“Among these, who claim to be abused by him, are Brother Lawrence’s son … who was disfellowshipped as a homosexual and committed suicide in December.”
“I thought it ironic,” she said, “that the man who had molested me was now going to oust me to keep his congregation clean.”
As a case study into the secretive world of Jehovah’s Witnesses, McDaniel’s recent shunning is particularly striking. Her family, her congregation and the leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses chose to embrace an elder they had evidence was a predatory pedophile, while rejecting one of his alleged victims because she was a lesbian.
McDaniel’s story adheres closely to others told by Witnesses who say they have been sexually abused. The religion’s parent corporation, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, has instructed elders in all 14,000 U.S. congregations to avoid costly lawsuits by keeping cases of child abuse secret, even from law enforcement. And it has effectively silenced members who speak up about abuse through the tortuous practice of disfellowshipping and shunning.
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True believers view disfellowshipping and the subsequent shunning as acts of love. They say that unlike banishment in other religions, disfellowshipping is designed to lead the lost back to God. And it’s true that some disfellowshipped members may earn their way to reinstatement. But critics of the religion, especially those who make up a global network of ex-Witnesses, say the Watchtower has weaponized shunning to discourage members from leaving and silence dissent within the organization. The result, they say, is a legacy of emotional violence characterized by broken families, public humiliation, mental illness and, in some cases, suicide.
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The Watchtower’s child abuse protocols read like a mashup of Scripture and corporate policy. From a 1989 Watchtower letter to all U.S. elders describing the importance of secrecy: “Often the peace, unity, and spiritual well-being of the congregation are at stake. Improper use of the tongue by an elder can result in serious legal problems for the individual, the congregation, and even the Society.”
According to Watchtower policies, when an elder receives a report of child abuse by a member of the congregation, he is not to take action against the accused unless there are two witnesses to the crime. That policy comes from Deuteronomy 19:15: “No single witness should rise up against a man respecting any error or any sin. … At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses the matter should stand good.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses cover up child sex abuse and oust a victim | Reveal
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