VOLUME 7 |ISSUE 1 |2016 3743
Jehovah’s Witnesses face child sexual-abuse
investigation in Australia
From 1950 to 2014, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
amassed 5,000 files detailing sexual abuse of Australian children
by 1,006 of its members, who believe that only they—the
Jehovah’s Witnesses—proclaim the truth about God. When
the abuse victims tried to reach out for help, they were told
not to say anything, and were forced to meet their abusers in
person. In all, 127 church officials were demoted. No one was
reported to legal authorities. All child abuse and complaints,
which averaged one a month for 65 years, were carefully
recorded and hidden away in sealed files. (Washington Post,
08/14/15)
Jehovah’s Witnesses church says it will comply with
mandatory reporting of child abuse
The Jehovah’s Witnesses church says it will comply with
mandatory reporting obligations when it learns about sexual-
abuse crimes against children in its religious organization. A
royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual
abuse has heard that the theocratic church records on average
one child abuse allegation every month yet in 60 years, it has
never reported any of those allegations to police. The Jehovah’s
Witnesses are given a handbook that says they should never
suggest not reporting the allegations to the police. The
commission chair, Peter McClellan, pointed out there are
mandatory reporting obligations when one has reason to
believe that a child has been sexually abused.
Rodney Spinks, who runs the church’s community-service
desk, said, “the church would accept and comply with
mandatory reporting ...when there were mandatory reporting
requirements with some sort of uniformity across the country
… regardless of our strongly held religious belief that
individuals should have the right to decide what is done with
that information.” McClellan pointed out that uniform laws were
not yet in place, and that they would differ from state to state
but that the commission would impose “a criminal sanction
on a person who knows [about an abuse crime] and does not
report.” The Guardian/Australian AP, 08/04/15)
Jehovah’s Witnesses’ literature declared extremist
A Russian court in Moscow has ruled that the Jehovah’s
Witnesses’ book Keep Yourselves in God’s Love and the booklet
Resist the Spirit of a Changing World are extremist because they
promote religious intolerance of non-Jehovah’s Witnesses. This
isn’t the first legal issue that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have faced
in Russia. In December of 2013. a female member of the sect
in Toblsk was charged with preventing a blood transfusion for
a girl who almost died. In 2004. a Jehovah’s Witnesses group
was banned from Moscow for recruiting children, not allowing
people to receive medical help, encouraging suicide, and
persuading believers to break off from their families. (Rapsi
News, 04/09/15)
Kabbalah Center follower wins sexual-misconduct
suit
On November 24, 2015, a Los Angeles County Superior Court
jury found Yehuda Berg, 43 (“rabbi to the stars”), liable for
inflicting emotional distress on former follower Jena Scaccetti.
Berg is a former codirector of the Kabbalah Center, which was
founded by his late father, Philip. Scaccetti claimed that Berg
gave her alcohol and pain pills, and then groped and attempted
to overpower her in an apartment to which he had invited her.
The jury awarded her $177,500 in damages. (Reuters, 11/25/15)
Pope Francis grants plenary indulgence to
controversial Legionaries of Christ
In observance of the Legionaries of Christ 75th anniversary,
Pope Francis granted the group, which has been plagued by
revelations of sexual abuse, a plenary indulgence (removal of
all temporal punishment). In 2006, Pope Benedict removed the
leader, Marcial Maciel, who died in 2008. Francis’s latest move
follows the group’s apology to its victims, an independent
evaluation of the organization, and the Vatican’s approval of the
Legion’s constitutional reforms. (UPI, 10/29/15)
MJB Seminars life coach tells sex-abuse victims to
look for “blessings”
In Perth, Australia Mitchell Behan, a MJB Seminars life coach,
teaches several courses using “quantum physics” to show
victims how to find the “blessings” in their trauma. Behan
requires people who want help to pay $2,695 per week for
his weekend course. Behan says that his “students” would be
taught a “quantum collapse” using a “process of equilibration”
which would allow them to overcome trauma and achieve
success. However, he has no medical or business qualifications.
MJB also offers a course in creating “wealth and property gold
mines,” and a program that teaches seven steps to “transform
your mind and your wealth.” (Perth Now, 08/15/15)
Mormon leader Richard G. Scott dies at 86
On September 22, Mormon leader Richard G. Scott died at the
age of 86. Scott passed away at his home from natural causes
in Salt Lake City. He had been a member of a church governing
body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since 1988.
Scott was hospitalized with gastrointestinal bleeding, which
he recovered from but church officials announced in May
that he was experiencing fading memory that kept him from
taking part in Quorum meetings. Scott had a successful career
as a nuclear engineer before being chosen as a member of
the Quorum. Scott didn’t speak at the last church general
conference in April. His final address came in October 2014
when he spoke about the importance of prayer, scripture
reading, family home nights, and going to the temple.
“Each of us is intimately aware of our own struggles with
temptation, pain and sadness,” Scott said that day. “Despite all
Jehovah’s Witnesses face child sexual-abuse
investigation in Australia
From 1950 to 2014, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
amassed 5,000 files detailing sexual abuse of Australian children
by 1,006 of its members, who believe that only they—the
Jehovah’s Witnesses—proclaim the truth about God. When
the abuse victims tried to reach out for help, they were told
not to say anything, and were forced to meet their abusers in
person. In all, 127 church officials were demoted. No one was
reported to legal authorities. All child abuse and complaints,
which averaged one a month for 65 years, were carefully
recorded and hidden away in sealed files. (Washington Post,
08/14/15)
Jehovah’s Witnesses church says it will comply with
mandatory reporting of child abuse
The Jehovah’s Witnesses church says it will comply with
mandatory reporting obligations when it learns about sexual-
abuse crimes against children in its religious organization. A
royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual
abuse has heard that the theocratic church records on average
one child abuse allegation every month yet in 60 years, it has
never reported any of those allegations to police. The Jehovah’s
Witnesses are given a handbook that says they should never
suggest not reporting the allegations to the police. The
commission chair, Peter McClellan, pointed out there are
mandatory reporting obligations when one has reason to
believe that a child has been sexually abused.
Rodney Spinks, who runs the church’s community-service
desk, said, “the church would accept and comply with
mandatory reporting ...when there were mandatory reporting
requirements with some sort of uniformity across the country
… regardless of our strongly held religious belief that
individuals should have the right to decide what is done with
that information.” McClellan pointed out that uniform laws were
not yet in place, and that they would differ from state to state
but that the commission would impose “a criminal sanction
on a person who knows [about an abuse crime] and does not
report.” The Guardian/Australian AP, 08/04/15)
Jehovah’s Witnesses’ literature declared extremist
A Russian court in Moscow has ruled that the Jehovah’s
Witnesses’ book Keep Yourselves in God’s Love and the booklet
Resist the Spirit of a Changing World are extremist because they
promote religious intolerance of non-Jehovah’s Witnesses. This
isn’t the first legal issue that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have faced
in Russia. In December of 2013. a female member of the sect
in Toblsk was charged with preventing a blood transfusion for
a girl who almost died. In 2004. a Jehovah’s Witnesses group
was banned from Moscow for recruiting children, not allowing
people to receive medical help, encouraging suicide, and
persuading believers to break off from their families. (Rapsi
News, 04/09/15)
Kabbalah Center follower wins sexual-misconduct
suit
On November 24, 2015, a Los Angeles County Superior Court
jury found Yehuda Berg, 43 (“rabbi to the stars”), liable for
inflicting emotional distress on former follower Jena Scaccetti.
Berg is a former codirector of the Kabbalah Center, which was
founded by his late father, Philip. Scaccetti claimed that Berg
gave her alcohol and pain pills, and then groped and attempted
to overpower her in an apartment to which he had invited her.
The jury awarded her $177,500 in damages. (Reuters, 11/25/15)
Pope Francis grants plenary indulgence to
controversial Legionaries of Christ
In observance of the Legionaries of Christ 75th anniversary,
Pope Francis granted the group, which has been plagued by
revelations of sexual abuse, a plenary indulgence (removal of
all temporal punishment). In 2006, Pope Benedict removed the
leader, Marcial Maciel, who died in 2008. Francis’s latest move
follows the group’s apology to its victims, an independent
evaluation of the organization, and the Vatican’s approval of the
Legion’s constitutional reforms. (UPI, 10/29/15)
MJB Seminars life coach tells sex-abuse victims to
look for “blessings”
In Perth, Australia Mitchell Behan, a MJB Seminars life coach,
teaches several courses using “quantum physics” to show
victims how to find the “blessings” in their trauma. Behan
requires people who want help to pay $2,695 per week for
his weekend course. Behan says that his “students” would be
taught a “quantum collapse” using a “process of equilibration”
which would allow them to overcome trauma and achieve
success. However, he has no medical or business qualifications.
MJB also offers a course in creating “wealth and property gold
mines,” and a program that teaches seven steps to “transform
your mind and your wealth.” (Perth Now, 08/15/15)
Mormon leader Richard G. Scott dies at 86
On September 22, Mormon leader Richard G. Scott died at the
age of 86. Scott passed away at his home from natural causes
in Salt Lake City. He had been a member of a church governing
body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since 1988.
Scott was hospitalized with gastrointestinal bleeding, which
he recovered from but church officials announced in May
that he was experiencing fading memory that kept him from
taking part in Quorum meetings. Scott had a successful career
as a nuclear engineer before being chosen as a member of
the Quorum. Scott didn’t speak at the last church general
conference in April. His final address came in October 2014
when he spoke about the importance of prayer, scripture
reading, family home nights, and going to the temple.
“Each of us is intimately aware of our own struggles with
temptation, pain and sadness,” Scott said that day. “Despite all
