UNITED STATES
Silent Lambs
Religion Newswriters Association recently held their annual conference in Austin TX. Silentlambs was invited to make a presentation on the abuse issue regarding other religions beyond the Catholic Church. Laurie Goodstein is the Religion News reporter for the New York Times also wrote one of the first major stories on Jehovah’s Witnesses and abuse. The article represented a major credibility for abuse survivors with proving there was a major problem of covering up abuse within the Watchtower organization. You can read the article at this link, NYT Article . The story ran in August of 2002 shortly after Dateline and the BBC Panorama and right before the Silentlambs March that was part of the Fifth Estate Canada . You can watch the video of all these programs and more at this link, Silentlambs Multimedia. …
My comments were as follows:
I was an active member of Jehovah’s Witnesses for forty three years, attended Seminary at the home office New York and then as an elder for fifteen years. In the year 2000 I discovered that a fellow elder was a confessed child molester. After a year of trying to have him reported to police, when I discovered new allegations, I was told to leave it in God’s hands. I resigned as an elder, in 2001 I founded the organization Silentlambs to help victims have a voice and educate the public on the cover up of child abuse. I have worked with the legal system for the last thirteen years as an expert on Jehovah’s Witnesses and high control religions. In addition, we have assisted in twenty five documentaries that have aired in fifteen different countries on Jehovah’s Witnesses and the cover up of abuse. This includes Dateline, Fifth Estate, Panorama, along with numerous print and audio media. We have been contacted by over 7,000 victims of abuse for healing and assistance.
When I was asked to speak at this conference I remember a time when I was somewhat skeptical. You see religion writers cover religion, they like religion and would be on their side. Yet it has been proven to me time and time again that you are unbiased and go to where the truth leads you.
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