Saturday, December 26, 2015
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
How Jehovah’s Witness leaders are responding to child sex abuse scrutiny
How Jehovah’s Witness leaders are responding to child abuse scrutiny
Besieged by reports that Jehovah’s Witnesses shield child sexual abusers from prosecution, the religion’s top leadership appears to have settled on a strategy: “Let the story die.”
A Portuguese news documentary released in October was yet another report from across the globe to detail the Witnesses’ policy of not reporting child abusers to law enforcement. As in other media reports, top officials refused to speak to the journalists who produced it.
After it aired, however, David Splane, a member of the Witnesses’ Governing Body, spoke to 600 congregations from the religion’s Portuguese headquarters in Carnaxide, according to TVI, the station that aired the documentary. Splane’s talk provided a window into how Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders are handling the scrutiny.
“Now, sometimes, the brothers will call New York and say, ‘Why don’t you do something about this? This was a terrible program,’ ” said Splane, who was visiting from global headquarters in Brooklyn. “What do you want us to do? The journalist has a closed mind. The journalist isn’t interested in the truth. And so we usually just leave things as they are and let the story die.”
The documentary, “In the Shadow of Sin,” was based on the Witnesses’ own internal documents.
“Slanderous, negative remarks that people were making about Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Jehovah’s Witnesses weren’t there to defend themselves,” Splane said.
Ana Leal, the journalist who reported the story, said she sent numerous emails to the Witnesses and went to the organization’s Portuguese headquarters asking for their participation before the documentary aired. After Splane’s remarks in November, Leal went back and tried again.
In a follow-up report, Leal said the Witnesses let her through the gates of their compound, only to tell her, “We have nothing to add.”
Talk about déjà vu.
Reveal has been reporting on the Witnesses’ child abuse policies since last year. I’ve called and emailed the Witnesses’ office of public information dozens of times. I’ve phoned the homes of top officials, including members of the Governing Body. I’ve flown to New York twice and walked into the Witnesses’ global headquarters to request interviews. No one would talk.
Both times at headquarters, I asked to visit the office of public information on the fourth floor, and was told to have a seat in the lobby and wait for the courtesy phone on the wall to ring.
Each time, I waited 30 minutes before a secretary named Bryce called down to inform me that there would be no comment. He would not let me come up to his office to discuss why. When I asked Bryce for his last name, he refused to give it.
Hours before we published our first story in February, the Watchtower sent a brief statement in lieu of an interview. It said Jehovah’s Witnesses abhor child abuse and comply with secular laws.
Two weeks after that story went live, another Governing Body member, Stephen Lett, posted a video on the Witnesses’ website, dismissing reports that the organization is permissive toward child abusers. He called such reports “apostate-driven lies” and “false stories that are designed to separate us from Jehovah’s organization.”
“Because any human who tries to get us to compromise Bible principles really is an agent of Satan,” he said.
Lett also refused to grant an interview.
Splane told followers in Portugal that Jehovah is already dealing with the misinformation spread by journalists.
“He sends his Witnesses out from door to door to correct the record,” he said, referring to the doorstep preaching campaigns for which the organization is known.
Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders have said publicly that they are proud of their child protection policies and that they do more to shield young members from harm than other religions. Despite mounting lawsuits and media reports, however, they have failed to acknowledge that the organization has hidden child abuse from secular authorities around the world for decades.
They haven’t expressed outrage over the abuse of their children. Or given indications that they’ll be changing their policies. Instead, they’ve made one thing clear: They want the press to go away.
Besieged by reports that Jehovah’s Witnesses shield child sexual abusers from prosecution, the religion’s top leadership appears to have settled on a strategy: “Let the story die.”
A Portuguese news documentary released in October was yet another report from across the globe to detail the Witnesses’ policy of not reporting child abusers to law enforcement. As in other media reports, top officials refused to speak to the journalists who produced it.
After it aired, however, David Splane, a member of the Witnesses’ Governing Body, spoke to 600 congregations from the religion’s Portuguese headquarters in Carnaxide, according to TVI, the station that aired the documentary. Splane’s talk provided a window into how Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders are handling the scrutiny.
“Now, sometimes, the brothers will call New York and say, ‘Why don’t you do something about this? This was a terrible program,’ ” said Splane, who was visiting from global headquarters in Brooklyn. “What do you want us to do? The journalist has a closed mind. The journalist isn’t interested in the truth. And so we usually just leave things as they are and let the story die.”
The documentary, “In the Shadow of Sin,” was based on the Witnesses’ own internal documents.
“Slanderous, negative remarks that people were making about Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Jehovah’s Witnesses weren’t there to defend themselves,” Splane said.
Ana Leal, the journalist who reported the story, said she sent numerous emails to the Witnesses and went to the organization’s Portuguese headquarters asking for their participation before the documentary aired. After Splane’s remarks in November, Leal went back and tried again.
In a follow-up report, Leal said the Witnesses let her through the gates of their compound, only to tell her, “We have nothing to add.”
Talk about déjà vu.
Reveal has been reporting on the Witnesses’ child abuse policies since last year. I’ve called and emailed the Witnesses’ office of public information dozens of times. I’ve phoned the homes of top officials, including members of the Governing Body. I’ve flown to New York twice and walked into the Witnesses’ global headquarters to request interviews. No one would talk.
Both times at headquarters, I asked to visit the office of public information on the fourth floor, and was told to have a seat in the lobby and wait for the courtesy phone on the wall to ring.
Each time, I waited 30 minutes before a secretary named Bryce called down to inform me that there would be no comment. He would not let me come up to his office to discuss why. When I asked Bryce for his last name, he refused to give it.
Hours before we published our first story in February, the Watchtower sent a brief statement in lieu of an interview. It said Jehovah’s Witnesses abhor child abuse and comply with secular laws.
Two weeks after that story went live, another Governing Body member, Stephen Lett, posted a video on the Witnesses’ website, dismissing reports that the organization is permissive toward child abusers. He called such reports “apostate-driven lies” and “false stories that are designed to separate us from Jehovah’s organization.”
“Because any human who tries to get us to compromise Bible principles really is an agent of Satan,” he said.
Lett also refused to grant an interview.
Splane told followers in Portugal that Jehovah is already dealing with the misinformation spread by journalists.
“He sends his Witnesses out from door to door to correct the record,” he said, referring to the doorstep preaching campaigns for which the organization is known.
Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders have said publicly that they are proud of their child protection policies and that they do more to shield young members from harm than other religions. Despite mounting lawsuits and media reports, however, they have failed to acknowledge that the organization has hidden child abuse from secular authorities around the world for decades.
They haven’t expressed outrage over the abuse of their children. Or given indications that they’ll be changing their policies. Instead, they’ve made one thing clear: They want the press to go away.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Friday, July 10, 2015
SIMPLE and easy way to prove Jehovah's Witnesses are a dishonest organization
SIMPLE and easy way to prove Jehovah's Witnesses are
a dishonest organization
Most Jehovah's
Witnesses do not realize that their elders secret manual instructs the elders
to deny people their rights to record their own conversations and interactions
with the elders. This includes judicial meetings and so-called shepherding
calls.
Elders have even been
warned at their elder training classes that if they allow themselves to be
recorded the watchtower Society will not defend him in court if they are sued.
Elders fear being
recorded because they do not want to be held accountable and responsible for
their words and actions. No elder has ever given me a cogent reason for
refusing people their rights to record interactions with elders.
What this creates is
a unfair power balance between the elders and anyone they are talking to or
judicially dealing with. If there is any doubt over what transpired during a
interaction the elders have each other as witnesses to what happened and what
was said. The unfair advantage occurs when the congregation members or the one
being judged wishes to have a witness for themselves of what occurred.
Many people have
dealt with elders that straight out lie or dishonestly twist what happened and
what was said.
This also creates a
secrecy barrier that hides elders transgressions, crimes, and violations of
people's rights, both under the Jehovah's Witness rules and the rules of civil
law .
One elder recently
inanely spouted to me that the reason they don't allow recording is for
confidentiality. I responded that there is no confidentiality involved because
it's the person at the meeting was recording their own conversation so
obviously they know what transpired.
Elders in the past
were self-assured that any outlandish conduct or words would be hidden and kept
secret from anyone outside the meeting. This is no longer true.
This policy and
procedure of not allowing congregation members to have their own record and
witness of what occurs when they deal with Jehovah's Witness elders is a policy
in place and relied on for decades by the Jehovah's Witness hierarchy including
the governing body to hide their conduct. To protect them from criminal
prosecution, civil suit and being reported to their higher-ups in the Jehovah's
Witnesses power structure.
This is a dishonest
policy and highlights and exposes that the entire Jehovah's Witness power
structure including especially the governing body are seriously concerned only
with protecting themselves and avoiding responsibility rather than any kind of
honest biblical justice.
This policy also
exposes the Jehovah's Witnesses as a secret organization that relies on
covering over sometimes outrageous and criminal conduct. Which they
hypocritically have decried as something only a false religion would do.
"True religion
in no way practices secretiveness"
Watchtower 1997 6/1 pp.
5-6
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
It Happened To Me: I Grew Up Jehovah's Witness
I learned quickly that the kid who tells everyone they’re going to die in a firestorm isn’t terribly popular.
http://www.xojane.com/family/it-happened-to-me-i-grew-up-jehovahs-witness
http://www.xojane.com/family/it-happened-to-me-i-grew-up-jehovahs-witness
Friday, January 2, 2015
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