J.R. BROWN

This is an UPDATE to Bill Bowen's "The Mario Moreno and get down J.R. Brown Chronicles" List of Quotes from the Watchtower Society's Spokesmen about their Child Abuse Policies, which is found at http://www.silentlambs.org (click on the "PRESS" Link and then you will see the "The Mario Moreno and get down J.R. Brown Chronicles" Link).

The Quotes on that silentlambs Web Page go through about May 11th 2002, so I decided to put this Thread up to include ALL of those older Quotes, AND ALL of the Quotes since then from J.R. Brown and the other Watchtower Spokesmen.

I hope this List of Quotes helps everyone.

First, though, before the Quotes, I would like to show everyone how the Watchtower Society's "Child Protection Policy" really works (at least this is what I've heard that it is, someone please correct me if I am wrong):

Scenario # 1: In a State that does NOT Require Clergy to Report Sexual Abuse to the Police, and the Child Molester DENIES the charges:

1: The Child is Unfortunately Molested.
2: The Child talks with the Elders.
3: The Untrained Volunteer Elders "Investigate" the charges.
4: The Elders ask the Child about all of the details of the abuse.
5: The Elders then ask the Child, Do you have a 2nd witness to the act of abuse? (According to Awake Magazine, very few Children ever lie about being abused)
6: The Child, of course, says No.
7: The Elders then ask the accused Child Molester, Did you sexually abuse this child?
8: The accused Child Molester, of course, says No. (I have heard that 98% of Child Molesters DO NOT confess!)
9: The Elders may decide to have the Child accuse the Molester while the Molester is in the SAME ROOM with the Child!
10: The Elders call the Bethel Legal Department for instructions.
11: The Bethel Legal Department tells the Elders that they are NOT in a Mandatory-Reporting State, so they are not required to report it to the Police, and the Bethel Legal Department tells Elders not to report because you would not want to get yourself in a jam.
12: The Elders tell the Child that they cannot do anything, and that the accused person is INNOCENT because there were not 2 eye-witnesses to the act.
13: The Elders also tell the Child that if the Child tries to warn ANYONE, even other Parents or Children about the Pedophile, that the Child will face a Judicial Hearing, and will most likely be Disfellowshipped for Slandering an Innocent Man.
14: The Child and the Child's Parents are told by the Elders that, going to the Police or taking the accused Pedophile to Court would be Bringing Reproach on Jehovahs Organization.
15: The Elders tell the Child and the Child's Parents to "Wait on Jehovah" and "Jehovah will bring it all out someday" (at Armageddon).
16: If the Child was molested by her/his Father, Mother, or other immediate Family Member, the Elders send the Child back home to the "innocent" Family Members so the Child can be molested again.
17: The Child decides to warn another Child or Parent about the Child Molester.
18: The Child is then brought before a Judicial Hearing and the Elders Disfellowship the Child for "Slandering an Innocent Brother".
19: The Child is Shunned by all of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
20: Meanwhile the Child Molester is "Innocent" and a "Brother in Good Standing" who is going Door-To-Door, Pioneering, giving Talks, and is on his way to becoming a Ministerial Servant and possibly an Elder!
21: The Child's Parents decide to go to the Police to turn the Child Molester in, and they also go to the Media to speak out about this Policy.
22: The Child's Parents are brought before a Judicial Hearing for "Causing Divisions" and "Undermining the Authority of the Governing Body" and "Undermining the Arrangements of the Organization".
23: The Parents are Disfellowshipped and Shunned.
24: Meanwhile, "Brother Innocent Molester" has just been promoted by "holy spirit" and is now your Ministerial Servant!
25: Any Jehovah's Witnesses who talk to the Victim or the Victim's Parents will also be Disfellowshipped!
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Scenario # 2: In a State that does NOT Require Clergy to Report Sexual Abuse to the Police, and the Child Molester CONFESSES to the charges:

1: The Child is Unfortunately Molested.
2: The Child talks with the Elders.
3: The Untrained Volunteer Elders "Investigate" the charges.
4: The Elders ask the Child about all of the details of the abuse.
5: The Elders then ask the Child, Do you have a 2nd witness to the act of abuse? (According to Awake Magazine, very few Children ever lie about being abused)
6: The Child, of course, says No.
7: The Elders then ask the accused Child Molester, Did you sexually abuse this child?
8: The Accused Molester Confesses to the Elders.
9: The Confessed Child Molester tells the Elders he is really sorry and repentant and puts on a great act for the Elders.
10: The Elders decide not to Disfellowship this "Weak Brother".
11: The Elders Privately Reprove the Molester.
12: The Elders call the Bethel Legal Department for instructions.
13: The Bethel Legal Department tells the Elders that they are NOT in a Mandatory-Reporting State for Clergy, so they are not required to report it to the Police, and the Bethel Legal Department tells Elders not to report because you would not want to get yourself in a jam.
14: The Child Molester is supposedly not allowed to Pioneer or go Door-To-Door alone or to be a Ministerial Servant or an Elder (at least not until enough time has passed)
15: The Elders supposedly Keep an eye on him.
16: NO Report is made to the Police.
17: NO Warning is given to the Congregation that he a Predator waiting to molest more Children!
18: NO Warning is given to the Molester's immediate Family.
19: NO ONE in the Congregation knows ANYTHING about this except for the Victim, the Molester, the Elders and the Bethel Legal Department.
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Scenario # 3: In a Non-Mandatory Clergy Reporting State, in the extremely unlikely event that the Child Molester is Disfellowshipped, the following happens:

1: Elders make NO Warning to the Congregation about him being a Molester.
2: NO Warning is given to the Molester's immediate Family.
3: Elders make NO Report to the Police.
4: The Molester is free to molest Worldly People or members of his immediate Family.
5: If he puts on a good act for the Elders, he can be Re-Instated months later.
6: When he is Re-Instated, no one (except Elders and Victims and Bethel) will ever know what he was Disfellowshipped for.
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Scenario # 4: In a Mandatory Reporting State for Clergy!

1: Elders supposedly encourage the Victim to Report to the Police.
2: Elders supposedly encourage the accused Molester to Report to the Police.
3: Only as a last resort, Elders are supposed to Report the Molester to the Police if they are inside a Mandatory Reporting State for Clergy.
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Yes, can't you tell that this is all a STRONG AGRESSIVE BIBLE-BASED(TM) POLICY!
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NOW, ON TO THE WATCHTOWER SPOKESMEN'S QUOTES ABOUT THIS POLICY:

Can you spot the Contradictions, Lies, and outright WICKED Statements?

How would you like these guys speaking for your Church?

Paducah Sun (Kentucky) Newspaper - January 5th 2001:

* A spokesman at the church's headquarters in New York said there is no prohibition or discouragement in going to legal authorities in the event of child abuse.
* J.R. Brown, public affairs director for Jehovah's Witnesses at the church's headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y., said in a statement that the members of the faith "abhor all forms of wickedness, including child abuse.''
* "If child abuse becomes known to our church elders, they strictly comply with applicable child abuse reporting laws. We also encourage the wrongdoers to do everything they can to set the matter straight with the authorities. Furthermore, we do not prohibit or discourage the victim or the victim's parents from reporting child abuse to the authorities even if the alleged perpetrator is one of Jehovah's Witnesses."
* Jehovah's Witnesses abhor all forms of wickedness including child abuse. We do not condone the actions of those who exploit children by this terrible crime and such persons are disfellowshipped (excommunicated) from the congregation. A known child molester does not qualify for appointment as a church elder or for any other position of responsibility in any congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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PR Statement - January 5th 2001 - Channel 6 News:

If child abuse becomes known to our church elders, they strictly comply with applicable child abuse reporting laws. We also encourage the wrongdoers to do everything they can to set the matter straight with the authorities. Furthermore, we do not prohibit or discourage the victim or the victim's parents from reporting child abuse to the authorities even if the alleged perpetrator is one of Jehovah's Witnesses. If you would like to receive more information on how we report such matters, please contact Mario Moreno, Watchtower Legal Department. (845) 509-0416 or (845) 306-1000. A primary focus of Jehovah's Witnesses is to elevate me Bible's strong family values in all communities and to help willing ones come to know and serve God acceptably.
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Paducah Sun (Kentucky) Newspaper - January 28th 2001:

Mario Moreno, associate general counsel at the church's New York headquarters, said when church policy is applied to child molesters, "as a parent, an attorney and an elder, I'm comfortable with our policy."

Moreno said while he believes in the church's policy, he knows that some members have been hurt, and "my heart goes out to them." But he said that some elders don't follow the policy as they should, and that's where trouble begins.

Moreno said when a Witness goes to an elder with an accusation of abuse, the first step the elders should take is calling the church's legal department.

He said there are then three factors considered: protecting the child, complying with the law, and protecting minister-adherent confidentiality, with the last receiving the least weight.

The legal department will then advise the elders what is required by law. Twenty-two states, including Illinois and the District of Columbia, do not require clergy to report accusations of child abuse. In those states, Moreno said, the legal department generally advises the elders not to report the matter to law enforcement authorities.

J.R. Brown, public affairs director for the church, said the reason for this is "we do not think, as an ecclesiastical authority, we should run ahead of Caesar's laws," using a biblical reference to secular authority. "Even if secular authority does not require it, generally we have endeavoured to be more zealous for enforcing and seeing that these laws are complied with. If Caesar has a law, and it does not conflict with God's law, we follow it."

Brown said the church does not necessarily equate reporting the matter to law enforcement to protecting the child because "not all the time does government authority provide the protection the child needs. We don't say automatically that, but unfortunately too many reports show that's the case. You can be sure they're going to take what action is necessary to see that the child is protected."

Both Brown and Moreno said that the elders, who volunteer and are essentially untrained clergy, might err in their application of a policy both believe puts protecting children first.

"It's a matter of trying to balance confidentiality and protecting the child," Brown said. "It's not always easy. Have mistakes been made? Very likely, they have. We're trying to see that everyone is educated to what needs to be done to see that innocent children are not victimized."

Moreno agrees with Bowen's claim that no investigation is initiated in the church if there is only one witness and the accused denies the charge, but he said elders have the responsibility to watch the accused more closely. He added that elders sometimes advise the accused to not put himself or herself in suspicious situations.

He also said that when members are disfellowshipped, the congregation is told but no reason is given in order to protect confidentiality. When asked if the parents of the victim would be allowed to tell fellow congregates why a member is disfellowshipped, Moreno replied, "That would be their choice. We don't tell them that, but it would be their choice. Is that encouraged? No."

He agreed with Bowen's charge that a congregation would also not be told if a pedophile had joined the flock. But he said because of the church's structure, the fact that such a member, if male, who would have fewer rights in the congregation, would not be serving in a leadership role would alert members that "he obviously lacks spiritual maturity."

Moreno said he believes that while some of the church's critics on this topic have legitimate concerns, most "have a problem with pride" and "want the organization to change for them. We go by what we believe the Bible says, and we don't change for anybody."

He also said he feels the church is "being picked on" and added that he would be willing to put the church's policy up against any other.
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Christianity Today - January 26th 2001:

J. R. Brown, director of the public affairs office of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (WTBTS) in Brooklyn, says he shares Bowen's concern. "We abhor what [molestation] does to children," he tells Christianity Today.

Witness spokesman Brown says that the incidence of pedophilia is no worse in his religion than in others, but he admits that some elders have not reported suspicions of abuse. In 38 states, the law requires clergy and other professionals to report physical and sexual abuse of children. Some critics argue that even in the 22 states that do not require clergy members to report, Witness elders do not qualify for such a privilege because most are neither professionally trained nor paid employees of the organization.

Although Witnesses comply with secular laws when necessary, Witness spokesman Brown says, the group prefers to deal with such matters spiritually. "We handle wrongdoing, sin, and transgression," he says. "This is what a religious organization is supposed to do. We're not getting into law enforcement. We're just going to handle the repentance."
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Louisville Courier-Journal (Kentucky) Newspaper - January 4th 2001:

Church officials say elders alert authorities to suspected abuse in states that require reporting. But in other states they prefer to take steps to protect children that don't breach what they see as confidential communication between elders and members.

A lawyer for the Jehovah's Witnesses church, which has nearly 1 million members nationally and 6 million worldwide, said it complies with those state laws that require church elders to report abuse.

"If there is a law that mandates reporting, that takes precedent over any confidentiality, whether in church policy or statute," said Mario Moreno, associate general counsel for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, a legal corporation of the church.

"In states where there is no reporting requirement, it's a different scenario," Moreno said.

Elders might have the victim relocated away from the abuser or have the parent or guardian of the victim, or even the accused person, report the abuse to police, he said.

"The laws of this country, as well as people's moral values, tell you there are some things that should be kept private. That's why laws protect confidential communications between clergy and their flock."

But Moreno said elders who contact the church's legal department with cases of suspected sexual abuse -- as they must do -- are often advised to refer victims to police or other outside help, even if the law doesn't require it.

Victims and their parents are free, Moreno said, to seek help from police or therapists and should not blame the church if they choose not to do so.

"Parents are encouraged to do whatever they need to do to protect their child," said Moreno.

Church attorney Moreno said church members know they can go to the authorities on a matter of abuse. "They haven't committed a sin by turning in a Jehovah's Witness to the authorities," he said. "It's a very personal decision."

Moreno would not comment on whether elders violated the law in this case but said, "Once in a while, in a small minority cases, elders screw up. They screw up because they don't call here (the Watch Tower legal department). When they call here, they don't screw up."

Moreno said that eventually, the truth comes out. "Somebody else comes out of the woodwork and now you can take action," he said. Moreno said two separate accusers would count as two witnesses when making a sexual abuse accusation.

Church policy neither encourages nor discourages members to report suspected or admitted sexual abuse to police, Moreno said. Elders are instructed to always call the central legal department of the church in Carmel, N.Y., upon receiving an accusation.

When elders call, church lawyers tell them whether state law requires them to report abuse to police, Moreno said. A still-valid 1989 church memo also tells elders to call for legal advice before being interviewed by police, responding to a subpoena or voluntarily turning over confidential church records, unless police have a search warrant.

Moreno said church lawyers might advise elders to refer victims to police or other outside help. "That's a personal decision."

A Jan. 2 statement from J.R. Brown, director of public affairs for the Jehovah's Witnesses, said church elders "encourage the wrongdoers to do everything they can to set the matter straight with the authorities."

Ayers, Rees' stepfather, declined to comment, but church lawyer Moreno applauded the decision.

"There is no duty to announce to people that 'John Brown' is a child abuser," he said. If the court had ruled otherwise, he said, it "would basically discourage people from going to their ministers and getting help."

"If people could not count on confidentiality when they go and confess to a Catholic priest, there's going be quite a chilling effect on religion," he said.

Church lawyer Moreno said it would be "ridiculous" for any elder to make such a threat, and if one did, it would contradict church policy.

"That's not scriptural," he said. "We teach the Scriptures. The Scriptures don't say, 'If you file criminal charges against an abuser you're going to have eternal damnation.' The one in danger of eternal damnation is the abuser."

Watch Tower officials are not consistent on how the church punishes child molesters.
In a Jan. 2 statement, church public affairs director Brown Church said that child abusers are "disfellowshipped," or expelled from the congregation. Later, he acknowledged the church can use less severe penalties.

He defended his original statement, saying that for "mass consumption it conveys the thought (that elders) do institute this discipline. They're not soft on abusers."

Said Moreno: "I wouldn't be too happy myself if somebody abused my child and was reinstated. The bottom line is if an elder determines a former child abuser has demonstrated repentance, (he has) a scriptural obligation to reinstate him."

Brown said pedophiles are restricted from working with minors and must also be with a well-respected church member when they go door to door.

Pedophiles also might not be sent into neighborhoods where they might be recognized as molesters, Brown said.

According to church lawyer Moreno, the system worked. Elders did their job, and victims and police did theirs, he said.

"What was the harm?" Moreno said. "The report got made.

"You've got a teen, who has been molested, upset at the elders for not calling the police?" he said. "You can call the police. You're the one injured.

"Who makes the laws? Not us. Don't blame us for the laws, please. Talk to the state legislators of Colorado."
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Associated Press - February 11th 2001:

J.R. Brown, spokesman at the Jehovah's Witnesses' headquarters in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, said he believes Bowen does not have a full understanding of church policies.

Members are free at all times to report abuse to secular authorities, Brown said. "This is a personal decision on how you want to handle this," he said.

What is revealed to church leaders is generally kept confidential unless state law requires that allegations of abuse be turned over to police, he said.

"We deal with sin, and law enforcement deals with crime," Brown said.

In some cases, however, the matter is turned over to secular authorities regardless of the law, Brown said.

Of Bowen, he said: "He's concerned about victims of child abuse, and we are, too."

Brown said the faith does require at least two witnesses to prove any kind of wrongdoing -- including child molestation -- because that is what is taught in the Bible. But corroborating evidence can be used instead of a second witness to prove wrongdoing, Brown said.
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Paducah Sun (Kentucky) Newspaper - February 12th 2001:

Editorial Page JR Brown Response to William Bowen

We are writing regarding allegations made concerning our policy about handling accusations of child molestation. Some of these allegations have been reported in the media.

We were very surprised to see that these statements were made, and we noted how inaccurate they are. Our position on pedophilia has been well-publicized for decades. Back in 1985, the Jan. 22 issue of Awake! devoted several pages to the subject and stated that the priority was protection of the child. It stated:

"First, the child and other children too must be protected from any further abuse. This must be done, whatever the cost. In many cases the accused molester will have to be confronted. But whatever it takes, it is important that the child should feel confident that the molester will never be able to get at her (or him) again."

Our Oct. 8, 1993, issue of Awake! featured a cover series of 14 pages entitled, "Protect Your Children!" In part it stated:

"If your child discloses sexual abuse, you will no doubt feel shattered ... Praise the child for being so brave as to tell you what happened. Repeatedly reassure the child that you will do your best to provide protection; that the abuse was the abuser's fault, not the child's; that the child is not bad; that you love the child.

"Some legal experts advise reporting the abuse to the authorities as soon as possible. In some lands the legal system may require this."

"Parents must therefore make every reasonable effort to protect their children! Many responsible parents choose to seek out professional help for an abused child. Just as you would with a medical doctor, make sure that any such professional will respect your religious views. Help your child rebuild his or her shattered self-esteem through a steady outpouring of parental love."

Following are excerpts from the Jan. 1, 1997, issue of The Watchtower:

"Depending on the law of the land where he lives, the molester may well have to serve a prison term or face other sanctions from the state. The congregation will not protect him from this."

"A child molester is subject to severe congregational discipline and restrictions."

"For the protection of our children, a man known to have been a child molester does not qualify for a responsible position in the congregation."

In conclusion, we reiterate that Jehovah's Witnesses do not shy away from informing people about pedophilia. We abhor the practice and actively work to keep our congregations free from such harmful influences. Millions of copies of our journals, which contain numerous articles that decry child abuse in any form and instead promote safe, trusting, and strong family relationships, have been read by our members and distributed to the public internationally. (Currently, The Watchtower has a circulation of more than 23 million copies per issue, and for Awake! it is more than 20 million.) Through these magazines and in other ways, Jehovah's Witnesses strive to contribute to the safety of children and to the building of strong families in the community.
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JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE

For Immediate Release January 2, 2001

Statement

Jehovah's Witnesses abhor all forms of wickedness including child abuse. We do not condone the actions of those who exploit children by this terrible crime and such persons are disfellowshipped (excommunicated) from the congregation. A known child molester does not qualify for appointment as a church elder or for any other position of responsibility in any congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.

If child abuse becomes known to our church elders, they strictly comply with applicable child abuse reporting laws. We also encourage the wrongdoers to do everything they can to set the matter straight with the authorities. Furthermore, we do not prohibit or discourage the victim or the victim's parents from reporting child abuse to the authorities even if the alleged perpetrator is one of Jehovah's Witnesses. If you would like to receive more information on how we report such matters, please contact Mario Moreno, Watchtower Legal Department. (845) 509-0416 or (845) 306-1000.

A primary focus of Jehovah's Witnesses is to elevate me Bible's strong family values in all communities and to help willing ones come to know and serve God acceptably.

Contact: J. R. Brown, Director. Public Affairs Office, telephone: (718) 560-5600

Watch Tower, 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, New York 11201-2483 USA.

Telephone: 718-560-5600 Facmile: 718-560-5619
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JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE

For Immediate Release August 7, 2001

Statement

Sexual abuse of children is a terrible crime that can leave lasting emotional scars on its victims. Often, child molesters are attracted to organizations that have children as members, which makes protecting children from sexual abuse a complex and important societal concern.

Jehovahs Witnesses condemn child molestation, and they do not tolerate such activity within their membership. If there is sufficient evidence that someone has exploited children in this way, he may be disfellowshipped (excommunicated). A sincerely repentant former child molester may be allowed to remain a member of the faith, but he is strongly warned against being alone with children unless one of the parents or another responsible adult is also present. Moreover, as a protection to our children, former child molesters are not permitted to receive positions of responsibility in our religion.

If an accusation of child molestation is made against a member of the congregation, the elders immediately work to assure the safety of the victim. Also, they make every effort to comply with the law. This includes complying with laws that mandate reporting the incident to the proper authorities. This is even done when a child is the only one to report the wrong conduct or when the elders received the allegation of molestation in confidence.

The victim or the victims family may also report the matter to the authorities. The have an absolute right to report and none should interfere with this. If you would like to receive more information on how we report such matters, please contact Mario Moreno, Watchtower Legal Department. (845) 509-0416 or (845) 306-1000.

Contact: J. R. Brown, Director. Public Affairs Office, telephone: (718) 560-5600

Watch Tower, 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, New York 11201-2483 USA.

Telephone: 718-560-5600 Facmile: 718-560-5619
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J.R. BROWN

Director, Public Affairs Office

Jehovah's Witnesses

AP

Tuesday, January 22, 2002

Lawsuit claims Jehovah's Witness church protects pedophiles

Church spokesman J.R. Brown said he could not comment on Rodriguez's lawsuit because lawyers had not received paperwork.

But he said there is no policy preventing notification of civil authorities of a crime.

"What we handle is the transgression, or the sin, of child molestation. We distinguish that from the criminal aspect," Brown said. "Our view is, the church handles the sin, the secular authority - Caesar, if you will- handles the criminal activity."

The church - which has about 6 million members worldwide, including 1 million in the United States - requires two witnesses because the Bible requires it for establishing a sin, he said.

"Where the state requires that this be reported, we comply fully," he said. "We have designed a policy to protect the victim of child molestation; to protect innocent children and to not allow pedophiles to circulate among us."
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THE SPOKANE REVIEW

Wednesday, January 23, 2002

Lawsuit accuses church of fostering sexual abuse

Church officials deny that charge.

In an interview from his home in New York on Tuesday, church spokesman J.R. Brown said elders are told to comply with the laws requiring professionals to report all allegations of child abuse.

"It ought to be clear, the church handles all sins and transgressions in house," he said. "If such sins are criminal, then it's up to the police."

Brown said he could not comment specifically on the lawsuit.

Brown, the church spokesman, denied that victims are discouraged from reporting abuse or other crimes.

"We make it clear that it is up to the individual whether to report. As you know, many choose not to," he said. "We don't chastise them."
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UPI

Tuesday, January 22, 2002

Sexual Abuse Suit Filed Against Jehovah's Witness Leaders; Denomination's NY Headquarters Called 'Negligent'

No Comments (by Watchtower Spokesmen)
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TRI-CITY HERALD

Wednesday, January 23, 2002

Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in Othello sued in sex abuse case

However, Watchtower spokesman J.R. Brown, who had not yet seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment specifically, said the church does not interfere with the reporting of a crime.

He said church elders are supposed to contact headquarters if they have questions about a case.

"When we are contacted, we tell elders if they are in a state where (reporting pedophilia) is required," he said. "We want to make sure we are legally compliant."

Brown said he is aware that numerous cases have been posted on Internet sites such as www.silentlambs.org or www.freeminds.org detailing pedophilia within the Jehovah's Witnesses church.

But he maintains most of the stories were posted by people who underwent abuse back in the 1980s, when all of society was grappling with the issue.

"Regrettably, many children probably were molested," he said.

He said the church has made strong policy changes since then, including taking suspected or convicted pedophiles out of any position in the church, not allowing them to be alone with children and various other restrictions.
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Seattle Times (Washington State) Newspaper

Thursday, January 23, 2002

Church protects pedophiles, victim charges in lawsuit

J.R. Brown, a spokesman for the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based denomination, said he could not comment on the lawsuit because lawyers had not received paperwork.

But "we have designed a policy to protect the victim of child molestation; to protect innocent children and not to allow pedophiles to circulate among us," he said of the church, which is officially known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

Brown said the church which has about 6 million members worldwide, including 1 million in the United States requires two witnesses because the Bible requires that for establishing a sin.

"Where the state requires that this be reported, we comply fully," he said.
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CNS News

Friday, January 24, 2002

Jehovah's Witness Church Accused of Hiding Sexual Abusers

Jehovah's Witness church officials in New York deny that the church hides criminal activity. "We have no such policy. Our policy allows for anyone who wishes to report the matter to the authorities to do so," J.R. Brown, national spokesman for the Jehovah's Witness organization, said. "We strictly comply. We are not in any way resistive to the proper authorities being notified."

Brown said that while he could not comment on the specifics of the case, the church typically follows general policy guidelines in such matters.

"We follow a general policy that we do not support legally any Jehovah's Witness charged with a crime. We do not use our donated resources to defend any Jehovah's Witness accused of a crime," Brown said.

But Brown said the core issue is not the church's image.

"If someone were to feel that our concern for our resources were greater than that for innocent victims, that simply is not true," Brown said. "We are concerned, just as any other organization, about our public image. We are concerned about our resources because we are recipients of donated funds for non-profit charitable work. But we are primarily ministers who are concerned to act as shepherds in a protective and spiritual sense over the members of the congregation," he said.

"If anyone has been abused by anyone else in the congregation or whether that person is an appointed elder or not, we view this as a horrific crime to inflict on a child or anyone else," Brown said.
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SACRAMENTO BEE

Saturday, January 26, 2002

Woman sues Jehovah's Witnesses in sex abuse

Church officials would not comment on Rodriguez's lawsuit, but did say they report crimes to the proper authorities.

"We have no objection to a crime being handled," said J.R. Brown, director of the Office of Public Information for the national organization. "In no way do we conflict with how police or other authorities handle these cases."

But church officials strongly denied Anderson's allegation.

"The two-witnesses requirement applies to how we handle transgressions or sins as a church," Brown said. "It has nothing to do with how we handle a crime.

"We are a church made up of families ... We would not allow predators to get away with this," Brown said.
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THE SPOKANE REVIEW

Sunday, January 27, 2002

Spokane

Reluctant Witness feels betrayed

Members of the faith found guilty of wrongdoing by church elders can be disfellowshipped, said church spokesman J.R. Brown in New York City. When that happens other members are encouraged to cease all contact with the individual.

"That is a biblical standard," Brown said. "We are pretty strict when it comes to interpreting the Bible."

While Brown said he can't comment on the lawsuit, he said the church has published several articles over the last 20 years encouraging members to report sexual abuse and child molesters.

"We handle transgression and sin," he said. "But if that involves criminal activity, we say that should be reported to the government."
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NEW YORK POST Newspaper

Monday, January 28, 2002

SUIT ALLEGES JEHOVAH'S KIDDIE-SEX COVERUP

A church spokesman yesterday insisted that the church does not hide abuse.
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LOUISVILLE-COURIER (Kentucky) Newspaper

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

Jehovah's Witnesses act against abuse-policy critics

The Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information declined to comment specifically on the four cases, citing confidentiality policies.

Leaders of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, as the organization is formally known, have disputed these claims, saying they obey all laws requiring the reporting of child abuse and do not interfere with police investigations.

They say that in states that do not require reporting of abuse, they prefer taking steps to protect children while not breaching what they see as confidential communications between elders and members.

Church officials say they might advise elders to move victims out of abusive homes or refer them to counseling.

In its statement, the Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information quoted biblical references in saying elders must use church discipline to ''shepherd the flock of God in their care.'' ''In fact, they are required by the Holy Scriptures to see to it that the congregation remains clean and unified,'' the statement said. ''No hasty decision is made in this process.'' The goal is not to expel a member, but to follow the Apostle Paul's injunction to ''try to readjust such a man in a spirit of mildness,'' the statement said.

One suit filed in January by Erica Rodriguez, who said she was repeatedly abused by a church member years ago, claims an elder at her former congregation in Washington state threatened her with excommunication if she reported her abuser to police.
A Watchtower statement denies this, saying that there are no sanctions against anyone who chooses to go to police, and that church elders and Watchtower did not know of the abuse until years after it had occurred.
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PRESS STATEMENT

For Immediate Release
May 8, 2002

In harmony with what the Bible teaches, elders of Jehovahs Witnesses shepherd the flock of god in their care. They have the spiritual welfare of each congregation member in mind. (1 Peter 5:2) This pastoral work is done confidentially, out of respect for the congregation and the individual(s) involved.
Even as the local elders are concerned about the spiritual health of each member of the congregation, they are also concerned for the spiritual welfare of the congregation as a whole. In fact, they are required by the Holy Scriptures to see to it that the congregation remains clean and unified. (1 Corinthians 1:10) No hasty decision is made in this process. It is never the goal of local elders to remove someone from the congregation. Rather, every effort is made, in harmony with Pauls words, to "try to readjust such a man in a spirit of mildness." ---Galatians 6:1

Contact J. R. Brown, telephone: (718) 560-5600
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NEWSDAY-NY

Jehovah's Witnesses Allege Sexual Abuse

Wednesday, May 8, 2002

Pandelo and the others say they are being targeted because of their outspokenness, especially on sexual abuse of minors.

A national spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses, which says it has 6 million members worldwide, categorically denied the allegations.

"You cannot be a known sex offender and hold any position of responsibility within the organization," said J.R. Brown, the spokesman. "We have a very strong and aggressive policy for handling any sexual molestation that might take place."

Jehovah's Witnesses spokesman Brown said only one hearing has been held so far and no action has been taken yet against anyone.

Bowen fights excommunication for criticizing witnesses
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NewsChannel 6

Bowen fights excommunication for criticizing witnesses

Members at Bowen's old Kingdom Hall in Draffenville say the church does not bar them from reporting abuse. They say they may council abusers to report their actions to authorities. But they admit discouraging members from telling just anybody. "The difference between needless gossip, let's say, and withholding information from those who have a right to know is two different things completely," says Jehovah's Witness Bruce Waite.

J.R. Brown, national Jehovah's Witness public information director, says proceedings against Bowen are confidential.
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New York Post Newspaper

FOUR FACING JEHOVAH OUSTER

Thursday, May 9, 2002

A spokesman for the Brooklyn-based religion called that claim "absurd."
Both sides agree that all Witnesses - including relatives of the four - would risk excommunication by having contact with any excommunicated person, except under certain circumstances.

While the four believe the show's impending broadcast has spurred the church's actions, church spokesman J.R. Brown said that before Tuesday, church headquarters had no idea that these people would be on the show.

He also said local congregations decided to charge them with various spiritual violations.
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Associated Press (AP)/CNN

Four Jehovah's Witnesses fight church's handling of child abuse cases

Thursday, May 9, 2002

In a statement issued from their headquarters, the Jehovah's Witnesses said that church leaders are "required by the Holy Scriptures to see to it that the congregation remains clean and unified."

J.R. Brown, a spokesman for the denomination, said that parents are not punished by the church for going to the police first in cases of child molestation.
And he said that anyone found guilty of molestation by a church judicial committee is removed from all positions of responsibility and cannot evangelize door-to-door without being accompanied by a fellow Jehovah's Witness.

Steve Lyons, an elder at Bowen's Draffenville church of about 60 members, said Jehovah's Witnesses are responsive to allegations of child abuse.
"I think we do as well as we can do," he said. "We comply with all local laws when it comes to reporting. We do our best to protect children in cases where even there's just been an alleged abuse."
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The Tullahoma (Tennessee) News

Whistleblower could lose her church, family

May 11, 2002

In an interview with the New York Post, JW spokesperson J.R. Brown stated that the threatened excommunications had nothing to do with the Dateline interview and that "church headquarters had no idea that these people would be on the show."

Yet research displayed more than six internet announcements on the program, updates and names, all linked to the Silent Lambs and the Watchtower sites.

Brown also said that local congregation decided to charge the members with various spiritual violations.
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Washington Post Newspaper

Saturday, May 11, 2002;

Ouster Looms for Critics Of Sex Abuse Policy

J.R. Brown, a national spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses, confirmed that the four had been called to the hearings, but he said the proceedings may focus on "sins" unrelated to public comments on sexual abuse. He provided no specifics.

The judicial committees will decide whether the four should be "disfellowshipped," the group's term for excommunication.
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Tennessean Nashville News

Abuse charges put Witness at risk of shunning

Saturday, 05/11/02

''What she (Anderson) alleges is not true at all,'' said J.R. Brown, a spokesman for the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc., the incorporated name of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Brown said he had been talking to Dateline about the show's story for a year but said he and other organization leaders did not know which members television producers had interviewed.

''We have no idea what she told Dateline,'' Brown said of Anderson.

The consequences of excommunication are severe for a reason, Brown said. It is hoped that the harsh isolation that disfellowshipped members feel will draw them back to the organization.

Other members of the faith are not allowed to speak to disfellowshipped members. They can't greet them in a store or share a meal with them. Live-in family members can speak to the person but never about spiritual issues.

''Our statistics bear out that you have many people every year be reinstated,'' Brown said.

Brown said Jehovah's Witnesses have a strict policy about child sexual abuse. If parents come to congregation leaders with concerns that their child is being abused, the leaders follow state law, he said. If state law requires parents to report the abuse, congregation leaders tell them that.

People in the organization who are accused of sex abuse are subject to a hearing like the one Anderson attended yesterday, Brown said. They are automatically removed from leadership positions and can't go door-to-door without other members' being present.

Anderson said she knew of pedophiles in four Middle Tennessee congregations who had confessed to elders and who had not been disciplined. She said those elders did not go to authorities with what they knew.

There was no way yesterday to corroborate the accusations that Anderson made. Brown said they were false. A call to the local district attorney at his home yesterday did not yield a return call.
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Molestation case leads to church fight

Published in the Asbury Park Press May 14th 2002

A Jehovah's Witnesses national spokesman, David Semonian, cited confidentiality rules and said the church could not discuss the Pandelos' case. "The proceedings may focus on sins unrelated to any public comments on sexual abuse," he said.

Semonian said the church does not have specific rules against talking to the media, but churches could take action against those who disrupt the unity of the church.

Semonian said he did not know about the Pandelo case. He said anyone convicted of child molestation cannot hold a position of authority in the church and cannot perform church work alone.
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David Semonian, a Spokesman for the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, answered Questions prompted by Diane Wilson's Book on the Watchtower Society. He spoke by Phone from the Organization's Bethel World Headquarters in Brooklyn, New York

This was Published on a News Website on May 18th 2002:

Reporter's Question: "How is rape viewed?"

David Semonian's Answer: "Any time a woman is sexually assaulted, we view it as a horrible crime. And we are there -- the Elders, the Congregation -- to support that person. We handle it with the utmost compassion."

Reporter's Question: "Has the Watchtower ``zigzagged'' on Doctrine?"

David Semonian's Answer: "We've never claimed to be infallible, inspired or perfect as an Organization. And so it's a fact that with increased knowledge, as we increase our study of the Bible and come to a better understanding, that from time to time we will make adjustments. We humbly do that."

Reporter's Question: "Is the Organization a Direct Channel between God and humanity?"

David Semonian's Answer: "Again, our Governing Body has never claimed that our Organization is inspired or infallible. Instead they, our Governing Body, study the Bible diligently and through prayer they make a request for his Holy Spirit to direct them and be upon them. And with his help, they come to decisions. So we believe this to be the Channel that God is using today. But our Governing Body has said that it is not inspired or infallible."

Reporter's Question: "What is 'Disfellowshipping'?"

David Semonian's Answer: "It involves someone who has committed a serious spiritual violation, such as adultery or stealing; the Bible directs that they receive a readjustment. They usually meet with three Elders of the Congregation, who will see if the alleged accusation is true, because sometimes it's not. And the Elders will see whether the person confesses or whether there are witnesses to the act."

"And if it is true, the Scriptures say to readjust the person, help them come to their senses that what they did was wrong, to show them that Jehovah God is very merciful if they change their course. So it's a very loving arrangement. The aim is to keep the person in good standing with God and the Congregation."

"Now if the person blatantly refuses to be helped, even after several Meetings, then the Bible says in First Corinthians, 'Quit mixing in company with anyone called a brother that . . .,' and then it mentions a variety of serious sins. It mentions a fornicator, an idolator, a drunkard."

"This is only after they blatantly refuse the help. Then the Bible says to quit mixing with them, or the term we use is 'Disfellowship.' Other Churches say 'Excommunicate.' "

"Now, why is that loving? Because the rest of the Congregation knows that they are among clean worshipers of Jehovah. They are protected against serious, wrong violators of Bible principles. The shunning has also impressed, upon the one who refuses, the need to come back to the loving Congregation. It may help him come back to his senses."
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NBC DATELINE -- WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION

DATE IT WAS ORIGINALLY AIRED ON TELEVISION: May 28th, 2002

JOHN LARSON (Dateline Reporter) Speaking: Bowen also learned that in New Hampshire Paul Berry beat and sexually tortured his step-daughter, Holly Brewer, from the time she was 4. But Holly's mother says that when she complained to Church Elders that Berry was beating Holly and her other kids, the Elders told her to be a better wife and to pray more. She also says they NEVER informed Police as required by State Law. The Church denies that, saying she never told them of the abuse. Holly later ran away from home and says she disfigured herself with tattoos and piercings in response to the abuse.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: Bill Bowen says if you want to get an idea of how the Church sweeps cases under the rug, just listen to part of a conversation Bowen Recorded a little over a year ago with an Official in the Jehovah's Witness (Bethel) Legal Department.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: Bowen calls seeking advice on how to handle a suspected molestation case involving a young girl and her father. Instead of being told to report it to the Police, Bowen is told to confront the suspected abuser.

Bethel Headquarters #1 Speaking On the Phone: Good afternoon, Watchtower.

Bethel Headquarters Receptionist Speaking On the Phone: Good afternoon, Legal Department.

Bethel Headquarters #2 Speaking On the Phone: You just ask him again, "Now is there anything to this?" If he says "No," then I would walk away from it.

Mr. BILL BOWEN Speaking On the Phone: Yep.

Bethel Headquarters #2 Speaking On the Phone: Leave it for Jehovah. He'll bring it out.

Mr. BILL BOWEN Speaking On the Phone: Yep.

Bethel Headquarters #2 Speaking On the Phone: But don't get yourself in a jam.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: Again, there was no insistence that this matter be brought to the Authorities in the outside world. Bowen says he was so upset by the whole case he resigned as a Church Elder and vowed to help abuse victims. He didn't know that halfway across the Country, Erica Garza as feeling the same frustration as she prepared to face her molester in Court.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: Even though Beliz had apparently CONFESSED his crimes before Church Elders, it appeared to make little difference. He was Expelled from the Church, but only temporarily. Elders allowed him to rejoin the Church before the Trial.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: John White, the Congregation's Top Elder (Presiding Overseer), explained at a Court Hearing.

Mr. JOHN WHITE Speaking From the Recorded Court Trial Audio Tape: We're satisfied that he was repentant and could be admitted to the Congregation again. To us, we don't see a problem.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: White also told the Court that when a Church Member is called before the Elders and admits to a crime, they consider it a Religious Confession and that, just like a Priest or Rabbi, he and other Elders have good reason not to testify about it in Court.

Mr. JOHN WHITE Speaking From the Recorded Court Trial Audio Tape: Jehovah's Witnesses do not want to harbor criminals or dangerous people. But we want the Confidentiality because if that's taken away from us, why should a person ever confess anything?

JOHN LARSON Speaking: How do Jehovah's Witness Leaders respond to complaints that they're trying to bury cases like Erica's? They declined a request for an On-Camera Interview, but spoke to us Off-Camera, and provided us with a Video-Taped Policy Statement by Spokesman J.R. Brown.

Mr. J.R. BROWN (Watchtower Society's Main Spokesman) Speaking From the Video Tape: Jehovah's Witnesses feel child abuse is an evil. It's an evil of our time, it's an evil in our society and so we abhor it.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: Church Officials say they publish Articles like this, educating Members and training Elders how to help abuse victims.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: The Church also says Elders are required to Investigate any allegations of abuse, and steps are taken to protect alleged victims from further abuse.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: And while Officials acknowledge that molesters who repent are readmitted to Church, they say known molesters are not allowed to hold a position of responsibility within the Church.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: They also insist that the Church complies with all Laws on reporting abuse in those States where it's required, even when there's only one witness to the crimes.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: But in States where Churches are not required to report, they say they do not discourage victims from reporting abuse to Authorities.

Mr. J.R. BROWN (Watchtower Society's Main Spokesman) Speaking From the Video Tape: When it comes to the matter of reporting, then that's something the parents can decide. We certainly never tell them not to report a case of child molestation.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: In a Letter to DATELINE, the Church's General Council adds that "it is possible that a few of the 77,799 Elders of Jehovah's Witnesses have not followed the direction that they have been given regarding investigating and reporting child abuse."

JOHN LARSON Speaking: What remains unanswered, though, is why the Church gets involved at all with investigating what are criminal matters. And just how often do they turn one of their own into Authorities? We asked the Church for some examples, proof that they're as tough as they say they are on Members who abuse children.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: The Church waited 6 MONTHS, but finally offered us 2 cases. And right away we noticed something. In both cases, the victims were Jehovah's Witnesses, but their alleged molesters were not.
They were non-believers from outside the Church.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: In fact, we could only find 2 cases where the Church took an active role in turning in one of its own, including the case of this man, Clement Pandelo.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: Pandelo, seen here in Family Videos confessed to Church Elders he'd molested his own granddaughter.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: How did the Church handle it? The parents of the young victim, Clement Pandelo's own son and daughter-in-law, Carl and Barbara Pandelo, also Jehovah's Witnesses, told DATELINE the Church pressured to agree to a deal in which Clement Pandelo pled Guilty to criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child. He was given only probation, NO jail time. And what did the Church Elders tell Barbara and Carl Pandelo?

Mr. CARL PANDELO Speaking: We should just let it go, that it's not Jehovah's time to deal with it.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: The Church says that's not true, and the Church apparently did Disfellowship Clement Pandelo 2 separate times. But each time they welcomed him back. So where is this CONVICTED CHILD MOLESTER today, a man who, according to Court Records, has admitted molesting girls ALL HIS LIFE?

JOHN LARSON Speaking: DATELINE found him going door-to-door, a Jehovah's Witness in Good Standing, evangelizing to people who know nothing about his record. His own son, Carl, says the Church should know better.

Mr. CARL PANDELO Speaking: He's a SEXUAL PREDATOR. When he goes door-to-door, he has a craving for young, juvenile girls, as he puts it. He's looking at that child, having those immoral thoughts in his mind while he's there.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: You know the Church now says they don't have a special problem. It's a societal problem and they do everything they can to stop pedophiles from hurting children within the Jehovah's Witness Church.

JOHN LARSON Speaking: What do you say to them?

Ms. ERICA GARZA (Child Molestation Survivor) Speaking: Liars.

STONE PHILLIPS (Dateline Reporter) Speaking: The Church also told DATELINE that while some known pedophiles still go door-to-door, they are not allowed to do so alone.

STONE PHILLIPS Speaking: Finally, 4 of the people DATELINE interviewed -- former Elder Bill Bowen, Barbara Anderson and Carl and Barbara Pandello -- are facing possible Expulsion (Disfellowshipping) from their Congregations.
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The Following Statement was Posted on the Official Watchtower Society Media Website at http://www.jw-media.org right around the same time Dateline aired:

Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information

Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Protection

Child abuse is abhorrent to us. This is in harmony with the principle recorded at Romans 12:9. Even one abused child is one too many. For decades The Watchtower and Awake! have featured articles to educate both Witnesses and the public regarding the importance and the need to protect children from child abuse. Among others, there was the article "Let Us Abhor What Is Wicked!" published in the January 1, 1997, issue of The Watchtower ; "Help for the Victims of Incest" in the October 1, 1983, Watchtower, "Your Child Is in Danger!", "How Can We Protect Our Children?", and "Prevention in the Home", all in the October 8, 1993, Awake!, as well as "Child MolestingEvery Mother's Nightmare," in the January 22, 1985, Awake!

When any one of Jehovah's Witnesses is accused of an act of child abuse, the local congregation elders are expected to investigate. Two elders meet separately with the accused and the accuser to see what each says on the matter. If the accused denies the charge, the two elders may arrange for him and the victim to restate their position in each other's presence, with elders also there. If during that meeting the accused still denies the charges and there are no others who can substantiate them, the elders cannot take action within the congregation at that time. Why not? As a Bible-based organization, we must adhere to what the Scriptures say, namely, "No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin . . . At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good." (Deuteronomy 19:15) Jesus reaffirmed this principle as recorded at Matthew 18:15-17. However, if two persons are witnesses to separate incidents of the same kind of wrongdoing, their testimony may be deemed sufficient to take action.

However, even if the elders cannot take congregational action, they are expected to report the allegation to the branch office of Jehovah's Witnesses in their country, if local privacy laws permit. In addition to making a report to the branch office, the elders may be required by law to report even uncorroborated or unsubstantiated allegations to the authorities. If so, we expect the elders to comply. Additionally, the victim may wish to report the matter to the authorities, and it is his or her absolute right to do so.

If, when confronted, the accused confesses that he is guilty of child abuse, the elders take appropriate congregational action. If he is not repentant, he will not be permitted to remain a member of the congregation. Even if he is repentantis cut to the heart and is thus resolutely determined to avoid such conduct in the futurewhat was stated in the January 1, 1997, issue of The Watchtower applies. The article said: "For the protection of our children, a man known to have been a child molester does not qualify for a responsible position in the congregation. Moreover, he cannot be a pioneer [full-time missionary of Jehovah's Witnesses] or serve in any other special, full-time service." He would not qualify Scripturally. (1 Timothy 3:2, 7-10) We take such action because we are concerned with maintaining Bible standards and protecting our children. Everyone in our organization is expected to meet the same requirements, namely, to be clean physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually.2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 4:17-19; 1 Thessalonians 2:4.

In a few instances, individuals guilty of an act of child abuse have been appointed to positions within the congregation if their conduct has been otherwise exemplary for decades. All the factors are considered carefully. Suppose, for example, that a long time ago a 16-year-old boy had sexual relations with a consenting 15-year-old girl. Depending upon the U.S. jurisdiction where he lived when this happened, elders may have been required to report this as an incident of child abuse. Let us say that 20 years have passed. The child abuse reporting law may have changed; the man may have even married the girl! Both have been living exemplary lives and they are respected. In such a rare case, the man could possibly be appointed to a responsible position within the congregation.

Our procedures have been refined over time. Over the years, as we have noted areas where our policies could be strengthened, we have followed through. We are continuing to refine them. We do not believe that our system is perfect. No human organization is perfect. But we do believe that we have a strong, Bible-based policy on child abuse. Anyone in a responsible position who is guilty of child abuse would be removed from his responsibilities without hesitation. We certainly would not knowingly allow him to serve elsewhere, either because he moved or through a transfer.

The Bible teaches that individuals can repent of their sins and "turn to God by doing works that befit repentance," and we accept what the Bible says. (Acts 26:20) Still, the safety of our children is of the utmost importance. We take it very seriously.
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Guardian U.K. Newspaper - June 10th 2002:

Sect demands biblical proof

Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent, Guardian

Elders of the Jehovah's Witnesses have been given instructions to deal with pedophiles after a series of damaging revelations.

But its critics say that the sect's decision to accept accusations only if the abuse has two independent witnesses is unlikely to solve the problem.

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, its headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, is used to implicit obedience and is struggling to regain its battered authority.

In a letter to be read at services, it says: "We abhor the sexual abuse of children and will not protect any perpetrator of such repugnant acts ...

"However, we must bear in mind the Bible's clear direction: 'No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good (Deuteronomy )."

The church, which has 6 million members around the world, has been convulsed by the revelation that its elders have protected sex offenders, refused to report accusations to the police, and even punished children and families making accusations.

Two members have been charged with "disrupting the unity of the congregation" and "undermining confidence in Jehovah's arrangement" for repeating their accusations on an NBC television program.

Barbara Anderson, a former headquarters employee who claimed to have seen hundreds of suppressed files of accusations, was expelled after a private hearing held in her absence. The case against the second, Bill Bowen, a elder, has been postponed.

Mr Bowen was so alarmed by the suppression of allegations that he created a website, silentlambs.org, to investigate the scale of the problem.

He told NBC: "It's a pedophile's paradise within the organization. I believe that. I believe it with all my heart."
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THIS GERMAN NEWS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THIS WEBSITE BY BILL BOWEN ON JUNE 13TH 2002:

"This is a rough I repeat rough translation of the article. This is the German equalivant of 'Time' magazine according to the reporter. silentlambs"

SPIEGEL ONLINE - June 12th 2002:

URL: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,198436,00.html

Child abuse with the Jehovah's Witnesses

The Silence of the Lambs

By Alexander Schwabe

Erica Rodriguez had been raped as a child from the age of four to eleven years on a weekly basis. In the January she filed a lawsuit for how she was treated when she came forward about her abuse. The elders encouraged and supported not Erica but the former best friend of her parents, Manuel Beliz, 49, who was sentenced in the fall of 2001 to eleven years prison for molesting her. In the civil action submitted in the Federal Court for the State of Washington raises similar issues against the Watchtower as Bowen. She accuses them that, child molesters find on a routine basis "refuge, protection, sympathy and support", and often escape prosecution. The 23-year old estimates that the Watchtower organization has "thousands" of children and young people that are sexually abused.

This is basically untrue, says the Watchtower Public Information response in Brooklyn. The Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses claim an outward appearance of having a proper and progressive approach when it comes to sexual misconduct. "If church elders learn of child abuse, they proceed strictly in accordance with local laws, if it is required they report it", in a statement of the Brooklyn office for Public Information from January 2001. It is neither forbidden to the victims or their parents nor is it discouraged to report child abuse to the authoritys even if the accused one of is a Jehovahs Witness.

It would be considered traumatic to have the victim, through church directives, to be required to face the molester in a meeting, in which parents and victim describe in detail before the elders, how they were raped. The elders decide if a crime has been committed instead of allowing the police to investigate first. In the event the accused denies the allegation the victim is then required to produce at least one witness to the act of abuse - which is often not possible in the case of child molestation. If the victim pursues the matter by telling fellow congregation members then they could face disfellowshipping.

John Robert (J.R.) Brown, director of the office of Public Information at the home office in Brooklyn, rejects what Bowen says. Brown states they do not confront molested child with the accused in presence of parents and three elders. Also they never threaten anyone with disfellowshipping. Even persons, who were found guilty of serious sins in the organization, could remain a Jehovahs Witness, if they were found repentant by a judicial committee. If an individual was found guilty of child molestation, he cannot under any circumstances serve as an elder. "Elders are religious leaders, says Brown.

The most hated man within the organization

"All lies!" says Bowen, which became in the meantime the most hated man within the organization. It is very likely he will be disfellowshipped. At the end of May he appeared with Erica Rodriguez, California, married couple Carl and Barbara Pandello, New Jersey, and Barbara Anderson, Normandy TN, - all together as Jehovahs Witnesses-on NBC. The program "DATELINE" reported a problem with the way child molestation is handled within the church.

The Pandellos reported, their daughter had been molested by her own grandfather Clement, a Jehovahs Witness, for several years. In 1989 Clement Pandello was sentenced to undergo therapy and received five years probation through the court. Pandello was disfellowshiped for only 18 months when he was reinstated as a Jehovahs Witness in good standing. When the determinations suggested the suspicion that Clement had molested little girls for four decades - among other things also another grandchild -, in 1994 again he was disfellowshipped but in 1996 he was again reinstated and once again accepted back into the Jehovahs Witness community.

Anthony Valenti who appeared in court at the hearing of the Pandellos had stated under oath, as an elder he had encouraged the victims to not report the matter to the police regarding Clement Pandello. The record of the court shows Valenti justified his advice with a reference to the Bible verse, which stated not to take your brother to court.

Disfellowshipping Unrepentant Sinners

Erica Rodriguez repeated to DATELINE the way she was treated when she reported her molestation. When she informed the elders at her congregation in Sacramento of the sexual abuse of Beliz who was not yet disfellowshipped, the elders told her to not report the crime to the police. They went on to threaten her with disfellowshipping if she tried to report the matter: "if you go to the police, you will be condemned by God."

The Governing Body in Brooklyn meanwhile has appointed committees, to provide a solution on how to deal with this problem. A decision has been made on how to deal with those who have spoken out and are considered traitors. The Pandellos have already been disfellowshipped. The reason has nothing to do with them speaking out publicly, says the world headquarters. Also it has no connection with the NBC program. A Judicial hearing is also moving against Barbara Anderson, who served ten years in the world headquarters at Bethel and now assists in Bowens project "silentlambs" she also is being disfellowshipped. When asked for the basis Brooklyn says the procedures are confidential. Anderson was delivered a letter, in which the disfellowshipping was announced. Anderson is in the process of appealing the decision.

A judicial hearing arranged against Bill Bowen was canceled with no notice according to his statement, after he appeared for his hearing with 20 witnesses, who supported his position. Erica Rodriguez to date has not been summoned for a judicial hearing for appearing on Dateline according to Bowen, due to having filed civil actions against the organization.
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Newsweek Magazine; New York; June 24th, 2002; Julie Scelfo;

Witness to shame

Volume: 139
Issue: 25
Start Page: 81

Church spokesman J. R. Brown says the group instructs local leaders to notify police when required by law. They also conduct their own investigation: "That consists of going directly to the accused." If someone confesses, says Brown, he will be prohibited from going door-to-door-unless accompanied by another Witness. Brown points out that people who accuse the church are often lapsed Witnesses, and "open prey" for exploiters. But victims like Poisson's daughter, Heather Berry, 20, say it's the church that does the exploiting. "They're letting the kids down. I don't think there's anything Christian about allowing abuse to continue."

Edited by - UnDisfellowshipped on 9 September 2002 5:10:36

Pioneer Press News - July 2nd 2002:

Two file sex abuse suit against Jehovah's Witnesses congregation

BY STEPHEN SCOTT, Religion Editor

Two women filed a civil suit Tuesday alleging they were sexually abused as young girls by a fellow member of a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in Annandale, Minn.

The women, both now 22 and living in the Twin Cities, say the religion's very tenets make it virtually impossible for victims to come forward, because at least two witnesses are required to corroborate any act of wrongdoing.

After these incidents, said the plaintiffs attorney, Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, these women went to the elders, and they were told, 'We don't really believe you, because we require two witnesses to this for it to have happened, and if there aren't two, you are giving false testimony.'

At issue is Jehovah's Witnesses understanding of the Bible, specifically Deuteronomy 19:15, which says a single witness shall not suffice in convicting a person of a crime or wrongdoing.

Although Jehovahs Witnesses do not interpret every passage of the Bible literally, they base their beliefs solely on principles found in the Bible.

If the accused denies the charges and there are no others who can substantiate them, the elders cannot take action within the congregation at that time, says the groups official statement called Jehovahs Witnesses and Child Protection.

Both plaintiffs allege that while they were between 10 and 12 years old, they were fondled by a male member of the congregation who was eight years older.
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Christianity Today (CT) - July 8th 2002:

http://christianitytoday.aol.com/ct/2002/008/14.15.html

Watchtower Ousts Victims, Whistle-Blowers

Jehovah's Witness members allege sect policy protected child molesters.

By Stan Guthrie

Watchtower spokesman J. R. Brown disputes Bowen's figures. Brown says offenders are excommunicated only for biblical reasons. "No one has to be disfellowshiped," Brown told CT. "Only unrepentant offenders are disfellowshiped."
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BBC Panorama News Story on their Website - Friday, July 12th 2002:

Secret database protects paedophiles

"With regard to any allegation concerning child molestation, the first edict elders are given is to call the legal department", says Bowen.

Little over a year ago, Bowen, as a concerned elder, rang the legal desk and asked for advice on how he should handle a suspected case of abuse in his congregation.

The advice was:

"You just ask him again: 'Now is there anything to this?' If he says 'no', then I would walk away from it...

"Leave it for Jehovah. He'll bring it out."

Despite this, the Head of Public Relations, J R Brown, maintains: "We have a very aggressive policy to handle child molestation in the congregations and it is primarily designed to protect our children."

When asked by Panorama about the number of suspected paedophiles on the database, Paul Gillies from the Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information in the UK said: "It is not meaningful to focus on the number of names we have in our records".

With regard to their policy on reporting abuse to the authorities, he referred us to the 8 October 1993 issue of Awake!, page 9, which states:

"Some legal experts advise reporting the abuse to the authorities as soon as possible. In some lands the legal system may require this. But in other places the legal system may offer little hope of successful prosecution."
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BBC Panorama News Story on their Website - Friday, July 12th 2002:

Child abuse policy

Panorama investigates the Jehovah's Witnesses policy on child abuse

The Jehovah's Witnesses deal with child abuse according to principles they interpret from the Bible.

They stress the need to "abhor what is wicked", but after applying two very specific verses of scripture.

First, if any allegation is made against someone, that person must confess or there must be two witnesses to the act for it to be proven:

"No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin... At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good." (Deuteronomy 19:15)

Secondly, there is an admonishment against taking legal action against a fellow Jehovah's Witness.

Members are encouraged to keep matters resolved within the congregation and not go outside to worldly courts for assistance:

"Does anyone of YOU that has a case against the other dare to go to court before unrighteous men, and not before the holy ones?" (1 Corinthians 6:1-11)

Internalised

The Jehovah's Witnesses do not, in any of their policy letters sent from the headquarters to the elders of each congregation in the world, tell the elders to report immediately any allegation of child abuse to the police or other authorities who are trained to investigate such claims, unless they are required to do so by law.

They are however required to report the matter to the "Bethel" legal department of the Jehovah's Witnesses headquarters in that country.

The local elders themselves must carry out an investigation, interviewing the victims and the alleged abuser.

They are not provided with any training in how to deal with child abuse.

Official procedure

Two elders meet separately with the accused and the accuser to see what each says on the matter.

If the accused denies the charge, the two elders may arrange for him and the victim to restate their position in each other's presence, with elders also there.

If, during that meeting, the accused still denies the charges and there are no others who can substantiate them, the elders cannot take action within the congregation at that time.

This is because of their adherence to the Bible passage in Deuteronomy: "No single witness should rise up...".

However, even if the elders cannot take congregational action, they are expected to report the allegation to the branch office of Jehovah's Witnesses in their country, if local privacy laws permit.

As well as making a report to the branch office, the elders may be required by law to report even uncorroborated or unsubstantiated allegations to the authorities. In this case, they are expected to comply.

Additionally, the Jehovah's Witnesses publicity information states that the victim may wish to report the matter to the authorities, and it is his or her absolute right to do so.
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BBC PANORAMA

Program Title: "Suffer the Little Children"
Program Producer: PANORAMA BBC1 U.K.
Date that this Program was Aired on Television: July 14th 2002, 10:15 P.M. BST

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): New York, the capital of big business, and a fitting home for one of the largest and richest religious organizations in the world. From here the Jehovah's Witnesses control over six million members. From here, the world-wide headquarters in Brooklyn Heights, every policy, every guideline, is dictated. Visitors are welcome and one message is clear. In this organization you adhere to God's word. Every month 50,000 Bibles come off the press ready to be sold world-wide. But this too is where they keep records of suspected and convicted pedophiles in their ranks. Bill Bowen, a lifelong member, has resigned as an elder. He says the men at the top are protecting the church, not the children.

BILL BOWEN (JEHOVAH'S WITNESS ELDER 1984-2000): They do not want people to know that they have this problem, and by covering it up they just hurt one person. By letting it out, then they hurt the image of the church.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): Elders must report abuse to the church's legal desk. Only if the law demands it must they contact the police. If it doesn't, they be told they have a moral duty to call them, but often it seems to stop here. It seems to go no further than the church's own secret database.

BILL BOWEN (JEHOVAH'S WITNESS ELDER 1984-2000): Every detail is written down about what happened, where it happened, when it happened, how it happened.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): So you're saying the organization has its own sexual offenders register if you like.

BILL BOWEN (JEHOVAH'S WITNESS ELDER 1984-2000): That's exactly right.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): That it's keeping to itself and not showing others.

BILL BOWEN (JEHOVAH'S WITNESS ELDER 1984-2000): Exactly right. These men remain anonymous to anyone outside the organization and anyone really inside the organization unless you're personally reporting the matter.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): So was this the policy back in Stevenson that let Ian Cousins continue to abuse his daughters? The elders have stepped down and refused to talk to us, so we asked the man sent here to sort things out. Hello, Mr Briggs. We're from BBC Panorama as you know.

JONATHAN BRIGGS (JEHOVAH'S WITNESS PRESIDING OVERSEER): I know that.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): We just want to ask you a few questions about the Ian Cousins Case.

JONATHAN BRIGGS (JEHOVAH'S WITNESS PRESIDING OVERSEER): It's reasonable to really actually consider the brothers and sisters in the congregation that have had to undergo all this pressure. So I would just leave it at that. That's all I have to say on the matter.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): The database, Mr Briggs, why should the Jehovah's Witnesses keep a database of men who have confessed to being pedophiles but the police aren't told? Do you think that's reasonable behaviour Mr Briggs?

JONATHAN BRIGGS (JEHOVAH'S WITNESS PRESIDING OVERSEER): [Declines to respond, turns and retreats into the Kingdom Hall]

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): We asked the church for an interview to discuss the claims that they're putting thousands of children at risk. They offered us instead some video tapes. Here we have it, a box full of tapes in fact, Jehovah's Witnesses response, progressive understanding of pedophilia, education through publications, and one marked 'policies' and I'm told that's where we should get some answers. That night we watched the tapes, looking for those answers. In long letters, the organization had told us the welfare of children is of paramount concern to them, that they have a forceful child protection policy. We wanted to see it spelled out.

J.R. BROWN (WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY'S OFFICIAL SPOKESPERSON): We've heard the suggestion that our policies may not be adequate to cover the problem of child molestation, but that's not the case all.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): The policy couldn't be simpler. The elders should deal with all allegations of abuse.

M.R. INFANTE (JEHOVAH'S WITNESS): I think that's a very good policy, that the elders essentially would take charge of the situation of reporting the abuse to the authorities.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): But the authorities they're told to contact aren't the police, it's their own legal desk.

J.R. BROWN (WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY'S OFFICIAL SPOKESPERSON): The fact of the matter is, we have a very aggressive policy to handle child molestation in the congregation, and it is primarily designed to protect our children.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): So how aggressive is it in practice? Just over a year ago Bill Bowen rang the legal desk in New York asking how he should handle an allegation of abuse in his congregation. The advice he was given has little to do with protecting the victim. He was told to go back to the man accused.

REPRESENTATIVE AT THE LEGAL DESK AT WATCHTOWER HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK: You just him again, "Now, is there anything to this?" If he says "No" then I would walk away from it. Leave it for Jehovah. He'll bring it out.

BILL BOWEN (JEHOVAH'S WITNESS ELDER 1984-2000): Yep.

REPRESENTATIVE AT THE LEGAL DESK AT WATCHTOWER HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK: But don't get yourself in a jam.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): "Leave it for Jehovah". That, according to thousands of victims, is the Jehovah's Witness child protection policy laid bare. No one knows more about that than Sara Poisson. Holly Brewer and Heather Berry's mother knows her loyalty to the church cost her daughters dearly. Paul Berry, her husband, beat them. She suspect worse, that Heather was being sexually abused and went to the elders.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): ....The London headquarters, the Bethel, refused to discuss any specific case. They said this was because the elders had to respect the confidentiality of the victims. But the victims wanted answers. We again asked for an interview with their spokesman, Paul Gillies. When he refused we phoned him, told him we were recording and asked a simple question. Are elders told to report allegations of abuse to the police or not?

PAUL GILLIES (WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY'S OFFICIAL SPOKESPERSON): The elders' guideline is: if you get any single allegation of child abuse come to your attention, phone this office.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): Why phone this office? Why not phone your local police station?

PAUL GILLIES (WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY'S OFFICIAL SPOKESPERSON): Well, you see the first thing is we have to make sure for the protection of the child, that's our first priority.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): Is it the protection of the child... is it fair to ask you, isn't it the protection of the church that comes straight to mind there?

PAUL GILLIES (WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY'S OFFICIAL SPOKESPERSON): It is the protection of the child. We have a child protection policy.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): It was a long conversation and we asked if he'd be prepared to answer the same questions on camera. He refused. So it was back to America and back to a Jehovah's Witness convention in Tulsa. We'd been told we'd find a member of the Governing Body here. Ted JARACZ is one of the men responsible for the church's child protection policy. For more than two months we've been asking them for an interview. We want answers to some simple questions. Why do they keep their database of suspected pedophiles secret? Why don't they report all allegations of abuse to the police? Why do they send children back to the arms of their abusers? They refused to talk to us. But here at last we had our chance. Mister JARACZ, tell me about the database. How do you justify keeping a list of people, men in some cases who have confessed to pedophilia, but you have not reported them to the authorities. What justification is there for you to keep that list?

TED JARACZ (MEMBER OF THE SUPREME GOVERNING BODY OF THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES): You know, you're from Britain. You have a privacy law. You have a directive from the European Union. You observe that, don't you?

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): So when allegations of abuse are made, is it alright to keep them private?

TED JARACZ (LEADING MEMBER OF THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES): I think you were answered. That question was answered strictly to your satisfaction.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): Can you answer it now?

TED JARACZ (LEADING MEMBER OF THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES): I'm not going to repeat. I'll just tell you exactly and you will see it in writing. It is all in print. You know the Bible says "Do not go beyond the things that are written."? We don't go beyond the things that are written.

BETSAN POWYS (BBC REPORTER): And that was that. No doubt, no second thoughts. Just a simple belief that Jehovah will sort it out, a belief for which others, younger and more vulnerable, may continue to pay a price.

BILL BOWEN (JEHOVAH'S WITNESS ELDER 1984-2000): They're living in denial, denial of what's happening to their children, and it's not a matter.. you see, if they accept that, then they accept that there is a problem. So rather than admit that there's a problem, they will just let children go on and continue to be molested and not do anything about it.
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The Following Statement was Faxed to Betsan Powys (BBC Panorama Reporter) on May 9th 2002, and was Posted on the Official Watchtower Society Media Website at http://www.jw-media.org right around the same time the BBC Panorama Program aired. This Fax Letter has JUST NOW been REMOVED from the JW Media Website:

May 9, 2002

Betsan Powys

BBC Panorama

Dear Ms. Powys:

This is in response to your fax of April 30, 2002, in which you advise us that BBC-TV is

preparing a program on the way Jehovahs Witnesses handle child abuse matters. You have kindly offered us the opportunity to be interviewed on-camera; however, we must respectfully decline.

We are not opposed to giving interviews in general; however, it is likely that among those whose views will be expressed on your broadcast will be some persons who are Jehovahs Witnesses.

In our view, it would be neither proper nor Scriptural for us to place ourselves in what might turn out to be an adversarial position with our Christian brothers and sisters in a public setting. (1 Corinthians 6:1-8; Ephesians 4:2) We trust that you will understand our position in this regard.

Although unable to participate in an interview, we are certainly willing to comment on the questions that you raised in your fax. We note that these center almost exclusively on the nature of the records that we keep on alleged child abusers. You tell us that it is vital that we answer your questions on our record-keeping procedures because of the "very serious nature of the allegations made to the programme," although you do not specify what the allegations are. First of all, however, please allow us to comment on the way that child abuse accusations are handled by Jehovahs Witnesses. We realize that you did not ask us to touch on this aspect; nevertheless, it is essential that we comment on it to provide an appropriate, frank answer.

In the United States, when any one of Jehovahs Witnesses is accused of an act of child abuse, the local elders are expected to investigate. The procedure is as follows. Two elders meet separately with the accused and the accuser to see what each says on the matter. If the accused denies the charge, the two elders may arrange for him to have the opportunity to confront the accuser in their presence. If during that meeting the accused still denies the charges and there are no others who can substantiate them, the elders cannot take action within the congregation at that time. Why not? As a Bible-based organization, we must adhere to what the Scriptures say, namely, "No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin . . . at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good." (Deuteronomy 19:15) Jesus reaffirmed this principle as recorded at Matthew 18:15-17.

When the branch office receives an allegation of child abuse, a check of the records might reveal that similar, uncorroborated allegations were lodged against the same person in the past, perhaps when he was living in another part of the country. When a second credible allegation by a different person is lodged against the same individual, the elders are authorized by the Scriptures to handle the case.

Page 2

However, even if the elders cannot take congregational action, they are expected to report the allegation to the branch office of Jehovahs Witnesses in their country, if local privacy laws permit.

Again, privacy laws permitting, a record is made at the branch office that the individual has been accused of child abuse. Each branch office of Jehovahs Witnesses keeps its own records, if that is allowed by local jurisdiction. In the United States we do not have records of child abusers who live in other lands. If privacy laws do not allow such records to be kept, the elders do whatever is permitted within the law to see to it that children are protected. The aim is to balance the right to privacy of the individual with the overriding need to protect the safety of children. 1 Timothy 5:19.

In addition to making a report to the branch office of Jehovahs Witnesses, the elders may be required by law to report even uncorroborated or unsubstantiated allegations to the authorities. If so, we expect the elders to comply. Additionally, the victim may wish to report the matter to the authorities, and it is his or her absolute right to do so. In the United States, reporting requirements vary from state to state. It can be quite a challenge to keep abreast of the reporting requirements, but our Legal Department makes every effort to do so.

If, when confronted, the accused confesses that he is guilty of child abuse, the elders take appropriate action. If he is not repentant, he will not be permitted to remain a member of the congregation. Even if he is repentant--is cut to the heart, and is thus resolutely determined to avoid such conduct in the future--what was stated in the January 1, 1997, issue of The Watchtower applies.

The article said: "For the protection of our children, a man known to have been a child molester does not qualify for a responsible position in the congregation. Moreover, he cannot be a pioneer [full-time missionary of Jehovahs Witnesses] or serve in any other special, full-time service." (1 Timothy 3:2, 7-10) We take such action because we are concerned with maintaining Bible standards and protecting our children. Everyone in our organization is expected to meet the same requirements, namely, to be clean physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually. 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians 4:17-19; 1 Thessalonians 2:4.

In a few instances, individuals guilty of an act of child abuse have been appointed to positions within the congregation if their conduct has been otherwise exemplary for decades. All of the circumstances would need to be considered carefully. Suppose, for example, that a long time ago a 16-year-old boy had sexual relations with a consenting 15-year-old girl. Depending upon the U.S. jurisdictions where he lived when this happened, elders are required to report this as an incident of child abuse. Let us say that twenty years have passed. The child abuse reporting law may have changed; he may even have married the girl! Both have been living exemplary lives and they are respected. In such a rare case, the man could possibly be appointed to a responsible position within the congregation.

Our procedures have been refined over time. Our policy over the past several years has been that at least twenty years must have passed before an individual who committed an act of child abuse could even be considered for appointment to a responsible position in the congregation, if ever. The Bible teaches that individuals can repent of their sins and "turn to God by doing works that befit repentance," and we accept what the Bible says. (Acts 26:20) Still, the safety of our children is of the utmost importance, so we realize that the local elders must be very careful when recommending individuals who may have been guilty of an act of child abuse in the distant past.

You have been told that here in the United States we have compiled a list of 23,720 names of child abusers. That is false. First of all, the total number of names in our records is considerably lower

Page 3

than that. In addition, it is not meaningful to focus on the number of names we have in our records.

This is because our figures include the names of many persons who have only been accused of child abuse whereas the charges have not been substantiated. We keep these records to document our compliance with what the law requires in many U.S. jurisdictions. Also included on our list are allegations made on the basis of so-called "repressed memories," the validity of which many authorities challenge. Then there are the names of persons who have been accused of abusing children before becoming Jehovahs Witnesses as well as individuals who have never been baptized Witnesses but whose names we are obliged to keep because of their association with the Witnesses. (An example of this would be a non-Witness father or step-father who is accused by his Witness children or stepchildren of abusing them.) To be safe, we also list the names of persons who may or may not be considered as child abusers, depending upon the jurisdiction where they live (for example, that 16-year-old boy who had sexual relations with the consenting 15-year-old girl). The name of an individual who was guilty of voyeurism or involved with child pornography, as further examples, would also be included on the list. And, to be sure, the list also includes names of persons who are actually guilty of child abuse. We do not apologize for keeping such records here in the United States. Apart from being legally needed, they have been very helpful to us in our efforts to protect the flock from harm. (Isaiah 32:2) Christian parents can rightly feel secure in the knowledge that such efforts are made to screen out possible child abusers from appointment to responsible positions within the congregation.

Ms. Powys, please do not conclude that we believe that our system is perfect. No human organization is perfect. But we do believe that we have a strong, Bible-based policy on child abuse.

Anyone in a responsible position who is guilty of child abuse would be removed from his responsibilities without hesitation. We certainly would not knowingly transfer him to serve elsewhere.

Child abuse is abhorrent to us. Even one abused child is one too many. At least since 1981, our journals, The Watchtower and Awake!, have featured articles to educate both Witnesses and the public regarding the importance and need to protect children from child abuse. Among others, there was the article "Let Us Abhor What Is Wicked!" published in the January 1, 1997, issue of The Watchtower; "Help For the Victims of Incest" in the October 1, 1983, Watchtower; "Your Child Is in Danger!", "How Can We Protect Our Children?", and "Prevention in the Home," all in the October 8, 1993, Awake!, as well as "Child Molesting Every Mothers Nightmare" in the January 22, 1985, Awake!

Over the years, as we have noted areas where our policies could be strengthened, we have followed through. We are continuing to refine them.

We trust that you will find the information in this letter to be helpful. As you will note, we have responded to the broad issues you raise rather than providing specific answers to your detailed list of questions. We note that you sent a similar list of questions to our offices in London. We understand they are answering your questions in accordance with their procedures and adherence to British law.

With every good wish, I am,

Very truly yours,

J. R. Brown
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The Following Statement was Posted on the Official Watchtower Society Media Website at http://www.jw-media.org right around the same time that the BBC Panorama Program aired:

Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Protection in Britain

Paul Gillies, spokesman for the Britain branch of Jehovah's Witnesses comments: "Sexual abuse of children is not just a terrible sin but also a crime that can leave lasting emotional scars on its victims. Jehovah's Witnesses everywhere abhor the sexual abuse of children and will not protect any perpetrator of such repugnant acts from the consequences of his gross sin. This is in harmony with the principle recorded at Romans 12:9."

Recognizing that religion is in the spotlight for its handling of matters relating to this complex issue, Jehovah's Witnesses have made sure the public has access to detailed information regarding their means of responding to these matters when they may arise within a congregation. Mr. Gillies explains, "It is of deep concern to us if there is a victim of abuse who says his or her case has not been handled with sensitivity or understanding in our religion."

And Mr. Gillies continues, "Elders in Britain are directed to ensure that secular laws are adhered to. When a report is received, elders contact our National Office in London for guidance to ensure that (1) the alleged victim, and other potential victims, are protected from possible abuse and (2) that counsel is given to report crime to the proper authorities and to comply with any additional legal requirements. Jehovah's Witnesses further believe that it is the absolute right of the victim, his or her family, or any others to report the matter to the authorities if they so choose. There are certainly no sanctions against any congregation member who reports an allegation of child abuse to the authorities."

National Contact Paul Gillies, telephone: 020 8906 2211
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www.SundayHerald.com News - July 14th 2002:

Jehovah's Witnesses accused of building 'paedophile paradise'

Scottish branch of world church alleged to have sheltered abusers and kept information from police

By Torcuil Crichton

The organisation insists that it has a strict child protection policy and defends the database of self-confessed offenders as part of its strategy of dealing with abuse without referring to the judicial system.

The church keeps the existence of the list a closely guarded secret. Watch Tower states that it uses the list to monitor the activities of the men who stand accused of raping and molesting children. But former members of the church claim that keeping the list secret effectively shields abusers and allows abuse to continue. In the American Bible belt of Kentucky, Bill Bowen, who has spent his lifetime as a Jehovah's Witness and more than 20 years as an elder, claims the organisation covers up abuse by keeping this database secret.

According to Bowen, who has become a thorn in the flesh of the organisation, his sources inside Watch Tower indicate there are 23,720 abusers on the secret list -- who are protected by the system.

'Every detail is written down about what happened ,' said Bowen. ' If this man moves anywhere, then if any allegation surfaces again, this is the way they monitor these people.'

The church in the UK and the US refuses to discuss the list or its details with anyone not personally involved in a case. It was that wall of anonymity that allowed Cousins's father to remain at home and unchecked with his daughters at risk.
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The Press and Journal News - July 15th 2002:

CHURCH AT CENTRE OF PAEDOPHILE ALLEGATIONS

CLAIRE STEWART

A spokesman for the British branch of Jehovah's Witnesses condemned paedophilia as "abhorrent" and stated the programme had failed to examine cases in which the church had approached the police.

The investigative programme claimed that the Watch Tower Society kept a worldwide database of members accused of child abuse. The list, which is claimed to contain more than 20,000 names, is based on details held by each Jehovah's Witness congregation and has many names that have never been reported to police.

Panorama claimed a code of silence existed within the faith based on Biblical teachings that members should turn to elders and not the police, and that members believed a crime had not taken place unless two members of the faith could give evidence of it.

Spokesman Paul Gilles yesterday denied that any Jehovah's Witness congregation would shelter a paedophile from the police.

"Sexual abuse of children is not just a terrible sin but also a crime that can leave lasting emotional scars on its victims," he said. "Jehovah's Witnesses everywhere abhor the sexual abuse of children and will not protect any perpetrator of such repugnant acts from the consequences of his gross sin."

Explaining why the church had chosen to snub the programme, Mr Gilles said: "We decided not to take part for two reasons.

"One is Jehovah's Witnesses are featured in the programme. We follow the Bible in everything we do and the way to resolve difficulties between spiritual brothers and sisters is not in the public.

"Our views are based on deeply held convictions which can't be expressed just in a few soundbites which might be edited. That's why we have chosen to address the allegations on our own website so we can give detailed answers in context."

However, the church did provide the programme with information on its policies towards child abuse.

Mr Gilles, speaking before the programme was aired, said he did not expect it to give an even-handed view.

"I don't expect it to be a balanced programme from what I have seen so far," he said. "They have highlighted cases which could have been handled better. We told them we can't discuss specific cases.

"They have trawled newspapers to find cases where things had gone wrong, but they didn't trawl newspapers to find cases where we had gone to the police."

The spokesman did accept there were cases of child abuse within the faith that could have been dealt with better and expressed regret at them.

Explaining the Jehovah's Witness process for reporting such matters, Mr Gilles said: "When a report is received, elders contact our national office in London for guidance to ensure that, firstly, the alleged victim and other potential victims are protected from possible abuse, and secondly that counsel is given to report crime to the proper authorities and to comply with any additional legal requirements.

"Jehovah's Witnesses further believe that it is the absolute right of the victim, his or her family or anyone else to report the matter to the authorities if they so choose. There are certainly no sanctions against any congregation member who reports an allegation of child abuse to the authorities."

About 8,600 Jehovah's Witnesses made the trip to Perth yesterday for the final day of the Zealous Kingdom Proclaimers Convention. The conference attracted visitors from throughout the UK and as far afield as the US. Organiser Bill Reid said: "The people of Perth have responded very well to us being here, from taxi drivers right the way through."
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German TV Magazine KONTRASTE ( http://www.kontraste.de )

Aired on Television on July 15th 2002:

Do elders actually judge in cases of child abuse? We asked Jehovah's Witnesses:

Uwe W. Herrmann, Speaker of Jehovah's Witnesses: "Because of our Biblical understanding we believe that there are some specific sins for which the local elders are responsible."

PAY ATTENTION TO YOURSELVES AND TO ALL THE FLOCK is the title of the elders' manual. And it is there the Elders are told how to proceed: "Some disputes should not be dealt with at secular courts." And: "...it is the Elders decision if the statements are trustworthy."

Uwe W. Herrmann, Speaker of Jehovah's Witnesses: "We, the Religious Community of Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany, don't know of any cases of child molestation here in Germany."

Uwe W. Herrmann, Speaker of Jehovah's Witnesses: "Basically, we don't punish at all. Only God can punish. The Elders of a congregation can only check if someone is repentant or not. If he repentant then the sinner gets further help to get over that sin."

It seems that only the victims get punished. Ruth Schlegel has been expelled from the Witnesses because of smoking and adultery. She still fights with the aftermaths of the abuse.
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The Paducah Sun (Kentucky) Newspaper - July 20th 2002:

Bowen wants hearing delayed

Church leaders have denied wrongdoing.

J. R. Brown, a spokesman for the denomination, has said that parents are not punished by the church for going to the police first in cases of child molestation.

He also said if the church judicial committee finds a member guilty of molestation the member is removed from all positions of responsibility and may not evangelize door-to-door without being accompanied by a fellow Jehovah's Witness.

Members of the church, even family members, are required to shun those who are excommunicated or disfellewshipped. Three others who have spoke out against the church's policies' have been disfellowshipped in recent months. They are Barbara Anderson, of Normandy Tenn. and Carl and Barbara Pandelo, of Belmar, NJ.
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The Paducah Sun Newspaper - July 25th 2002:

Bowen observes hearing from afar

The former Jehovah's Witness elder observed three elders enter Kingdom Hall. He said his request for another date was never answered.

By Matt Sanders, msanders@paducahsun.com -- 270.575.8650

DRAFFENVILLE, Ky. -- As a panel of three elders discussed his future within the Jehovahs Witnesses on Wednesday night, Bill Bowen sat in his pickup truck across the street from the Kingdom Hall.

Bowen, of Draffenville, faced disfellowship, or expulsion, from the church for publicly criticizing its handling of sexual abuse allegations. He had asked church officials to reschedule the hearing for a time that would be convenient for his witnesses. Bowen said he did not receive a response, and although he sat across the street from the church during the 30-minute hearing, he still refused to attend.

I saw three elders walk in, but there were no witnesses, Bowen said. For any allegation of wrongdoing to be established within the church, there have to be at least two witnesses. Who serves as their witnesses, the three judges? I am not going in there when they have no witnesses and my witnesses are not here. There is no justification. This is not fair, its not impartial, its just a kangaroo court.

Bowen has complained that child-sex allegations are generally not reported to secular authorities by the Jehovahs Witnesses because of the churchs closed nature and insistence on handling problems internally. He resigned as a church elder in December 2000.

Church leaders have denied wrongdoing.

The hearing began at 7:30, and Bowen, still in his pickup truck, said he saw the elders leave the church around 8, but they did not speak to him.

Before the hearing, George Bandarra, an elder in the Murray congregation and one of the elders reviewing Bowens case, said elders would not comment on the proceeding because it was a private church matter. He added that the elders would not make their verdict public but would telephone Bowen Wednesday night with the result. Bowen said the elders did not call.

A church hearing had been scheduled in May but did not take place, because the elders scheduled to hear the case did not show up. When the hearing was rescheduled for Wednesday, Bowen requested a postponement in writing because of short notice and said he had witnesses coming from California, Michigan, Tennessee, Florida and Louisiana.

Who schedules a meeting on a Wednesday night? I asked for a weekend meeting to give my witnesses time to come here. Its my right, according to church protocol, to be able to produce witnesses to speak on my behalf. (The elders) have not shown up twice, and when I have legitimate reasons for a postponement, they will not give me a reason.

I received no response from my letter. I received a letter from their attorney stating (the church) received my letter.

Bandarra did say the elders were picked from outside the Marshall County congregation to ensure an impartial verdict. He said after the elders review the case, they would pray and vote until a unanimous decision was reached. The other elders were Jeff Steen, also of Murray, and Ron Carey of Central City. Carey is an assembly overseer, who is in charge of the churchs circuit assembly, Bowen said.

Both Bandarra and Steen seemed concerned over the recent publicity that Bowens case has attracted, and again stated the case is a private matter. However, Steen mentioned that there are about 6 million Jehovahs Witnesses worldwide, and about 40,000 are disfellowshipped annually for various reasons.

Members of the church, even family members, are required to shun those who are disfellowshipped.
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icBurmingham.co.uk News - July 26th 2002:

Church's stance attacked

By Staff Reporter, Evening Mail

The spokesman for the UK headquarters of the church said he was not able to comment on specific cases.

But he added: "If someone has committed repugnant acts they will be disfellowshipped but it depends on a person's attitude.

"If a person shows genuine repentance it might not mean they are expelled. That's what the elders in the congregation would have to determine.

"To be one of Jehovah's Witnesses you have to be morally clean and we try our utmost to keep the depraved out. The person would have to go a long way to prove they're genuinely repentant.

"If they remained a member they would never occupy a position of responsibility."
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The Courier-Journal - July 28th 2002:

Man vows to appeal Witnesses' expulsion

By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com

Jeff Steen, one of the elders who Bowen says decided to disfellowship him, would not confirm or deny the elders' action, saying church discipline is conducted confidentially in "a spirit of mildness, not confrontation."

Phone messages from The Courier-Journal were not returned by the other elders or by the press office of the Jehovah's Witnesses' headquarters in New York.
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August 2nd 2002 Comments by J.R. Brown (Watchtower Society's Main Spokesman) in an Interview with a Michael Morris (mikepence) over the Phone (Parts of this Interview were Posted on the "Dances with Cactus" Website):

Question asked by Michael Morris: "Is requiring a woman to scream during a rape a 'reasonable position to take'?"

Answer by J.R. Brown: "We feel that is a reasonable position to take. Weve had a fairly consistent Policy. If this [screaming and resisting sexual assault] has been done, then we are not going to view that, obviously, as some immorality."

J.R. Brown and Michael Morris did not discuss whether Jehovah's Witnesses require a child to scream during a rape or not.

Michael Morris said this after the Interview: "Would I be compromising my objectivity to admit that I need to go puke in disgust?"
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NEW YORK TIMES Newspaper - Sunday, August 11th 2002 Edition:

Ousted Members Contend Jehovah's Witnesses' Abuse Policy Hides Offenses

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

J. R. Brown, director of the public information office at church headquarters, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, in Brooklyn, said the church had exemplary policies for handling sexual abuse, which were based on biblical standards and had been widely published in church magazines.

"We're not trying to say we handled everybody in the right way and our elders are all-knowing, all perfect," said Mr. Brown, who declined as a matter of policy to comment on individual cases, including Mr. Bowen's. "But we say, if you take what our policy is for keeping our organization clean morally, it far outpaces anybody else's."

The church keeps a database of members and associates who have been accused or found guilty of child abuse. Mr. Bowen said church sources had told him the database contained the names of more than 23,000 people in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The church says the number is "considerably lower," but wilot say what it is.

The church has a firm framework for handling sexual abuse cases. Members who suspect abuse are advised to go first to the elders, who are considered spiritual and moral leaders to whom the members are to turn with their personal problems. Mr. Brown said that the church's legal department advised elders to follow the law in states that have mandatory reporting laws, and in cases in which children appear to be in danger.

The elders are the ones required to judge whether someone has committed a sin like child abuse. If the abuser confesses and is forgiven, the only notice given to the congregation is an announcement that the person has been disciplined. No reason is announced. However, the elders report the person's name to headquarters, where it goes into the database so that abuser is banned from serving in a position of authority.

"If a person can cry a good tune, there are virtually no repercussions and nobody besides the elders ever knows," said Jean Kraus, who said she went to elders in her Queens congregation years ago accusing her former husband of abusing their daughter. She said that he confessed, was reprimanded and was still an active Witness. "They told me that he wasn't a wicked man, that it was a weakness," she said.

The church spokesman, Mr. Brown, said: "We view such judicial hearings as an extension of our shepherding work as ministers. In other words, we're there to save a person's soul. In these cases we are not going to be vindictive because these are our brothers, and we would hope that they would change."

If the accused denies the allegation, the victim's testimony alone is not sufficient unless there is at least one other witness to the act. The church says its policy is based on a scriptural injunction in Deuteronomy 19:15 that says two or three witnesses are necessary to prove a man has sinned.

Heidi Meyer, a third-generation Jehovah's Witness in Annandale, Minn, said she went to her elders in 1994, when she was 15, to say that from the ages of 10 to 13 she had been repeatedly molested by a fellow Witness eight years her senior, the older brother of a friend. The only eyewitness was her brother, who had once seen the man grab her buttocks as she got out of a car.

The elders asked explicit questions that made her uncomfortable, she said. According to an internal Witness document "Pay Attention to Yourself and to All the Flock," the elders must determine in which category the accusation fits: if it was "uncleanness," a one-time touching above the waist; "loose conduct," touching below the waist or more than once above; or the most severe, "porneia," direct sexual stimulation or activity resulting in orgasm. Each offense carries different penalties, with the most severe for porneia.

The man she was accusing insisted that Ms. Meyer had misinterpreted what happened. The elders agreed.

"I was expecting spiritual guidance," Ms. Meyer said. "I was expecting them to genuinely, sincerely attempt to find justice and protect the rest of the congregation from this same thing happening. And none of that happened."

She, like several other alleged victims and theielatives, said in interviews that the elders warned her against reporting the abuse or talking about it with other members.

"They told me if I spoke about it with anybody, I needed to be careful because I could face a judicial committee for gossip or slander," she said. "If they felt I had committed that sin, I would be disfellowshiped."

Ms. Meyer says she learned only years later that Amber Long, another young woman in the congregation, had at age 12 gone to the elders with her parents to report that she had been molested by the same man. Ms. Long, who is now 23, said she and her parents received a letter from the Witnesses advising her to "leave it in Jehovah's hands."

"They said we shouldn't hold ill feelings about our brothers," Ms. Long said. "Since there weren't two eyewitnesses, they said there wasn't much they could do."
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CNN

Connie Chung Tonight

Connie Chung Interview with Bill Bowen, Heidi Meyer, and Amber Long

Date that this Program was Aired on Television: August 14th 2002:

CONNIE CHUNG Speaking: This is a statement from the Jehovah's Witnesses, and I'd like all of you to listen to it.

"We abhor the sexual abuse of children and will not protect any perpetrator from the consequences of this gross and perverse sin. We expect the elders to investigate every allegation of child abuse. Unrepentant wrongdoers are expelled from the congregation. Special care is taken to ensure the victims are given ongoing assistance and counsel that help them deal with the pain of the abuse. They should never be told by elders not to report their allegations to the authorities.

Amber, I can see you shaking your head.

AMBER LONG Speaking: I just -- that's just horrifying that they would write something like that. It's so untrue.

HEIDI MEYER Speaking: You know, and it's a good practice on paper. But it's just not -- it's just not applied. In my situation, in Amber's situation, in countless numbers of situations across the nation, and into other countries, it's just not applied.

CONNIE CHUNG Speaking: But why would they put out a statement like this which you claim is not correct?

BILL BOWEN Speaking: That statement is a bald-faced lie, in my opinion. These people know the abuse has been covered up. Ten years ago, research was done in the organization that they knew multiple little girls were being molested. They were inundated with mail -- of "Awake" magazine that was written on this subject.

They refused to acknowledge it then, and the fact that it's went on this long, if they make any acceptance that there's a problem, then they admit they willfully have hurt children and not done anything about it.
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The Paducah Sun Newspaper - August 16th 2002:

Witnesses elder says claims meritless, rules followed

The conductor of the church service wound up announcing earlier than planned that Bill Bowen has been disfellowshipped.

By Shelley Street, The Paducah Sun

DRAFFENVILLE, Ky.--When elders of the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation did not announce his disfellowshipment at the midpoint of Thursday's meeting, former elder Bill Bowen moved things along.

Interrupting elder Lee Stockwell, who was about to begin speaking on experiences that members have had while handing out biblical literature door to door, Bowen said, "I object to this announcement. I object to this proceeding. I have broken no biblical law. I have broken no law of the organization. The governing body has ordered my disfellowshipment to prevent my presentation of evidence that proves them to be lying hypocrites.

"I now am a silent lamb, as are the thousands of abuse survivors whose lives have been ruined by Watchtower policy on child molestation."

Stockwell started to speak over Bowen without addressing him, but Bowen became so loud that his attempt was futile.

Nearly 40 members of the congregation sat in shocked silence, listening. When Bowen was finished, Stockwell said, "William Harvey Bowen has been disfellowshipped."

"You got it," Bowen said and walked out of the meeting.

Bowen has said the church protects pedophiles by not reporting accusations to police and encouraging victims not to go to authorities to discuss the matter with anyone in the congregation. The church has denied any wrongdoing and claims it follows the law.

The actual decision to disfellowship Bowen was made July 24. He appealed, but he was told Monday that the decision had been upheld.

The disfellowshipment announcement had been scheduled for the end of Thursday's meeting, not the midpoint, Stockwell said.

"We've tried to follow what we consider theocratic arrangements, not make it into a media circus," Stockwell said in the first statement to the media by anyone connected with the congregation.

Of Bowen's outburst he said, "He's just trying to antagonize, to provoke some kind of conflict."

Stockwell said he had expected Bowen to try to interrupt the service in some way and even had spoken to the Marshall County Sheriff's Department earlier in the day about how the church should respond. The sheriff's department was not called Thursday night.

By church law, members even other members of his family are required to shun Bowen, his wife and children. "My children haven't seen their grandparents in two years," Bowen said.

The shunning started when Bowen arrived for the meeting.

"I was being spoken to by two elders," said Bowen, who attended the meeting alone. "Everyone else, I think, has been in terror just to speak to me. ... I walked in and nodded to a few people and said hello, and they just looked and turned away."

It had been 13 months since Bowen had attended a service.

"If he were in a life-threatening situation and he needed help, we'd help, but we're not going to socialize with him," Stockwell said. "If he were broken down on the side of the road, we'd help him."

Stockwell said Bowen's allegations of local child molestation are groundless, and he questioned other allegations, calling Bowen devious.

"It hurt the different ones here who knew him when he first moved here and considered him a friend ... For us it's a sad occasion that it has come to this."

Bowen said he doesn't blame his disfellowshipment on church members.

"The sad part is that none of these folks here understand," Bowen said. "They believe what the church has told them. These people are afraid to speak to me about this issue, because the church told them not to. So, I'm not angry with these people; I'm sad."
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St. Petersburg Times Newspaper, Published August 22nd 2002:

Spiritual shunning

By SHARON TUBBS, Times Staff Writer

Jehovah's Witnesses believe disfellowshipping is an act of love, intended to inspire sinners to change their ways so they eventually can apply to be readmitted to the faith.

The sanction is based on I Corinthians 5, which directs Witnesses to "remove the wicked from among yourselves" and is necessary, said Witnesses national spokesman J.R. Brown, to preserve the religion's "moral integrity and cleanliness" in a corrupt world soon to be destroyed by God Jehovah.

Jehovah's Witness elders -- all are men -- are the equivalent of ministers in other religions. Though unpaid, they take on responsibilities such as teaching Bible lessons and passing on denomination policy. They also investigate Witnesses accused of committing crimes against other Witnesses. In some of these cases, the police are never called.

Among the elders' primary tasks is serving on small judicial committees that hear confessions and decide whether an offense is worthy of excommunication.

Excommunications are announced to the congregation, but elders never say why a person was expelled. Witnesses can only guess from a long list of offenses that range from smoking cigarettes to manslaughter. Homosexuality, fornication, drunkenness, slander, fraud, gambling, apostasy, fits of anger and violence, and adultery are others.

The excommunication announcement tells members to begin shunning that person. If they don't, they, too, risk being disfellowshipped. Fear of being disfellowshipped is gripping for many Witnesses. Because they believe that only Witnesses will be saved from death, many don't associate with non-Witnesses.

Being disfellowshipped, then, means losing your circle of friends, not to mention family members who remain in the faith.

Elders disfellowship 50,000 to 60,000 Witnesses around the world each year, Brown said.

"It's not an unusual occurence, as far as we're concerned," he said.

Jackson was also on shaky ground with the Witnesses because she had close friends who were not in the faith, she said. In interviews, Jackson and several others said Witnesses are not allowed to socialize with non-Witnesses unless they are proselytizing.

Brown, the Witnesses' spokesman, said this is not true, although differing interests sometimes make such relationships difficult.

Bowen contends that tipsters told him the organization keeps a database with the names of 23,000 accused molesters.

Brown, the Witnesses' spokesman, would not discuss specific cases, but he scoffed at allegations that Witnesses protect child molesters. Yes, Witnesses believe in the two-witness rule, he said, but that's not the only way wrongdoers can be caught.

"It cannot be said that we will do nothing unless there are two witnesses," Brown said. He said Witnesses are not required to report crimes to elders before calling civil authorities. Victims and their families are free to call police at will, he said, although some don't choose to.

Elders' investigations work hand-in-hand with what Witnesses sometimes call "Caesar's law," Brown said. "We're not handling the criminality of this," he said. "We're handling the sin."

The Watch Tower does keep records of people accused of molestation, but the number in the database is far fewer than 23,000, he said, declining to give a specific figure.

Watch Tower officials use the database to ensure that a person against whom a credible allegation of molestation is made won't be elevated to positions of authority. Also, Brown said, if a person is accused in separate incidents, Witness officials have a record of that history and will look into the matter seriously.

After the Dateline program aired in May, Bowen, Anderson and Anderson's husband were disfellowshipped. A couple who said their daughter had been abused by a Witness were also threatened with excommunication.

Not even the marriage bed is beyond the Watch Tower's purview.

Brown said Witnesses believe that sexual activity between men and women should "follow the normal course" of things. "We feel that oral or anal intercourse would go beyond that."

Couples are often counseled accordingly before marriage, Brown said. Guilt-ridden Witnesses have gone before judicial committees to confess wayward sex acts with their spouses.

Brown says disfellowshipping inspires wrongdoers to come back to the religion. Those who want to reapply can do so, but they must adhere to Witnesses' policies. They are allowed inside the Kingdom Halls but are ignored by the other congregants until readmitted to the faith.

Each year, Brown said, 30,000 to 40,000 are reinstated, having "come back to their spiritual senses."
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The Toronto Sun Newspaper - September 1st 2002:

www.torontosun.com

REPORTER'S EMAIL: brodie.fenlon@tor.sunpub.com

Woman sues church -- Claims Jehovah's Witnesses hid sex abuse

By BRODIE FENLON -- Toronto Sun

The church and elders Brian Cairns and Steve Brown deny any wrongdoing and plan to fight the action in court.

She says in her statement of claim that the main branch advised the case be dealt with internally by the Shelburne congregation and "advised the Toronto congregation three times not to report the abuse to the Children's Aid Society (CAS)."

In her claim, the woman says that Cairns, Brown and the Watchtower Society:

# Refused to report suspicions of child sex abuse to the CAS as required by Ontario law.

# Conspired to hide or bury the charge internally.

# Told the woman she didn't need psychiatric or psychological counselling as "God's way alone would be beneficial."

# Forced the woman to confront her abuser and relive the abuse through repeated interrogation that caused her "permanent emotional injury."

Church spokesman Clive Thomas said that while the church has sympathy for her case, the lawsuit is misdirected.

"The elders were trying to provide her with spiritual help during a difficult time and the elders feel that she is basically biting the helping hand," he said.

In their statement of defence, the defendants insist the elders "were instrumental in ensuring the matter was reported" to CAS by the father. No charges were ever laid.

No one hindered the woman from seeking help from psychologists or psychiatrists, the statement of defence says.

As well, the church argues the woman never sued her father, and never complained to the elders or church about how her case was handled until the lawsuit was filed in 1998.

None of the allegations in either the claim or defence have been proven in court.
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The Toronto Sun Newspaper - September 1st 2002:

Storm in the hall -- Jehovah's Witnesses deny secrecy in dealing with family sexual abusers

By Brodie Fenlon -- Toronto Sun

Clive Thomas, spokesman for the Canadian church, said the accusations are unfair. While the church is concerned about the spiritual well-being of abusers, he said, "We care about children. We do not condone or take a soft view of child sexual abuse or any other abuse."

The Canadian church also keeps a database. Though Thomas wouldn't say how many are on it, he confirmed 12 abusers have been identified in Ontario in the last two years.

"We abhor the molestation of children," the church says in a press release. "It is not just a terrible sin but also a crime ... We do not protect any perpetrator of such repugnant acts."

While secular authorities are notified of allegations, the abuse is also investigated internally by elders, who are considered administrators of God's law.

Elders are required first to contact church headquarters in Georgetown, where a lawyer instructs them on how to handle the allegations. Two elders are then appointed to investigate. Family members, the victim and the accused are interviewed, sometimes together, and explicit detail is sought.

If the accused denies the abuse happened, the charge is dropped unless another witness can corroborate the story.

That rule is based on the Biblical book of Deuteronomy: "No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin."

In effect, the child's accusation is dismissed unless another person saw the abuse or another child comes forward with an allegation against the same church member.

"We are bound by the scriptures," Thomas said. "But we would still report it to the authorities with only one witness" so the victim gets "the protection of the secular authorities."

But abuse is seldom reported in jurisdictions where there is no mandatory reporting requirement, Bowen said.

If the pedophile confesses the sin, he is punished, often by disfellowship. A permanent confidential record is kept by the elders and the Georgetown office is notified. But the congregation is never told of the crime -- only the punishment.

Family members and the victim are also forbidden from talking about abuse to other congregation members.

Disfellowship, or excommunication, involves being shunned by the community and family for at least a year. The shunned member is still expected to attend meetings.

Should a pedophile move to another congregation, elders there are notified and records transferred.

Thomas said elders must protect the privacy of an accused, especially if he has repented, but are instructed to carefully monitor him and prevent him from being alone with kids.

Bowen, who was excommunicated last month after being found guilty of "causing divisions," decried the process, noting the cloak of secrecy allows pedophiles to go door to door "witnessing" without anyone but the elders in the know. The requirement of two witnesses is ridiculous in cases of sex abuse, he said. And though elders may be well-meaning, they aren't trained to question or handle victims, he said.
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An Unlikely David: Barbara Anderson's struggle to stop predatory pedophiles in the cloistered world of Jehovah's Witnesses

September 3rd 2002:

By Michael Morris

The original article can be found here: http://www.toasted-cheese.com/ezine/2-3/morris.htm

While the Catholic Church is forced to publicly wrestle its demons of pedophilia, Jehovahs Witnesses refuse to acknowledge any similar problems in their midst. Barbara Anderson, a former insider from the uppermost echelons of the secretive sect, has stepped forward to reveal that such problems have been a source of denial, debate and division at the highest levels of the organization for at least a decade. While Witness leaders insist that sexual abuse of children is not tolerated or concealed in their congregations, as a former Jehovah's Witness, and as a parent who recently discovered my own childrens molestation within the group, I strongly disagree.

In the patriarchal world of Jehovah's Witnesses, Barbara Anderson of Normandy, Tenn., a sharp-witted lady from New York, rose to a level of influence that was unheard of for a woman. She assisted in compiling the official history of the group, and wrote articles that serve to instruct the 6 million Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide, including the 1 million in the United States (though her gender, under Witness rules, would not allow her to read aloud in a Kingdom Hall the very words that she wrote). She regularly rubbed shoulders with members of the Witnesses' elite governing body, a committee that currently consists of 11 men, charged with overseeing the group.

Anderson was also privy to the many letters and phone calls coming into the group's Brooklyn Heights headquarters from members of the faith, responding to published articles, or inquiring about various topics that had not been addressed in print. This feedback was reviewed in meetings among the writers to shape the content of future publications. For Jehovah's Witnesses, the printed word from headquarters provides a pharisaical canon, an ever-shifting lens through which to see more clearly the word, and will, of God.

The formerly taboo subject of child sexual abuse was entering the public discourse in the late 1980s and early 90s, and the correspondence coming into headquarters reflected the angst of those who now felt comfortable coming forward with their own recollections of abuse in the insular communities of the Witnesses. These abuse survivors were turning to their congregation elders for guidance, and these elders, too, were writing to headquarters, seeking guidance.

Parents of most denominations would not hesitate to call police first when sexual abuse of their child is reported. But to the Witnesses, all outsiders - even police and social workers -- are co-conspirators with Satan, part of the condemned world soon to be destroyed by God. As a Witness, when dealing with any wrongdoing "you go to elders first, and then elders make the decision for where you go [from there]. To bypass the organization would be treason," said Anderson.

But these same elders "volunteer, and are essentially untrained clergy," according to a Jehovah's Witness spokesman in the Paducah Sun. They attend no seminary, and have no minimum education requirements, beyond basic literacy. They are equipped for nothing more than enforcing organizational guidelines, delivering biblical platitudes and offering a moment of prayer. When encountering a case of child sexual abuse for the first time, their instructions are first to "call the Legal Department" at the group's headquarters.

The list of mandated reporters of suspected child abuse varies by state. Church spokesmen assert that in those jurisdictions that include clerics as mandatory reporters, the elders are instructed by the Legal Department to make such reports. A recent fax to the BBC in response to a program exposing sexual abuse among the Witnesses noted that "it can be quite a challenge to keep abreast of the reporting requirements, but our Legal Department makes every effort to do so." It should relieve their lawyers to know that The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information is funded by the US government and tasked with maintaining a web site with just such information, which shows that only 16 states require reporting by clerics. The hand of divine justice apparently is cut short by a lack of supporting legislation in other jurisdictions.

The assertion that such reports are made by elders when called for by the law has been called into question. Two lawsuits recently lodged against the Witnesses claim that mandatory reporting laws were disregarded, and the abuse continued. In one case, a member is said to have been expelled for making such a report against the advice of the elders, after the elders failed to act. A taped telephone conversation from early 2001, between an elder reporting sexual abuse and headquarters, featured on a recent episode of NBC's Dateline, documented an official from the group advising the elder to "walk away from it," and to "leave it for Jehovah," even though the elder was calling from a state that mandates reporting by clerics.

Some particularly conscientious elders sought to step outside their restrictive bounds as spiritual counselors in seeking to assist those traumatized by abuse. They were holding sessions that amounted to group therapy with victims of abuse, but this was quickly ended by a March 23, 1992 letter to all bodies of elders in the United States, stating that elders are not to hold such sessions nor "spend time reading secular publications dealing with worldly psychology or psychiatry."

"Jehovahs Witnesses are a government that operates within all of the governments of the world. I believe that is the big issue here. They want to decide who is guilty or not guilty," said Barbara Anderson. Witnesses are well known for their defiance of secular governments. The Encarta World English Dictionary includes in its definition of Jehovah's Witnesses that the group "rejects secular law where it appears to conflict with the divine."

So, the investigation of the alleged abuse and the deciding who is guilty or not guilty, falls on the local elders. The burden of proof, barring a confession, is that there must be two members of the faith who can serve as eyewitnesses to the crime, no matter what the infraction. Otherwise, the accused is exonerated and the abused is admonished to treat the accused as innocent in God's eyes and not to repeat the charge to anyone else - even other potential victims, like younger siblings -- or face expulsion from the congregation and shunning by fellow members, including friends and family. Needless to say, child molesters don't usually seek an audience. So the cycle of abuse continues, while the victim, who summoned the monumental courage to come forward, is now forced back into silence by their spiritual leaders.

All members are guided by the two principal publications of the group, the Watchtower and Awake! journals. Each had different editors, with differing opinions, in the 90s, which can be problematic for a group that points to its unity of belief as a sign of exclusive divine favor. Awake!, on whose staff Anderson served, often presented the group's softer side, while the Watchtower delivered stern doctrinal dissertations. "They would sometimes contradict each other, especially on societal issues," said Anderson.

Barbara Anderson and other senior staffers knew that the age and cloistered lives of the governing body gave them no frame of reference to empathize with the plight of the abused and their families. Something more than arbitrary application of ancient edicts was required.

Stories of the disastrous results of similar policies awaited Anderson on her summer vacation in 1991. The Witnesses choose to apply certain Old Testament rules literally, such as the command that a woman who does not scream during a rape should be considered a fornicator. "I was gravely disturbed hearing accounts of Witness women who were disfellowshipped (expelled and shunned) for not screaming while being raped. To illustrate: A Jehovah's Witness came back to his house unexpectedly while his house was being cleaned by a woman who also was a Witness. The trauma of his raping her at that time was so severe that she completely blocked out the experience until she discovered she was pregnant. It was then she faced what had happened and went to the congregation elders. She accused her spiritual brother of raping her; however, he denied it until tests confirmed he was the father of the child. Then he said it was consensual sex. She denied it. Nonetheless, she was disfellowshipped because she couldn't remember if she screamed during the rape and her attacker said she didn't. So, when I came back from vacation, I went in to see the man in the Writing Department who I was working with and told him what I had heard. To me it was horrendous that this girl was disfellowshipped. She was victimized twice."

The implications of such policies were clear to Anderson. "I began to see how pedophiles could act easily within the congregations and get away with it," she said.

Members of the Writing Department began pushing for change. When the October 8, 1991 Awake! on child abuse seemed to reverse earlier feelings against psychotherapy and against "repressed memories," there was widespread confusion. When congregation elders called headquarters for clarification "they [the Service Department, in charge of the elders] did not go along with that," said Anderson. "That article was viewed as a mistake. There was a battle going on at Bethel [headquarters] between these two factions. The man who was the head of the Service Department and the man who was head of the Writing Department -- both members of the governing body -- didn't agree on these things." said Anderson.

An avalanche of phone calls and letters came in response to the October 8, 1991 Awake!. Even the cloistered governing body became aware of the widespread claims of abuse, not only abuse being perpetrated by lay members, but by church leaders as well. "The governing body knew in 92 that this was a very real problem, that men in authority were molesters, and they were molesting children. The accusations that were coming to them were not merely against average attendees, but against men in authority, and you couldnt get the Service Department to recognize that. They were having a terrible time," recalls Anderson.

Barbara Anderson and her husband would leave headquarters at the end of '92, after serving there for ten and a half years. She continued to support the writing staff as an outside researcher until '97. "It was during my last year at headquarters while doing research for a senior Awake! writer that I learned to my horror that the organization had severe problems with sexual child abuse. I knew when I left that it was understood that I would continue to send information in on child abuse. This was to try to influence the governing body to change their policies."

Anderson was also aware of the implications of such policies for those outside of the organization. Accusations of child molestation, even a known history of criminal child rape, would not preclude a member from engaging in the Witnesses door to door preaching work. "I begged [governing body member and friend] Lloyd Barry, begged him by letter in July of 1993, not to allow molesters to go door to door." said Anderson. Lloyd Barry, now deceased, never responded. Instead, some three and a half years later, speaking of a molester who may have recently been released from prison, the Watchtower of January 1, 1997 states "If he seems to be repentant [to the untrained elders], he will be encouraged to make spiritual progress [and] share in the field ministry [door to door preaching]."

Neither would a history of child molestation disqualify a member from being appointed as an elder, a leader and exemplar in the congregation. Although the January 1, 1997 Watchtower stated that a "known" molester "would not qualify for congregation privileges," such as becoming an elder or ministerial servant (deacon), a secret letter to all bodies of elders three months later, on March 14, 1997, quietly backpedaled: "An individual known to be a former child molester has reference to the perception of that one in the community [emphasis ours] and in the Christian congregation." And as for determining whether those already in a position of authority had a history of molestation, the letter directed that "The body of elders should not query individuals." Unknown to the faithful, who had taken the January 1st Watchtower at its word, pedophiles could remain in positions of authority, under this don't-ask don't-tell policy, at all levels of the organization. One is left to wonder who pushed for such a change, what they had to hide, and why the contents of that letter, leaked on the Internet, remain, to this day, a secret to the rank and file.

"I can't go to my grave knowing what I know." Anderson's struggle for change from within the group ended when a letter from a member of the headquarters staff in early '97 indicated to her that such symbolic changes were in response to a rising tide of litigation, not out of concern for the welfare of children. "I couldnt go to the Kingdom Hall and hear all of the bragging about how wonderful this organization was from the platform, and sit there and listen. I thought "I cant go to my grave knowing what I know." She resolved to continue to push for change from outside the walls of the Kingdom Hall.

Barbara Anderson came to be among five members disfellowshipped from the group in recent months, following a spate of media attention, for speaking out about rampant sexual abuse and cover-ups among Jehovah's Witnesses. "I had a very, very interesting life as a Jehovahs Witness. My husband and I brought eighty people into this organization," she remembers. While she takes exception to the policies of the leadership that harm children, she holds out hope that the voices that pushed for change in the mid-'90s may prevail. Among those voices are the group's powerful Legal Department, which pushed for a uniform reporting policy among congregations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia - perhaps to be relieved of the arduous task of keeping track of all those laws -- only to be shot down by the governing body. Anderson also cites a group of elders in Dallas, Texas, which worked with a local mental health facility to tailor care for Jehovah's Witnesses, only to be removed from their positions en masse by the leadership. And there were those elders who sought to bring a little therapy into their shepherding. To be sure, there were kindhearted people easily found in the group. "They are good people. I am not going to say they werent and they arent dear people to us," she said.

Perhaps if these people had succeeded in moving the organization to adopt a call-police-first policy in handling cases of child sexual abuse, just as they advise members to seek the help of a physician when ill, or of a fireman during a fire, there would not have been the chance for children, such as mine, to have been abused, their lives forever changed. Instead, we, like so many others, are left to fight a difficult and emotionally painful legal battle against a coy perpetrator in a position of authority, with the backing of his church.

In our case, the alleged abuser continues, to this day, to beam piously from the platform and to hold children on his lap during the services at our former suburban Philadelphia congregation, even as criminal and civil actions are pending, to the full knowledge of the local body of elders.

But it seems the short-sighted preservation of the image of the group has been the priority of the governing body, over the welfare of their flock. Better, they seem to think, to silence the victims, shun the whistle blowers, deny, deny, deny. I recall that Jehovahs Witnesses are expert in itemizing the sins of the Catholic Church, including the harboring of pedophiles. Perhaps now they will have the humility to turn that scrutiny inward, protect the victims in their midst, adopt a call-police-first policy everywhere, and stop allowing a de facto conspiracy of silence to protect pedophiles in their congregations, and on our doorsteps.

Michael Morris grew up a Jehovah's Witness punk rocker in the suburbs of Philadelphia in the 1980s. He spent several years serving as a full-time preacher in the Witnesses' door-to-door preaching work, unwittingly learning much about life and faith from those whom he presumed to teach. E-mail Michael to comment on this article, here: mikepence@yahoo.com

Michael posts at Toasted Cheese as Dances with Cactus. "An Unlikely David" was first posted at What I Tell You Three Times Is True, our non-fiction critique forum.
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How Many More?

Wednesday, September 04, 2002

By Michael Morris

How many more times must children of Jehovah's Witnesses suffer the humiliation and agony of sexual abuse before church leaders decide to change their policies? How many more lives must be broken?

It is not a question of whether charges of such abuse in the group have reached the ears of the leaders of the 6 million-member sect, which includes a million members in the US. One of those magazines in the hand of the earnest Jehovah's Witness at your door on a Saturday morning, Awake!, in the October 8, 1991 issue, featured a cover series on the problem of child sexual abuse in modern society. The series was in response to an influx of letters from members, recounting their tales of abuse and their concerns about its handling in the church.

Barbara Anderson, 62, of Tullahoma, Tennessee, was a staff member for Awake! at that time. She recalled in a recent interview that this October 8 issue seemed to give voice to a newfound tolerance toward psychotherapy, and displayed a previously unheard-of willingness to consider the validity of �repressed memories� in assessing charges of abuse. It was a ray of hope, a glimmer of progressive thinking in an insular and secretive group.

Nowhere did such thinking find more opposition than in the very building that published it. The governing body member who administered the writing department, Lloyd Barry, now deceased, and the governing body member who oversaw the Service Department, in charge of the congregations, Ted Jaracz, were entrenched in battle. When elders, lay ministers in the congregations, called in confusion to the service department, they were told, according to Anderson, that the magazine was �a mistake.�

Mistake or not, Awake! opened the floodgates and a torrent of correspondence came into the group�s Brooklyn Heights headquarters. J. R. Brown, now spokesman for the group, was working in the writing department at that time, and personally passed on information to the governing body concerning this influx of response. In a recent interview, he acknowledged that these letters included claims that cases of child sexual abuse brought to the elders were �not handled properly� and that members were told that they �should not make this known.�

By early 1992, just months after the publication of the October 8, 1991 Awake!, the accusations of mishandled cases of child sexual abuse had reached a new level. According to Anderson, �some of the governing body were aware in 1992 that there were confessed or convicted pedophiles, who claimed repentance, holding positions of authority in the organization.� Meanwhile, abuse survivors who were able to muster the courage to come forward were being met with �skepticism or downright hostility.�

Ten years ago, if not earlier, church leaders knew that widespread allegations of child sexual abuse were coming in from their own members.

It is also not a question of whether the group�s policies in handling allegations of abuse internally could lead to an abuser finding protection instead of accountability. The Witnesses live under the simple delusion that all outsiders are co-conspirators with Satan, so when faced with a serious problem members turn to their untrained lay ministers: the congregation elders. These men, appointed by Holy Spirit (by way of headquarters), wield the Holy Scriptures, rendering them �completely equipped� (1 Timothy 3:15, 16) for whatever problems members may have to bring to them, including child sexual abuse. The criterion for evaluating any charge is likewise simple and scriptural, if daunting (Deuteronomy 19:15): there must be two eyewitnesses.

The elders cross-examine the alleged victim -- often still a minor -- about the intimate details of the act. The intent is to identify what level of sin the charge entails, and whether the victim was somehow complicit in the act, by wearing seductive clothing or failing to scream while being raped. They may even require the accuser to face the accused and repeat the charge. When the accused denies wrongdoing, the elders then must ask for the nearly impossible burden of proof of two eyewitnesses to be met. Failing that, they declare the accused innocent before God. They also remind the accuser that malicious gossip � like spreading accusations of abuse against someone whom God has declared innocent � could result in their expulsion from the congregation, and subsequent shunning by family, friends and God himself. Then, they close with prayer.

The governing body codified such procedures in the secret elder�s manual Pay Attention to Yourselves and All the Flock, though it is obvious that such a burden of proof could provide a de factoshelter for secretive child sex abusers. The result for many is that victims are silenced while abusers are exonerated. The abuse continues.

Witness leaders also cannot feign ignorance to the dangers of having known child sex abusers in positions of authority in the group, or having them preaching in their emblematic door-to-door ministry. Instead, the seemed to move in a direction of excluding penitent pedophiles from leadership privileges, though explicitly prescribing evangelism as a token of faith even for convicted child sex offenders.

Both issues were addressed in the other journal published by the group, The Watchtower of January 1, 1997. It stated, for the first time, that a �known� molester �would not qualify for congregation privileges,� such as becoming an elder or ministerial servant (deacon). However, a secret letter to all bodies of elders three months later, on March 14, 1997, quietly backpedaled: �An individual �known� to be a former child molester has reference to the perception of that one in the community and in the Christian congregation.� As for determining whether those already in a position of authority had a history of molestation, the letter directed that �the body of elders should not query individuals.�

Unknown to the faithful, who would have taken the Watchtower as gospel, molesters could remain in positions of authority at all levels of the organization. The contents of that letter, though leaked on the Internet, remain a secret to the lay members of the group. �It was explained to the elders,� said Brown, �and it is not a part of our standard way of handling things to always inform every detail of matters to the congregation in general. What is stated there [in the January 1, 1997 Watchtower] and the way it�s stated there, without the clarification, is certainly what happens most of the time.�

The same issue of The Watchtower insured that not even a history of criminal child sexual abuse would exclude a penitent member from being required to engage in the Witnesses public preaching activity. Speaking of a molester who may have recently been released from prison, it states, �if he seems to be repentant, he will be encouraged to make spiritual progress [and] share in the field ministry.�

Brown reassured that a penitent predatory pedophile might be offered alternatives to going door-to-door, at the discretion of the local elders. "We consider just as valid if he sits on a bench in a mall with magazines and offers them to people there. Or, if he calls up on a telephone."

As a matter of policy, the governing body stipulated that known child molesters may hold positions of authority in the church and that even criminal child sex offenders must engage in public preaching.

Underscoring all of this is the refusal of church leaders to simply instruct their members to call civil authorities when allegations of child sexual abuse arise. Instead, a February 15, 2002 letter to all bodies of elders in the United States proffers the advice to immediately call the group�s Legal Department whenever facing allegations of child sexual abuse in the congregation. The letter clarifies that the elders should �never suggest to anyone that they should not report an allegation of child abuse to the police or other authorities.� The simple advice that it may be the parents� legal obligation to notify authorities, as caretakers of the minor, is never mentioned. Nor is a list of states that mandate reporting of abuse by clerics provided to the elders by their leaders, even though the US government maintains such information, and published it at the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information ( http://www.calib.com/nccanch/).

Why not encourage psychotherapy, take child sexual abuse out of the hands of untrained elders, refuse to allow know molesters to be in positions of authority, exclude them from public ministry, and inform parents of their obligation to notify authorities of allegations of abuse? Why not adopt a policy of informing authorities of possible child endangerment regardless of local statute? Why not take the moral high ground on child sexual abuse, when you presume to take God�s name as your own?

The leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses knows that today -- maybe even right now -- there is a child trembling beneath the hands of a child sex abuser among their members. They know that maybe a change in their policies could put an end to that, but they refuse to act in a way that consistently places child sexual abuse under those who are trained to deal with it. What do they have to hide? How many more victims, and how many more unspeakable acts will it take for them to see the need to change? How many more little children have to die inside to try to escape the horrid plague that their moral leaders are afraid to confront?

One child is too many. Two survivors of child sexual abuse among Jehovah's Witnesses already dwell under my roof. How many more will it take?
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Tennessean.com News - September 6th 2002:

Couple to protest Jehovah's Witnesses

By LEON ALLIGOOD, Staff Writer

(Photo of Barbara Anderson by BILL STEBER / STAFF)

A spokesman for the New York-based Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the umbrella organization that is headquarters for Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide, said they were aware of the planned march later this month.

''But we won't issue a statement until that day,'' said a man who answered the phone in the press office at Watchtower headquarters. He asked that any statements be attributed to the organization's spokesman, J.R. Brown.
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The Courier-Journal Newspaper - September 6th 2002:

Group to march for molested children

Jehovah's Witnesses want church to alter its policy, apologize

By Darla Carter, dcarter@courier-journal.com

http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2002/09/06/ke090602s271650.htm

J.R. Brown, the director of the media office at the Jehovah's Witnesses headquarters, declined to comment through an employee who would not give his name.

In the past, officials with the Jehovah's Witnesses have said they abhor child molestation, report cases to authorities in states that require such reports and allow members to report fellow members to police.
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Seattle Times Newspaper - September 6th 2002:

'Silentlambs' speak out about sex abuse

By Christine Clarridge, Seattle Times staff reporter

National church leaders could not be reached for comment, but a spokesman recently told The New York Times that the church's policies on sexual abuse were based on the Bible and were exemplary.

"We're not trying to say we handled everybody in the right way and our elders are all-knowing, all-perfect. But we say, if you take what our policy is for keeping our organization clean morally, it far outpaces anybody else's," spokesman J.R. Brown said.

Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that emphasizes biblical literalism and the imminent end of the world. Members are best-known in the secular world for giving out religious tracts and for not celebrating holidays and birthdays or allowing blood transfusions.
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Tuscon, Arizona News - September 6th 2002:

THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS REPRESENTATIVES WE TALKED TO DID NOT WANT TO GO ON CAMERA. BUT ONE TOLD US THE ALLEGATIONS ARE RIDICULOUS. HE SAYS JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ARE ONE OF THE MOST LAW-ABIDING GROUPS IN THE WORLD. HE ALSO MAINTAINS THEY DO NOT HAVE A POLICY OF SILENCING VICTIMS.
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Seattle, Washington News - September 6th 2002:

New Allegations Of A Church Keeping Quiet About Child Sexual Abuse

By Tracy Vedder

http://www.komotv.com/stories/20208.htm

Members of the Ravenna Kingdom Hall, where members of Silent Lambs gathered to protest, did not return phone calls. The Jehovah's Witnesses' headquarters says it is reviewing the situation. A spokesman referred us to their Web site, which says it is a victim's right to report abuse to police.

But former elder Bruce Baker says church attorneys pressured him not to report child molestation. He is now part of a national movement trying to force Jehovah's Witnesses to change.

"They basically, in a sense, have protected pedophiles within the group," says Baker. He says Jehovah's Witnesses simply excommunicate members who have molested, rather than turning them over to police and, he says, "they continue to molest children. They should have been reported years ago and they weren't."

The Silent Lambs group hopes Jehovah's Witnesses will take a lesson from the Catholic Church and deal with the issue of sexual abuse openly.

Edited by - UnDisfellowshipped on 9 September 2002 5:5:46

The following TV Program was aired recently (9-3-2002) in Slovenia, Europe, on the biggest Slovenian TV Station, POP TV (www.pop-tv.si):

About 250,000 people saw it.

Here is the entire Translated Program Transcript:

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES IN SLOVENIA TRANSCRIPT OF THE THE TV PROGRAM

Otos parents joined the Jehovahs Witnesses when he was four years old. By reason of their religious rules he wasnt allowed to celebrate his birthdays, new years or any other, as they name them, pagan holidays. He was dissuaded from associating with worldly children, watching TV or films, which had no reference to the faith.

OTO: As long as you are a Jehovahs Witness being with other people means nothing but talking about Gods Kingdom, about the wonderful good news. Any other conversation is said to be throwing pearls to the swine.

The only entertainment he could enjoy beside going to school was the regular Bible study, meetings (five hours a week) and the door-to-door service.

OTO: I was always scared that some of my school-friends or teachers might answer the door. At school I was named a jehovist. I was stigmatized all the years of my school time..

Marko was their member for some years, together with his wife and his children. He disassociated himself because he could not agree with the pressure which the elders put upon the education of his children. As he created a new life after leaving the organization, he asked us not to reveal his identity.

MARKO: They dont baptize children and they pride themselves with that, but they are indoctrinated since their earliest age, before they are able to read and write. They have cassettes to watch and their parents must study with them, they should bring them to all meetings, even if they are only two or three years old. They must sit silently for two hours, if they are not quiet, they punish them physically. The physical punishment is one of the commands to the Jehovahs Witnesses.

GRAPHICS FROM A JWS PUBLICATION: BUILD UP A HAPPY FAMILY LIFE, p. 133:

Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die

Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell (Prov. 23:13,14)

That the Jehovahs Witnesses treat the children in an extremely unusual way became quite obvious in May this year, when it was discovered, that in the USA, where the Witnesses have their headquarters, there is a list of more than 23.000 pedophiles in their ranks. Most of them were never reported to the police.

MARKO: There is a secret manual for elders where its clearly stated that such crimes should not be reported to the police.

GRAPHICS: THE SECRET ELDERS MANUAL (PAY ATTENTION TO YOURSELVES AND ALL THE FLOCK, 1982):

If the elders are informed about an illegal activity or any other delict or wrongdoing committed by a member of the community, they will not, even if it is instructed by the laws of the Church, announce it to the authorities.

OTO: The Society is a real pedophile paradise because their judicial committee needs two eyewitnesses, but in these cases usually there are no witnesses.

GRAPHICS: THE SECRET ELDERS MANUAL (PAY ATTENTION TO YOURSELVES AND ALL THE FLOCK, 1982):

What proving material is applicable?

There must be at least two or three eyewitnesses, not only the persons who repeat what they heard. If there is just one eyewitness nothing can be done.

Those victims who, although they were not allowed to, informed the police about the crimes, were later disfellowshipped. As we wished to get some further information about what is going on in this religious group we asked their spokesman, Mr Janko Novak for an interview. At first he was willing to permit the filming but when I let him know that their former members would also take part in this TV program, his answer was this:

JANKO NOVAK, JW SPOKESMAN: I dont think we can make it. You can tell that we refused any cooperation.

Later he accepted the interview but he didn't allow us any other filming or conversation with other believers, even with no camera. When I asked him about their secret manual for elders he first denied existence of such rules:

JANKO NOVAK, JW SPOKESMAN: A far as I know it was never, never and nowhere written that we should not report such things to the police.

THE REPORTER: Is this book yours? (she shows him the manual)

JANKO NOVAK, JW SPOKESMAN: Yes, it is. But these rules have been out of practice for many years. (he laughs nervously)

THE REPORTER: But they were in practice then?

JANKO NOVAK, JW SPOKESMAN: That was 20 years ago, I was too young then to know

THE REPORTER: But you probably have newer rules, can you show those, if it is not written anymore

JANKO NOVAK, JW SPOKESMAN: I cannot show it to you if it isnt written.

THE REPORTER: May I check it out?

JANKO NOVAK, JW SPOKESMAN: Yes, you can.

THE REPORTER: Will you show me the new manual?

JANKO NOVAK, JW SPOKESMAN: Yes, I will, after the filming.

But it all came to nothing. When the camera turned off, even after having been promised I couldnt see the new manual. At the police station they didnt know how to answer my question if they had ever come upon a case of pedophilia. They say that the accused persons are never asked about their religion.

Besides I was interested in some other directives. By reason of scriptural restrictions they reject the blood transfusions. What follows if an individual accepts blood if he is strictly forbidden to do it?

JANKO NOVAK: You know what would happen? If an individual accepted the transfusion if he were forced to do it, he could fall in such a bad state that he should be helped. We had cases like that and the members told us, they felt like being raped.

THE REPORTER: Would you have accepted a transfusion?

OTO: Yes, I probably would. If I had of Id probably have been disfellowshipped.

In the central hospital I was told that so far they havent had any problems with patients rejecting blood. The main reason is a low number of Witnesses (1850), so they havent had a case where they should deal with serious complications. Nevertheless there have been many death cases abroad, with many children among them.

OTO: If a person refuses the transfusion and dies, then they write articles on him in their publications. They make him a hero, they praise him almost like god.

JANKO NOVAK, JW SPOKESMAN: I know none of such cases (that anybody died for rejecting blood)

GRAPHICS: A JWS PUBLICATION: GOOD NEWS WHICH WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY, p. 178:

It has already happened in rare cases however that the conscious objection prevented some people from accepting blood and they died therefore. As they respected Gods law faithfully they will be resurrected in Gods paradise.

What makes a person who becomes a Jehovahs Witness and what is in fact going on within this group? I asked these questions to some other former members, for example a woman who, as she says, wishes to forget her bitter life experience as soon as possible.

THE WOMAN: I was going through a terrible life situation and at that time I was glad to hear that something better was promised to us. A world with no pain and no suffering at that time those words made me deeply relieved.

Their system of collecting new members seems to be built up to detail. They write down quite everything about the people who let them enter their homes.

THE WOMAN: They write down in fact anything they notice about the person they are talking to: how he reacted, what questions he asked, his interests, his education and what should be done that the preaching to him should be as much successful as possible.

GRAPHICS: NOTES ABOUT INTERESTED PERSONS

Soon she found out that things are not so wonderful as they had been promising to her. Any doubt was automatically suppressed.

THE WOMAN: Spying on everybody is obligatory. Every member must report any wrongdoing which is committed by some other believer. If he refuses to obey he risks disfelowshippment himself.

MARKO: These things go so far that a husband is to denounce his wife and vice versa.

Oto was betrayed by his then friends. He was disfellowshipped for being intimate with a girl who did not belong to their religion. The other two disassociated themselves. They all agree that the deepest pain was the absolute isolation which followed their leaving the group. The believers are commanded to avoid any contact with a former member.

OTO: As a matter of fact theres no worse punishment from the threat that you would be disfellowshipped because you live in your own world and you know no other world except the world of Jehovahs Witnesses.

OTO: Everybody shuns you, even the contacts with your own parents are limited, especially from the spiritual side, the others are avoiding you on the street, looking away.

THE WOMAN: It happens very often that, if they don't live in the same household, the children shun their own parents, brothers, sisters grandparents are not allowed to see their grandchildren anymore. Such cases are very frequent.

Mr. Novak denied everything that I had been told by the former members.

JANKO NOVAK, JW SPOKESMAN: Its just complaints brought out by some individuals who left the ranks of Jehovahs Witnesses, I dont know for what reasons which may be best clear to themselves.

The former members explained their reasons for leaving the group on the web sites. (www.izobceni.streznik.org, www.jehovovexprice.tk) They say that it is the only way to warn the present and the future members against the abuse they experienced themselves.

OTO: Now I can see that I was manipulated and that everything was just a delusion. His only wish after his 20 years life among the Witnesses is trying to compensate the lost years of childhood. At the age of 25 he celebrated his first birthday.

END

TV PROGRAM LEADER: Former and even current members are planning a protest march at the end of September. They want to warn about problems in the organization.
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Translated by Ema

Production: Izobceni streznik team (www.izobceni.streznik.org)

Article about this TV program: http://24ur.com/naslovnica/preverjeno/20020903_2013700.php

Commentary (in slovenian but with some interesting screenshoots of JW spokesman): http://users.volja.net/izobcenec/clanki/28.htm
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The Kingston Whig-Standard National News (Canadian Press Story) - September 9th 2002:

Former Jehovah's Witness weeps as she describes abuse at hands of father

JAMES MCCARTEN

Three years after the abuse ended, Boer told her mother her story, and church elders within their congregation in Shelburne, Ont., about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto, were notified.

But rather than inform the Children's Aid Society and permit Boer to seek counselling outside the church, she was forced to confront her father and give him a chance to repent his alleged "sins," court was told.

At that meeting, she testified, her mother insisted the abuse was in the past and that it had already been dealt with. The elders agreed, saying the father "is really showing signs of spiritual repentance," she said.

They also allegedly refused to allow her to see a psychologist, warning her that it would lead to an investigation and might cost her father his job and her mother her only source of financial support.

"They said there's going to be consequences of that," she testified.

"My father would lose her job, the family would be investigated and my mother would be destitute."

While victims of sexual abuse normally aren't identified in public, Boer has agreed to allow her name to be publicized as part of her effort to promote what she alleges is widespread abuse within the confines of the church's congregations.

As part of their beliefs in a strict interpretation of Bible teachings, Jehovah's Witnesses reject anything political or "worldly" that distracts from their focus on Christ and the second coming, which they consider imminent.

Birthdays, secular holidays and Christmas are not celebrated; children are often required to leave class during the Lord's Prayer and the national anthem, Boer said.

The Watchtower has not yet had the chance to defend itself in court, although in a statement of defence it says it has "no knowledge of the allegations" that Boer was abused and that the abuse was never reported to church elders in Shelburne or to the Children's Aid Society.

The defendants also deny that two elders, Brian Cairns and Steve Brown, prevented Boer from reporting her allegations to the society or from seeking psychological help.

"The defendants deny they prevented the reporting of the subject matter to the proper authorities," the statement says.

"To the contrary, the defendants Brown and Cairns were instrumental in ensuring the matter was reported . . . if the plaintiff chose not to seek advice from a psychiatrist or psychologist, it was solely of her own volition and because she believed such advice was unnecessary."

They go on to argue Boer never "mitigated her losses" by seeking such help in the eight years between her original allegations and the filing of the suit.

The suit alleges that the church failed in its fiduciary duty to the victim for waiting nearly two months to report the abuse to the "secular authorities," and was negligent in forcing the father and daughter to settle their differences in a face-to-face meeting.
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The Toronto Sun Newspaper - September 10th 2002:

http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoNews/ts.ts-09-10-0027.html

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Abuse case opens

Church, elders sued over alleged coverup

By IAN MCDOUGALL, TORONTO SUN

Still suffering from guilt over the abuse, the woman reluctantly took her case to two church elders, Brian Cairns and Steve Brown, who are also named as defendants in the suit, which was filed in 1998.

Brown and Cairns forced a meeting with the woman and her family in late December 1989, at which her father confessed he violated her.

Mark opened his case by arguing the church had never notified the province's CAS office once it became aware of the abuse.

"The statute says on suspicion of sexual molestation it must be reported to the Children's Aid Society. That never happens," he said.

But defence lawyer Colin Stevenson said the church fulfilled its obligations and in fact forced the woman's father to turn himself in to CAS officials in February 1990. No charges were laid.
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The Globe and Mail Canadian Newspaper - September 10th 2002:

Church made her cover up sexual abuse, woman says

By JANE GADD
COURTS REPORTER

Tuesday, September 10, 2002 Page A18

A former Jehovah's Witness who says her church forced her to cover up years of sexual abuse by her father told Ontario Superior Court yesterday that church elders use the fear of Armageddon to silence her and other abuse victims.

Victoria Boer, 31, testifying at the trial of her $700,000 lawsuit against the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Canada, said she was driven to the brink of suicide when society elders told her to pray, to preach and to forgive her father for the abuse -- but not to report it to the Children's Aid Society or doctors.

"I was told if Armageddon came and my father went down for the abuse I would likely go down with him," Ms. Boer told the court.

In fact, the entire Jehovah's Witness community where she lived in Shelburne, Ont., could be exposed to God's wrath if she handled the matter by "worldly" means, Ms. Boer said she was told.

The defendants -- the Watchtower Society and elders Brian Cairns, Steve Brown and John Didur -- deny preventing Ms. Boer from going to the authorities and argue they owed her no special duty of care as alleged in the suit.

They accused Ms. Boer of "asking the church to pay for the sins of the father."

Ms. Boer testified that her father, whom she is not suing and who was never criminally charged, touched her sexually on numerous occasions from the time she was 11 until she was 15.

The abuse stopped after Ms. Boer told her mother, who criticized her for dressing immodestly but agreed to confront the father, Ms. Boer told the court.

She told no one until four years later, she said, when she was plagued by memories of the abuse and suffering symptoms of severe depression and anxiety. "I just kept crying and crying."

Then 19, she went to local elders Mr. Cairns and Mr. Brown, and they in turn asked for advice from Mr. Didur, an elder with the national Watchtower organization, she said.

The men made her repeat her story over and over, she said, then insisted she not go to authorities but instead confront her father in the presence of Mr. Cairns and Mr. Brown and give him the chance to repent.

"I told them I couldn't do it," she wept yesterday. "They said I had to."

In two confrontations at his home, Ms. Boer's father accused her of exaggerating, she said.

He did acknowledge some sexual impropriety, apologized to her and agreed to do some extra service for the Watchtower Society, she said.

The elders then declared the matter closed.

"They said they felt my father had shown signs of repentance, that he was a changed man," she said.

They told her if she went to the CAS the family would be investigated, her father would lose his job and her mother would be left destitute, she said.
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Canadian Press (CP) News Story - September 12th 2002:

Thursday September 12 5:32 PM EST

Colleagues concealed sex abuse to protect 'clean image' of Witnesses, elder says

By JAMES MCCARTEN

TORONTO (CP) - Two church elders from an Ontario group of Jehovah's Witnesses were more worried about the "clean image" of their faith than they were the well-being of a young sexual abuse victim, one of their former colleagues said Thursday.

Harald Momm was one of eight elders in the Shelburne, Ont., congregation in 1990 when he learned one of their young disciples had accused her father of sexually abusing her several years earlier. But fellow elders Steve Brown and Brian Cairns were more interested in protecting the accused, Gower Palmer, than they were the welfare of his young daughter, Momm testified.

"They didn't want to have anything to do with the law of the land ...they wanted it kept quiet, and we didn't agree with that," he told lawyer Charles Mark.

"This has been going on for 13 years and all I ever got out of it is: 'It is important to keep a clean image. Never mind about the victims.'"

Brown, Cairns and the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society of Canada are among the defendants in a civil suit launched in 1998 by Vicki Boer, Palmer's daughter and herself a former Witness.

Boer, now 31, alleges the defendants failed to allow her adequate treatment for the abuse she suffered between the ages of 11 and 14 in the family home in Shelburne, about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

Rather than immediately inform the Children's Aid Society and permit Boer to seek counselling outside the church, she was required, according to Biblical principles, to confront her father and allow him to repent his alleged sins, the suit alleges.

During the final weeks of 1989 and early months of 1990, controversy raged within the Witness community over Boer's complaints, particularly amongst the eight elders charged with overseeing the congregation.

Momm was one of a group of five who argued that Ontario law required them to immediately report a case of sexual abuse and allow the alleged victim to seek medical help and psychiatric counselling.

"(Brown's) reply to me was that he didn't see it that way," Momm said.

"I emphasized to him that we would have to do this reporting or I would do it myself. He made no comment."

Eventually, the case was reported to Children's Aid and the police, although no charges ever ensued. Five elders, Momm among them, resigned.

Meanwhile, Palmer - the remaining elders convinced of his spiritual repentance - rose through the ranks and enjoyed a level of privilege within the congregation normally reserved for the most respected members, said Momm.

Boer's 58-year-old father continues to live in Shelburne and has never been criminally charged.

During cross-examination Thursday, lawyer Colin Stevenson attacked Momm's motives for disagreeing with Cairns and Brown, suggesting the rift in the elders had been present long before the allegations surfaced.

He also argued that Momm and his allies were confusing the spiritual law of the Witnesses, which imposes a three-year statute of limitations on such things as abuse, with the law of the land, which requires immediate reporting.

At no time did Cairns or Brown ever directly tell Momm that they were trying to protect Palmer or that they were more concerned about the image of the church, Stevenson said.

And he made note of the fact that Momm himself, fearful that Cairns and Brown had no plans to report the abuse, did not go to the authorities.

"You yourself were concerned about the risks of potential prosecution for not reporting, were you not?" Stevenson asked.

"Yes," Momm said.

"And you yourself did not report it to the Children's Aid Society?" Stevenson continued.

"No, and I regret it to this day," came the reply.

John Saunders, at the time a researcher at the Watchtower's Canadian headquarters in Georgetown, Ont., told court he recommended in a memo that in cases of sexual abuse, the victim and abuser should not be made to confront each other.

"I included a note suggesting elders not force victims of abuse to face their abusers, since these kinds of confrontations are potentially psychologically dangerous," Saunders testified.

The recommendation was not included in a July 1988 directive from the Georgetown office advising elders to follow provincial law and notify authorities immediately in cases of sexual abuse.

While victims of sexual abuse normally aren't identified in public, Boer has agreed to allow her name to be publicized as part of her effort to promote what she alleges is widespread abuse within the confines of the church's congregations.

As part of their beliefs in a strict interpretation of Bible teachings, Jehovah's Witnesses reject anything political or "worldly" that distracts from their focus on Christ and the second coming, which they consider imminent.

Birthdays, secular holidays and Christmas are not celebrated; children are often required to leave class during the Lord's Prayer and the national anthem.
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The Toronto Sun Newspaper - September 13th 2002:

Friday, September 13, 2002

Jehovah's Witnesses in coverup: Ex-elder

By IAN MCDOUGALL, TORONTO SUN

A former elder of a Jehovah's Witness congregation told court yesterday the church and defendants in a $700,000 lawsuit were trying to protect a sex abuser and keep the case hushed up.

Harald Momm, who stepped down as an elder in Shelburne, Ont. because of internal power struggles, said defendants Brian Cairns and Steve Brown and other church officials were trying to protect a man who sexually assaulted his daughter.

"Their primary concern was always about the abuser," Momm said.

CHURCH LAWSUIT

A woman, whom The Toronto Sun has chosen not to name, has sued the church and elders Cairns and Brown over allegations they tried to hide the abuse she suffered from the Children's Aid Society and was discouraged from getting counselling.

Momm also testified he was upset Children's Aid was not notified immediately of the abuse.

"We wanted the law followed," he said. "Cairns and Brown didn't care about the law, they wanted this kept quiet."

Momm first learned of the abuse when he returned from a Florida trip in January 1990.

He said he was shocked to find out Cairns and Brown had known about the case but had not informed Children's Aid despite church policy that secular authorities must be notified immediately in such cases.

Court heard earlier the woman's father turned himself in to Children's Aid officials in February 1990.
---------------------------------------------------------------

The Globe and Mail Canadian Newspaper - September 17th 2002:

Elder defends treatment of abuse claim

By JANE GADD
COURTS REPORTER

Tuesday, September 17, 2002 Page A18

A Jehovah's Witness elder who dealt with a sect member's complaint of sex abuse testified yesterday there was no need to call child-welfare authorities because the alleged perpetrator planned to report the abuse to his doctor.

Alleged victim Victoria Boer is suing Steven Brown, as well as two other elders and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

Mr. Brown denied he discouraged Ms. Boer from seeking medical help herself.

Ms. Boer seemed reluctant to talk about the abuse, which was already four years in the past when Mr. Brown learned of it in December, 1989, and expressed frustration with another elder who had been pressing her to see a psychiatrist, Mr. Brown said.

"What were we to do? Take a young girl and twist her arm, say go today?" Mr. Brown asked Ms. Boer's lawyer in Ontario Superior Court.

He said he took the word of Ms. Boer's father, Gower Palmer, that he would speak to a doctor and later bring his daughter with him.

"The doctor would have the resources to refer her. We didn't," Mr. Brown testified.

"Our role was to be spiritual shepherds."

He said he and other elders decided after two meetings with father and daughter that Mr. Palmer was penitent and, although he minimized what he had done, could be trusted to keep his word about reporting, and not harm his other children

Ms. Boer has testified the elders intimidated her into covering up the abuse to protect the movement's image.
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The Toronto Sun Newspaper - September 17th 2002:

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

Sex abuse stumped elder
Jehovah's Witness was unsure how to handle case

By IAN MCDOUGALL, TORONTO SUN

An elder of the Shelburne Jehovah's Witness congregation admitted in court yesterday he would handle the case of a woman sexually abused by her father differently now by reporting the matter immediately to provincial authorities.

Steven Brown, one of the defendants in a $700,000 lawsuit, testified that after a 1990 meeting with Children's Aid workers over the woman's case, congregation officials had a better understanding of how to handle child abuse, including their reporting requirements.

Brown, fellow elder Brian Cairns and the church are being sued by the woman for failing to report her case to provincial authorities, for forcing her to confront her father and for discouraging her from getting medical treatment.

Brown said he first became aware of the sexual abuse in the woman's home during a December 1989 meeting with Cairns. Court heard it wasn't until Feb. 5, 1990, that Children's Aid was told about the case.

During the meeting, the father confessed he violated his daughter.

Cairns and Brown had not dealt with child abuse before and were unsure how to handle it -- especially the requirement to report it to secular authorities, Brown said.

"We didn't know who to refer the plaintiff to, we didn't know who to report the abuse to," he said.

"We have a young woman, not living at home, 19 or 20 years old. We had determined there was no immediate threat. We wondered how to proceed."

Brown said they wrote to the Watchtower society, the Witnesses' governing body, asking for advice.

As they waited for a response, other church elders became alarmed they had not reported the case to the authorities, Brown said.

He added the division within the congregation became a problem at the end of January 1990 while a committee was being formed to punish the woman's father.

The committee revoked his church privileges and told him to report to a doctor and to Children's Aid.

The Toronto Sun is not naming the woman or her family because she is a victim of sexual abuse.
---------------------------------------------------------

Here is the Southam News Report that went in the Ottawa Citizen, Kingston Whig-Standard and was in about 50 to 70 Newspapers in Canada:

http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=B7D7247C-58E8-48CB-A4B6-70FECD58B76E

Abuser posed no threat: church elder

Shannon Kari

The Ottawa Citizen

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

TORONTO -- An elder at a southwestern Ontario congregation of the Jehovah's Witnesses yesterday defended a church decision to allow a man accused of having sexually abused his daughter in the mid-1980s to report himself to authorities.

Steve Brown testified in Ontario Superior Court that the abuse had stopped and there was no reason to suspect the two younger children in the family were in danger when elders in the Shelburne congregation learned of the allegations in December 1989.

Victoria Boer, 31, is suing Mr. Brown, two other church elders and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society for $700,000, alleging "gross negligence" in refusing to report suspicions of child abuse as required by law.

Ms. Boer, who is permitting her name to be made public, alleges she was sexually abused by her father between the ages of 11 and 15, until her mother intervened.

The father has not been charged with a criminal offence, and he is not a defendant in the lawsuit.

A church committee did not expel the father or make the allegations public, Mr. Brown said.

"He was repentant and fit to be a member of the congregation," the church elder said.

"We were not sitting with a man who was determined to continue a course of wickedness."

Copyright 2002 The Ottawa Citizen
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Canadian Press (CP) News - September 22nd 2002:

Sunday September 22 2:59 PM EST

Closing arguments to begin in Jehovah's Witness lawsuit; sexual coverup alleged

By JAMES MCCARTEN

TORONTO (CP) - They sit in the gallery like guests at a wedding, as neatly divided by their spiritual beliefs and lifestyles as the two sides in the legal battle they're in court every day to witness.

On one side sit dozens of Jehovah's Witnesses, meticulously groomed men and women - many clad in crisp, conservative business attire - on hand to support their church as it defends its doctrine.

On the other side are the friends and family of Vicki Boer, a former Witness who is suing the church and three of its elders for their handling of her allegations of sexual abuse nearly 15 years ago.

Until Thursday, their ranks included Grace Gough, a devout Jehovah's Witness for 20 years before she devoted her life to helping others escape what she considers little more than a cult.

"I couldn't have gone and sat through any more of it, even if I tried," Gough, 75, said Friday from her home in Fergus, Ont., where she runs a support group called Cult Awareness and Recovery.

"I just can't believe in this."

For two weeks, an Ontario Court justice has been getting a crash course in the ways of the Witnesses as Boer squares off against a church that shaped her life for more than 20 years.

Final arguments are expected to begin Monday.

Boer alleges the defendants - elders Steve Brown, Brian Cairns and John Didur, as well as the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society of Canada, the church's governing body - failed to get her adequate treatment for the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father between the ages of 11 and 14 in the family home in Shelburne, about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

Rather than immediately notify the Children's Aid Society and allow Boer to seek counselling outside the church, she was required, according to Biblical principles, to confront her father and allow him to repent his alleged sins, the suit alleges.

Elders Brown and Cairns were more concerned about the "clean image" of their faith than they were about Boer's well-being, said Harald Momm, one of the five elders who resigned their positions over the case.

"They didn't want to have anything to do with the law of the land ... they wanted it kept quiet, and we didn't agree with that," Momm told court last week.

"This has been going on for 13 years and all I ever got out of it is: 'It is important to keep a clean image. Never mind about the victims.'"

During the final weeks of 1989 and early months of 1990, controversy raged within the Witness community in Shelburne over Boer's complaints, particularly among the eight elders charged with overseeing the congregation.

Momm and four others argued that Ontario law required them to immediately report a case of sexual abuse and allow the alleged victim to seek medical help and psychiatric counselling.

Eventually, the case was reported to Children's Aid and the police, although no charges ever ensued.

Meanwhile, with the remaining elders convinced of his "spiritual repentance," Boer's father, Gower Palmer, rose through the ranks and enjoyed a level of privilege within the congregation normally reserved for the most respected members, said Momm.

Palmer, 58, continues to live in Shelburne and has never been criminally charged. Colin Stevenson, who represents the defendants, argued that a childhood of sexual abuse at the hands of her father, not the ways of her church, sent Boer down the rocky path that has been her adult life.

Stevenson confronted Boer with a litany of problems - job insecurity, sexual dalliances, emotional turmoil - that have plagued her in the years since leaving the family she says abandoned her.

None of them - sexual harassment on the job, being ostracized by friends and her mother, a nervous breakdown and marital troubles, including a variety of extra-marital affairs - are the fault of the church elders whom she alleges failed to deal properly with the abuse, Stevenson argued.

But Boer stood her ground, wiping away tears as she insisted none of it would have happened had she been allowed at age 18 by the church to get psychiatric and medical help.

With her military husband overseas, she had a nervous breakdown "because my husband was gone and because my family had disowned me; I was being blamed, and everything I knew in my life was gone," she sobbed.

"If things were done properly, none of this would have happened. My mother wouldn't have hated me and I wouldn't have been left alone."

While victims of sexual abuse normally aren't identified in public, Boer has agreed to allow her name to be publicized as part of her effort to promote what she alleges in abuse within the confines of the church's congregations.

As part of their beliefs in a strict interpretation of Bible teachings, Jehovah's Witnesses reject anything political or "worldly" that distracts from their focus on Christ and the second coming, which they consider imminent.

Birthdays, secular holidays and Christmas are not celebrated; children are often required to leave class during the Lord's Prayer and the national anthem, Boer said.

And anyone who runs afoul of the religion's strictest tenets will find themselves excommunicated, or "disfellowshipped," often to such an extent that they're shunned by their own family.

For her part, it's been years since Gough saw her 56-year-old daughter or 18-year-old granddaughter, both Witnesses, because of the church's notorious tradition of turning a cold shoulder to outsiders.

Describing herself as "having a relationship with Jesus Christ," Gough now quotes Karl Marx - "religion is the opiate of the masses," she says - and shuns organized religion in all its forms.

"I do believe (Marx) was right there, and I do believe religion does more damage than anything," Gough said.

"I think when a person does as Christ said, to love one another - 'love thine enemies, pray for those who hurt you, pray for those who persecute you' - I think that's it, and I've been praying for that a lot".
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Edited by - UnDisfellowshipped on 9 October 2002 2:47:2

Transcript of Australian News Channel 9 Sunday Television Program "Silent Witnesses" - September 22nd 2002:

The Catholic and Anglican churches in Australia are already engulfed in the scandal of child abuse. Sunday has managed to get inside the Jehovah's Witnesses, and found the WTS has secretly pursued a policy of obstructing police investigations into child abusers.

Aired September 22, 2002

GRAHAM DAVIS, REPORTER: At the Melbourne Tennis Centre, the gods of sport make way for the real thing, as 10,000 voices praise the almighty. These are just some of the 60,000 or so Australians who belong to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, better known as the Jehovah's Witnesses.

PREACHER: We need to be zealous as proclaimers of God's kingdom, shining as illuminators of the world.

REPORTER: They're the clean-cut evangelists who appear at our doors, preaching Armageddon and the paradise to come for true believers.

PREACHER: Call back on everyone who shows even the slightest interest, even if we've just left them with a tract.

REPORTER: Yet as we'll see, the shepherds, as church leaders portray themselves, have created a hell on earth for some of the most vulnerable of their flock and they're outlaws in the classic sense, having placed themselves outside the laws that protect children from sexual predators. When it finally dawned on you that what you were witnessing was a policy of covering up child abuse, how did you feel about them?

NATALIE WEBB, CHILD ABUSE VICTIM: Devastated. Disappointed. Angry.

REPORTER: Today, victims like Natalie Webb speak out for the first time, accusing the church of covering up the crimes against them. She was abused by her own father, Victor, an outwardly respectable member of the Bentleigh congregation in suburban Melbourne.

NATALIE WEBB: My earliest memory is having a bath with my father and he was touching me, and from other things around me, I realised that I would have been about four.

REPORTER: Four years old?

NATALIE WEBB: Four, yep.

REPORTER: And how long did the abuse go on for?

NATALIE WEBB: Till I was... just turned 17.

REPORTER: 17?

NATALIE WEBB: Mmm-hmm.

REPORTER: And presumably it progressed from...

NATALIE WEBB: Just touching to intercourse, penetration.

REPORTER: Natalie lived with her terrible secret until she was married - her father beaming like any other on her wedding day. Then, unable to bear it any longer, she told her story to this church elder, Maurice Hadley. Was there any suggestion whatsoever that the police be informed?

NATALIE WEBB: None at all. The opposite, actually. Maurice said to me that the authorities shouldn't be notified because it would be a bad witness and that they would be able to handle the situation.

REPORTER: So Maurice Hadley told you quite specifically not to go to the police?

NATALIE WEBB: Yes, yes, and no psychiatrists or psychologists either for me because I was having difficulties.

REPORTER: Why did he ban psychiatrists or psychologists from seeing you?

NATALIE WEBB: Because they're worldly and they are possibly Satanic and could fill my head with rubbish.

REPORTER: Incredibly, Natalie's story is the norm, not the exception, for child abuse victims in the Jehovah's Witnesses. Simon Thomas was 12 when he fell prey to this man, Robert Souter, of the Corrimal congregation on the NSW south coast. Even when Souter admitted his crimes to church elders, he was allowed to continue as a Jehovah's Witness. He also continued to molest other children. Was there any suggestion that anybody go to the police over this?

SIMON THOMAS, CHILD ABUSE VICTIM: No, none at all. My parents spoke to elders locally, they spoke to travelling overseers, and they were told that they shouldn't go to the police and the best thing to do would be to keep the congregation clean, not say anything, pray more and leave it to Jehovah.

REPORTER: How can you keep the congregation clean by keeping quiet and covering up something like this, when the person who's unclean is allowed back in?

SIMON THOMAS: Well, I don't know. I don't know.

REPORTER: Today, some disturbing answers, clear evidence that the Watchtower Society routinely tries to pervert the course of justice in child abuse cases by obstructing police investigations.

JIM DONALD, FORMER ELDER: Well, this is my copy of an elders' book and these are my handwritten notes taken down at the dictation from the circuit overseer.

REPORTER: Jim Donald is a former church elder now blowing the whistle on his fellow brothers with details of an edict so sensitive, it was never committed to paper.

JIM DONALD: This was a letter to all bodies of elders.

REPORTER: And it says here "child abuse confidential". What is it telling us there?

JIM DONALD: It's saying to us here "If interviewed by social workers or police or other authorities, "do not reveal if a confession has been made. "Contact society immediately."

REPORTER: So if a child abuser has said, "Yes, I did it", you're not to tell the police that?

JIM DONALD: No, not at all.

REPORTER: Do you think that's obstruction?

JIM DONALD: Obviously. Obviously.

REPORTER: Jim Donald is a Justice of the Peace who once spread Jehovah's word as a church elder in the northern NSW town of Glen Innes. Now he confines himself to spreading news of worldly matters on his paper round, having abandoned the church four years ago.

JIM DONALD: We were to resist every approach by the authorities to willingly give over any information.

REPORTER: And you knew, did you, that that was the agenda, that you were not to cooperate?

JIM DONALD: Absolutely. You see, every instance like that is to be seen as an attack against pure worship and against Jehovah's name, and so what they call theocratic warfare is to take place.

REPORTER: Theocratic warfare?

JIM DONALD: Yes.

REPORTER: What does that mean?

JIM DONALD: That means we are in a battle situation.

REPORTER: With the police? With the State?

JIM DONALD: With the State.

ANDY FARRELL, FORMER MEMBER: They have a phrase they refer to which is theocratic warfare, and that is basically that it's acceptable to lie or to cover over things if it's for the good of God's purpose.

REPORTER: Andy Farrell left the Jehovah's Witnesses five years ago after a lifetime's association.

ANDY FARRELL: They won't condone breaking the law where it's a more black and white issue, say it was a murder case or something like that, but there are certainly a lot of problems of a lesser scale that the church tries to deal with internally that probably belong in a court of law.

REPORTER: Child abuse?

ANDY FARRELL: Yeah, exactly.

REPORTER: You've written here "search warrants and subpoenas". Now, what did they tell you?

JIM DONALD: They may make a forced entry into the hall. So we were encouraged to stand in front of the door and not to willingly open the door for them.

REPORTER: Officially, the church denies all knowledge of the concept of theocratic warfare, but Jim Donald's account of the verbal instruction not to cooperate with police was confirmed to Sunday by another former elder, though he wouldn't be filmed. There's nothing on paper, right?

JIM DONALD: No.

REPORTER: Nothing on paper at all?

JIM DONALD: No.

REPORTER: Do you think this is because their legal department would have known they might have a problem with this in the future?

JIM DONALD: Oh, I think so, yeah.

REPORTER: Because they've got a big problem with this, haven't they?

JIM DONALD: Absolutely, yes.

REPORTER: And the man who was once the society's own lawyer agrees.

REV WARRYN STUCKEY, FORMER WATCHTOWER SOCIETY LAWYER: I think it can have the practical effect of perverting the course of justice.

REPORTER: It could?

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: It could have that practical effect.

REV WARRYN STUCKEY ADDRESSING CHURCH: Let's commence our service by singing together our first hymn number 673 - 'There is a redeemer'.

REPORTER: The Reverend Warryn Stuckey has left behind the law and the Jehovah's Witnesses to become an Anglican priest. It was a short journey physically, for his church is a stone's throw from the Watchtower's Sydney headquarters. But in personal and theological terms, his was a momentous defection and as a former elder and director of Watchtower companies, he's a potent witness against his former associates.

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: I could imagine that if it was a case of any other crime, like murder or something, that there would be full cooperation and why in this case there is not suggests that there is something that they're protecting.

REPORTER: Protecting the church's reputation or even protecting child abusers perhaps?

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: Or particular child abusers.

REPORTER: The Jehovah's Witnesses, in fact, routinely shield paedophiles from the law - as in the case of Robert Souter, allowing them to offend again and again. It's been called a 'paedophile paradise'. Would you agree with that?

JIM DONALD: Yeah, I've heard that, yes.

REPORTER: Would you agree with that?

JIM DONALD: Yes.

REPORTER: You would?

JIM DONALD: Yes.

REPORTER: Paedophile paradise?

ANDY FARRELL: Yes.

REPORTER: You'd agree with that?

ANDY FARRELL: I think that's true.

REPORTER: So this was the body of the Kingdom Hall here?

SIMON THOMAS: Yes.

REPORTER: And in the greatest betrayal of all, far from suffering the little children, the church has inflicted untold suffering that lingers into adulthood.

SIMON THOMAS: I remember that the first time he actually touched me and did something to me, I just - that was a real life-changing moment. It was terrible. I just knew it would never be the same after that.

REPORTER: For years, Simon Thomas has privately nursed the hurt of a blighted childhood at the Kingdom Hall. Now he wants his story told of how the church protected his abuser, Robert Souter.

SIMON THOMAS: It was supposed to be a really nice, safe place, but it wasn't for me or a lot of other kids.

REPORTER: You now know, don't you, that after Souter was abusing you, he was abusing a whole host of others?

SIMON THOMAS: Yes.

REPORTER: How many?

SIMON THOMAS: I know of 10 personally, but the police that I've spoken to have said there's around 40.

REPORTER: 40 others?

SIMON THOMAS: That they know of.

REPORTER: After you?

SIMON THOMAS: After me.

REPORTER: If the church had listened to the pleas that you were making, how many of those kids could have been saved?

SIMON THOMAS: Well, all of them, I think.

REPORTER: All of them - 40 kids?

SIMON THOMAS: I think all of them could have been saved.

REPORTER: Ingleburn, south-west Sydney, the Watchtower's Bethel or House of God, its sprawling Australian headquarters. More than 300 people live and work on this site, that includes a publishing arm printing Watchtower material in 70 languages. In the legal department here, every instance of child abuse known to the church is carefully filed away, but it's not reported to the authorities. The church regards such cases as confidential. So, just how many child abusers are there on the files in there? Well, the church tells us pointedly, it's none of our business. But at every turn in this investigation we came across victims unwilling to speak out, not because of their abusers, but because of the church - fearful of losing their friends, even their families. The church calls it "Keeping the congregation clean". Not of paedophiles, but of anything that damages the Watchtower's reputation. How do you think you're going to be treated by the church from now on?

SIMON THOMAS: I don't know. It's yet to be seen. But I would rather say something than to just be quiet and wait any longer.

REPORTER: Surprisingly, Simon still counts himself a witness, whereas Natalie Webb has left the church behind, unable to come to terms with the blind eye it turned to her father's depravity.

NATALIE WEBB: Because my dad wanted me to have sex with animals and have lesbian liaisons and like all these things.
REPORTER: And you told them that?

NATALIE WEBB: Oh yeah, yeah, they knew, and they said "We don't need to know details to make a decision. We're being guided by God".

PREACHER: Jehovah, our God of love, we come before your lofty throne and ask that we can be heard by you.

REPORTER: But before we examine these cases in detail, some understanding is needed of what sets the Jehovah's Witnesses apart, what makes their critics doubt they'll ever be shamed into reform by the kind of allegations that have forced changes in the mainstream churches, like the Anglicans and Roman Catholics. Is there any chance whatsoever that this organisation can reform itself?

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: No.

REPORTER: None?

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: None.

REPORTER: So if there's going to be any reform of their handling of child abuse, it's going to have to be imposed on them?

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: Yes.

REPORTER: To Jehovah's Witnesses, there's only one true religion - theirs. Jehovah God, the only God, his word in the Bible to be taken literally. The act of baptism through total immersion symbolises total surrender to Jehovah and his only legitimate authority on earth, the Watchtower Society. Witnesses live in what they call "the truth", the rest of us in "the world", a world the church would have it governed by Satan.

PREACHER: If you decide you want to do some of your own thing, well, you can. But be careful, because this world is deceived. It's deceived by the Devil.

REPORTER: And Satan's temptations abound, even across a crowded room. Jehovah's Witnesses aren't allowed to marry outside the church, a source of much heartache in itself. What were the circumstances that led to you leaving?

JIM DONALD: I attended a son's wedding.

REPORTER: Your own son?

JIM DONALD: My own son, yeah.

REPORTER: What was wrong with that?

JIM DONALD: Well, he was marrying a young lass who was an Anglican. Now, all other churches are considered as children of the Devil. So they said - and I quote from the man who was the branch coordinator at the time - "You don't give your children to the Philistines."

REPORTER: But the strictures go on. Jehovah's Witnesses can't vote, can't join the military, aren't allowed to celebrate Christmas, even their own birthdays.

ANDY FARRELL: Birthdays because they see it as bringing too much attention to a single person. With Christmas, I think everybody understands that a lot of the symbolism associated with Christmas obviously isn't Christian, it's come from other practices around the world and they use that as part of their justification.

REPORTER: And most controversial of all, Jehovah's Witnesses can't have blood transfusions, a dictate based on an obscure biblical passage that's cost many thousands of lives worldwide.

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: I was 18 at the time, my brother was 20. He shot himself in the next room. Um, he shot himself in the head. We rushed in there, he was bleeding from every - you know, from his ears, his nose, everything. My first thought, I said to my parents "Whatever you do, don't let them give him a blood transfusion".

REPORTER: So you'd been brainwashed?

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: I had been brainwashed. That is what I thought, he mustn't have a blood transfusion. Here's my brother dying in front of me, and that was my first thought.

REPORTER: Your priority.

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: My priority.

REPORTER: How do you feel about that?

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: Oh, on the verge of tears now as I think about it. It was just so callous, so... yeah, that's what the religion does.

REPORTER: Bad stuff.

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: Bad stuff. Bad stuff.

SIMON THOMAS: Some of it actually here inside the hall...

REPORTER: And then there's the child abuse, all the elements of exploitation, betrayal and cover-up present in the saga of what happened to Simon Thomas. He actually molested you inside the church itself?

SIMON THOMAS: Inside the Kingdom Hall, yeah, yep.

REPORTER: Amazing.

SIMON THOMAS: It is, looking back it was amazing.

REPORTER: And equally amazing, Natalie Webb's story. Her father's abuse compounded by the callous indifference of church leaders when it was brought to their attention. You must have been devastated?

NATALIE WEBB: Well, I tried to take my own life a few weeks later because I couldn't cope with it, mm.

REPORTER: So you tried to commit suicide?

NATALIE WEBB: Mm.

REPORTER: As a result of that, did you get any help at all from them?

NATALIE WEBB: I got a counselling session from them saying that it was due to me not forgiving my father, that's why I wasn't coping.

SIMON THOMAS: Well, I was told that to endure until the end is a... is to be faithful. It demonstrates your faith. And I was also told to leave it to Jehovah because Jehovah will work it out, but why can't we expose these things that are happening and then leave it to Jehovah?

REPORTER: In part two, the shocking details of these cover-ups. Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you about the sex abuse case involving Natalie Webb. And we confront the elders, who in Jehovah's name and with the church's backing, kept the authorities at bay. Do you recall telling her that she shouldn't go to the police?

MAURICE HADLEY, CHURCH ELDER: Not at all.

REPORTER: She says you did?

MAURICE HADLEY: Well, that's her word against mine, isn't it?

REPORTER: Like many victims of child abuse, Natalie Webb kept her secret into adulthood, but at the age of 26, she could cope no longer. It was her husband who finally brought matters to a head.

NATALIE WEBB: He rang up my father and said, "We can't live with this anymore. It has to come out in the open. "I'll give you a week to go to the elders."

REPORTER: But Victor Webb wasn't about to confess, so he was exposed. OK, so your husband goes to the elders. Which elder did he go and see?

NATALIE WEBB: Maurice Hadley.

MAURICE HADLEY: Maurice Hadley, yes, I'm Maurice Hadley.

REPORTER: Hi - Graham Davis from the Sunday program. I just wanted talk to you about the sex abuse case involving Natalie Webb.

MAURICE HADLEY: Oh, right.

REPORTER: You know her father?

MAURICE HADLEY: Well, indeed I do.

REPORTER: You used to play tennis with him, didn't you?

MAURICE HADLEY: (Laughs) Where did you get all this information?

REPORTER: Well, we have our sources. Do you still have any contact with Vic?

MAURICE HADLEY: Oh, occasionally.

REPORTER: What did Maurice Hadley say to him?

NATALIE WEBB: Um well, he was very shocked and couldn't believe it.

REPORTER: Because your father had been so devout?

NATALIE WEBB: And they were quite friendly.

REPORTER: What do you think about what he did to his daughter?

MAURICE HADLEY: Oh, I think it's deplorable. Absolutely disgusting.

REPORTER: Why had...

MAURICE HADLEY: And I have never ever condoned that man's behaviour.

REPORTER: As senior elder at the local Kingdom Hall, Maurice Hadley formed a judicial committee, the way the church deals with all breaches of its code of behaviour, from smoking a cigarette, through to serious crimes.

NATALIE WEBB: There were three elders, including him, in that committee. And they apparently - so Maurice told me - spoke to Bethel in Sydney and decided amongst themselves that no-one should know about it, it should be a private reproof.

REPORTER: So, for sexually abusing his daughter from the age of four, a crime he readily admitted, all Victor Webb got was a reprimand behind closed doors. A private reproof?

NATALIE WEBB: A private, yep so, and then he would be put on a course of bible studies, because that's what was wrong with him - spiritually he was sick, so he was told.

REPORTER: At the very least, Natalie Webb had wanted her father disfellowshipped - expelled from the congregation - the ultimate sanction for Jehovah's Witnesses. It didn't happen. Why didn't the elders of the church disfellowship him for what he did?

MAURICE HADLEY: Why didn't they?

REPORTER: Yep. Why didn't YOU?

MAURICE HADLEY: Well, I'm not the decision maker.

REPORTER: You were.

MAURICE HADLEY: No, no, I was only one of them - I was a committee - part of the committee at the time.

REPORTER: Can you tell me why he wasn't disfellowshipped?

MAURICE HADLEY: Well, not now I can't.

NATALIE WEBB: I'd believed all my life that when you do something wrong, you get disfellowshipped, and I guess I went a little bit crazy and I just couldn't work it out.

REPORTER: A secret deliberation, a private reproof, no recourse whatsoever to the proper authorities. Did you go to the police?

MAURICE HADLEY: ..which is a reasonable - no, I didn't.

REPORTER: Why not?

MAURICE HADLEY: Well, it was something for the family to decide and do.

NATALIE WEBB: Maurice said to me that the authorities shouldn't be notified because it would be a bad witness and that they would be able to handle the situation.

REPORTER: So Maurice Hadley told you quite specifically...

NATALIE WEBB: Mmm-hmm, yes.

REPORTER: ..not to go to the police?

NATALIE WEBB: Yes.

MAURICE HADLEY: Yeah, and I say that that's not true.

REPORTER: You swear by that?

MAURICE HADLEY: I swear by that categorically.

REPORTER: You never said that to her?

MAURICE HADLEY: Never said that to her.

REPORTER: Yet here's something that lends weight to Natalie's claim - a letter from her mother to Maurice Hadley and the other elders in 1997 -

"Your inability and reluctance to deal with the police shows we would have been waiting forever."

REPORTER: By now, the family had had enough and had gone to the police themselves.

NATALIE WEBB: Because I'd never had any dealings with the police, I was very apprehensive, but they were just the most compassionate, wonderful lot of people, and I was so surprised. I got more caring and concern from them than I did from any elder. Genuine caring.

REPORTER: Victor Webb pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to eight counts of indecent assault and seven counts of incest. He was sent to jail for 10 years, but the church elders supported the criminal, not his victim.

NATALIE WEBB: They sent three representatives from the congregation to be with Dad, yep, and...

REPORTER: During the trial?

NATALIE WEBB: During the trial, and no-one was sent for me, and in fact, they ignored us when we walked into the court, they wouldn't even speak to us. I guess they thought I was Satanic or heading down that way, yeah.

REPORTER: But the real evil-doer is still being supported behind bars. You go and see him in jail?

MAURICE HADLEY: I visit him periodically.

REPORTER: So you go and see him in prison?

MAURICE HADLEY: About twice a year.

REPORTER: And why do you do that?

MAURICE HADLEY: Why do I do it?

REPORTER: Mm.

MAURICE HADLEY: Well, don't you you believe that people can change?

REPORTER: Even now, Victor Webb hasn't been disfellowshipped, though the private reproof became a public reproof when the police became involved.

MAURICE HADLEY: Yes, before all onlookers, other members of the congregation were advised of his situation so that parents could, if they chose to, take precautionary steps to avoid situations that might compromise their children.

REPORTER: And that was it. How do you feel about the church now?

NATALIE WEBB: Mm, um... I'm still very disappointed. The more I hear, I just am so saddened that it's so endemic and everywhere. It's very saddening.

REPORTER: And there are other cover-ups in the church that have had even more serious consequences, allowing paedophiles to offend again and again. What happened to Simon Thomas is, by any measure, a shocking indictment of the Jehovah's Witnesses and their wilful disregard of the secular law. Now this is where he brought you or followed you quite a bit, wasn't it?

SIMON THOMAS: Yep.

REPORTER: We're back at the place where, aged just 12, Simon first encountered his abuser, Robert Souter.

SIMON THOMAS: You know, he'd touch and feel and he'd laugh about it or he'd give me a clip around the ear, give me a good whack, and...

REPORTER: Just to make sure you went along with him?

SIMON THOMAS: ..just to make sure I, yeah. And then he'd go back up inside.

REPORTER: And then there were the bible study sessions at Robert Souter's home.

SIMON THOMAS: Probably the worst of what happened to me happened here at this house.

REPORTER: And we're talking about extreme abuse?

SIMON THOMAS: Yeah, extreme, yeah, extreme abuse. At first it was almost surreal. It was like it wasn't happening, but I was afraid to say anything. It's just the usual - I was just afraid because I didn't want my parents to be upset and I didn't want the congregation to be upset, I didn't want bad things said about Jehovah's Witnesses, so I basically just...

REPORTER: Kept it to yourself?

SIMON THOMAS: ..kept it to myself, copped it on the chin.

REPORTER: For how long? SIMON THOMAS: For about three years.

REPORTER: Then one night, a shocking revelation. When Simon's younger brother has a nervous breakdown on a church trip to the NT.

SIMON THOMAS: He phoned my parents to tell them that he'd been abused by Robert Souter, and it was horrific, the situation was terrible. So my father approached one of the elders and said, "Look, Robert Souter has done this and this and this to my son." So the elder said, "OK, we'll take care of it." And I'd heard this, obviously, and I approached the elder that my father spoke to and I said, "Look, my brother's telling the truth because it's also happened to me."

REPORTER: Can you tell me the name of that elder?

SIMON THOMAS: That elder that we spoke to at that time was John Wingate.

REPORTER: John Wingate?

JOHN WINGATE, CHURCH ELDER: That's right.

REPORTER: Yeah, I'm Graham Davis from the Sunday program at Channel 9. I just wanted to talk to you about Robert Souter and the abuse of the Thomas boys in Wollongong.

JOHN WINGATE: No comment.

REPORTER: The boys first came to you, didn't they, the family first came to you?

JOHN WINGATE: No comment.

REPORTER: Well, Simon Thomas has told us that, so we know that. John Wingate is still an elder of the Cooma congregation in southern NSW, where Robert Souter had moved and we now know, had begun abusing children at the Kingdom Hall there. What did Wingate say to you?

SIMON THOMAS: Well, he said - he seemed to take it very seriously and he said, "Look." He said, "We'll chase it up and leave it with me." And that was the last we heard of it.

REPORTER: You said to him, "Leave it with me." He says that's the last he heard of it. Did you feel that you had any responsibility to get back to this family.

JOHN WINGATE: I have no comment to make to you. No, I have no comment to make to you.

REPORTER: Unbeknown to the family, John Wingate and the other elders did act. They disfellowshipped Robert Souter, expelled him from the congregation. But it wasn't long before the Thomas family got some devastating news.

SIMON THOMAS: It was around about the six months and they reinstated him into the Cooma congregation.

REPORTER: What did you think when you were told that?

SIMON THOMAS: I couldn't believe it. I was stunned and I was unbelievably upset.

REPORTER: Now, what that family wants to know is why he was reinstated into the church around six months later?

JOHN WINGATE: Ring the Watchtower Society of Australia and they'll answer all your questions regarding that situation.
REPORTER: Well, can you tell me, sir, why you...

JOHN WINGATE: I cannot make comments on it.

REPORTER: Why can't you speak about it?

JOHN WINGATE: Because I'm not at liberty to.

REPORTER: Why?

JOHN WINGATE: Because I'm not.

REPORTER: You handled the case.

JOHN WINGATE: That's none of your business.

SIMON THOMAS: I spoke to an elder down there and he said Robert Souter was repentant so when you're repentant, you're allowed back into the congregation.

JOHN WINGATE: Do you have a problem with hearing? Do you have a hearing impediment? I just told you...

REPORTER: I'm trying to find some answers.

JOHN WINGATE: You're not going to get answers off me because I've told you...

REPORTER: So in the absence of any answers from the elders, let's look at the Watchtower's guidelines for dealing with child abuse -

"When a judicial committee determines that a child molester is repentant and will remain a member of the Christian congregation, it would be appropriate to speak to him very frankly, strongly urging him as to the dangers of hugging or holding children on his lap."

REPORTER: I mean, what sort of a deterrent is that?

JIM DONALD: (Laughs) Well, it's none, obviously, because those sorts of things would be just, what would be in public view. The thing that escapes the society's viewpoint on this child molesting situation is that all of this takes place in secret.

REPORTER: So secret is child abuse that Simon Thomas thought he was alone in being abused by Robert Souter, until he found out about his younger brother and then later, about another brother as well. Did you have any sense of guilt that you might have been able to save your two brothers?

SIMON THOMAS: I did, from then on, and I still have that feeling. And it's part of the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing today. Because if I'd said something back then, I could have saved - I could have helped, maybe in some way, dozens of others.

REPORTER: But maybe not. For in the most extraordinary dictate of all, the Jehovah's Witnesses rulebook insists on this - "There must be two or three eyewitnesses, not just persons repeating what they have heard. No action can be taken if there is only one witness."

REPORTER: Blind Freddy knows that a child abuser doesn't sit around waiting for two or three witnesses before doing anything. JIM DONALD: That's correct.

REPORTER: How is it that this escapes the elders of the church?

JIM DONALD: They rely on a biblical text which says that all matters are to be established on the mouth of two or three witnesses.

REPORTER: As Jim Donald tells it, this rule has stifled the plaintive cries of victims time and time again and was a major factor in his decision to leave the church behind for good.

JIM DONALD: A young lass made allegations that this particular individual had interfered with her sexual organs. Yeah. REPORTER: And you were given the job of investigating...

JIM DONALD: Yes.

REPORTER: ..this allegation? What happened?

JIM DONALD: Well, all we could do is pose the questions.

REPORTER: To him?

JIM DONALD: To him, and obviously he said, "Oh, no, no, that's all a mistake and she's had problems. And you know, she comes from a weird family," sort of thing.

REPORTER: So in the absence of the church's rule that there be at least two or three witnesses, this girl was not to be believed?

JIM DONALD: That's right.

REPORTER: And that was the end of the matter?

JIM DONALD: Yep.

REPORTER: But for her father's confession, that's just what would have happened to Natalie Webb. If he'd denied it and it was only your word against him, because of the two witness rule, nothing would have happened. Is that fair to assume?

NATALIE WEBB: That's correct.

SIMON THOMAS: This one's called 'The Wrestle'. It's actually wrestling with a decision on whether I should actually go to the police.

REPORTER: For Simon Thomas, years went by, as he and his family nursed their trauma - black years chronicled in his paintings.

SIMON THOMAS: This one there, that's called 'Life at 15'.

REPORTER: Then, six years ago, Simon approached the church elders again.

SIMON THOMAS: And I said to the elders there that I was really struggling with what happened to me and that I needed some help. I wasn't coping.

REPORTER: And what did they say to you?

SIMON THOMAS: They said to me back then, they said - and these are the exact words - They said, "Obviously for this problem to be bothering you "for so long, "you're not praying enough."

REPORTER: You're kidding?

SIMON THOMAS: That's exactly what was said to me, so I shut up again for another year or two.

REPORTER: And then?

SIMON THOMAS: And then I decided that I was going to go to the police.

REPORTER: Robert Souter was sent to jail for a minimum of three years by Judge John Goldring, who had this to say about the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society -

"The church authorities took it upon themselves to act as if they were the civil authorities which they had no right to do. This matter was not reported to the police, as it should have been and I am surprised that the police have not taken any action against the church authorities. I hope they will do so. The State has responsibility of protecting young people and all citizens have a serious moral responsibility to assist it in doing so. I cannot criticise the church sufficiently seriously for not having reported this matter".

REPORTER: Do you feel any moral responsibility for the fact that he continued to abuse other children?

JOHN WINGATE: I think you have a moral responsibility to respect my wishes and follow the procedure I've given you and that is to contact the Watchtower Society of Australia. Don't harass me.

REPORTER: Every child in this photograph with Simon Thomas was abused by Robert Souter. As we now know, the total number Souter molested could be as high as 40.

SIMON THOMAS: I think all of them could have been saved, but I could have been saved myself because I found out that one of the sisters in the congregation had spoken to an elder and said that she'd seen Robert Souter doing something to HER son and this was before Robert Souter abused me.

PREACHER: Remember our hearts and minds are dedicated to Jehovah and we must be holy because he is holy.

REPORTER: We asked the Watchtower Society a series of questions about its handling of the cases of Robert Souter and Victor Webb and asked them to tell us how many child abusers they've uncovered in their ranks. We were told it wasn't the business of the media to know, though the church did say very few were elders or those holding positions of responsibility. In this letter, Viv Mouritz, the society's Australian president, declined our request for an interview and said about the claims of Simon Thomas and Natalie Webb -

"My inquiries indicate that the elders involved did not give instructions not to report the abuse to the police".

REPORTER: It's at odds with everything we've heard from a number of sources, including a judge. But on previous form, the congregation will be told our story is the work of Satan.

PREACHER: The media out there, with all its power and its might, it presents human nature in three Ds, three Ds - debauchery of every kind, deception of every kind and demonism of every kind - and we need to be aware of that.

REPORTER: But the authorities and the courts need to be aware of something else, something far more sinister - the church's notion of the truth. In this book 'Insight on the Scriptures', it says here, doesn't it "Lying generally involves saying something false to a person who is entitled to know the truth".

JIM DONALD: Yes.

REPORTER: Would your average judge or magistrate be somebody who was entitled to know the truth?

JIM DONALD: It would be very difficult for a person not to uphold what the society would want. They would back the society, and they would see that as backing Jehovah, in which case, these people, the court, is not entitled to know the truth.

REPORTER: Is not?

JIM DONALD: No. And in that case they would say that's not a lie.

REPORTER: So it's quite possible, given this definition of lying, that a Jehovah's Witness could go before a civil court in this country and lie to their back teeth?

JIM DONALD: Yes.

REPORTER: And this from the man who was once the society's own lawyer.

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: That has always been, as long as I remember, has been Watchtower doctrine, that only those who are entitled to know the truth deserve the truth.

REPORTER: Right, but if they determined that a particular judge or a particular court is not entitled to know the truth, they won't tell the truth?

REV WARRYN STUCKEY: Correct.

REPORTER: Do you recall telling her that she shouldn't go to the police?

MAURICE HADLEY: Not at all.

REPORTER: She says you did?

MAURICE HADLEY: Oh, well that's her word against mine, isn't it?

REPORTER: So who is entitled to know the truth?

MAURICE HADLEY: I mean, who do you think you are anyway? Since when have you become the bees knees on all of this?

REPORTER: So is Vic repentant, is he, is that it?

MAURICE HADLEY: Well, I would like to think so, but that's not for me to judge, is it? That's between him and his God ultimately, is it not?

REPORTER: Him and his God?

MAURICE HADLEY: Well, don't you think that?

PREACHER: Brothers, as we continue to pray for help in controlling our sinful inclinations, we will see Jehovah help us.

REPORTER: Leave it to Jehovah, the constant refrain of those who purport to live in the truth and see themselves as his only true representatives. Their victims want them brought to account in the world, an official investigation into the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

NATALIE WEBB: It needs reform forced on it and waiting for Jehovah just doesn't work.

JIM DONALD: I think it needs to have the lid taken off, yeah, because young kids' lives are being ruined.

REPORTER: So it's time that governments cracked down on this organisation?

NATALIE WEBB: Oh, definitely, mm. I'd hate to think how many children are being abused now.

REPORTER: Even as we speak?

NATALIE WEBB: As we speak.

SIMON THOMAS: I find it hard, even though there are beautiful people within the Jehovah's Witnesses - a lot are still my friends - I find it extremely difficult to have a bond and to be a part of a brotherhood with them now. The organisation - the organisational procedures need to change because kids cannot suffer like that anymore. It's wrong.
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THE AGE ( http://theage.com.au) - September 22nd 2002:

Jehovah's accused of abuse

SYDNEY|Published: Sunday September 22, 8:05 PM

Some elders of the Jehovah's Witness church covered up child abuse and obstructed police investigations, according to victims of the abuse and former elders.

The church's leader in Australia on Sunday denied the allegations, but said police were sometimes not informed to protect victims.

One victim, Simon Thomas, a member of the Corrimal congregation on the NSW south coast as a boy, said if the church had listened to his pleas other children could have been spared abuse by convicted paedophile Robert Souter.

Souter pleaded guilty in August 2000 to one count of buggery and four counts of indecent assault on two teenage boys from 1978-80 and was sentenced to five years jail with a non-parole period of three years.

"If the church had listened to my pleas, all of those kids could have been saved," Mr Thomas told the Nine Network's Sunday program.

Souter was arrested after the Thomas family went to the police.

During sentencing Judge John Goldring criticised the lack of action by the Jehovah's Witness, officially known as the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society, after Souter admitted the offences to church elders.

"This matter was not reported to the police, as it should have been ... I cannot criticise the church sufficiently seriously for not having reported this matter," the judge said.

Another victim, Natalie Webb, who was sexually abused by her father from the age of four to 17, said elders told her not to notify authorities.

Her father is serving a 10-year sentence in Victoria after she finally went to the police.
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Canadian Press (CP) News - September 23rd 2002:

Monday September 23 5:43 PM EST

Closing arguments begin in Jehovah's Witness lawsuit; sexual coverup alleged

By JAMES MCCARTEN

TORONTO (CP) - In 1988, a terrified victim of childhood sex abuse - raised from birth as a Jehovah's Witness - did as allegedly instructed by church elders and confronted the abuser: her father.

In so instructing Vicki Boer, those elders shattered the life, faith and family of a formerly devoted Witness and ought to be held to account, Boer's lawyer argued Monday. "She was almost like a turtle without a shell," Charles Mark told Ontario Court Justice Anne Molloy during day-long closing arguments in the civil case, which has been sitting for more than two weeks.

"Her life had been built around the church, and because of the way this has been handled, her life is a mess."

Church elders Brian Cairns, Steve Brown and John Didur, along with the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society of Canada, should never have forced Boer to confront her father about the abuse, Mark said.

Instead, they should have reported the abuse to the Children's Aid Society and encouraged Boer to get counselling as soon as possible.

"If that had been done, none of the confrontations would have had to take place."

It was in keeping with the tenets of their faith that the elders in Shelburne, Ont., decided to compel Boer to confront her father, Gower Palmer, even though it was plain the idea of such a meeting was abhorrent to her, Mark said.

"The descriptions . . .are those of a person who is on the edge of suicide. That's the degree to which it frightens her."

For two weeks, Molloy has been getting a crash course in the ways of the Witnesses as Boer squares off against the church that shaped her life for more than 20 years.

Boer, now 31, alleges the defendants failed to get her adequate treatment for the abuse she suffered between the ages of 11 and 14 in the family home in Shelburne, about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

Rather than immediately notify the Children's Aid Society and allow Boer to seek counselling outside the church, she was required, according to Biblical principles, to confront her father in 1988 and allow him to repent his alleged sins, the suit alleges.

"She was brought up (believing) that the church was what mattered; the rest of the world was a hostile (place) with which she should have no contact," Mark said Monday.

"She accepted this, as it had been instilled in her from youth."

But it was apparent throughout the day that Molloy was struggling with Mark's interpretation of the law.

"It's not like this was a professional disciplinary body," she said at one point about the three-member "judicial committee" that determined Palmer's punishment in 1989.

"This is to do with issues of spirituality; how does that differ from someone going to a confessional in a church and receiving absolution?"

Then later in the day, in response to Mark's suggestion that despite having free will, Boer had to follow the counsel of the elders: "You can always choose to say, 'I don't want this religion anymore,'" Molloy said.

"That is also an expression of free will, and one that, evidently, some people do choose."

Eventually, some six weeks after the allegations first surfaced, the case was reported to Children's Aid and the police, although no charges ever ensued.

Palmer, 58, continues to live in Shelburne.

The defendants, meanwhile, have argued strenuously that they never prevented Boer from seeking help or forced her to confront her father.

Their lawyers, expected to begin their final arguments Tuesday, have suggested that it was the abuse, not the ways of her church, that sent Boer down a rocky path in her adult life, one rife with job insecurity, sexual dalliances and emotional turmoil.

While victims of sexual abuse normally aren't identified in public, Boer has agreed to allow her name to be publicized as part of her effort to promote what she alleges in abuse within the confines of the church's congregations.

As part of their beliefs in a strict interpretation of Bible teachings, Jehovah's Witnesses reject anything political or "worldly" that distracts from their focus on Christ and the second coming, which they consider imminent.

Anyone who runs afoul of the religion's strictest tenets will find themselves excommunicated, often to such an extent that they're shunned by their own family.
---------------------------------------------------------

Canadian Press (CP) News - September 24th 2002:

Tuesday September 24 4:18 PM EST

Lawsuit against Jehovah's Witnesses should be dismissed, defence says

By JAMES MCCARTEN

TORONTO (CP) - A civil suit against the Canadian wing of the Jehovah's Witnesses and three of its elders is based on petty grudges, dubious evidence and a loose interpretation of the law, a lawyer argued Tuesday.

Colin Stevenson, who represents the defendants in the $700,000 civil suit filed in 1998 by former Witness Vicki Boer, spent much of the day punching holes in the case built by her lawyer. Boer, now 31, alleges the defendants failed to get her adequate treatment for the abuse she suffered between the ages of 11 and 14 in the family home in Shelburne, about 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

Rather than immediately notify the Children's Aid Society and allow Boer to seek counselling outside the church, she was required, according to Biblical principles, to confront her father in 1988 and allow him to repent his alleged sins, the suit alleges.

But none of the defendants - not elders Steve Brown, Brian Cairns and John Didur, nor the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society of Canada - forced her to do anything she wasn't willing to do, Stevenson said.

"I imagine that going to a confessional in the Catholic church can be very traumatic, given the confession one needs to make," Stevenson told Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy.

"But at the end of the day, it's an issue of religious beliefs and religious principles, and if someone acts in accordance with that belief or principle, so be it."

For two weeks, Molloy has been getting a crash course in the ways of the Witnesses as Boer squares off against the church that shaped her life for more than 20 years.

As she did Monday with Boer's lawyer Charles Mark during his closing, Molloy sparred with Stevenson throughout his final arguments, posing what-if scenarios and debating the finer points of common law as it applies to the dealings of a religious body.

If the religious act in question is extreme, such as a rabbi urging someone to seek a divorce, she wondered aloud at one point, does that advice constitute negligence on the part of the rabbi?

"That would be an unreasonable intrusion into the religious offices of the church," Stevenson replied. "The courts in the United States have said clergy malpractice suits cannot be maintained."

Because they're acting solely as spiritual counsellors, he continued, religious figures such as priests, rabbis or church elders have no duty of care to their congregation members.

Stevenson also pointed out for Molloy a litany of contradictions within the evidence heard over the course of the two-week trial.

He said Boer's own recollections of the events were cloudy and often stood in contrast to the testimony of other witnesses. For example, several witnesses, including the defendants, told court they urged Boer to seek medical and psychological help, contrary to her claims.

Indeed, Frank Mott-Trille, one of several Witness elders who resigned over the case, made an appointment for Boer with a counsellor which she opted not to attend, much to Mott-Trille's embarrassment, Stevenson said.

He also took issue with witness claims that Boer was suicidal when she first went to Mott-Trille with her story of abuse and her fears the church was going to force a "so-called" confrontation.

At one point during that conversation in 1988, Mott-Trille testified, he told Boer he was tired and asked her to come back the next night, and she agreed, Stevenson said.

"This is not the mark of a woman at serious risk of suicide or suicidal urges," he said. "It doesn't make any sense."

Stevenson also noted that Mott-Trille has been embroiled in a long-standing legal dispute with the church over Boer's case and other matters and has an "axe to grind" as a result.

And he savaged the expert evidence of psychiatrist George Awad, a "hired gun" put on the stand by the plaintiff to bolster suggestions that her treatment at the hands of the church caused more damage than the abuse.

Stevenson has argued throughout the trial that it was the abuse, not the ways of her church, that sent Boer down a rocky path in her adult life, one rife with job insecurity, sexual dalliances and emotional turmoil.

At one point during his testimony, Awad told the court childhood sex abuse doesn't always lead to traumatic disorders later in life, Stevenson noted.

But during cross-examination, he refused to concede that the trauma of confronting her father might have also had no impact.

"It's an opinion that warrants little credence whatsoever," Stevenson said. "It's incredible."

Eventually, some six weeks after the allegations first surfaced, the case was reported to Children's Aid and the police, although no charges ever ensued.

Palmer, 58, continues to live in Shelburne.

While victims of sexual abuse normally aren't identified in public, Boer has agreed to allow her name to be publicized as part of her effort to promote what she alleges in abuse within the confines of the church's congregations.

As part of their beliefs in a strict interpretation of Bible teachings, Jehovah's Witnesses reject anything political or "worldly" that distracts from their focus on Christ and the second coming, which they consider imminent.

Anyone who runs afoul of the religion's strictest tenets will find themselves excommunicated, often to such an extent that they're shunned by their own family.
---------------------------------------------------------

Associated Press (AP) News Story - September 26th 2002 (This Story was in A LOT of different Newspapers around the Country, and also on The Guardian U.K. News Wesbite):

Watchtower spokesman J.R. Brown defended Jehovah's Witnesses' policies.

"Clearly, with us having 95,000 congregations around the world and three to five to six elders in each, mistakes may have been made," he said. "But that does not mean that we don't have a strong and aggressive policy that shows we abhor child molestation."

Brown said that anyone found guilty of molestation by a church judicial committee is removed from all positions of responsibility and cannot evangelize door-to-door without being accompanied by a fellow Jehovah's Witness.

"They will not speak to you," Joe Anderson said. "I mean, if you are lying on the road, they will drive right past you."

Their son, Lance Anderson, 41, a church elder in Mishawaka, Ind., said the intention isn't to punish his parents but to lead them to repentance.

"I have never seen a situation come up in which we have not handled it legally and biblically the best way possible," he said.

The son said pedophilia is a global problem but that only God - not man or government - can stop it.

"I love my parents dearly, but the message they have chosen to accomplish this is harming good people," he said. "They are putting themselves, really, in harm's way."
---------------------------------------------------------------

The following Watchtower Society Press Release was read and given to all Media at the silentlambs March at Bethel on September 27th 2002:

Jehovah's Witnesses
Office of Public Information

Statement an silentlambs march

September 27, 2002

We respect a person's right to free _expression. In fact, as Jehovah's Witnesses, we live by that principle every day of our lives. Our policy for handling child abuse is progressive, and strong, and it protects the congregation.

If an accusation of child molestation is made against a member of a congregation, the elders immediately work to assure the safety of the victim and of other children. Also, they make every effort to comply with the law. This includes complying with laws that mandate reporting the incident to the proper authorities. This is done even when a child is the only one to report the wrong conduct or when the elders received the allegation of molestation in confidence.

On rare occasions a member of a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses takes up or reverts to the disgusting habit of child molestation. Even if he gives extensive evidence of genuine repentance and has stopped his wrongdoing, the individual is severely censored by the congregation and is not protected from criminal investigation and/or prosecution. Even if today years have passed, he does not qualify for any responsibilities in the congregation. The individual is also directed that he should not be in any unsupervised company of children, including when he engages in any public witnessing. Additionally, elders of Jehovah's Witnesses are alerted to any past behavior of such an individual so as to protect the safety of any children in the congregation with whom he comes into contact. If the person moves to another congregation, the elders in the new congregation are notified; his record goes with him.

However we know that some who are marching here today have been victims of abase and their heartbreaking stories deeply sadden us. We view child molestation as a disgusting, abnormal and criminal practice. The congregation works to extend spiritual and practical support to victims of child abuse and focuses on their welfare.

Yet the congregation primarily addresses the spiritual side of the issue. We leave the criminal and civil aspects in the hands of the courts, In fact, for years now our published policy has been to tell people they have the right to report.

For example, the October 8, 1993, Awake! provided the reminder: "Some legal experts advise reporting the abuse to the authorities as soon as possible. In some lands the legal system may require this," Also the policy document "Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Protection," which was posted on the authorized Web site as well as being distributed to researchers, explains "The elders may be required by law to report even uncorroborated or unsubstantiated allegations to the authorities. If so, we expect the elders to comply. Additionally, the victim may wish to report the matter to the authorities, and it is his or her absolute right to do so."

Earlier this year, among other details provided in the letter read to all congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States was this paragraph:

"We have long instructed elders to report allegations of child abuse to the authorities where required by law to do so, even where there is only one witness. (Romans 13:1) In any case, the elders know that if the victim wishes to make a report, it is his or her absolute right to do so.--Galatians 6:5,"

Thus Jehovah's Witnesses believe that it is the absolute right of the victim, his or her family, or any other concerned individuals to report the matter to the authorities. There are no congregation sanctions against anyone who reports an allegation of child abuse to the authorities. Our policy does not, however, dictate all of the specifics of the reporting. There are too many variables to stipulate anything beyond compliance with secular law.

Jehovah's Witnesses work to protect children and to prevent the problem of child molestation from contaminating the congregation. We uphold Bible principles and comply with secular law, Jehovah's Witnesses are convinced that the most effective defense against such terrible, damaging behavior is to teach and instill the Bible's high moral principles and values in responsive individuals in the communities in which they live and work.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Paducah Sun Newspaper - September 27th 2002:

Bowen leads protest in New York today

Bowen's group will head to the Jehovah's Witness church headquarters to demand a hearing to investigate possible criminal cover-ups by the denomination's leadership.

By C.D. Bradley

The Paducah Sun

The church maintains that its policy meets legal requirments for reporting accused child abusers and that it does not protect them.

Mid-Valley Sunday - October 6th 2002:

Suit Targets Jehovahs Witnesses

Benton complaint about sex abuse and church policy is said to be the first of hundreds across the U.S.

10-6-02

BY JENNUFER ROUSE

MID-VALLEY SUNDAY

Jim Riffe, an elder from the North Corvallis congregation, said he couldn't comment on the situation because he didn't know anything about it and hadn't been served with court papers yet.

"We'll address the matter when we are informed of it through the proper channels," Riffe said.

Steve Cuda, an elder from the North Albany congregation, also had not heard of the complaint and could not comment. It usually takes some time before respondents are served with notice of civil complaints.

Officials at the national headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in Brooklyn, N.Y., didn't know of the suit either.

However, J.R. Brown, a national spokesman for the organization, said that while Jehovah's Witnesses deal strictly with child abuse within the congregation, it isn't the church's job to report abuse.

"Nothing prevents them from calling the authorities," Brown said. "They don't have to call us first. These things operate separately. If the offender is part of the congregation, we will deal with it in a church setting. But if they are also reported to the authorities, we will not try to shield them."

Brown, the national spokesman, said that Jehovah's Witness elders do report sex abuse in states where there are mandatory reporting laws.

"If it is a state that requires clergy to report, we of course would view that as taking precedence over ecclesiastical privilege," he said.

Brown, the Witness spokesman, said that while the church does require two witnesses or other compelling evidence before meting out any church discipline, that's beside the point because that requirement deals only with internal church procedures. He said the church does not forbid members from reporting crimes to the police.

"We're not trying to deal with the penalty of the law," he said. "That's a separate thing from our point of view. Yes, an abuser should pay the penalty, even if he has to sit in jail for 10 or 15 years."

Edited by - UnDisfellowshipped on 9 October 2002 2:48:47

Evening Star U.K. Newspaper - October 9th 2002:

http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/news/NewsStory.asp?Brand=ESTOnline&Category=News&ItemId=IPED09+Oct+2002+07%3A02%3A05%3A787

Man denies sex assault on girls

October 9, 2002 08:15

John Butcher, prosecuting, said Pickrell had been an elder in the Jehovah's Witness congregations at either the Kingdom Hall in Cavendish Street, Ipswich, or at Westbourne in Ipswich at the time.

Pickrell denied acting indecently towards the girls or indecently assaulting either of them. He admitted kissing one of them on the lips and tickling her bottom while giving her a piggyback, but said that had been an innocent display of affection.

The trial continues.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Evening Star U.K. Newspaper - October 11th 2002:

Witness defends alleged attacker

http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/news/NewsStory.asp?Brand=ESTOnline&Category=News&ItemId=IPED11+Oct+2002+07%3A11%3A50%3A220

October 11, 2002 16:11

KIND, caring and honest.

These were the words a 19-year-old woman used about alleged sex attacker John Pickrell.

Holly Limmer, told Ipswich Crown Court she had known senior Jehovah's Witness Pickrell all her life and had sometimes stayed at his Cedarcroft Road home in Ipswich.

She said: "I have never felt uncomfortable around him. He is a kind, caring and honest man. He would greet me with hugs and kisses but he has never acted inappropriately towards me."

Holly's father Jim and mother Karen, all Jehovah Witnesses, gave evidence defending Pickrell's character.

The court heard that Mr & Mrs Limmer had known Pickrell for more than 20 years and their two daughters aged 19 an 12 had known him since birth.

Mr Limmer said Pickrell was a 'good friend' who was 'generous and warm'.

Mrs Limmer said the two families had shared holidays and "I have absolutely no concerns about my daughters and John Pickrell."

Pickrell, 48, has denied four offences of indecently assaulting a woman about 20 years ago, and three further offences in respect of another alleged victim.

One of the women accused Pickrell of sexually assaulting her when she was 10-years-old. She said: "It was a few kisses and putting my toes into his mouth."

She claimed he had indecently touched her genital area while giving her a piggyback during a visit to the seaside and touched her indecently in a wooded area behind the library in Sherrington Road, Ipswich.

Pickrell admitted kissing one of the alleged victims on the lips, and tickling her bottom while giving her a piggyback but said it had been an innocent display of affection.

The trial continues.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interesting (and DAMNING!) post UDS, but could you decrease the font size a bit? THX!

You know, I'd be more inclined to wade through all this if I could get more than six or seven lines at a time onscreen.  What's up with that font crap?  Is that supposed to make us pay closer attention, or something?

YOUR POST ONLY highlites why i love teh Net THANG

Thanks for the post.  This always interests me .... few understand why ... including some famed authors who have started to post on this board.

What JR. Brown and others don't say is what happens when an abuse case becomes known to a "Jehovah's Witness" (a regular "dub" if you will).  You see, baptized JWs are "ordained ministers" according to the WTS.  They are clergy in the eyes of the law.  Does the regular rank and file baptized JW (clergy) of the WTS follow the mandiatory reporting laws in US states and Canada and forthwith report the child rape? 

The answer is a resounding - NO!!!!

JWs are to go to the elders first as per the QFR in Nov. 15, 1973 WT rag and other documents.  And then the elders may report the abuse if necessary.   Thus, JWs break the manditory reporting laws with a possible result of more abuse and possible destruction of evidence.

hawk 

p.s. - and of course in the Berry case of New Hampshire, the elders did not even report as required.

Edited by - hawkaw on 8 November 2002 8:30:8

Thanks for all your comments!

SYN and COMF, I do apologize for the Font Size, I thought it would make it easier on the eyes.

However, I'm using the newest version of Netscape, and the Font Sizes are sometimes quite different on AOL and Internet Explorer, so you may be seeing a larger Font Size than I am on Netscape.

I will definitely take this into account on future posts, and lower the Font Size.

Thanks again for your Comments!

Thank you, UnDisfellowshipped.  Regarding font size, I find that the best font face and size are the defaults you get if you don't choose anything.  I'm using IE6 on a 1024 x 768 resolution screen.

Yep, those god fearing child molesters are gonna go straight to the cops every time...seeing as they all have the heart and conscience of a saint.

Sincerely,

District Overbeer