by Phil 15 Replies latest watchtower scandals
It appears that William Bowen is starting procedings to take the Watch Tower to the courts. (Desert Sun 28 March,2004) He says that about 6000 sexually abused persons have contacted him in the past to express outrage at being silenced by the bad institutionsl policies.Kimberly Norris of Fort Worth Texas is handling a case for 47 alleged abuse victims and she says that she has been contacted by 2000 individuals who have claimed to have been abused.
Has anyone read about this?
yes it was posted on ths DB by someone recenlty. I wish Bill good luck, he'll need it. The laws in America are protecting this evil empire.
I wish Bill good luck
I don't wish Bill anything.
Real change will come from the litigation. Hit WTS in the pocketbook, that is all they care about. That is what will bring change.
Chris
I was over at my Mom's today and this made it into her local paper. I was going to bring the article home, but I forgot it and left it at her house, she's saving it for me. It appears that this is finally hitting the local papers.
Hapgood
I don't wish Bill anything
Chris,
has Bill fallen out of favor ? I am asking this b/c i do not follow his site any longer.Nor have I followed the Lambs Roar site. Are there things i should know?
I am only asking this b/c so many of us pinned our hopes on Silentlambs in late 2002. What has happened to change this? I remember the board wars in 02 regardig Bill. Maybe i should just have PM u.
weds
Remember the victims/survivors; JWD is read by many JWs/Ex-JWs
I hope you respect my opinion and observations.. I know there has been bad experiences in the past, between Lambsroar and Bill and comments Bill has made about Ray Franz.
I have made it my goal to do what I can to deal with institutional sexual abuse.
Bill Bowen has the platform at this point for it. If it is through litigation, then if you could have been at the SL Summitt, you could have met Kim and see how closely she is working with SilentLambs, Bill Bowen and the other members who committing, time, money, and emotion to getting this publicized, getting people to report their abuse to Kim and her firm.
If Bill has bad motives and a hidden agenda, it was not evident at this Summit. He was professional, caring, open to suggestions. The president of Linkup, Sue Archibald, was encouraged by Bill's efforts to reach a segment of this abused population among JWs, that he was invited to join SL's efforts with Linkup and also with SNAP, represented by David Cerulli.
I was able to talk to both of these people, who have much experience in dealing with this issue, and they were impressed with what SL has accomplished. Bill commented many times that without the survivors stepping forward, SL would have accomplished nothing. But Bill realizes that the problem is widespread among religious groups and that we need to join our efforts. These groups have resources available that SL does not, trained counselors available all over the US and many other countries, which SL does not have.
Bill or SL has given people a safe place to come out and tell their story. Kim Norris was first referred to SL by a JW sex abuse victim. LambsRoar provides a platform for people to talk but I have not seen them energize people to work against things such as the current laws regarding reporting, statute of limitations, sexual exploitation being a felony in the way SL has been able to.
SL has developed a platform to do this, it has joined with 2 other groups that have a long history of dealing with this. It is not just a WT problem and so SL is expanding the fight but bringing its own special knowledge and expertise about JWs into the mix.
So I hope this doesn't become a Bill Bowen bashing episode. Bill Bowen aside, there any many other people (not as many as can make the apostafests of course) who were there. The Berry family from NH were there who are still fighting the WTS legally.
I hope this helps defuse the negativity about SL. I'm sorry you have lost touch with SL, Wednesday.
Bill has a strong personality. I don't doubt he stepped on toes in the past. I see that he wants to avoid that and sees the goal of helping abuse victims/survivors is the issue.
Blondie
I won't comment too much here because I will be starting my own topic with specifics. My husband and I were both there. It was exciting to see and meet with the Swedish TV people, as well as the other media people who there. An AP representative was there and his item was carried by at least 44 newspapers. We may have been small in numbers but we were energized. It was wonderful to meet with David Cerulli from SNAP and Sue Archibald from Linkup. Neither is a religious based/supported group but has members made up of survivors of institutional/religious sexual abuse. A common thread runs through everyone's personal experiences and the lack of response of the religious institution they dealt with. It is truly a problem in groups who abuse their power, religious or otherwise. I met some who stood up and their experiences were documented on shows by BBC, CBC, ABC, NBC. You see how happy they are and still committed and working to see that no one else is hurt and those who have been, get the help and support they need.
I found there are many practical ways you can work to change these child-harming policies not only in the Watchtower Society but in other religious institutions that abuse children through their policies.
I might mention again that this is not a faith-based effort but effort to help victims/survivors abused by any religions institution.
Blondie
I should not have expressed myself on a public thread in such a manner and I do apologize for diverting attention from the larger goal. It was inappropriate on my part.
Blondie, we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I like and respect you a lot, and I hope you have no hard feelings.
Chris
So I hope this doesn't become a Bill Bowen bashing episode. Bill Bowen aside, there any many other people (not as many as can make the apostafests of course)
What was that supposed to mean?
Gumby
Gumby, by that I meant I hope people can take some of the same energy spent on Apostafests and channel some of it into helping combat child abuse. There are many practical ways to do it from home but getting together with others around the country that are survivors is invigorating. I can remember the days of boring JW assemblies where those on the platform tried to whip up the audience. It is no problem being interested and staying interested at this summit. If anyone here has seen the videos on sexual abuse among JWs in Sweden, you would have been able to meet one of the survivors, Anders, and one of the ex-elders, Roger Carlson, and learned what has been done and is still being done. If you could have been at the summit, you could have heard from Kim Norris, what they have done to date regarding litigation, what is planned in the future, and how all of us can play a part in it. She is a very compelling person. You could have met the man who wrote that AP article and talked to him about your personal experience with sexual abuse and the Watchtower Society.
I'm just saying consider coming next year to the SL summit. This is another opportunity to meet fellow ex-JWs, inactive JWs, their spouses, significant others, children. It is an opportunity to talk to people actively fighting institutional/religious abuse in other religions. The most importants aspect of this is linking up with their resources to help victims/survivors, counselors, psychologists, seminars and other programs.
The facilities were great, ties were optional, no prayers, no hymn singing.
Blondie (no offense meant, I have been to apostofests myself)
