Protecting Our Kids From Religious Predators: Part II

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Mary
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Protecting Our Kids From Religious Predators: Part II

Post by Mary »

Protecting Our Kids From Religious Predators: Part II

January 20th, 2010
Source of Article
By Chris Stevenson
The Hudson Valley Press

Of course this is nothing new with the Catholic Church, the US Catholic Churches (since 1/02) have their own cases of abuse and cover-up. The Jehovah’s Witnesses seem to be the 2nd leading child sexual abuse friendly religion though smaller and more skilled at cover-up and more visible due to door-to-door evangelizing. This would probably still be a well-kept secret were it not for the revelations of an actual member of their writing staff in New York, Barbara Anderson. During an interview she once gave two reasons why the Watchtower Society covers up these cases 1-Their distrust for the outside world. 2-Elders follow instructions that are conveniently dated; "They basically use a scripture-1st Timothy 5:19 that states you’re not to make an accusation against an older man unless there are 2 or 3 witnesses. What are the odds there are going to be 2 or 3 witnesses to an older man molesting an 8-year-old girl?" Anderson, who wrote many articles and was a top researcher for the JW organization stumbled upon the discovery of thousands of unreported cases of molestation throughout many of their 11,000 American congregations. She then took it upon herself to seek out and aid some of these victims and was excommunicated from that organization. Her findings are online an easily accessible.

Personally if proof of such unspeakable behavior within a church comes from one of the writers of probably the world’s most famous religious literature and it’s members still refuse to speak out, then it’s a foregone conclusion they are attending worships every week to follow their faith, not their God. The same holds true regarding the Irish Archbishop disclosure. A lot of you are afraid I’m calling for a mass exodus, my point is, think about your power; your financial investment to your church and have the stones to unite and demand accountability and changes. Reform Your Faith! Don’t worry about being labeled an "Apostate" or "Heretic," the real apostasy was already committed by the Clergy or Elders who failed to protect the children.

The plain truth is, neither secular nor theological education should prevent you from picking up your cell phone or home phone and calling the authorities when you have a strong suspicion this is occurring with members of your place of worship. Yes praying to God is important, but don’t you dare allow yourself to think it’s the only solution. God’s answer is to call your local Police or Sheriff’s Department and child protection agency.


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"All GREAT TRUTHS begin as blasphemies."
-- George Bernard Shaw
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