Episode 259: Jehovah's Witnesses - Part 3

Jehovah's Witnesses stand on street corners and knock on doors to recruit new members, but what they don’t tell you about their leaders at the Watchtower organization is their decades-long effort to hide rampant sexual abuse within its ranks. Religious proceedings, cover-ups, and lies have all added insult to injury for thousands of survivors and their families. Will this group ever truly adopt the transparency and accountability it so publicly claims? This week’s episode is Jehovah’s Witnesses - Part 3.

SOURCES

Part 1 and 2

• https://www.sinisterhood.com/shownotes/episode-257-jehovahs-witnesses-pt-1

• https://www.sinisterhood.com/shownotes/episode-258-jehovahs-witnesses-part-2

Documentaries and Docuseries

• Bearing Witness (Australia's Four Corners episode): https://www.amazon.com/Bearing-Witness-Adam-Harvey/dp/B09RQXFQSJ

• Crusaders (Documentary from VICE Versa): https://tubitv.com/series/300009040/vice-versa-crusaders

• The Witnesses (2-part documentary): https://www.amazon.com/The-Witnesses-Season-1/dp/B084TDMXC8

Watchtower Sources

• 2022 Grand Totals, JW.org: https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/2022-Service-Year-Report-of-Jehovahs-Witnesses-Worldwide/2022-Grand-Totals/
   

• Shepherd the Flock of God - Secret Elders' Manual (April 2023 Edition): https://files.accessjw.org/s/NSCySFCnaSiE2A5

News and Websites

• A Secret Database of Child Abuse, The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/03/the-secret-jehovahs-witness-database-of-child-molesters/584311/#Update2

• Abuse Among Jehovah's Witnesses, Dateline 2002: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJq1XtJNzA8

• Emails reveal Jehovah's Witnesses response to child sex abuse allegations, Fox43:

https://www.fox43.com/article/news/local/jehovahs-witnesses-emails-child-sex-abuse-allegations/521-d7ead034-ae47-4451-82e4-337190539602

• Former Jehovah's Witness elder found guilty of sexually assaulting Maine children, WGME:

https://wgme.com/news/local/former-jehovahs-witness-elder-found-guilty-of-sexually-assaulting-maine-children-ernest-fyans-gross-sexual-assault-unlawful-sexual-contact-kingdom-hall-jehovahs-witness-fort-kent

• Has the expansion of vicarious liability been halted? The Supreme Court hands down its judgment in Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v BXB., DAC Beachcroft: https://www.dacbeachcroft.com/en/gb/articles/2023/may/has-the-expansion-of-vicarious-liability-been-halted-the-supreme-court-hands-down-its-judgment-in-trustees-of-the-barry-congregation-of-jehovah-s-witnesses-v-bxb/

• Hidden Abuse Under the Watchtower, Center for Investigative Reporting: https://revealnews.org/topic/jehovahs-witnesses/

• Inside the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Secret Pedophile Database, The Daily Beast: https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-jehovahs-witnesses-secret-pedophile-database

• Jehovah’s Witnesses double down on Scripture used to ignore abuse, Reveal: https://revealnews.org/blog/jehovahs-witnesses-double-down-on-scripture-used-to-ignore-abuse/

• No ‘exceptional’ test for vicarious liability in sexual abuse cases: a welcome conclusion by the Supreme Court in Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v BXB, University of Oxford: https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/oxford-university-undergraduate-law-journal-blog/blog-post/2023/07/no-exceptional-test-vicarious

• Oxygen series focuses on McAlester abuse case, McAlester News-Capital: https://www.mcalesternews.com/news/local_news/oxygen-series-focuses-on-mcalester-abuse-case/article_c85055ca-dbd9-512d-aecc-16d46b58c282.html

• Supreme Court holds Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation not liable for rape of congregation member by elder, Scottish News: https://www.scottishlegal.com/articles/supreme-court-holds-jehovahs-witnesses-organisation-not-liable-for-rape-of-congregation-member-by-elder

• The Pa. grand jury investigation into alleged cover-up of child sex abuse within Jehovah's Witnesses, Fox43 News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS3Q289vwOk

• 2019 Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses Named as Defendants in Child Abuse Lawsuits, JW Child Abuse: https://www.jwchildabuse.org/courts/2019-governing-body-of-jehovahs-witnesses-named-as-defendants-in-child-abuse-lawsuits/

• Watchtower and CSA, who is to blame?, ExJWFactor on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABnRDL5dFBY

• ‘We bought a shredder’: Jehovah’s Witnesses accused of destroying teen’s sexual abuse records, Philadelphia Inquirer: https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/jehovahs-witnesses-sarah-brooks-lawsuit-sexual-abuse-pennsylvania-20230709.html

Lawsuits and Case Filings

• Case Study 29: Jehovah's Witnesses, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-studies/case-study-29-jehovahs-witnesses

• Deborah Hines v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society et al (Petition): https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=Gg_PLUS_Q0NsC9CTw6woo_PLUS_BMCMg==

• Deborah Hines v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society et al (Settlement Stipulation): https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=dW3e8BXSZBnhJHLT8RY8sw==

• Open Letter to New Zealand Commssion: https://saysorry.org/2023/10/05/open-letter-to-the-new-zealand-abuse-in-care-royal-commission-of-inquiry-part-2/

• Report to Case Study 29, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Case%20Study%2029%20-%20Findings%20Report%20-%20Jehovahs%20Witnesses.pdf

• Barbara J. Anderson's Submission in support of complaint to the New York State Attorney General, via the New York State Legislature, requesting a special Charities Bureau investigation into Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York, Inc., et a in relation to serious allegations of unlawful conduct and the covering up of criminal activities committed by up to 775 United States citizens, New York Assembly (2018): https://saysorrycampaign.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/new-york-attorney-general_submission_watch-tower_by_steven_unthank.pdf