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Jehovah's Witnesses Church Accused Of Hiding More Than 1,000 Child Sex Abuse Cases In Australia

By Matt Siegel
Posted: 07/27/2015 10:36 AM EDT

SYDNEY, July 27 (Reuters) - The Jehovah's Witnesses Church in Australia failed to report to police more than 1,000 cases of child sexual abuse going back more than 60 years, a government investigation into abuse and its aftermath heard on Monday.

Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which was launched in 2013 amid allegations of serial child abuse inside the Catholic Church in Australia, has a broad mandate to examine religious and secular organizations.

At the opening hearing into the Jehovah's Witnesses on Monday, Angus Stewart, senior council assisting the commission, described the church as an insular sect with rules designed to stem the reporting of sexual abuse.

"Evidence will be put before the Royal Commission that of the 1,006 alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse identified by the Jehovah's Witness Church since 1950, not one was reported by the church to secular authorities," he said.

"This suggests that it is the practice of the Jehovah's Witness church to retain information regarding child sexual abuse offenses but not to report allegations of child sexual abuse to the police or other relevant authorities."

The U.S.-based Jehovah's Witnesses number about 8 million worldwide and are known for their foreign ministries as well as their door-to-door campaigns. There are about 68,000 members in Australia, Stewart said.

Two church members, identified as BCB and BCG, are expected to give testimony containing allegations that they were discouraged by church elders from reporting their abuse.

Stewart outlined multiple institutional failures to protect children or censure alleged abusers, including doctrine releasing church elders from their responsibility to report abuse where there was no mandatory legal obligation to do so.

Although the church expelled 401 members after internal abuse hearings, it allowed 230 of them to return to the fold. Thirty-five were welcomed back on multiple occasions.

The church also erected high barriers to its internal process, requiring that two or more witnesses be produced before proceeding to a church "judicial committee." This blocked 125 allegations from being heard, Stewart said.

The royal commission has kept Australians riveted with airings of abuse allegations and cover-ups in the highest ranks of its Orthodox Jewish and Roman Catholic communities going back decades.

They have reached even into the Vatican, where Australian Cardinal George Pell, now in charge of reforming the Vatican's economic departments, has come under scrutiny over allegations he failed to take action to protect children years ago.

Pell dismissed as "false," and "outrageous" allegations heard before the commission that he had little regard for victims.

© 2015 Thomson Reuters

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jehovahs-witnesses-child-sex-abuse-accusations_55b64002e4b0224d8832bb73 [with comments]


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Are the Jehovah's Witnesses Covering Up Child Abuse?

Published on Feb 17, 2015 by Reveal [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmqkUIfXt2cMBOLQsijMFg / http://www.youtube.com/user/theifilestv , http://www.youtube.com/user/theifilestv/videos ]

For decades, the Jehovah's Witnesses have used their First Amendment right to freedom of religion to defend their distinct beliefs and practices. Members are taught that Armageddon is imminent. To enter "God's Kingdom," believers must remain separate from secular society and obey the edicts of the religious group's parent organization: the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. But in a San Francisco courtroom, Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders stand accused of issuing and enforcing policies that cover up child sexual abuse in the organization’s more than 14,000 U.S. congregations. Reveal reporter Trey Bundy obtained confidential Watchtower memos that instruct elders – the spiritual leaders of local congregations – to keep abuse cases confidential from congregants, law enforcement officers and the courts. The organization maintains that the First Amendment protects its right to set its own policies, even in cases of child abuse. We examine the case against the Jehovah's Witnesses, and hear from the victims themselves, in our video published with PBS NewsHour.

Reporter: Trey Bundy
Producer, Camera: Adithya Sambamurthy
Editor: David Ritsher
Associate Producer: Rachel de Leon
Additional Camera: Rachel de Leon, Damon Jacoby, Sharon Pieczenik
Production Assistant: Greta Mart
Executive Producer: Amanda Pike
Senior Story Editor: Fernando Diaz
Editorial Director: Robert Salladay
Executive Editor: Robert Rosenthal
Photographs courtesy of the Conti family
Additional footage courtesy of the California 1st District Court of Appeals

What you don’t know about Jehovah’s Witnesses

February 14, 2015
https://www.revealnews.org/article/what-you-dont-know-about-jehovahs-witnesses/ , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCNQs3YKY1I

Jehovah’s Witnesses use 1st Amendment to hide child sex abuse claims

February 14, 2015
https://www.revealnews.org/article/jehovahs-witnesses-use-1st-amendment-to-hide-child-sex-abuse-claims/ , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1-kuAnYMTU , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dMjc45d2us , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxAxWyODj24 , documents http://www.documentcloud.org/search/preview?q=projectid%3A+18030-jehovahs++Access%3A+Public&slug=projectid-18030-jehovahs-access-public&options=%7B%22q%22%3A%22projectid%3A+18030-jehovahs++Access%3A+Public%22%2C%22container%22%3A%22%23DC-search-projectid-18030-jehovahs-access-public%22%2C%22title%22%3A%22%22%2C%22order%22%3A%22title%22%2C%22per_page%22%3A%2212%22%2C%22search_bar%22%3Atrue%2C%22organization%22%3A910%7D

Jehovah’s Witness leader says child sex abuse claims are ‘lies’

March 6, 2015
https://www.revealnews.org/article/jehovahs-witness-leader-says-child-sex-abuse-claims-are-lies/

California court guts child abuse ruling against Jehovah’s Witnesses

April 14, 2015
https://www.revealnews.org/article/california-court-guts-child-abuse-ruling-against-jehovahs-witnesses/

She spoke about Jehovah’s Witness abuse, and her home was vandalized


July 30, 2015
https://www.revealnews.org/article/she-spoke-about-jehovahs-witness-abuse-and-her-home-was-vandalized/

Jehovah’s Witnesses cover up child sex abuse and oust a victim
July 30, 2015
https://www.revealnews.org/article/jehovahs-witnesses-cover-up-child-sex-abuse-and-oust-a-victim/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF1mH6YIi2c [with comments] [the PBS YouTube of the PBS NewsHour broadcast of this report at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-w3smjZUgM (with comments)]


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http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jehovah%27s+Witnesses

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jehovah%27s+Witnesses+child+abuse

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jehovah%27s+Witnesses+child+molestation

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jehovah%27s+Witnesses+Australia

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Australia+Royal+Commission+on+Child+Abuse


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Jehovah's Witnesses and Watchtower's secret child abuse letter (JW.org)

Published on Jan 7, 2013 by John Cedars [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz1w0ll081JJiYcjb298pOw / http://www.youtube.com/user/johncedars1929 , http://www.youtube.com/user/johncedars1929/videos ]

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/we-will-decide-who-is-a-predator-new-watchtower-instructions-to-elders-on-child-abuse

On October 4th 2012, one brave and conscientious Jehovah's Witness elder read a shocking letter from the Watch Tower Society and decided that something needed to be done about it. He leaked the letter to a handful of Anti-Watchtower activists, thereby triggering a chain of events that would culminate in the Watchtower getting several JW websites pulled offline for just over 24 hours because one of those websites ( http://jwsurvey.org/ ) had dared to publish their shameful letter for all to read.

The Watchtower does NOT want ordinary witnesses to find out about its woefully negligent policies regarding child abuse. This bizarre incident in January 2013 highlights just how paranoid, secretive and manipulative the Society and its Governing Body has become in its efforts to conceal the real truth about its policies from rank and file publishers.

For more information about the October 1st child abuse letter, please click on the link above. To read my article about the Watchtower's legal threats against JWsurvey.org, please click on the link below...

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/why-watchtower-shut-down-jwsurvey-org-for-over-24-hours

Australian Royal Commission hears that 1,006 alleged child sex abusers were covered up by Watchtower
July 27, 2015
http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/australian-royal-commission-hears-that-1006-alleged-child-sex-abusers-were-covered-up-by-watchtower

Elders shamed under questioning by the Royal Commission
July 30, 2015
http://jwsurvey.org/child-abuse-2/elders-shamed-under-questioning-by-the-royal-commission

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_9efi84QNc [with comments]


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Jehovah's Witness church under fire at child abuse commission - The Feed

Published on Jul 27, 2015 by SBS2Australia [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTILfqEQUVaVKPkny8QRE0w / http://www.youtube.com/user/SBS2Australia , http://www.youtube.com/user/SBS2Australia/videos ]

The Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse has heard that the Jehovah's Witness Church in Australia has received more than 1000 child sex abuse allegations over 60 years - and not one was reported to police.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyAo-Md-OZU [no comments yet]


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JW Child Abuse - Shocking Testimony by Jehovah's Witness Elder

Published on Jul 29, 2015 by CappyTan [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1X-Q0_GuKBbY1DP3AhuW3A / http://www.youtube.com/user/outdoorproduct , http://www.youtube.com/user/outdoorproduct/videos ]

Testimony from Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl4fOBrOcC8 [with comments]


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