Here's a copy of a letter I've been sending to a variety of journalists; I am certain that the WTS has somehow twisted what Rodney Stark and Gail Bethea-Jackson said, or taken their words totally out of context. Couldn't get the formatting to work quite right - it started out in raw html.
herbert
[p]Dear XX,
[p]The NBC show Dateline is scheduled to devote this coming Tuesday's show to child abuse within the Jehovah's Witness (JW) (or Watchtower Society) community.
[p][a href=" http://www.msnbc.com/news/dateline_front.asp?0NI=-38&ta=y
"]Please see the "coming up on Dateline" section[/a]
[p]Based on your reporting of recent episodes in the Catholic Church, I thought you might be interested in how the Jehovah's Witnesses are reacting to an ever growing number of similar incidents in their church. It is quite incredible; the WTS has somehow co-opted the help of fairly prominent individuals to produce web videos, designed to mislead the media, on their organization's web site.
[p] These videos are no more than transparent attempts to whitewash the whole thing - essentially damage control after the fact. The intransigence and stupidity of the JW leaders is incredible given what's happened with the Catholic church.
[p]Ihe latest video can be viewed here.
[p][a href=" http://www.jw-media.org/vnr/2122827332/717263isdn.htm
"]WT Video Release: Progressive Understanding[/a]
[p]One particularly ridiculous excerpt is the following:
[p]"People didn't have the body of knowledge 18 or 20 years ago to say that this is something that will harm your child emotionally, if you don't address it. Parents didn't know the seriousness ... and the long-term effects."[p]Some quotes supplied at the end of this email, from the WTS's own literature, put the lie to the claims made in this interview. Also, even a cursory search of the professional literature reveals that the seriousness of child sexual molestation - rape in plain words - has long been considered a serious problem with damaging effects. This video occurs alongside another by the prominent sociologist-of-religion Rodney Stark, who, in the following video also defends the JWs.
[p][a href=" http://jw-media.org/releases/default.htm?content=/vnr/default.htm";]Rodney Stark Video: Education Through Publications[/a]
[p]Certainly, WTS publications might sometimes appear to be very supportive of protecting the child, and, what they say may make some sense. That's just good PR. The basic problem, however, with the JWs is that if the abuse occurs at the hands of one of their own, their instinct, often enforced through the threat of excommunication, is to cover the matter up so as "not to bring reproach on Jehovah God's name" as they put it. Actually, that's just code for protecting the leaders.
[p]More information on the scope of the problem of molestation in the religion can be found here:
[p][a href=" http://www.silentlambs.org";]SilentLambs Website[/a]
[p]The WTS has been in the news quite a bit recently; Stephen Bates of the UK newspaper, the Guardian, exposed the hypocrisy of the WTS in affiliating with the United Nations as an NGO while, at the same time, condemning both the UN and astonishingly, other religions for doing the same thing. However, JWs can be excommunicated for pointing out the hypocrisy of this.
[p] Mr. Bates wrote an article for the Tablet last November on the UN scandal, in addition to several newspaper articles. It can be accessed here, although you may need to register (it's free).
[p][a href=" http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/archive_db.cgi?tablet-00577
"]Tablet article[/a]
[p]Sincerely,
[p]**************************************************
[p] Watchtower Quotes re: Child Abuse from 18 - 20 years ago
[p]Here are several excerpts from articles written 17 to 20 years ago. The articles are quite lengthy. But is fairly evident that the WTS knew what the experts in this field recommended.
[p]An excerpt from twenty (20) years ago:
[p]June 22, 1982 Awake page 10, Rape at Home
[p]
Incest is probably the most selfish and reprehensible kind of child abuse. It is a grotesque violation of the child's trust and dependency. It is the child's closest protector that is turning on it. And the child is a damaged victim. I have never knowingly talked to a happy, well-adjusted, unconcerned incest victim, said Dr. Suzanne Sgroi, former chairman of the Sexual Trauma Treatment Program.[p]Dr. Judianne Densen-Gerber, director of Odyssey Institute in New York city, says: In my own practice I have the hardest time imaginable treating these children who suffer from incest, even more than the kids who are battered, abused, set on fire, and whipped because at least those children dont confuse whats being done to them with love. The parent who sexually uses a child while telling him, I love you, is raising a child who will be afraid to establish rapport, trust, and engagement with anyone else in his life, even with the therapist, because unlike the beaten child, he doesnt seek affection, he fears affection and becomes extremely isolated.
[p]
An excerpt from nineteen (19) years ago:[p]October 1, 1983 Watchtower page 27, Help for the Victims of Incest
[p]
Incestuous child abuse is sexual abuse of children by an older relative. Usually, it is by a male relativesuch as a father, stepfather, uncle or older brother. Sometimes, but much more rarely, it is by a female relative. According to the book The Silent Children, incestuous abuse can range from improper fondling to oral-genital contact to intercourse. Of course, affectionate physical contact between children and older people is proper. But when the older person finds these contacts arousing, or when he does things alone with the child that he would not do if the childs mother were present, this will likely lead to sexual abuse of the child.[p]FOR most of her life Rachel has been ridden with guilt, convinced of her own worthlessness, and trapped in a sense of hopeless isolation. What could so blemish the life of a British housewife and mother
[p]A 16-year-old girl from California said: I now have a pain deep in my heart that will never go away, and it hurts, truly hurts.
[p]
An excerpt from seventeen (17) years ago[p]January 22, 1985 Awake pages 3-4, Child Molesting-Every Mother's Nightmare--A Widespread Problem
[p]
The fact is, sexual molestation of children has been going on for a long time and today it is widespread. In 1983, the head of New York Citys Advisory Task Force on Rape reported a dramatic increase in the number of young children who are victims of rape, incest, and other forms of sexual abuse. Dr. David Finkelhor of the Family Violence Research Program at the University of New Hampshire conducted a large-scale study of the subject. He found that the children of 9 percent of the parents interviewed had been sexually abused. Fifteen percent of the women and 6 percent of the men had themselves been sexually abused as children![p]Exact statistics are difficult to come by. In the United States, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect has records of 55,399 cases of children being sexually molested in one year. But these are only cases of incestuous abuse. Abuse by friends, neighbors, teachers, and so forth as well as by strangers would increase that figure to a considerable extent. And a spokesman for the Child Welfare League of America told Awake! that the figures we have are only the tip of the iceberg.
[p]A report in the magazine Ladies Home Journal estimates: Sexual abuse of young girls is four times more common than rape of adult women. Between the ages of five and 13, one in four little girls falls prey to some form of sexual abuse by adults whether it be exhibitionism, inappropriate fondling, rape, or incest. Although young females are the most common victims, 20 to 25 percent of those attacked are little boys.
[p]Doctors are convinced of the harmful and long-term effects of such abuse. Hence, parents wonder: Are my children at risk What steps can I take to protect them What sort of person would try to harm them[/quote]
