The Watch Tower the organization behind Jehovah’s Witness silences children that have been abused by pedophiles within the organization.
A scary thing is how the Watch Tower silences victims of sexual abuse and rape. Jehovah’s Witnesses harass, threaten and persecute everyone inside the organization that tries to protect the children. The Watch Tower organization takes away the freedom of speech among its members. Even thou the Jehovah’s Witnesses now allows you to go to the police and authorities if you have been molested or if your child have been molested the reality is that in many cases you will end up in much trouble within the organization because you contact the police and authorities and not keep silent.
Many have been disfellowshipped (excommunicated and shunned) from Jehovah’s Witnesses without any or with little possibility of defend themselves just because they tried to stand up for molested children and protect them from pedophiles within Jehovah’s Witnesses organization.
If you question Jehovah’s Witnesses about these things you cannot rely on them telling the truth not even in the court.
“While malicious lying is definitely condemned in the Bible, this does not mean that a person is under obligation to divulge truthful information to people who are not entitled to it.” - Insight-2 p. 245
Do Jehovah’s Witnesses protect pedophiles within the organization? Yes, they do. The policy of Jehovah’s Witnesses is that if a congregation has a known pedophile only a few of the elders in the congregation knows about it. Today the elders, that know they have pedophiles in their congregation, are not allowed to warn and protect the congregation. This is the current policy of the Watch Tower.
Here is an illustration: Everyday around the world parents leave their children in daycare. What if the daycare manager saying: “Your children are welcome to play here at the playground. There are anti-personnel mines here and there and I know where most of them are. But where they are I will not tell you, this is none of your business. Let’s hope no children steps on them and got hurt or killed. You can feel save to leave the children in our care.”
NO LOVING PARENT would leave their children to a daycare in a situation like this. Still this is EXACTLY what happens in the congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Only a few elders knows who are known pedophiles in the congregation but the rest of the congregation are denied, not allowed to know who are pedophiles and can therefore NOT PROPERLY PROTECT THEIR OWN CHILDREN!
CHANGE THIS POLICY! GIVE US THE RIGHT TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN AGAINS KNOWN PEDOPHILES WITHIN JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES ORGANIZATION!
A pedophile is also encouraged to visit people from door to door by the elders (leaders) among Jehovah’s Witnesses and this means that if you open the door for a Jehovah’s Witness you might have a pedophile in front of you or your children. And if you are a Jehovah’s Witnesses and preaching in service you can have, unaware to you, a pedophile in your car group together with your own children!
Jehovah’s Witnesses must take community responsibility and NOT allow known pedophiles preach from door to door!
Please help to get all these things changed! You can call or write to Jehovah’s Witnesses headquarter or local branch. You can do it both if you are a Jehovah’s Witness or not.
+1 718 560 5000 is the telephone number to the headquarter in USA. Ask for the Governing Body, Administration Offices or Legal Department.
Here you find the address to Jehovah's Witnesses office in your country
http://www.watchtower.org/address/article_01.htm
Request that known pedophiles should not be allowed to witness from door to door. Request the right to protect our children! Request them to answer you in writing!
If you get a visit from a Jehovah’s Witness ask them to explain why nothing is done to rectify these problems within Jehovah’s Witnesses.
When will there be a public apology from Jehovah’s Witnesses organization to the world? Their policies are behind the pain and suffering for so many children and their families.
It is time to take a stand and protect the CHILDREN!
In a five year legal battle with the Watch Tower Legal Department with an estimated one million plus in world wide work money being used to pay lawyers to prevent victims from receiving compensation. (Think of that next time you put your money in the contribution box at Kingdom Hall or contribute with money for Jehovah’s Witnesses literature.) At the end when discovery was going to allow clear evidence to be presented to a jury of negligence in dealing with abuse. The Watch Tower Legal Department pulled out the World Wide Work Check book and paid around $17 million with gag orders on the sixteen victims to prevent them from disclosing to the public how elders at the direction of the Governing Body were negligent and allowed multiple children to be molested and silenced after they were abused.
“Over a five day period in February 2007, 16 civil child sex abuse lawsuits against Watchtower (the Jehovah’s Witness headquarters in New York City) were quietly settled in three states (CA, TX and OR). The victims involved were essentially coerced into signing ‘gag orders’ that prevent them from discussing the cases.
We learned that 16 victims were paid the largest settlement in history of Jehovah’s Witnesses but forced to sign a gag order that forbids them from speaking about their abuse.
Attorney Jeff Anderson successful in over 600 lawsuits over abuse states, “When victims are forced to sign gag orders it is a continuation of the coerced code of silence from church hierarchy. Jehovah’s Witnesses silenced molested kids before the elders and now they are doing it in the courts.”
For more information about the child abuses within Jehovah’s Witnesses:
http://www.silentlambs.org/ and http://www.silentlambs.org/press/index.cfm
Footnotes:
When referring to Jehovah’s Witnesses it also includes all the corporations that build up the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization. Some of them are:
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses
Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses
Kingdom Support Services, Inc.
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New Jersey, Inc.
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Florida, Inc.
Valley Farms Corporation
Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses (the highest leaders):
Samuel Herd
Geoffrey Jackson
M. Stephen Lett (Steven Lett)
Gerrit Lösch (Gerrit Loesch)
Anthony Morris
Guy Pierce (Guy H. Pierce)
David Splane (David H. Splane)
What can I do to help?
Contact Jehovah’s Witnesses and demand them to change their pedophile policy, publicly go out and admit that they protect pedophiles in the organization and admit this in their publication Watchtower and instead start to protect the children. Demand Jehovah’s Witnesses to stop harass, threaten and persecute everyone inside the organization that tries to protect the children.
Contact local politicians and the government in your country and let them know about Jehovah’s Witnesses policy and ask them to work for protection of children among Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Contact local and national press, newspapers, TV and others to make them aware about the problem so it become more public.
Contact organizations that work for children welfare. One is UNICEF http://www.unicef.org/about/structure/index_worldcontact.html and http://www.unicef.org/about/contact.html.
This post was last updated as of 2012.