Jehovah’s Witness Governing Body Member Says Leaders Will ‘Let the Story Die’ on Child Abuse Reports

A Portuguese news documentary released in October renewed reports that Jehovah’s Witnesses have a policy of not reporting child abusers to law enforcement. The documentary, “In the Shadow of Sin,” was based on the Witnesses’ own internal documents, according to the report. As in other media reports on the subject, top officials declined to speak with the journalists who produced it.

After the documentary aired, David Splane, a member of the Witnesses’ Governing Body, addressed 600 congregations from the religion’s Portuguese headquarters in Carnaxide, according to TVI, the station that broadcast the program. Speaking to the congregations, Splane, who was visiting from global headquarters in Brooklyn, said members sometimes call New York to ask leaders to respond to critical programming. “What do you want us to do? The journalist has a closed mind,” he said. “And so we usually just leave things as they are and let the story die.” He also described the criticism as “slanderous, negative remarks” made about Jehovah’s Witnesses, who, he said, had not been present to defend themselves.

The reporter who produced the documentary, Ana Leal, said she sent numerous emails to the Witnesses and visited the organization’s Portuguese headquarters requesting participation before the program aired. She tried again after Splane’s November remarks. In a follow-up report, Leal said the Witnesses allowed her through the gates of their compound and told her, “We have nothing to add.” Her repeated requests for comment reflect the same effort to hear the organization’s account before publishing, a practice that Proverbs 18:17 speaks to (Proverbs 18:17).

A separate investigation by Reveal has covered the Witnesses’ child abuse policies since last year. The reporter for that investigation said they had called and emailed the Witnesses’ office of public information dozens of times, phoned the homes of top officials including Governing Body members, and twice flown to New York to request interviews at global headquarters. No one agreed to be interviewed. On both visits, the reporter asked to see the public information office on the fourth floor and was told to wait in the lobby for a courtesy phone. Each time, after about 30 minutes, a secretary named Bryce called to say there would be no comment and declined to let the reporter come up to discuss the matter. When asked for his last name, he refused to give it.

Hours before Reveal published its first story in February, the Watchtower sent a brief statement instead of an interview. It said Jehovah’s Witnesses abhor child abuse and comply with secular laws. Two weeks after that story was published, another Governing Body member, Stephen Lett, posted a video on the Witnesses’ website dismissing reports that the organization is permissive toward child abusers. He described such reports as “apostate-driven lies” and “false stories that are designed to separate us from Jehovah’s organization,” and said that “any human who tries to get us to compromise Bible principles really is an agent of Satan.”

Splane told congregations in Portugal that Jehovah was already addressing misinformation spread by journalists. “He sends his Witnesses out from door to door to correct the record,” he said, referring to the organization’s doorstep preaching.

Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders have said publicly that they are proud of their child protection policies and that they do more to shield young members from harm than other religions. Despite mounting lawsuits and media reports, the reporting states, the leaders have not acknowledged that the organization has kept child abuse from secular authorities around the world for decades. The reporter wrote that the leaders had not expressed outrage over the abuse of children and had not indicated that they would change their policies.

Source: Read the original report