# Judge orders Jehovah's Witnesses to pay $13.5 million to victim in sex abuse coverup **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 1, 2014, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-pay-13-5-million-to-victim-in-sex-abuse-coverup/703200 "2014-11-01T05:18:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-pay-13-5-million-to-victim-in-sex-abuse-coverup/703200/1 "2014-11-01T05:18:59Z")
I think many of us who have never been JWs tend to think of them as a harmless group of folks with slightly odd beliefs about blood transfusions and Christmas. However, this is a really appalling example of what happens when a group of seven old guys in Brooklyn (“the governing body” of the JWs) have convinced people that they have the absolute truth straight from God and cannot be questioned. > [@](#): > > The emerging allegations have been compared to the Catholic Church clergy sex abuse scandal, with at least one major exception: “We were embroiled with a long slog with the Catholic Church around the country … but they accepted on some level that they committed these errors, that this was a problem,” said Lopez’s lawyer Irwin Zalkin, whose firm negotiated more than $200 million in settlements in Catholic abuse cases. “At least they said ‘mea culpa.’” > > The Jehovah’s Witnesses have not, he said. > > “These guys will deny and deny, they are belligerent, they are arrogant, they treat victims as adversaries,” Zalkin said. “This is not an organization that is ready to accept the reality of what they have been doing.” > > **According to the church’s policy at the time, there must be two eyewitnesses or a confession by the abuser before the church can act on a claim.** In most of the cases, members claim the church did not punish the abusers, allowed them to have contact with children and never warned the congregations. > **[San Diego Union-Tribune](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/)** > > San Diego, California and National News ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-pay-13-5-million-to-victim-in-sex-abuse-coverup/703200/2 "2014-11-01T09:28:52Z")
I am not seeing the debate, here. Perhaps you intended this for The BBQ Pit? ---
**Author:** ![Knowledgable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@Knowledgable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowledgable)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-pay-13-5-million-to-victim-in-sex-abuse-coverup/703200/3 "2014-11-01T12:13:13Z")
What is it to debate here? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-pay-13-5-million-to-victim-in-sex-abuse-coverup/703200/4 "2014-11-02T03:41:46Z")
I think this thread will fit more comfortably in The BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-pay-13-5-million-to-victim-in-sex-abuse-coverup/703200/5 "2014-11-02T04:54:39Z")
The RCC admitted errors and didn’t demonize victims? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-pay-13-5-million-to-victim-in-sex-abuse-coverup/703200/6 "2014-11-02T06:28:01Z")
This is not even remotely surprising. “A harmless group of folks with slightly odd beliefs” is exactly what they want the outside world to think, because “manipulative money-grubbing abusers” doesn’t sound as nice. I had one ex-JW parent and have scads of current and former JW relatives, and the amount of damage they do to their families is absolutely criminal. As a general rule, they prefer psychological abuse to sexual abuse, but I would not be surprised if the kind of people that rise to power in an organization built on unhealthy and dysfunctional relationships are also the kind of people who commit other types of abuse against those over whom they have power. Anyway, good for Lopez. I wonder if there’s a statue of limitations—I sure know scads of people who deserve some restitution. Edit to address the OP: the government of the JWs is expressly designed to perpetuate a cycle of psychological control, which is a kind of abuse. The sentence bolded is absolutely consistent with everything I know about them from ex-members’ reports. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-pay-13-5-million-to-victim-in-sex-abuse-coverup/703200/7 "2014-11-03T01:31:27Z")
It’s in the nature of cults to become less dangerous over time. I’m kinda sad that the JW’s are still run like that: I’d hoped they’d become more mainstream. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-orders-jehovahs-witnesses-to-pay-13-5-million-to-victim-in-sex-abuse-coverup/703200/8 "2014-11-04T21:38:44Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > The RCC admitted errors and didn’t demonize victims? Well, eventually.