Will Jehovah's Witnesses ever follow the lead of Roman Catholics in New York and encourage members to report child sex abuse to police?

by Sol Reform 8 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  Sol Reform

  And will they copy Catholics by banning all child molesters from serving in Kingdom Halls?
  
  A spokesman for Dolan (Cardinal Timothy Dolan, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops ) said in an e-mail that the Archdiocese of New York has had a policy for years that encourages those with allegations of abuse to report them to civil authorities, and that here are no known abusers serving in the dioceses.
  
  http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/208528911.html
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  Big Mama

  I doubt anything any religious, or political organization says.....but especially Jehovah's Witnesses. What relationship does light have with darkenss? They are all dark and self-serving. Can a leopard changes it's spots?? Only when it dies and decays.
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  whathappened

  The Watchtower Society thinks it is God's earthly visible organization and will never bow to the pressure of mortal man (unless it's going to cost them a lot of $$$$$).
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  Vidiot

  Sol Reform - "Will Jehovah's Witnesses ever follow the lead of Roman Catholics in New York and encourage members to report child sex abuse to police?"

  If they did, they sure as hell wouldn't admit where they got the idea from (despite the similarities between the RCC and WTS). They sort of tried it back in the 90s, but as Barb Anderson put it, they "opened Pandora's Box" and an absolute shitload of allegations started flowing in.

  The WTS has been trying unsuccessfully to put the lid back on ever since.

  Sol Reform - "And will they copy Catholics by banning all child molesters from serving in Kingdom Halls?"

  These days, fewer and fewer "qualified" males are interested in having positions of responsibility in JW congregations (it's just too much frickin' work for too little return); I suspect the WTS is scared that if they issued a blanket ban on all former/accused/confessed child molesters serving in Kingdom Halls, they'd have an even worse shortage. Remember the "we will determine who is a known offender" decree that was leaked last fall? It's not too much of a stretch to think they're connected.

  I mentioned this in another thread, but it bears repeating;

  The institutionalized sexual victimization of young members is a virtually universal (and pretty much incurable) aspect of authoritarian high control groups (religious or otherwise); it is one of their primary defining characteristics (another is general administrative incompetance).

  The only groups that seem to avoid it are ones that fully utilize fiscal and policy transparency, the democratic process, and a respect for authentic science and history, i.e. the very opposite of how authoritarian high control groups function.

  If the Watchtower tried implementing those kind of reforms at this stage in the game (yeah, right), the Org wouldn't survive the chaos that would inevitably follow, and they know it (consciously or otherwise); they would arguably no longer be Jehovah's Witnesses.

  They're at the stage now where they're just going to circle the wagons, cull the herd, weather the storm, and hope that the Big A comes to bail them out.
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  ABibleStudent

  NO, because the WTBTS uses BITE control techniques (i.e., points a Shun Gun at the mind of every JW) to victimize JWs and does not care about helping JWs.

  At least the Catholic Chuch in the last ~ 100 years has tried to help Catholics more than victimize them, but Church leaders care more to protect the image of the Church instead of help victims of child abuse and molestation.

  I feel that all organizations should have a vision of empowering members to achieve their maximum potential more than protecting the image of the organization. Any organization that had that type of vision would have people pounding on their doors to be members.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
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  zeb

  "we will determine who is a known offender..".

  Is this 'logic' a hangover from the wt pro-nazi thinking of earlier days? I mention this as Goering the head of the Luftwaffe employed known Jews in some high department. When he was challenged over this he stated "I will decide who is Jew and who is not." please anyone supply to actual quote if this is not actual.

  I make this observation because a Jewish person and a religiously practicing one as well is just that. And for Goering to assume divine right to decide is as arrogant and as hypocritical as the wt deciding who is a paedophile.

  And no in the tiniest way am i making any criticism of the Jewish faith nor its people and I hope heartedly that any jewish folk reading this will see this.

  Paedophiles? .....7.62.
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  Vidiot

  Holy shit; I didn't know that about Goering...

  And I got the quote a bit wrong; it was "we will decide who is a known predator"... same principle, though.
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  wha happened?

  Never, never, and never will the Ivory tower encourage any disclosure of it's organization. Any and all publishers can and will be the sacrificial lamb. They view any outsider as from the devil and a liar.
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  NeverKnew

  I completely agree with Vidiot on this one.