by peterstride 9 Replies latest jw friends
Hey,
I looked quickly through the posted topics, and didn't notice anything on the wired.com article, so my apologies if someone has already posted the following link:...
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,52484,00.html
(if the above link doesn't work properly, just copy and paste it into your web-browser's URL area)
The word is getting around...and around...
Peter Stride
Toronto, Canada
This story has appeared elsewhere, but it is interesting that WIRED has run it under "Business" and in the teaser for the article asks, "Did the Jehovah's Witnesses excommunicate members over a controversial website? Are websites such as Silentlambs.org fueling the current sexual abuse controversy surrounding churches?" I think that's a bit of a different spin on the story - free speech issues.
Here's the text of the WIRED story:
- - - begin - - -
Allegations Along the Watchtower
By Elisa Batista
2:00 a.m. May 25, 2002 PDT
Between the ages of 4 and 11, Erica Rodriguez was raped once a week by a member of her Jehovah's Witness congregation in Othello, a bucolic town of 5,800 in central Washington state.
Rodriguez's story and others like hers are posted on Silentlambs.org, a website launched by an ex-Jehovah's Witness who was dismayed at the lack of action taken by the congregation against members he claims are sexual predators.
"Silentlambs offers them a place to put up their stories," said William H. Bowen, the website's founder. "To put it on paper is a form of healing."
Most recently, Bowen has accused the Jehovah's Witnesses of excommunicating members whose stories were posted on Silentlambs.org.
The Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian sect of 6 million worshippers worldwide. Commitment is exhibited through a strict regimen of door-to-door evangelism and adherence to rules against blood transfusions, the celebration of secular holidays and displays of patriotism, such as saluting a flag.
The congregation denies Bowen's allegations but it has recently been in the spotlight over some of the child-abuse accusations presented on Bowen's website. There are currently two outstanding lawsuits against the congregation –- Jehovah's Witnesses do not call their religious institution a church -- for intentionally harboring child molesters.
Other religious denominations are also feeling the heat, especially the Catholic Church, which has admitted to shuffling around priests accused of sexual abuse.
Those who say they've been abused and their attorneys contend the current attention paid to sexual abuse in religious institutions is due to the courage of victims to come forward –- and not from information on websites such as Silentlambs.org, Survivorsnetwork.org, Factnet.org and Thelinkup.com. But they also say the websites have been instrumental in victims' healing.
The websites, run by people claiming abuse, offer personal and mostly anonymous stories, news articles on the current scandal in the Catholic church, legal advice, discussion boards and tips on where to go for therapy. Silentlambs.org asks for monetary donations to help victims.
Silentlambs sent Rodriguez a plane ticket from Sacramento, California, to Washington state to appear in court.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which runs the Survivorsnetwork.org site, holds informal therapy sessions –- similar to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings -– in various cities across the country.
"Those two websites (Survivorsnetwork.org and Silentlambs.org) have been enormously instrumental in giving refuge and information to survivors looking desperately for resources they can trust," said Jeffrey R. Anderson, an attorney in St. Paul, Minnesota, who has pursued 500 sexual abuse cases against churches of all denominations in the last 20 years.
Anderson is currently suing the Jehovah's Witnesses on behalf of Rodriguez.
"The sad thing is our mainline institutions -- the churches -- have not been victim-friendly," he said.
Anderson said he doesn't actively recruit clients from the websites, although its readers are often encouraged to take legal action. He has, however, found witnesses on them.
He recently subpoenaed Bowen, of Silentlambs.org, to testify in Rodriguez's case.
"He has a key understanding of the inner workings of Jehovah's Witnesses," Anderson said, referring to Bowen.
The Jehovah's Witnesses congregation, with headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, denies it has excommunicated members who have contributed to Bowen's website.
But David Semonian, spokesman for the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, admitted the group sometimes looks at the website "when necessary." He also said it attempts to "readjust (the) thinking" of those who post material critical of the religion on the Web.
"This is what the Bible directs," Semonian said. "If someone is writing or causing dissension, we would meet with them -- two elders (congregation leaders) usually -- and discuss the matter. If indeed, he were causing dissension as the book of Ecclesiastes describes it, we'd 'readjust the man in a spirit of mildness.' You'd calmly discuss it together so you can bring them back to their senses. There is no automatic excommunication. We want to keep our members."
Semonian declined to comment on Rodriguez's case.
Rodriguez, 22, recalled reporting what she claimed was regular abuse to two elders. She said they promised to "take care of it" and told her that if she told anyone else she'd be "disfellowshipped" or excommunicated.
No action was ever taken by the congregation against her perpetrator, Manuel Beliz, an elder.
A few years ago, Rodriguez reported the abuse to Sacramento police. Beliz was tried and convicted of raping her. He is currently serving an 11-year sentence in a Washington prison.
Rodriguez is now seeking damages against the Jehovah's Witnesses, charging it knowingly harbored a child molester, she said. Anderson said the Othello congregation violated a mandatory child abuse reporting law in Washington.
"A lot of pain and suffering could be prevented if they would forget about the church's image, take sexual abuse seriously and start reaching out to the victims," Rodriguez said.
- - - end - - -
- Nathan Natas
UADNA (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America)
Hopefully this will get on Slashdot! Then there will be a STORM of controversy amongst the tech literati!
"Vaccination has never saved a human life. It does not prevent smallpox." The Golden Age, Feb 4 1931 p. 293-4 - The Sacredness of Human Blood (Reasons why vaccination is unscriptural)
The Jehovah's Witnesses congregation, with headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, denies it has excommunicated members who have contributed to Bowen's website.But David Semonian, spokesman for the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, admitted the group sometimes looks at the website "when necessary." He also said it attempts to "readjust (the) thinking" of those who post material critical of the religion on the Web.
I always knew the WTS was monitoring "apostate" sites. Now were have a clear admission from their own spokesman.
Whoa, there a minute, DocBob!!!
www.silentlambs.org is run by Brother William H. Bowen!
Bill's not disfellowshipped yet!
outnfree
I despise that term that has floated around the WTS for so many years. "Re-adjust thinking". They don't discipline...oh no, it's to "re-adjust thinking". They don't lie, they "re-adjust thinking". They don't put people under any form of mental duress...it's to "re-adjust thinking".
So, should I see a governing body member walking down the street, can I kick him in the pants? I mean, afterall...I'm trying to "re-adjust" his thinking. :P
D8TA
I would say....kick him! Hee hee
Peter
"This is what the Bible directs," Semonian said. "If someone is writing or causing dissension, we would meet with them -- two elders (congregation leaders) usually -- and discuss the matter. If indeed, he were causing dissension as the book of Ecclesiastes describes it, we'd 'readjust the man in a spirit of mildness.' You'd calmly discuss it together so you can bring them back to their senses. There is no automatic excommunication. We want to keep our members."
Sounds like a unilateral definition of discussion and dissension to me.
…You'd calmly discuss it together so you can bring them back to their senses…If the table was turned, what recourse does the man have if he actually had a point and the ‘thinking’ of those running the ‘judicial hearing’ required an adjustment? None, and few if any revenue generators (uninformed Jehovah’s Witnesses) would ever know if the man had a valid grievance or not.
Sounds more like a behind closed doors, employee/management hearing prior to the announcement that the former individual is fired from a Corporation for potentially exposing the Corporation of burying dangerous engineering practices than a cosmically sanctioned, loving arrangement designed on the behalf of and for the betterment of 'lost' mankind.
Theocracy - a parasitic dictatorship that thrives, buried deep inside a democracy.
Flip
What gets me is that the WTS says that TWO elders will get together to re-adust the person....but from what I remember, they called for a full judicial comittee for all involved in the Dateline interviews...hmmmm....they're not following their own words. Then again, when did they?
Peter
Hopefully this will get on Slashdot!
I thought about that, but the story is rather too off topic for Slashdot I would say. Not really any 'technology' angle to it at all. Maybe Plastic or Kuro5hin would be better.
