Group renews charge that Jehovah’s Witnesses indifferent to sexual abuse

Local Jehovah’s Witness leaders are ignoring requests to meet with survivors of sexual abuse and their advocates, an organization calling for change in the church’s policies on sexual abuse said.

Bill Bowen, national director of Silent Lambs, said sexual abuse in Jehovah’s Witness congregations is ”an epidemic that’s got to stop. Jehovah’s Witnesses provide an excellent example of policy gone wrong.”

He was speaking outside a west Nashville Kingdom Hall, as the Jehovah’s Witness churches are called. Silent Lambs also is sponsoring a conference on combating ”ignorance and apathy when it comes to sexual abuse” tomorrow and Sunday at the Sheraton Music City Hotel, 777 McGavock Pike.

J.R. Ross, a spokesman for the national Jehovah’s Witness organization, said that while accusations had been made that the church was shielding pedophiles, they had not been proved. If members commit sexual abuse, they can be excommunicated, Ross said.

The role of a church leader is to help a person spiritually, not prosecute someone for a secular crime, Ross said. Consequently, church leaders report to secular authorities only in states where they are required to do so by law, he said.

”Generally, the purpose of a cleric or minister is to entertain confessions of sin the person has committed and try to help the individual restore their relationship with God,” Ross said. ”I don’t know of any religious organization that has required all of its ministers to report every case of child abuse.”

However, some religious organizations, including the Roman Catholic Church, do require clergy to report all cases of sexual abuse to the police.

Also at the news conference, Silent Lambs presented an award to Jeff Walden of Nashville for speaking out about the abuse that he suffered as a child in a Memphis Jehovah’s Witness congregation.

”If you speak out in this religion, you have to leave your life behind you and move on,” said Walden, who said his experience as a Witness had turned him off to organized religion.

Read Another Article

Swami clear in Italy case
Carey hits at Islamic culture

Related News Articles Topic(s): Jehovah's Witnesses Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Jehovah's Witnesses Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog