Child Abuse

The Watchtower has produced a brief melodramatic video of a child abuse victim telling her story. It is a slickly produced public relations movie. It even has some drone footage shot over the beach as happy families frolic. At first glance one might assume that the Society is trying to help the many victims of sexual abuse who have suffered at the hands of Jehovah's Witnesses. [...]

Allegations of abuse involving two members of the Jehovah's Witness religious movement in Newfoundland have emerged, though details of the charges are protected by a court-ordered publication ban. CBC News has learned that a former volunteer church elder and his son are facing charges. The former elder is charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation relating to allegations dating from 2009 to 2012 in central Newfoundland. According to [...]

The leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses have been getting a lot of press coverage lately, for all the wrong reasons. This is not really "news" to readers of this site, but it is noteworthy that the Watchtower's secret doings are being exposed more and more. And what did Jesus say? - "There is nothing covered over that will not become uncovered, and secret that will not become [...]

One of the most senior members of the Jehovah's Witness Church worldwide said compensation could be made to people allegedly sexually abused within its ranks if there was a Biblical basis for a redress scheme. . Geoffrey Jackson is one of seven men on the church's New York-based Governing Body, which oversees decisions regarding the organisation's 8.2 million members internationally. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to [...]

More than 1,000 members of the Jehovah's Witnesses (in Australia) have been identified by the church as perpetrators of child sexual abuse since 1950, but not one was reported to police, an inquiry has heard. The Sydney hearing was told the church adopted a scriptural response to abuse, which it abhorred, and had files relating to 1,006 alleged perpetrators, dating back to 1950. The process required [...]

Church leaders refused to co-operate with a police investigation into a sex attack by one of their congregation on a teenage girl. Jehovah’s witness Paul Atkin has now been jailed for five years after admitting to sexual activity with a 15-year-old. A court heard the South Shields branch of the church carried out their own investigation after the allegation came to light and Atkin was booted [...]