AtheistNexus.org article on the JW's and child sexual abuse

JW's keep silent
Posted by Patricia on March 19, 2015 at 2:10pm in Ethics & Morals
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The Horrifying Ways Jehovah Witnesses Keep Child Abuse Victims Silent
My congregation's elders knew that there was a predator in our midst. But if you spoke out, you faced punishment.






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 Permalink Reply by Bertold Brautigan 3 hours ago

So the witnesses don't like witnesses.
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 Permalink Reply by Patricia 3 hours ago

Or their kids......
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 Permalink Reply by sk8eycat 2 hours ago

The late Judith Hayes ("The Happy Heretic") has a chapter in her second book about a former friend who was a JW, and a divorced mother of two children.  When the older child, a boy, was about 10, he decided he didn't want to go to all those meetings anymore, and he was shunned  The JW mother couldn't afford a baby-sitter, so she made him stay alone in the car while she went to "buybull study".....AT NIGHT!
The boy told his father, and the mother eventually lost custody of him...forever.

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 Permalink Reply by Patricia 2 hours ago

Just wonderful......*sarcasm*

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 Permalink Reply by Loren Miller 1 hour ago

If the JWs ever showed up around here again, this might be something that could find its way into the conversation.  That doesn't even enter into the issue of their being an insular and for what I can see remarkably JOYLESS community.  They would want me to join THAT?
Not on my worst day.
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http://www.atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/jw-s-keep-silent?commentId=2182797%3AComment%3A2583177&xg_source=activity




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JW's keep silent
Posted by Patricia on March 19, 2015 at 2:10pm in Ethics & Morals
View Discussions
.




The Horrifying Ways Jehovah Witnesses Keep Child Abuse Victims Silent
My congregation's elders knew that there was a predator in our midst. But if you spoke out, you faced punishment.






 Like 
1 member likes this
.
Share   
  

 

Views: 23
▶ Reply to This
..


Replies to This Discussion
 Permalink Reply by Bertold Brautigan 3 hours ago

So the witnesses don't like witnesses.
▶ Reply

 Permalink Reply by Patricia 3 hours ago

Or their kids......
▶ Reply

 Permalink Reply by sk8eycat 2 hours ago

The late Judith Hayes ("The Happy Heretic") has a chapter in her second book about a former friend who was a JW, and a divorced mother of two children.  When the older child, a boy, was about 10, he decided he didn't want to go to all those meetings anymore, and he was shunned  The JW mother couldn't afford a baby-sitter, so she made him stay alone in the car while she went to "buybull study".....AT NIGHT!
The boy told his father, and the mother eventually lost custody of him...forever.

▶ Reply

 Permalink Reply by Patricia 2 hours ago

Just wonderful......*sarcasm*

▶ Reply

 Permalink Reply by Loren Miller 1 hour ago

If the JWs ever showed up around here again, this might be something that could find its way into the conversation.  That doesn't even enter into the issue of their being an insular and for what I can see remarkably JOYLESS community.  They would want me to join THAT?
Not on my worst day.
▶ Reply

.

http://www.atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/jw-s-keep-silent?commentId=2182797%3AComment%3A2583177&xg_source=activity


















Wow.  I find it horrifying that that JW woman would leave her 10-year-old son in the car by himself at night, so she could attend Bible study meetings at her Kingdom Hall.  It's bad enough that his mother's entire congregation shunned him, which isn't surprising as the Jehovah's Witnesses are well-known for their practice of shunning former members and avoiding non-JW's outside of proselytizing activities.  I am an ex-JW, I never really believed much of it. I don't get along with my JW mother, but I am quite sure that she would never let me sit in the car by myself at night because I didn't want to attend meetings.  I'm glad that that woman lost custody of her son, what she did seemed to be abusive and neglectful.  As for the JW's being a "insular" and "joyless" as Loren Miller suggests, I will say that the JW's are a very exclusive group who lead very restrictive lives and I don't think that many JW's are as happy as they try to convince everyone else or even themselves as they think they are.  The JW's do face difficulty over reporting issues of child sexual abuse it seems because the Governing Body doesn't want non-JW's to get the idea that the Jehovah's Witnesses are anything but a happy bunch of fundamentalist Christians who go door-to-door teaching people about the Bible from their denominational perspective and distribute literature published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.  I think that JW's make themselves look even more bad due to their  very ineffective methods of dealing with pedophiles.








I'm glad that I am no longer associated with the denomination.  I wouldn't hesitate to report a suspected pedophile to the police or contact the Governing Body and speak my mind, especially if I had a child.  I don't have any children, but I still wouldn't hesitate to speak my mind about this particular situation either way.  I hope that more JW's and ex-JW's would speak out against the sexual abuse of children going inside the WBTS and even take the WBTS to court if they cannot properly handle this issue.  The JW's leaders need take accountability for the beliefs and practices that they formulate and require their members to hold.  The general membership has no say on deciding what the denomination's doctrines are to be at all.  I don't feel too sorry when the WBTS has to go to court over cases of children in their congregation's being sexual abused because they don't seem to deal with such cases very effectively.  The two-witness rule doesn't work very well.




The clergy of the denomination have sometimes been found to be dishonest in court cases when discussing their denominational beliefs and practices.  I'm glad that justice was served for Candace Conti and her family.  I hope that there will be others who will be granted justice.  It would be nice if the WBTS came up with more effective measures for dealing with child molesters, but I am not going to hold my breath. What do you think?