a non-reporting state, they are told by WT Legal that they don't have to report it.

  So does anyone know if the two witness rule is still their policy?

  For congregation action, i.e., disfellowshipping, yes, absolutely
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  angel eyes

  yes it has to be two or more witnesses. It isnt the elders who say that,we should remember its from Jehovah,we live in an imperfect world,and please dont think im preaching because i totally understand where your coming from and dont like the idea either,but love for Jehovah helps me to see that even if we have to endure and suffer,Jehovah WILL step in and deal with things.

  Honestly you cant imagine how close to my heart this topic is so please please dont think i dont understand :)
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  isaacaustin

  umm excuse me. You sound like quite an enabler of pedophilia! The leadership of the JWs (aka the governing body) hides and protects pedophiles to protect the name of the organization. It has nothing to do with Jehovah, except maybe the wt version of who he is. This '2 witness rule' is not from Jehovah, it is from a self-proclaimed channel fo truth that is nothing more then a bunch of old men running the scene thru cultic control- with quite a tainted history of false prophecy and dangerous, wrong teachings.
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  sir82

  It isnt the elders who say that,we should remember its from Jehovah

  Jehovah doesn't accept forensic evidence?

  Doesn't that make him rather less efficient than the CSI teams on most police forces?
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  reniaa

  forensic evidence that leads to a conviction is allowed as the second witness from what I know.

  Reniaa
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  AK - Jeff

  Please confirm that absurd statement, Ren.

  Never, ever, ever, ever, ever in 40 years inside that organization did I ever read anything or hear anything that confirms that! And trust me, I read nearly every word they ever wrote from 1960 till my exit, and much of it since.

  Jeff
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  sir82

  forensic evidence that leads to a conviction is allowed as the second witness from what I know.

  Link?

  Evidence?

  Anything?

  I have never ever heard of any case like that, in 15+ years as an elder.
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  flipper

  ANGEL EYES- With all due respect to your comment - 95 % 0f the time there will NEVER be 2 or more eyewitnesses to an act of child abuse. So it is not a good barometer as to whether a child has been abused or not. Your point that " even if we have to endure and suffer , Jehovah will step in and deal with things " is quite naive and misinformed. If you look at statistics most child abuse goes unreported and children suffer sexual abuse for YEARS before ANYTHING is ever done to save them. So where is Jehovah if He really cares for their safety and welfare ? While we all " wait on Jehovah " thousands more JW children are being molested as I write this worldwide .

  That's why we as protectors of children's rights need to " help Jehovah out " by being pro-active in exposing child abusers for what they really are doing- breaking the laws of Caesar in a felonious way and assist the authorities in apprehending them so more victims won't be abused as child abusers move from congregation to congregation ! Does that make sense to you ?? Abused children's rights come first , the organizations reputation should be secondary