by rebel8 29 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
You know what's really sad is that the JW cult takes this as a victory...and they can feed it to their congregations as victory from Jehovah. So sad!!! I'm really disgusted.
I think about this poor girl and how we all who her at one time JW's know she will be ridiculed by them....my heart is heavy!
The thing to remember is that Paul Berry was found guilty and is serving time in prison. The WTS and their representatives were found not legally responsible for allowing it and not reporting it .
Paul Berry was convicted last year of 17 counts of aggravated sexual assault against Holly, between the years she was 4 and 10. Berry received a sentence of 56 to 112 years in prison.(as of 2000)
http://www.silentlambs.org/education/witnesses_accused.cfm?FACTNet Sentencing document
I think it stinks that despite 'being no part of the world' and being 'clergyless' they seek to rely upon clergy privilege...hypocrites.
DB74
Here's some of my anti-witnessing. Looks like I'm preaching to the choir here, but you never know who reads. Good way to get the word out, IMO.
http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/showthread.php?p=88124#post88124
"" We concur with the trial court that the child abuse reporting statute does not give rise to a civil remedy for its violation. Failure to comply with the statute is a crime and "[a]nyone who knowingly violates any provision . . . [is] guilty of a misdemeanor." RSA 169-C:39. The reporting statute does not, however, support a private right of action for its violation. Marquay, 139 N.H. at 715. Even assuming, without deciding, that the elders had an obligation to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement authorities, the plaintiffs have no cause of action for damages based on the elders’ failure to do so. ""
I don't get it. What's the point of having a law requiring the reporting of child abuse if there is no punishment for breaking it? There's got to be a precedent set by a teacher or nurse hearing about child abuse, and not reporting it...
Paul Berry is in jail. But the The key point of the dismisal and no compensation is this:
But more importantly, the Catholic abusers and their supervisors were paid church employees while the elders of the Jehovah's Witness churches are not. The Catholic victims had a different relationships with that church because they were often altar boys or members of church youth groups or camps, not merely members of the church. Also, they were often abused on church property or on church outings.
The sisters, by contrast, were only members of the church and were abused by their father [Paul Berry] off church grounds. And he was not a church official.
This is an unfortunate legal antecedent that the WT will milk all the way into the sunset :
The high court said although the criminal statutes require the Jehovah’s Witnesses to report to police any sex abuse against children, they cannot be held liable in civil court if they do not report it.
Reporting abuse
Concord Monitor, NH - 29 minutes ago
... some key questions. The case involved two children whose family belonged to a Jehovah's Witness congregation in Wilton. Paul Berry ...
| Reporting abuse |
| Law created to protect children needs to be strengthened. |
It is imperative that the Legislature, which has been a leader in the fight to end child sex abuse and domestic violence, act quickly to answer some key questions. The case involved two children whose family belonged to a Jehovah's Witness congregation in Wilton. Paul Berry began abusing his daughter and stepdaughter when one child was 10 and the other 3, according to court records. Berry was convicted of abuse and is serving a 56- to 112-year prison sentence. The children, now adults, sued the church for damages. The story is all the more tragic because their mother claims she reported her suspicions to church elders on a dozen occasions, including several meetings when her husband was present. She was told, she said, "to be silent about the abuse and be a better wife." The elders - who are elected and unpaid - never reported the alleged abuse to authorities and, according to the mother, reminded her that such matters should be handled by the church and not secular authorities. |
The reporting law requires all citizens to report suspected abuse, though clergy who learn of the abuse during a confession or similar privileged conversation are exempt. The case did not clarify whether elders in the Jehovah's church or other religious leaders who have no special training enjoy the religious exemption accorded to clergy. Nor did it clarify what constitutes a privileged conversation .
High courts attempt to avoid deciding constitutional issues and rule first on matters of statutory and common law. So the majority held that since the reporting law made provision only for criminal penalties, not civil ones, the elders could not be held liable.
Dalianis disagreed. The church, she wrote, enjoyed a "special relationship"with the children that imposed a common-law duty on the elders to report the abuse or to at least advise the mother to report it. The elders, Dalianis said, facilitated the continuing abuse by counseling the mother to be silent. If that's true, the question becomes why aren't the church's leaders facing criminal charges?
There are no easy answers to the questions the case raises. But the next session of the Legislature needs to spell out when church leaders must live up to the reporting law and when they are exempt. It should also clarify when it is appropriate to sue for civil damages caused by a failure to report abuse.
Peter Hutchins, a lawyer who settled 200 cases against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, believes that had those suits been filed after the Berry ruling, many victims who were not altar boys, at church camps or in some other direct relationship with the church would not have been able to seek damages. Hutchins estimates that as many as 15 percent of his clients would have been left with no recourse.
That possibility is certainly not in the interest of society. The Legislature should use the court ruling as a starting point for debate and act quickly to strengthen this important law.
------ End of article
Monitor editorial
------------------------------
News departments | |
| Newsroom | Phone: 603-224-5301 ext. 670 |
| Letters to the editor | Fax: 603-224-8120 ("Attn: Letters to editor") Footnote from:Danny Haszard i have a working correspondence with the staff of the Concord Monitor (New Hampshire) "do not discount the power of one" and i am not the only one - Zech 4:10 |
They carried the same bold Concord Monitor management editorial.]
State's child abuse lawneeds improvement
Nashua Telegraph - Nashua,NH,USA
... a Jehovah's Witness congregation in Wilton. Paul Berry began abusing his daughter and stepdaughter when one child was 10 and the other 3, according to court ...
NNew Hampshire law requires any person with reason to suspect a child has been abused or neglected to report those suspicions to law enforcement authorities.
But the law is unclear about when exceptions apply, and a split decision issued last week by the state Supreme Court did little to clarify matters.
It is imperative that the Legislature, which has been a leader in the fight to end child sex abuse and domestic violence, act quickly to answer some key questions.
The case involved two children whose family belonged to a Jehovah’s Witness congregation in Wilton. Paul Berry began abusing his daughter and stepdaughter when one child was 10 and the other 3, according to court records.
Berry was convicted of abuse and is serving a 56- to 112-year prison sentence. The children, now adults, sued the church for damages.
The story is all the more tragic because their mother claims she reported her suspicions to church elders on a dozen occasions, including several meetings when her husband was present.
She was told, she said, “to be silent about the abuse and be a better wife.”
The elders – who are elected and unpaid – never reported the alleged abuse to authorities and, according to the mother, reminded her that such matters should be handled by the church and not secular authorities.
The case raised a host of issues that the three-judge majority – Chief Justice John Broderick and Justices James Duggan and Joseph Nadeau -declined to address. (Justice Richard Galway did not sit, and Justice Linda Dalianis dissented from a major portion of the decision.)
The reporting law requires all citizens to report suspected abuse, though clergy who learn of the abuse during a confession or similar privileged conversation are exempt.
The case did not clarify whether elders in the Jehovah’s church or other religious leaders who have no special training enjoy the religious exemption accorded to clergy. Nor did it clarify what constitutes a privileged conversation.
High courts attempt to avoid deciding constitutional issues and rule first on matters of statutory and common law. So the majority held that since the reporting law made provision only for criminal penalties, not civil ones, the elders could not be held liable.
Dalianis disagreed. The church, she wrote, enjoyed a “special relationship” with the children that imposed a common-law duty on the elders to report the abuse or to at least advise the mother to report it.
The elders, Dalianis said, facilitated the continuing abuse by counseling the mother to be silent. If that’s true, the question becomes why aren’t the church’s leaders facing criminal charges?
There are no easy answers to the questions the case raises. But the next session of the Legislature needs to spell out when church leaders must live up to the reporting law and when they are exempt. It should also clarify when it is appropriate to sue for civil damages caused by a failure to report abuse.
Peter Hutchins, a lawyer who settled 200 cases against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, believes that had those suits been filed after the Berry ruling, many victims who were not altar boys, at church camps or in some other direct relationship with the church would not have been able to seek damages.
Hutchins estimates that as many as 15 percent of his clients would have been left with no recourse.
That possibility is certainly not in the interest of society. The Legislature should use the court ruling as a starting point for debate and act quickly to strengthen this important law.
– The Concord Monitor Footnote from Danny Haszard-The point is either the Jehovah's Witnesses Elders are ordained ministers (don't forget that they say they are,in fact perform weddings and assert that they are APPOINTED BY HOLY SPIRIT) OR they are just 'good ole boys' with no ecclesiastical privilege you can't have it both ways power comes with culpability
"Witnesses have no official ministers and no churches in the traditional sense,"
Jehovah's Witnesses
Biloxi Sun Herald - MS, USA
... the 2005 theme for the Jehovah's Witnesses convention ... and for handing out "The Watchtower," a journal ... Gruzdis, a Pass Christian businessman, Witness elder and ...
Posted on Fri, Aug. 05, 2005
Thousands are coming to Biloxi
By KAT BERGERON
SUN HERALD
Godly obedience is the 2005 theme for the Jehovah's Witnesses convention in Biloxi, and 11,200 are expected to attend from southeast Louisiana and South Mississippi during the next two weekends.
Witnesses are a proselytizing Christian denomination known for neighborhood visits and for handing out "The Watchtower," a journal with weekly Bible lessons that provide a unity of thought among the 6.4 million Witnesses worldwide, with about 9,000 in Mississippi.
Delegates meet once a year in convention and have met in Biloxi since the 1980s for biblical training. They will attend dressed in suits and dresses, carrying note pads and Bibles.
Half will attend the first session, which begins today and lasts through Sunday at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, with the remainder attending Aug. 12-14.
"Our conventions focus on God's word, and this one is on obedience to God's word and underscores the importance of obeying God in all matters of life," said Al Gruzdis, a Pass Christian businessman, Witness elder and convention representative.
"This convention will give pertinent information on family life for husbands, wives and children."
Witnesses were organized in the late 19th century by Pennsylvanian Charles Russell, whose doctrine centers on the second coming of Christ, which they believe has already begun.
The conventions focus on what Witnesses believe are "sound and right" principles of conduct and include prayer, scripture lessons and costumed Biblical dramas. Non-Witnesses are invited.
"This allows people to see who we really are," Gruzdis said.
Witnesses have no official ministers and no churches in the traditional sense, instead meeting in buildings called Kingdom Halls. Mississippi has 22 congregations in the six southernmost counties and about 1,800 members.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that Witnesses believe only 100,000 will be saved on Judgment Day.
Gruzdis said he believes the misconception stems from their belief that "only 144,000 will go to Heaven and rule with Christ as spiritual sons of God." Others with redemption will live on an Earth that will revert to the paradise God intended before the original sin of Adam and Eve. For this, they cite Psalms 37, that the meek and righteous will inherit the Earth.
Their beliefs sometimes put them at odds with mainstream Christianity, though they can quickly cite biblical verses for each belief, among them a neutral politics.
What
Witnesses believe
Among beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses, each based on their interpretation of Bible scriptures:
• Bible is God's word and is truth.
• Bible is more reliable than tradition.
• Christians gladly give public testimony to Scriptural truth.
• God's name is Jehovah.
• Christ is God's son and is inferior to Him.
• Christ was first of God's creations.
• Christ's human life was paid as a ransom for obedient humans.
• We are now in the 'time of the end.'
• Wicked will be eternally destroyed.
• Baptism by complete immersion symbolizes dedication.
• Hell is mankind's common grave.
• Hope for dead is resurrection.
• A Christian ought to have no part in interfaith movements.
• Taking blood into body through mouth or veins violates God's laws.
• Man did not evolve but was created.
• Obey human laws that do not conflict with God's laws.
If you go
What: 2005 "Godly Obedience" Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses, with two three-day sessions repeated over two weekends.
When: Today through Sunday and repeated on Aug. 12-14. Morning sessions begin 9:30 a.m.; Friday and Saturday afternoon sessions begin 2 p.m.; Sunday afternoon session begins 1:40 p.m.
Where: Mississippi Coast Coliseum, U.S. 90, Biloxi
Who: Presented by the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, it is open to the interested public at no fee.
Details: (228) 380-0813.
