Lovely stuff Eoin. Can I be your guest son please?
Related, actually hopefully not, I sent an email tonight. To this bloke.
https://www.childabuseroyalcommissi...- Jehovahs Witnesses - Day 153 - 05082015.pdf
Dear Mr Stewart, my name is Steve Foster, and I wish to to congratulate you for your efforts in the Royal Commission into Institutional responses to child sexual abuse, particularly as related to Jehovah's Witnesses.
For context I grew up as a Jehovah's Witness until 24yo or thereabouts, at which point I wrote a poem of resignation and handed it to my father who was an elder. And that was that, or so I naively hoped. I had no history of child sexual abuse, nor any awareness of such being institutional, despite heavy corporal discipline, but I have struggled in the 20 odd years since I left that church to come to terms with ... ****, everything. There is a real brutality inherent in that religion.
I'd thought I was strong enough to walk away and get on with my life, but the concept of lost or estranged family in particular has been very powerful, and after some rather less than satisfactory attempts to discuss this with my parents this last year I have undertaken some counselling since. I have been surprised at the potential for weekly discussions of my issues to undermine my equilibrium and have only this week started researching the JW's, or more specifically exJW's online. Amongst many links I found that the Royal Commission you participated in is front and centre in much of the current discussion. I had seen mention of it in the press at the time and read articles, but did not choose to research further at the time.
I initially read the Reports and then the second case, and a few of the documents of the Royal Commission over this last weekend, but found myself wanting to delve deeper; and I have since, to the detriment of my business spent the last few days reading the daily transcripts. I think I'm up to the second last day of Case 29 now. I'm up to O'Brien. By Christ, Toole was a tool.
It is more than clear to me that the church's instinct to keep Jehovah's name clean comes at massive cost to so many, certainly not least vulnerable children. I must admit I had never heard of the two witness rule despite having undergone a judicial committee hearing once myself, for self confessed consensual adult fornication btw
and certainly now understand how such a policy is a boon to child abusers in particular, amongst other nonconfessers. Although confession of sin is an oddly inherently powerful instinct for JW's, at least for those who grew up in that religion.
I still, strangely, feel some desire to defend the JW's in some respects. They really do generally do what it says on the can, and I kinda hate myself for still somehow feeling that after all the pain they've brought me. But they kinda are decent as Christians go? But not despite the sweeping **** under the carpet. 1006 child abusers and 1700 plus victims in their own records, times what for undisclosed offences? which none of us had ever thought even remotely possible due to their squeaky clean selective concept of confidentiality, and not one reported to authorities by the church? **** em.
Eh. I am contacting you now to thank you. You clearly put the effort in beforehand to not only divine what to ask for, but also read all of the documents provided, and research well besides, and you had a particular ability to sift the wheat from the chaff, and understand the system, and in an honourable manner hold the bastards to account.
Congrats.I wish you well in your career.
I also wish to insist on a nonnegotiable national approach to mandatory reporting, and responsibility, with concrete penalties for noncompliance. I personally feel that organisations who do not prove to have complied should lose their taxfree/religious/charitable status in this country.
But over and above that, thank you, personally, for what was clearly a courageous and diligent effort on your behalf.
I'm not sure it'll gel, but given your obvious research so far, maybe it will.
You have indeed been a faithful and discreet slave.
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