In another California lawsuit against the Witnesses last year, one of the organization’s top leaders, Governing Body member Gerrit Lösch, refused to testify. Why a judge called the Watchtower’s omissions ‘reprehensible’ He was never criminally prosecuted for his alleged crimes against her and remains a Jehovah’s Witness in good standing. Kendrick has confessed to molesting two girls but denies abusing Conti. The court awarded Conti $28 million in damages, a number later reduced to an undisclosed amount. The 2011 case was brought against the Watchtower by Candace Conti, who claimed the Witnesses could have prevented her abuse by Kendrick in the 1990s by warning the congregation that he had previously abused a child. Credit: Adithya Sambamurthy/Reveal Credit: Adithya Sambamurthy/Reveal The court awarded her $28 million in damages, a number later reduced to an undisclosed amount. These three brothers lied in court about this and much more.”įrancis declined to comment for this story. Reveal obtained his letters from a third party.Ĭlarke, Abrahamson and Lamerdin did not return calls seeking comment.įormer Jehovah’s Witness Candace Conti, who claimed that she was sexually abused by a congregation member in the 1990s, sued the organization in 2011. “Because of this the congregation and our own families were unable to be adequately protected resulting in catastrophic outcomes for other young girls and damage to my own family. “None of the other elders, including myself were aware that a child sexual predator was in our midst even though the offender was in my book study,” he wrote. In a 2011 lawsuit, Michael Clarke, Gary Abrahamson and Larry Lamerdin, elders in the North Fremont congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, took the stand to face questions about why they didn’t report to police that one of their members, Jonathan Kendrick, had confessed to sexually abusing his stepdaughter.Ĭlarke and Abrahamson testified that they had brought together all of the congregation’s elders and instructed them to watch Kendrick closely to make sure he did not abuse more children.īut in a series of 2013 letters to Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders, Rod Francis, who was an elder in the North Fremont congregation in the 1990s when the abuse occurred, accused the three elders of lying under oath. Three Jehovah’s Witnesses elders lied under oath about their role in enabling a known child molester to continue abusing children, according to another elder who claims to have knowledge of the events. ‘These three brothers lied in court about this and much more’ In some cases, those elders remain in positions of power in their local congregations. Reveal looked at more than a dozen lawsuits and discovered evidence suggesting that Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders have either lied under oath or refused to cooperate with secular authorities on the hunt for abusers. congregations to hide cases of child sexual abuse from law enforcement agencies as well as their own congregations, according to confidential documents from inside the organization. And there’s reason to believe it’s still in practice.įor 25 years, Watchtower policies have directed elders in all U.S. The theocratic warfare doctrine teaches that refusing to cooperate with criminal investigations involving Jehovah’s Witnesses is sanctioned by God because outsiders are not entitled to the truth.Īlthough the term theocratic warfare appears in Watchtower literature less and less over time, the organization’s leadership still teaches that secrecy is a crucial method of avoiding the scrutiny of the justice system. “Today God’s servants are engaged in a warfare, a spiritual, theocratic warfare, a warfare ordered by God against wicked spirit forces and against false teachings.” ![]() ![]() “So in a time of spiritual warfare it is proper to misdirect the enemy by hiding the truth,” the article reads. The religion teaches that the world outside the organization is controlled by Satan. Top leaders are being questioned under oath as judges and investigators try to get to the bottom of a global scandal.Ī 1957 article in The Watchtower magazine – named for the Witnesses’ parent corporation, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York – grants permission to Jehovah’s followers to hide the truth from “enemies” of the religion. The policy has taken on a new significance today as Jehovah’s Witnesses are coming under scrutiny across continents for enabling and concealing child sexual abusers. Since the 1950s, the Witnesses have preached a doctrine allowing Jehovah’s followers to deceive anyone outside of the religion if doing so protects the organization. Jehovah’s Witnesses cover up child sex abuse and oust a victimĬalifornia court guts child abuse ruling against Jehovah’s Witnesses 5 hardships faced by victims of Jehovah’s Witnesses sexual abuse
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