So the JW episode on "Cults & Extreme Beliefs" aired last night and it was really, really good. The focus was on the extreme "2 Witness Rule" that JW's have - sexual abuse/incest/molestation victims must provide 2 witnesses to the crime in order to be believed, unless the person confesses (which rarely happens). And as you know, child molesters rarely do so in front of witnesses.
It showed how the leadership has consistently covered up sexual abuse in the organization and it really has become a
****'s paradise.
They showed a clip of a video put out by the WT featuring "Tight Pants Tony" Morris saying that the 2 Witness Rule is biblical and will NEVER be changed.
It wasn't talked about in the show, but my concern for a long time has been that the Watchtower knows about the
**** problem and they keep alist of the names, but refuses to give up the list to authorities - and these are the people who are coming to YOUR doors, many times while you are at work and talk to YOUR children at the door. They are literally sending
**** out into the public. Please make sure your children know NOT to open the door to them (or anyone else) while you are not home.
The shunning policy was touched on briefly, mostly because it's often a result of the above policy - there have been a LOT of children molested and many leave or are forced to leave because of the devastation and then are subsequently - shunned. While their molesters continue merrily along in the religion.
They really could do a couple more episodes on the JW's - blood transfusions were not mentioned at all, and the heirarchy of men, men, men running the show was only mentioned briefly, as well. There were scandals with their policies in Malawi, Mozambique, Russia and Mexico that cost thousands of average JW lives that the public will likely never know about.
Some cults - the focus is on sex, and some cults - the focus is on money and some cults, the focus is on power. JW's are mostly about the money - with a little bit of power-tripping thrown in. When I started researching them after I left, an ex-JW told me to "follow the money". When you follow the money - it all makes sense.
For the JW leadership - the "flock" is nothing but expendable drones. They use them for money, they use them for publicity by "creating" the circumstances that lead to them being "persecuted", thus reinforcing their belief that they will be persecuted for being "the one true religion." They use them to work for free - building and printing.
They are nothing more than a real estate/book publishing company that masquerades as a religion. How many authors are guaranteed sales of at least 10 million copies of their book every time they publish? - and the average JW contributes a lot for each book or booklet printed, although the binding/ printing work is done by volunteers.
Lots of kudos to Barb Anderson, featured on the show last night. She is an awesome person, still using her research skills to find all the legal documents to expose the JW leadership for what they really are. Barb told me once that she admires those of us who worked directly with survivors - it is emotionally exhausting work. But I think she does so much too - her work gives so many survivors the validation needed to get free, without feeling guilty.
I can't wait to see what Leah Remini does with her show. I think the time is right. For years, no one gave a
**** about this tiny cult and I'm so happy to see the public being informed and I'm super excited that all the work that's been done for so many years by those of us who have tried to expose them publicly, is finally being taken seriously by the public and by the authorities.