The Pa. Grand Jury Investigation Into Alleged Cover-Up of Child Sex Abuse Within Jehovah's Witnesses

In my mind this was more of a "Jehovah's Witnesses in the News - Thing" and not a "general discussions thing..."
Anyway, since its a dupe, feel free to delete one of the threads.
 
Paul H said:
Posted 1 day ago on FOX43
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This is such an incredibly huge problem worldwide, in and out of the organization , my only problem with the organization is how they deal with it. if we look into the scriptures the two witness rule is invalid when a rape is committed, looking at the Mosaic law code. this would be a very good principle for the organization to use. but they never will with some at the helm who are not lovers of Jehovah.
 
Back to True Worship said:
This is such an incredibly huge problem worldwide, in and out of the organization , my only problem with the organization is how they deal with it. if we look into the scriptures the two witness rule is invalid when a rape is committed, looking at the Mosaic law code. this would be a very good principle for the organization to use. but they never will with some at the helm who are not lovers of Jehovah.
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Evidently, some at the helm, at least in the not-so-distant past that were also guilty such as Jaracz, Chitty, and Greenlees so that's why the policies are in place. Jaracz fought to oppose the suggestions to change it
 
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While I agree that the society has handled child abuse cases with a disregard for the victims, i also have to speak up about false accusations which impacted our family. A minor accused a family member of abuse which resulted in a police investigation. The minor later admitted that she made it up, but obviously there was much damage done. My point is that not every accusation is based in fact, and I can understand why some brothers might be hesitant to go to the authorities given the possibility of a false accusation plus their worry that it will bring shame on Jehovah.
 
Directly from a WT study article:

12 Shocking as it is, even some who have been prominent in Jehovah’s organization have succumbed to immoral practices, including homosexuality, wife swapping, and child molesting. It is to be noted, also, that during the past year, 36,638 individuals had to be disfellowshipped from the Christian congregation, the greater number of them for practicing immorality. Jehovah’s organization must be kept clean! (1 Corinthians 5:9-13) This is a time for congregation elders, ministerial servants, and indeed all our brothers and sisters to avoid any circumstances that could lead to immorality. Loyalty to Jehovah’s standards will be rewarded, as Psalm 97:10 states: “O you lovers of Jehovah, hate what is bad. He is guarding the souls of his loyal ones; out of the hand of the wicked ones he delivers them.”

WT 1/1/86 pp. 10-15 “Days Like the Day’s of Noah”

From the SilentLambs website. Notice the date of the above WT article and the dates of resignations and form your own conclusions. Seems very coincidental to me without coming right out and naming who did it. I find it very interesting that Ray Franz didn't mention Ewart Chitty in his book:

Leo Greenlees
Governing Body member Leo K. Greenlees was forced to resign and leave Bethel in late 1984. He entered the Toronto, Canada Bethel in 1936, eventually becoming treasurer of the Canadian branch and of the IBSA of Canada. In 1964 he went to Brooklyn Bethel, and in 1965 was elected as a director of the Society's New York corporation. As a director, Greenlees automatically became a "governing body" member when that body was formally instituted in 1971. He often spoke at Gilead graduations and was the concluding speaker for the day at the Watchtower Centennial business meeting at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 6, 1984. A 1982 Watchtower mentions him as being on the Teaching Committee of the Governing Body. Greenlees' last mention in Watchtower publications is in the December 1, 1984, Watchtower where he is said to have passed out diplomas at the September Gilead graduation. In late 1984, Greenlees was allegedly convicted by the rest of the Governing Body of molesting a ten-year-old boy. The boy's parents had complained to the Society and it took action. Greenlees was a friend of the family and often visited them. After leaving Bethel Greenlees served as a Special Pioneer and eventually an elder in the "Downtown" congregation in New Orleans, Louisiana. He died in the late 1980s. Interestingly, the boy who Greenlees molested applied for Bethel service a few years later, around 1991, and was rejected. Watchtower leaders apparently feared that other Bethelites would tell him the 'rumors' about Greenlees, not knowing that he was Greenlees' victim, and cause the young man to know that justice had not been done. He might then have confirmed the rumors.

Ewart Chitty

Governing Body member Ewart Chitty (born ca. 1898) resigned his position in 1979. He entered the London Bethel in 1921, began to work in "the office", and by 1938 held some sort of official position, as two 1938 Watchtowers have him reporting to J. F. Rutherford on the attendance of Bethel family members at the "family" study. By 1942 Chitty was the secretary of the International Bible Students Association (IBSA; the Society's British equivalent of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.). Somewhere along the line he was appointed as secretary-treasurer of the IBSA, which position he held until his appointment to the Governing Body in November 1974. After his 1979 resignation from the GB, Chitty remained in Brooklyn working in Writing Correspondence, so he was certainly in good standing. A 1981 Awake! article has Chitty making comments about people having lost their love of neighbor and God. Apparently by this time Chitty was drinking heavily, according to close acquaintances. Likely this contributed to his being dismissed from Brooklyn and reassigned to the London Bethel a few years later. There he worked at an assignment of little responsibility, but was appointed an elder in a local congregation. Chitty died about 1993.

As to Chitty's alleged homosexuality, the information I have is mixed. He certainly made some remarks in his 1963 life story in The Watchtower that leaned in this direction. By then he had roomed with the same man for 30 years and just about gushed when speaking about him. See the email comments below for one Brit's take on this. When in Brooklyn, Chitty seems to have preferred younger men as roommates. The actual charge brought to the GB against Chitty was made by a former roommate and involved some sort of inappropriate conduct. The GB concluded that Chitty had homosexual tendencies, whatever that means, and asked him to resign. Chitty could hardly do anything but comply with the rest of the GB's wishes, since his only alternative would have been to leave Bethel at age 81 and after being there for 58 years. It may well be that the GB didn't view Chitty as guilty of homosexual activity, since he remained a Bethel member in Brooklyn or London, but it may also be that they made a deal: Chitty would remain quiet about where "the dead bodies" were buried as long as the Society cared for him in his old age.

As to whether reporting abuse is dragging Jehovah's name through the mud, recent WT study articles says this:

14 Elders assure victims and their parents and others with knowledge of the matter that they are free to report an allegation of abuse to the secular authorities. But what if the report is about someone who is a part of the congregation and the matter then becomes known in the community? Should the Christian who reported it feel that he has brought reproach on God’s name? No. The abuser is the one who brings reproach on God’s name.

 
Or you can trust the media when they talk about the catholics, boy scouts, and other religious orgs having the same disgusting problem. Makes me so doggone 😡.

I just want to add that after talking to some witnesses about this. Here are several replies:

It must be elders covering this up working on their own. The fds would never cover this up
🤮.

Well its not as bad as the catholics.

Is this still going on now.
🤯.

I just wanted to scream.

No matter what I said, it went right over their heads. So I stopped talking. It was like talking to a wall.

I was told no one asked about it in field service so far.
 
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Deborah said:
Or you can trust the media when they talk about the catholics, boy scouts, and other religious orgs having the same disgusting problem. Makes me so doggone 😡.
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I mean, all of those organizations do have a worse problem when it comes to child abuse? The worst organization of all when it comes to that is the public school system.
 
Yes the org has not handled it well. No, they are not worse than other orgs. The issue here is that we claim to worship the true God who doesn't tolerate this stuff, so we should be exemplary in how we handle these things.
 
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