Jehovah’s Witness to Pay $28 Million Over Repeated Abuse of 9 Year Old Girl & Keeping It Quiet
An early cover of the Jehovah Witness magazine “Watchtower”. It and it’s companion magazine “Awake” have been in print since 1879.
In 1995, Candace Conti was 9 years old and a member of the North Fremont Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There over a period of 2 years she was repeatedly molested by a fellow member of the church, Jonathan Kendrick.
At first glance, this appears as yet another instance of the sexual abuse of minors in a religious environment, but this has much bigger implications. An opinion piece in the New Statesman news magazine and website is highlighting an important stance that was recently made in the political and law world. Are organizations that silence and hide sexual abuse culpable in the crime?
The jury in the case found Jehovah’s Witness at least partly at fault. They are to pay 40% of the $7 Million in compensatory damages and another $ 21 Million in punitive damages. Kendrick is to pay the remaining 60%.
Over and over again, we’ve had stories of Catholic bishops and other office-holders in the Roman Catholic church refraining from reporting allegations of abuse to civil authorities. Now, this unfortunate legal landmark demonstrates that this behaviour has occurred in at least one other religious institution, and that it won’t go unpunished when it is exposed.
Jim McCabe, a lawyer for the Jehovah’s Witness congregation, said that they plan to appeal the decision, contending that Kendrick was just a member of the North Fremont congregation, not a leader or pastor. He said: “This is a tragic case where a member of a religious group has brought liability on the group for actions he alone may have taken.”
Had the secrecy around Kendrick’s 2004 conviction not been put in place, that might have been a semi-valid point – demonising a whole faith and community because of individual incidents is absolutely not what this is about. That said, it’s the idea that a church-wide policy enforced the silence that is so disturbing. Traumatic as this case will certainly have been for many involved, part of me can’t help hoping that it sets a precedent and we see many more like it come to light, until every institution, religious or otherwise, understands that hiding things like this is much, much worse than exposing them – for everyone.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have a policy within their religion that protects pedophiles.
The official policy is that the elders of the “Church” are supposed to handle the matter internally, without contacting the police. They do this so that shame will not be brought on the religion.
It’s important that they keep a squeaky clean image to the public. Remember they believe they are the only “True” religion and all other Christian Churches are under the control of Satan. JW’s are not supposed to sue other JW’s or involve the police or courts.
They believe these are Satan’s organizations and any crime by a JW should be dealt with internally.The elders will contact the police ONLY if they’re forced to by state law. Otherwise they are forced to follow official policy from headquarters. Some states require that “priests” or “pastors” report child abuse to the authorities. If they are not forced to report them than they cover it up.
You might actually get a unreported pedophile knocking on your door next time they show up peddling pamphlets and selling “Eternal Life”.
–
Danny Haszard *tell the truth don’t be afraid*
Jehovah’s Witness church is *apocalyptic* meaning they believe Armageddon ( the end of the world) is coming any moment to *fix* their internal crimes.
So they play down scandals like child abuse.
Involving serious issues of a moral or even criminal nature (as well as everyday matters like back-stabbing by fellow JWs) I would be told,”Danny just wait on Jehovah,any day we are going to be in the new system”.
So,they let problems fester without dealing with them,this is what makes JW crimes unique to other groups.
–
Danny Haszard
Were you in Jehovah’s Witness?
Most religions are apocalyptic. Just because they don’t believe in the real world doesn’t mean they don’t have to interact with it.
Danny Haszard is a sometimes famous (or infamous) ex-Witness. Yes, he was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
But the problem is much bigger than just JWs being apocalyptic. The Watchtower Society (the corporation behind the religion) encourages Witnesses to be paranoid and fearful. It teaches that the Society’s leaders are to be obeyed, even if they are wrong, because that’s how God (Jehovah) wants it. It teaches that everyone is either one of JWs or under Satanic control. It teaches that all other religions are demonically inspired. It discourages Witnesses from forming any close ties with we “worldly people” because that just gives Satan a way into their lives. It teaches that the governments will try to destroy the organization some day, per Satan’s will, and this will be the beginning of Armageddon. It has printed articles about how the cleanup of the billions of dead should be conducted, and uses this fear of the Armageddon to scare its members into line.
It also condemns all former believers. In fact, JWs are to shun former believers even if we have not been officially disfellowshipped (excommunicated) because there’s always a risk that we’ll say or do something that might cause them to lose faith in the Society’s leaders. You can be disfellowshipped for saying anything against them or the organization. You can also be DFed for going to another church, for talking or eating with a DFed person, accepting a life saving blood transfusion, having premarital sex, smoking a cigarette, or putting up a Christmas Tree. They also teach that demons can live in seemingly random objects and discourages Witnesses from accepting gifts or buying items from yard sales for this very reason. Satan, of course, is always out to get them. Just like the rest of us.
I could go on. But I don’t think this is something that most people would consider healthy. It is, however, pretty darn creepy. Even cult-like.
Thanks for the info! I really don’t know much about the organization.
The thing is that people often assume that JWs are just nice Christians who like to knock on doors. Or that people who dislike them only do so on religious grounds since their teachings differ greatly from those of other Christians. It goes way beyond that.
Thanks for posting this article, BTW. It raises awareness. That’s a good thing.