Honest Questions About Child Abuse

by Richard Oliver 207 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

  • AmIright
    AmIright

    nah idc about diversion I was just pointing out how you solely used the catholic church for comparison, holy wood us rife with it too, sue them alllll

    Diversion..Diversion..Diversion..

    How about McDonalds?..

    McDonalds is much more famous than the WatchTower..

    There must be a few pedophiles flipping burgers..

    You could take the focus off the Watchtower with news like that!..

    ................................

    Are all WBT$/JW Apologists complete friggin Idiots?..Or..

    Are there a few pieces missing?..

  • Saename
    Saename

    Richard Oliver, you have asked the question what we would do in case of child sexual abuse if there were low-age-of-consent laws in the region. You are making a big mistake by assuming that if sex occurs between legal adults, then no abuse can happen. This is wrong. Let me explain.

    It does not matter what age the victim is. If in Angola, which has the age of consent set at 12, a man has sex with a 14-year-old female teenager, the authorities can still arrest the perpetrator. The age of consent would indeed determine that no child sexual abuse occurred; however, if the teenager did not want to have sex, then it would be adult sexual abuse. The perpetrator would still be guilty—it's just that he wouldn't be guilty of child sexual abuse but of adult sexual abuse because the teenager did not want to have sex. If the teenager did want to have sex, then there is no problem because no abuse took place according to Angola's laws—unless the man started hitting her (if Angola does not allow for physical abuse, of which I am not sure) or did something else wrong, or unless the teenager withdrew her consent, then it would become abuse. (Yes, if you agree to have sex with someone, but during the act you decide not to have sex after all, you can withdraw your consent. In such a case, if the man does not get back, it is still sexual abuse.)

    It seems to me, Richard Oliver, that you are purposefully muddying the waters to shift the blame from the WTS to the secular government. Either that or you are trying to pull the wool over our eyes by asking a misleading question.

  • Finkelstein
    Finkelstein

    I think its important to clarify what's the defining distinction of sexual sin.

    The churches in the past have assumed or taken child sexual abuse as a sin such as fornication and adultery and pretty much handled these situations in similar fashion.

    Catholic priests asked for repentance, they were then absolved from their sin and many times returned to their parish or placed at another parish somewhere else.

    It was all handled internally until recent times when this information was brought forward to the general public's awareness.

    Likewise the WTS. handled these situations on its own influencing its members to not bring these matters to local law authorities, in spite of knowing that this kind of social behavior was a felonious crimes in most countries .

    So why is sexual abuse of children not the same as other so called sexual sins ?

    The WTS treated it as the same, in most cases asking for admission to the behavior, when there was none the matter was just left in Jehovah's hands.

    It appears that sexual predators have exploited the pretentious virtue of participants within churches to prop up an image toward themselves and this further adds to the over all problem.

    In my opinion there should by laws made for social environments where there are children involved, that any situation of possible sexual abuse arises, that these situations should be reported to the local law authorities. This would include religions, community social clubs, educational institutions, sport clubs etc.

  • Heaven
    Heaven

    Why do you feel that Watchtower is responsible for that person's actions against the child?


  • GrreatTeacher
    GrreatTeacher

    Thank you Ingognito and Saename for bringing up the obvious: the age of consent is totally irrelevant if the sexual contact wasn't consensual.

    I have no idea why the OP would think this is relevant at all.

    I kept reading page after page and finally you guys nailed it: just because someone is 14 in a place where the age of consent is 14 doesn't mean that that person consented, and if they did not, then that is a sexual crime.

    This is actually the most disturbing thing that Richard has asserted in this entire post.

  • Vidiot
    Vidiot
    Finkelstein - "...It appears that sexual predators have exploited the pretentious virtue of participants within churches..."

    Either unconsciously or otherwise.

    It's hard for one to not look back at that without violently facepalming and screaming "no shit, you f**ktards!", but hindsight is always 20/20, and the privileged social standing that religiosity (particularly conservative Christianity) has enjoyed in the Western World throughout the 20th Century was a very high speed bump to hurdle.

  • Vidiot
    Vidiot

    As far as I'm concerned, virtually every passive-ass component of the Org's abuse-related policies reinforces my suspicion that there are abusers (past or present) currently imbedded in the WT hierarchy, right up to the top...

    ...and that as far as the Org is concerned, this revelation would be downright apocalyptic.

  • OUTLAW
    OUTLAW

    IMO, virtually every passive-ass component of the Org's abuse-related policies reinforce my suspicion that there are abusers (past or present) currently imbedded in the hierarchy, possibly right up to the top.....Vidiot

    More likely than not,your right..

    ...and that as far as the Org is concerned, this "revelation" would be downright "apocalyptic"......Vidiot

    The monumental problem they have now,is of no concern to your average JW..

    If it was found out there were pedophiles at the top of the WBT$..

    Your average JW would still defend the WBT$..

    Apologist WBT$/JW`s would still be writing threads like this one..

  • flipper
    flipper

    and the privileged social standing that religiosity (particularly conservative Christianity) has enjoyed in the Western World throughout the 20th Century was a very high speed bump to hurdle.

    Vidiot, so true, especially in the US. These religions get away with a lot.

    I can't count the times someone who is not religious has said they hire religious people because they are honest. Facepalm for sure...

    My parents' neighbor orders all kinds of crap online from Jim Bakker's latest enterprise - because he is a Christian he is to be forgiven and trusted. We are talking enough money spent to fill half of a room with the stuff. Some of it is freeze dried food for when the apocalypse comes. If that's not from Bakker it's from the other tv preacher she supports. And then she donates.

    As Outlaw says, the jws will make excuses for the most blatant crimes - same reason. They are jws so god will forgive them and make them behave.

    Astounding and alarming. Mrs. Flipper

  • Vidiot
    Vidiot

    I dunno...

    ...I still think that if it were revealed - and confirmed - that there were/are abusers in the very highest echelons of the Org (or riddled throughout at the grassroots level, for that matter, as the pedo database would no doubt reveal), it would be enough impetus for the majority of remaining JW parents who still have a handful of functioning brain cells to say "f**k it, that's the last straw, I'm done", even if they did it quietly and surreptitiously (it is, after all, the primary reason a significant amount of us are here, already).

    And - arguably more importantly - their kids would no longer be available to the Org to shore up its future.

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