Media coverage of the Jehovah's Witness child abuse scandal

[mirele]

Did you get a chance to ask them about the child abuse problem? I am curious about what they are saying about it.

No, because at 7 am on a Saturday morning I'm in no condition to be giving the Jaydubs the third degree.

[Coldwinterskies]

Wouldn't it be awful if you were a JW in college working toward fulfilling your dream and then the decision changed on you at the whim of the church? Some guy with no real education on the matter could just make crap out of your life.

I just can't imagine giving a group of men the power to make crap out of my life when they probably aren't qualified to make any judgement of the issue. That applies to sexual abuse, education, or anything else.

Yes, they actually did flip flop on the education issue for a while in the 1990s. This page goes into a lot of detail about that if you're interested. Unfortunately, just recently one of their current leaders doubled down on their crazy anti-education stance by ranting against it on their web broadcast. I think finding out about the JW stance on education really showed me how a lot of cults and other groups really try to control people by keeping them ignorant.

It is sad that there are so many people in mental prisons because they simply haven't been educated about the reality of the world.

It sounds like you handled the JWs very well. :lol:

[Coldwinterskies]

They relaxed their views on going to college at some point. When I was a kid, they totally preached that you should dedicate your time and energy in full time ministry to Jehovah. Thing was, I never liked going in field service! I knew I was going to go to college. It took a while, but even as an "active" JW, I was still in school...of course part of that too was not knowing what I wanted to be either...took me several years to realize I wanted to be a nurse.

This happen in my old cong. My uncle was an elder. He molested girls. I know it happen to me and at least 4 other girls, one being his daughter. He was disfellowshipped. I never told my mom about what he did to me because she didn't believe the other girls, so why would she believe me? He's a scum bag. I've not seen him in ages.

Ugh, Shirley Blest, I am so sorry that your uncle was such a scum bag to you and other innocent girls. It makes me so angry that the adults in your life did not protect you the way they should have. Thank you for having the courage to speak out against this type of horrible behavior now that you are an adult.

[Shirley Blest]

Oh, Shirley Blest (cute name btw!), I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope your uncle ended up in prison. How did your mom take it when he was disfellowshipped? I hope she came to see the light especially since one of the victims was her niece.

Oddly, my mother is a victim of sexual abuse herself...She has only made mention of it once or twice in my lifetime and I'm almost fairly positive that it came from either her father or her brothers. However, she was very disbelieving of them all, which is why I never spoke up. She became indignant and said they were lying. Several years removed from the situation, I think she knows deep down it really happen.

[Coldwinterskies]

I have been told by one of the anti-abuse activists in the ex-JW community that Nightline on the ABC network will be doing a story about the JWs on tomorrow night's show. Do any of you guys watch Nightline? Please an eye out for this story and let me know what you think.