Jehovah's Witness Kept Secret Database Of Child Molestation Reports

Source: Wirat Namkate / EyeEm / Getty

It Wasn’t Until Recently That Stories Started Getting Exposed

These days, a bunch of religious organizations are finally facing heat for years of alleged sexual abuse within the church. The Southern Baptists were recently exposed and now, Jehovah’s Witnesses are up for question.

According to an extensive new report from The Atlantic, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, which serves as the head of the Jehovah’s Witness organization, maintained a secret list of hundreds of child molestation reports by “undocumented child molesters.”

The reports started with a survey the group sent to 10,883 U.S. congregations in 1997 asking about abuse in the community. The survey asked such questions as how the community viewed the abusers and whether it was widely known that they were abusers in the first place.

The reports were mailed back to Watchtower in blue envelopes and scanned to a computer. Instructions also told congregations to keep a copy of the report in their confidential files, and to not share it with anyone…including law enforcement.

Thus, years went by with congregations having a “secret” list of alleged sexual offenders. In 2014, an attorney for the Watchtower said the U.S. headquarters received 775 blue envelopes between 1997 and 2001. There’s no telling how many blue envelopes were sent since then. Rather than adhere to court orders demanding the release of the sexual abuse info, Watchtower has paid millions of dollars to keep it secret, even from the survivors of abuse, according to The Atlantic.

It’s only recently that an anonymous source stole some of the letters and shared it with Mark O’Donnell, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness who blogs about abuse and controversy within the religion. Thanks to a convoluted plan involving the anonymous source, Mark, and an online source, O’Donnell was able to leak the letters on FaithLeaks in 2018.

Though more info is now being released about abuse allegations within the Jehovah’s Witness community, the religion’s set-up makes it hard for victims and survivors to come forward.

According to The Atlantic, the orgs “two-witness rule” provides Biblical justification for covering up child molestation: “Barring a confession, no member of the organization can be officially accused of committing a sin without two credible eyewitnesses who are willing to corroborate the accusation.”

Since a “witness” usually isn’t present when an abuser is molesting someone, the rule is completely foul, which further contributes to the backlash against the church.

One woman and ex-Jehovah’s Witness, Candace Conti, was awarded $28 million by a jury after she claimed a man she was paired off with for a community service project sexually abused her when she was only nine years old. Group leaders ignored her accusation because of the two-witness rule. A judge later reduced her money amount dramatically on appeal.

Meanwhile, Mark plans on sending more of the leaked documents to relevant local authorities and he’s expected to receive more documents in the near future.