http://www.myinky.com/ecp/news/article/0,1626,ECP_734_1276605,00.html
Expulsion hearing scheduled for former church elder
July 20, 2002
DRAFFENVILLE (AP) -- An excommunication hearing has been rescheduled for a former Jehovah's Witnesses elder who has publicly criticized the church's handling of sexual abuse allegations.
Bill Bowen, 44, of Draffenville, faces expulsion from the church when he appears before the judicial committee on Wednesday.
Bowen previously had an excommunication hearing scheduled in May, but it did not take place because the elders scheduled to hear the case did not show up, Bowen said.
Bowen resigned as a church elder in December 2000 to protest the church's policy on handling sexual abuse cases. He has complained that child-sex allegations are generally not reported to secular authorities by the Jehovah's Witnesses because of the church's closed nature and insistence on handling problems internally
Church leaders have denied wrongdoing.
J.R. Brown, a spokesman for the denomination, has said that parents are not punished by the church for going to the police first in cases of child molestation.
He also said members found guilty of molestation by a church judicial committee are removed from all positions of responsibility and cannot evangelize door-to-door without being accompanied by a fellow Jehovah's Witness.
Members of the church are required to shun those who are excommunicated or disfellowshipped, even if they are members of their own family.
Three others who have spoken out against the church's policies have been disfellowshipped in recent months. They are Barbara Anderson, of Normandy, Tenn., and Carl and Barbara Pandelo, of Belmar, N.J.