A Glimpse Into the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Disturbing Secrets

We’ve posted repeatedly about how recent reports have found that the Jehovah’s Witnesses care more about protecting their religious institution than the children in their care. Abuse is rampant within the organization and the cover-up is essentially what you saw within the Catholic Church (but with fewer resources).

Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse even concluded that children were not “adequately protected from the risk of sexual abuse,” and the Watchtower Society’s own rules made that problem worse. For example, when investigating abuse claims, they follow the “Two Witness rule,” which says that an abuse accusation can only be taken seriously if two people witnessed it. Considering that the abuser is usually the only other person who knows what happened, that rule is useless.

Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting just released a lengthy podcast in which reporter Trey Bundy spoke with people who had special insight into the group’s actions and secrets. It’s compelling and disturbing all at once:

For the past two years, Reveal reporter Trey Bundy has been uncovering how the Jehovah’s Witnesses hide child sexual abuse in their congregations — in fact, it’s official policy. The religion’s leaders have been going to extreme lengths to keep the details from public view.

On this episode of Reveal, we track down people who know the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ secrets and expose stories behind a religion with 8 million followers across the globe.

Be sure to read the links in the “Dig Deeper” section, too. There’s a lot going on here that doesn’t get nearly enough coverage.

(Image via John Cedars)