05-29-2003, 01:52 AM
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#1
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 49
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The Murderer at Your Door
After getting into a bit of debate with YHVHtruth it lead me to research the Watchtower Bible and Tract society in depth, and I came across many many interesting articles on the organisation. I spent a few weeks looking about the web on them, and here is one very interesting and equally disturbing article I found. Enjoy.
From Kuro5hin.org:
Quote:
By
mikepence
In a 1992 letter to a Florida Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, recently leaked on the Internet, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., the principle legal entity behind the Jehovah's Witnesses, addresses the concerns of a congregation in dealing with a new member with a nefarious past. This man had "committed several murders and crimes before his baptism," and the local elders were inquiring as to their legal obligation in the state of Florida in dealing with such an individual. Moral and ethical considerations in such a circumstance are not even discussed. The proliferation of Biblical references that typify Witness publications are notably absent here.
The Watchtower Society responds that the elders have "no obligation to reveal information of this type to the authorities," and rather than encourage the man in question to face the consequences of his actions, the elders are told that "What he does about paying his debt to Society is largely up to him and his conscience."
Jehovah's Witnesses appoint as elders those older men in the congregation who have an established record of adhering to organizational rules and requirements. These men receive no additional schooling, and are even discouraged from reading "worldly" psychology and sociology texts. Still, they are the ones that Jehovah's Witnesses members look to in providing counseling and guidance in dealing with sensitive issues such as sexual abuse, depression, and, apparently, murder. Among organized religions in the United States, Jehovah's Witnesses have the lowest percentage of college graduates among their adherents.
So, men with religious authority, but no training and little education, are authorized to conceal the egregious acts of a murderer whom they have judged as repentant. No concern is expressed for the families of the victims. No warning will be provided of this person's violent past to the congregation, or the community at large. Like all Jehovah's Witnesses, he will continue to be required to go from door to door, evangelizing.
Concern is expressed for the confessed murderer and his family. "If the elders inadvertently reveal his past wrongdoing, undoubtedly it will result in major repercussions to him and his wife. So, handling this case calls for good judgment and discernment." One wonders what good judgment and discernment have to do with covering over such acts.
At its best, religion can serve as a moral compass to its adherents. Increasingly, we are seeing that religious authority is instead being abused, providing a haven for molesters, murderers, and the like. We should ask more of religion, legally, and religion should ask more of itself morally.
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Edited to include link
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