From The Downey Patriot Newspaper

Brymichmom

the Downey PATRIOT " Silent Lambs" speak out: Child abuse alleged within Jehovah's Witnesses D owney -- Two local women from a group calling themselves the "Silent Lambs" made a symbolic gesture Monday, hanging a stuffed lamb doll on the door of the Kingdom Hall in Downey; a move meant to protest alleged cases of child abuse within the Jehovah's Witnesses religious order. The same scene was also played out in several major cities throughout the nation as the group prepares for a peaceful march at the Jehovah's Witnesses Governing Body Headquarters in Brooklyn, NY on September 27. "More than 5,000 adults have come forward claiming they were abused by the elders," says Cynthia Hampton, a former Jehovah's Witness of 8 years and current Downey resident. "And victims are afraid to come forward because of threats of excommunication." June Cook, the second lady participating in the gesture, was featured on the investigative television show Dateline, during an episode in which they examined the accusations. "There are children out there being raped and by Jehovah Witness law there have to be two witnesses to every sin," Cook exclaims. "And how often is there an eye-witness to a child rape?" In a statement released to the media, J.R. Brown, the Head of the Public Relations Department for Jehovah's Witnesses, states, "Our Governing Body is willing to resolve differences of opinion within the framework of the congregation and according to scriptural principles." The Jehovah's Witnesses website also proclaims that any elder found to be involved in any child molestation activity would be denounced, a declaration that the women call a lie. "The Watchtower has a database of 23,720 accused elders that they will not turn over to the police," Cook says. "We want them to turn it over." Following the placement of the lamb at the Kingdom Hall, located on the 12100 block of Woodruff Avenue, an unidentified representative from the Jehovah Witnesses confronted the ladies, defending the religious staple. "Child molestation is a social problem not scriptural," the man, who declined to give his name, stated. "Everybody is suffering from this (problem) not just us. You take it to the police. It's up to them." When asked about the supposed database, the man replied, "I don't believe that. That's not true." Messages left at the Kingdom Hall by the Downey Patriot were not returned.

TTBoy

Can someone put up a link to this? THX.

TT

Swan

This guy is so uninformed.

"Child molestation is a social problem not scriptural," the man, who declined to give his name, stated. "Everybody is suffering from this (problem) not just us. You take it to the police. It's up to them."

Exactly. So why didn't they take these cases to the police when they occurred instead of covering them up?

When asked about the supposed database, the man replied, "I don't believe that. That's not true."

The WTBTS has already admitted it has such a database, they just disagree about the number of records in it.

Brown states: "You have been told that here in the United States we have compiled a list of 23,720 names of child abusers. That is false. First of all, the total number of names in our records is considerably lower."

Its so sad that they are defending this when they don't even know the whole story. Tammy

Edited by - Swan on 22 September 2002 19:53:9

Brymichmom

Sorry TTboy, I copied this verbatim from this newspaper; they don't have a website yet as they are just new. They plan to have a website sometime in the future.

Cynthia

silentlambs

Thanks ladies for a job well done. IT is the collective of each individual effort that makes this known to the public as well as JW's. It is good for them to try and defend wt policy as it is making them think about what they are defending. One minor clarification, the 23,000 is not all elders, you might want to call the paper and make that clear. Excellent effort and excellent results.

silentlambs

DJ

Nice Work Cynthia!! Thanks for taking the time to post. I was told by a few jw's that it is "a problem with society" As if they were told to say those exact words. Sad, huh? Of course we know that society has this problem and that includes the WT 'society'! They just don't get that the point is not that abusers exist......we know that........it's about how we deal with the molester. I am still surprised when I see how robotic they are and I was once that way too. dj

deddaisy

"Child molestation is a social problem not scriptural," the man, who declined to give his name, stated. "Everybody is suffering from this (problem) not just us.

or they are quick to say, "well what about the Catholics?" Why is it that the majority of Witnesses do not understand that it is not this human "problem" that is causing the WTS to be criticized, it is the Watchtower's policy which attempts to sweep this "problem" under the carpet as if it didn't exist in God's earthly organization that causes the criticism. To do otherwise would be to admit that either "God" was sleeping instead of guiding his organization's policies, or that the Watchtower must not be God's organization. gee, I wonder which.......

COMF

"More than 5,000 adults have come forward claiming they were abused by the elders," says Cynthia Hampton

Um... I think they were just claiming they were abused and the elders mishandled it. Some were abused by elders, but not all. That's my understanding, anyway.

Brymichmom

Hi, I just want to make it clear to those of you who have read this article that the reporter didn't get some of the facts as we told them to him. We did talk about the 23,720 on a database at WT Headquarters. We did not say that that figure only included elders. That was the reporter's assumption. As for the 5,000 that have come forward claiming to be abused by elders, that again was an assumption that the reporter made. Although we did talk about the mistakes that elders have made in handling these cases, the reporter misunderstood and took it to mean that only elders were involved as child molesters, when in fact the molestations have been done by elders, MS's or other rank and file members of the WT . I will let them know of their errors, but I do appreciate that they did come out and took the story.

Cynthia

Pepper

Poppy cock !!!!! It is not " Gods earthly organization"! that is the mind control at its best, if God has such representives as this then it is a mockery to any God who claims rightiousness is his.

From The Downey Patriot Newspaper

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