JW org fighting Royal Commission of Inquiry 3 years, article by Anusha Bradley, RNZ

by EasyPrompt 20 Replies latest watchtower scandals

  • EasyPrompt
    EasyPrompt

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/497240/jehovah-s-witness-church-spends-3-years-fighting-scrutiny-of-royal-commission-of-inquiry

    Jehovah's Witness church spends 3 years fighting scrutiny of Royal Commission of Inquiry


    From article by Anusha Bradley, RNZ...


    "The Jehovah's Witness church has been fighting scrutiny from a national inquiry into the historical abuse of children for three years, court documents show.

    The church has accused the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care of wilfully "miscasting" its religion and ignoring evidence showing why it should be excluded from the inquiry.

    In June, the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses Australasia, which oversees 170 New Zealand congregations, filed for a judicial review to exempt itself from the inquiry, arguing it does not have historical abuse cases within the inquiry's scope.

    The inquiry's scope was expanded to include faith-based institutions in November 2018 after lobbying from religious groups and survivors. The Jehovah's Witness faith is the only group to oppose being involved.

    The papers submitted to the High Court in Wellington ahead of the judicial review hearing reveal the behind-the-scenes wrangling between the church and the commission over the last three years as the church repeatedly tried to avoid scrutiny by the inquiry.

    The church's central argument is that it does not have children or vulnerable young people in its care, fundamentally disagreeing with the inquiry's definition that care includes 'pastoral care' in any setting. Because of this, it has declined to provide contextual information about the religion's beliefs and meet with the inquiry on several occasions, the documents show.

    The church, represented by King's Counsel Paul Rishworth and lawyer Cathy Fisher, accused the inquiry of having a "predetermined outcome", claiming it has ignored evidence it has submitted showing why it should be exempt.

    "This wilful and fundamental miscasting of the religion, including the role of elders is in part what the commission relies on to continue to seek to retain Jehovah's Witnesses within the purview of its inquiry," the church said in its Statement of Claim filed with the court.

    "The commission has sought to interrogate the religious beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses which are non-justiciable by the state, and protected under sections 13 and 15 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act," it said.

    The commission, represented by the attorney-general, said the faith did fall within its scope of inquiry.

    The inquiry's definition of what constitutes care, published in this minute, is broad and includes "pastoral care" where there is a "trust-based" relationship enabled through the "conferral of authority".

    This included in situations such as youth group activities, day trips, errands and pastoral or spiritual direction.

    The Jehovah's Witnesses said it did not have any activities that separate children from their parents and church elders, equivalent to ministers or priests, were never alone with young children in any situation.

    Moreover, the church said it had searched records held at its Australasian branch office in Sydney and with individual congregations in New Zealand and "was unable to identify any cases of abuse perpetrated by elders in the context of providing pastoral support," though it did identify cases of non-familial abuse against four elders.

    In 2015, the Australian commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse found the Jehovah's Witnesses had files on 1006 alleged sexual offenders since 1950, but did not report a single allegation to police even in states where it was mandatory.

    A recent RNZ investigation revealed there were many instances where elders or members of the church were alone with children, and it was common for child sexual abuse cases within the church to go unreported to the authorities.

    The commission told the court it consulted faith-based groups in 2020 about the definition it would be using to carry out its inquiry and the Jehovah's did not oppose this at the time.

    It denied mistreating the Jehovah's Witnesses or failing to take the faith's evidence into account.

    A two day hearing is set for 9 October."

  • Phizzy
    Phizzy

    Thank you "Easyprompt" for posting this. The J.W org , by trying to defend the indefensible, are going to reap the "Barbara Streisand Effect", and bring their reprehensible handling of CSA cases to a much wider audience. Good !

  • Mickey mouse
    Mickey mouse

    If only they expended the same effort fighting child sexual abuse within their ranks

  • jwleaks
    jwleaks

    The below interesting comment/analysis appeared on an XJW Facebook page. I thought it worth repeating.

    On reading publicly available media reports, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have responded to the New Zealand Royal Commission into Abuse in Care with a deliberately false legal entity. This non-charitable and non-religious administrative company was created in 2019, and thereby could never have been responsible for children or the congregations. Yet, by using this misleading entity, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have pulled the wool over the Commission’s eyes and appear to be doing the same to the High Court.”

  • Vidiot
    Vidiot
    Micky mouse - If only they expended the same effort fighting child sexual abuse within their ranks.”

    If the inquiry’s findings are any indication, they wouldn’t have enough “qualified brothers” left to keep things running.

  • EasyPrompt
    EasyPrompt

    They said they're not alone with kids, but it happens all the time that they're alone with kids. KH cleaning on weekends. In service in car groups. Social gatherings, parties, dinners.


    They must be hiding some really dark stuff to fight against the inquiry so intensely. It will all be completely exposed.


    John 3:19-21


    "Now this is the basis for judgment: that the light has come into the world, but men have loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were wicked. For whoever practices vile things hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his works may not be reproved. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that his works may be made manifest as having been done in harmony with God.”


    Ephesians 5:9-13


    "...the fruitage of the light consists of every sort of goodness and righteousness and truth. Keep on making sure of what is acceptable to the Lord; and stop sharing in the unfruitful works that belong to the darkness; rather, expose them for what they are. For the things they do in secret are shameful even to mention. Now all the things that are being exposed are made evident by the light..."


    WTBT$ is going to be torn down.

  • road to nowhere
    road to nowhere

    Send out orders to destroy records, then claim they find no records.

  • joe134cd
    joe134cd

    It will be interesting to see what this brings to light.

  • Diogenesister
    Diogenesister
    They said they're not alone with kids, but it happens all the time that they're alone with kids. KH cleaning on weekends. In service in car groups. Social gatherings, parties, dinners.

    Exactly this /\/\.

    Fortunately the word is out through respected judges and lawyers such as Justice McClellan, Zelkin's law firm etc that Watchtower cannot be trusted to be truthful on this matter. I'm so glad Barbara Anderson is around to see the seeds she sowed and all her hard work grow to fruition.

    Thanks for posting Easy Prompt👍

  • Vidiot
    Vidiot
    Diogenesister - “I'm so glad Barbara Anderson is around to see the seeds she sowed and all her hard work grow to fruition.”

    Thirty-odd years of blood, sweat, and tears.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit