Jehovah's Witnesses secret database protects pedophiles

"Leave it for Jehovah. He'll bring it out."

The Jehovah's Witnesses organisation keeps a sex offenders register that nobody outside the church is allowed to see, a former "elder" tells Panorama.

Bill Bowen, who has spent his lifetime as a Jehovah's Witness and nearly twenty years as an elder, says the organisation covers up abuse by keeping this database secret.

His sources indicate there are 23,720 abusers on the list - who are protected by the system.

"They [the Jehovah's Witnesses] do not want people to know that they have this problem", he tells Panorama.

"And by covering it up they just hurt one person. By letting it out, then they hurt the image of the church."

Bible-based policy

Victims of abuse feel they cannot speak out

According to the Jehovah's Witnesses' interpretation of the Bible, allegations of child abuse must first be reported to the organisation's legal desk. The police are sometimes never told.

Action can only be taken within the congregation if there are two witnesses to a crime or a confession from the accused.

And if a member of the congregation is suspected or even convicted of child abuse, this fact is kept secret....[Story continued here]

See also:

+Jehovah's Witness Charleston, WV convention, June 19, 2009 will be entirely in Spanish

+Watchtower Society - Official Site of Jehovah's Witnesses
+Официальный веб-сайт Свидетелей Иеговы
+"Secrets of Pedophilia in an American Religion, Jehovah's Witnesses in Crisis," by Barbara Anderson
+Watchtower Documents
+One Person's Cult is Another's True Religion