I'm with Naeb on this one. Violet, I had this roommate a couple of years ago who was German. One day, we were watching a program on the Hollocaust and he said, "You know it was a great lie. Millions of Jews didn't die. It was more like 1 million." Not only was that his own propaganda agenda, I thought that was unbelievably insensitive. How different is that then you suggesting, well, 'cause the Society didn't screw up in my case, your stories of abuse...might be exaggerated, might be based on personal agenda, might be motivated by hatred for the Witnesses...you fill in the blank.
At the very least your words are insensitive to this survivor. Apology accepted.
NOW IS THE TIME TO ROAR SILENTLAMBS!
by silentlambs 26 Replies latest jw friends
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morrisamb
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Klaus Vollmer
on the watch below the tower
silentlambs with open eyes
while the chiefs from ivory tower
do the child molest denieasking for each 2nd witness
who nowhere exists in crime
as the one who injures children
does not pay there any dimegive them answer, loud with power
cry the roar as lions can
show those actors in the tower
children need practical mennot such spiritual molesters
who support white collar crime
we want Moses back who justes
soul killers with the right fine.thousends silent lambs are crying
whats the spiritual paradise?
more and more stand up just sighing
are we lost? where is the wise?we need righteousness and freedom
we need yet the helping hand
we need protection from molestion
ivory tower leave your standrecognize the facts that melt us
recognize the present time
recognize your past reaction
it was worth not any dime -
sf
Bravo Klaus!
Bill...why won't some papers and news media touch this? I still cannot get my local nws to get anything printed...nothing has appeared thusfar.
sKally
Too many 'lambs'! -
Amazing
Excellent Bill! The tiem has finally come to see this issue get the attention is deserves ... may many more step forward, and seek justice. Thanks again.
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sadiejive
This is great!!!! I am so happy for those who are finally feeling like they can actually have a voice and know that they are not alone!
Violet, I was abused as a child...although I wasn't abused by a member of the WTS I still feel joy for ANYONE who has suffered abuse and has found the strength to stand up to their oppressors...and I am thankful that there are those (such as Bill Bowen) who are willing to help them.
SF, I've had the same dilemma. I mentioned it to my mother and she made the point that some of the smaller, local papers may fear lawsuits, more so than the larger media sources.
Sadie
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silentlambs
Dare I say run wt run?
Leader of Jehovah's Witness congregation charged with sexual abuse
05/21/2002
Associated Press NewswiresCHASE, Md. (AP) - Police have charged a former leader of a Jehovah's Witness congregation in Chase with sexually abusing three women who say the congregation discouraged them from reporting the abuse.
David R. Shumaker, 39, of Felton, Pa., will be tried July 15 in Baltimore County Circuit Court on several sex offense counts and one count of attempted rape. The incidents allegedly occurred between 1974 and 1984.
At the time, the women were children and teen-agers in the congregation and Shumaker was a ministerial servant, according to court papers.
Shumaker's lawyer, Michael Pate, declined to comment.
Assistant State's Attorney Kevin Barth, the prosecutor assigned to the case, also declined to comment.
County police charged Shumaker with repeatedly molesting one of the women and performing oral sex on another at his father's house.
Shumaker, whose father is a longtime member of the congregation and is now an elder who oversees church matters, also is accused of improperly touching a third woman.
"I would tell him that I was going to tell," one woman is quoted as telling police in a four-page statement of charges. "He would twist my arm and tell me that no one would believe me, and that I liked it."
One of the women said in an interview Monday that when she and the others reported the abuse in the mid-1980s, the church's all-male group of elders refused to believe them and banished them from the congregation.
All three women, who now range in age from 29 to 31, have quit the church, she said, after years of being ostracized by the congregation and its members for making the allegations.
"They had this rule that you need a corroborating witness," the woman told the The (Baltimore) Sun. "How are you going to have a witness to sex abuse? It was like no one wanted to believe us."
David Semonian, a spokesman for the church at its Brooklyn headquarters, said that when a member comes forward with an accusation of abuse, two elders meet with the accuser and then with the accused to see if the complaint is valid.
"We do look for some corroborating evidence," he said. "The Bible directs that no single witness should rise up against any man."
Semonian said that he is unsure what policies the Jehovah's Witnesses followed when the women complained in the 1980s, but he said the church has become "very aggressive" in protecting children from abuse.
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detective
Bill,
I'm from Massachusetts and I don't know of any newspaper named the Boston Sun. Can you confirm the name of the newspaper?Our major newspapers are the Boston Globe, Boston Herald and to a much lesser extent, The Boston Phoenix.
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silentlambs
Sorry Baltimore Sun corrected link-
. http://www.sunspot.net/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=bal%2Dmd%2Ejehovahs21may21
Another church facing charges of sexual abuse
Former Jehovah's Witness leader to be tried on sex offenses, attempted rape; Congregation is in Chase; 3 accusers, now 29 to 31, claim incidents occurred between 1974 and 1984
By Dennis O'Brien
Sun StaffMay 21, 2002
In a case similar to those troubling the Archdiocese Of Baltimore, police have charged a former leader of a Jehovah's Witness congregation in Chase with sexually abusing three women who say the congregation discouraged them from reporting the abuse and shunned them when they spoke out about it.
David R. Shumaker, 39, of Felton, Pa., will be tried July 15 in Baltimore County Circuit Court on several sex offense counts and one count of attempted rape in a series of incidents that allegedly occurred between 1974 and 1984, when the women were child and teen-age members of the Jehovah's Witness congregation and Shumaker was a ministerial servant, according to papers in Circuit Court.
Shumaker's lawyer, Michael Pate, declined to comment yesterday.
Assistant State's Attorney Kevin Barth, the prosecutor assigned to the case, also declined to comment.
But in court papers, county police charge Shumaker with repeatedly molesting one of the women and performing oral sex on another at his father's house in the 11000 block of Raphael Road in Kingsville between 1976 and 1984.
Shumaker, whose father is a longtime member of the congregation and is now an elder who oversees church matters, also is accused of improperly touching a third woman while they were swimming and tubing on the Little Gunpowder Falls near Philadelphia Road in the mid-1970s.
"I would tell him that I was going to tell," one woman is quoted as telling police in a four-page statement of charges. "He would twist my arm and tell me that no one would believe me, and that I liked it."
The Sun does not identify alleged victims of sexual abuse.
Report in 1980s
One of the women said in an interview yesterday that when she and the others reported abuse in the mid-1980s, the church's all-male group of elders refused to believe them and banished them from the congregation.
All three women, who now range in age from 29 to 31, have quit the church, she said, after years of being ostracized by the congregation and its members for making the allegations.
"They had this rule that you need a corroborating witness," said the woman, 30, who lives in Harford County. "How are you going to have a witness to sex abuse? It was like no one wanted to believe us."
Research on claims
Bill Bowen, a former Jehovah's Witness elder from Benton, Ky., who has been studying how the church handles abuse complaints for several years, said his research shows the women's experience is fairly common.
Members of the close-knit organization, known for its door-to-door evangelism, are encouraged to report abuse to congregation elders first, Bowen said.
If elders determine that abuse has taken place, their first call is to the church's legal department at its headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y., he said. The lawyers often then decide whether to report it to authorities, Bowen said.
"They're worried about getting sued," he said.
Bowen said that the church holds tremendous power over its members, and being asked to leave the church is like being "stoned to death spiritually. They have an absolute ironclad hold over their membership and they control their lives."
When the women made the allegations, all three were banished, and no church member was allowed contact.
Church spokesman
David Semonian, a spokesman for the church at its Brooklyn headquarters, said that when a member comes forward with an accusation of abuse, two elders meet with the accuser and then with the accused to see if the complaint is valid.
"We do look for some corroborating evidence," he said. "The Bible directs that no single witness should rise up against any man."
Semonian said that he is unsure what policies the Jehovah's Witnesses followed when the women complained in the 1980s, but he said the church has become "very aggressive" in protecting children from abuse.
'Do not discourage'
"Jehovah's Witnesses do not discourage anyone from reporting child abuse or sex abuse to the authorities," Semonian said. "We would not do that. The Christian congregation does not take the place of the civil authorities."
Bowen said that members convicted of child abuse are sometimes later sent out for door-to-door proselytizing.
"That's just what I want - a child abuser knocking on my door," he said.
But Semonian said that anyone guilty of molestation is barred from holding positions of responsibility and that if he is sent door-to-door, he is not allowed to have any unsupervised contact with children.
Semonian said that dismissal of a member is a last resort for those who become a danger to the church.
"It's not that we're kicking someone out," he said. "It's an arrangement by God to keep the congregation from harmful influences."
Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun
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outnfree
So has JR Brown been removed from his position after having stuck his foot in his mouth so many times? We only seem to hear from "Brother" Semonian now! And Brother Semonian would do well to answer "no comment" until he can check policies Jehovah's Witnesses would have followed in the 1980's when the young women complained. OH!!!! Are those policies essentially unchanged?????!!!!! (I thought so!)
Detective,
I think Bill may have gotten Baltimore and Boston mixed up. The Chase, Maryland AP story above likely ran in the Baltimore Sun.
Can we say sleep-deprived?!!!
outnfree
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ChiChiMama
detective,
Here you go.
* http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-jehovahs21.story?coll=bal%2Dlocal%2DheadlinesChiChi