How old is your imaginary child? 6yrs? 11yrs? 17yrs?
The point is that children usually report bad actions and bad things to their parents! Their parents might seek guidance from the JWs but they have every right to report directly to the police.
For instance, if somebody might report to me that my wife, uncle, brother (whoever) had committed a criminal offence I would most probably not report their claims and allegations to the police, I would probably tell them that it was up to them what they might decide to do. The same goes for companies, clubs, instutions, hotels.... or religions.
That's great Old Badger. But I'm not talking about what you would do, nor am I talking about what goes on in companies, clubs, institutions and hotels. I'm specifically referring to what takes place in Kingdom Halls and more broadly what should take place in our churches.
The fact is, elders in churches receive reports of child abuse. These are not reported by imaginary children, but by real, breathing, bona-fide, living individuals.
The allegations might be lies! To report allegations which later prove to be lies is serious defamation! Where a parent or any person alleges a crime then they themselves must report it to the authorities.
Absolutely they might be lies. They might be truth too.
But reporting an allegation of child abuse is not defamation. It is simply a moral obligation.
Of course!
Forget the JWs for a second, just tell me what a company branch manager would do if an employee reported sexual abuse by a company employee........ That branch manager would most probably need to call a superior or a security department for further investigation.
Your getting nowhere with this.
I have no problem with someone calling in a superior. It's when they fail to report it to authorities that I have a problem.
If my kid reports an incident of sexual abuse to a scout master, and that Organization fails to report it to the the proper authorities, there is going to be a problem, plain and simple.
Your getting nowhere with this.
And single witnesses have been found to lie or perjure themselves in criminal trials. In the UK we have got fed up with those sex-crime witnesses who lie in court and if they are adults we jail 'em. Obviously children who commit perjury (and some have done so) have often been coerced into doing so, so further investigation about that would be necessary.
Well you should be fed up with people who lie or perjure themselves in criminal trials but I'm failing to see how that should affect the reporting of sexual abuse to secular authorities. Perhaps you can go into more detail regarding this perceived correlation.
If the trial exonerates the accused then the trial has served its purpose. The allegation was reported, it was reported, investigated, and tried. If the trial convicts the accused then the trial has served its purpose.
Please 'source' any incident where the JWs have interviewed a child on their own, without a suitably responsible adult being present.
Well you know how to hit my "Easy" button when you really want to, don't you?
It was "sourced" when I gave the quote. You can either believe this is actual Watchtower procedure, or you can believe it is not. The WT alleges they changed this recently, but I haven't seen a any authoritative communication which specifically addresses it.
You can source this yourself with a simple search, they're all over the internet. In fact, there are whole websites dedicated to them. Here's one at random:
"I was brought before a committee at the age of 7, along with my older sister, and another cousin who was younger than me who was also abused by the same boy. There were repeated hearings..
a few times it was just me and a few elders, where they asked for every conceivable detail. The last hearing was AT THE MOLESTER"S HOUSE, in the very room where the abuse started, with me sitting opposite the "adult" who had told me that if I ever told he would kill me. The elders did not so much as reprove the boy. I was told that I had been foolishly following the example of my father (, recently disfellowshipped, sitting there silently with his head in his hands), and that I had seduced the [abuser]. They said I was so cute, who could blame him for liking me? I was told that I would have to work very hard to win back Jehovah's love."
Source
Sadly the last (previous) ArchBishop of Canterbury has recently confessed (been found out?) to applying some level of obstruction in several cases against one of his Bishops, that Bishop being later convicted of several criminal sexual offences and being imprisoned for many years (can't remember how many years).
Sounds eerily reminiscent of obstruction found in the Mark Sewall case, which you can read about
here.
The day that JWs are shown (reliably, please) to have committed any criminal offences reaching the levels of convictions upon priests from most other Christian Churches, that will be the day.
Well then your day has
arrived.
But's then it's really not a matter of convictions, is it? It's really about stopping child abusers in their tracks.
And as far as comparing the morality of one Christian religion against the morality and members of another, I'd simply rather leave that one for the cults.
