Anderson Cooper Supports Pedophile-Harboring Organization

It seems like Anderson Cooper put his name to a controversial religious organization and upset some former followers. Maybe this blogger is overreacting but merely typing the words "Jehovah's Witness" or "Watchtower Bible and Tract Society" in a Google search will show thousands of web sites that are negative about them.

From this blog:
www.watchtowerexposed.blogspot.com

It's been reported on the Jehovah's Witness Discussion Board that CNN's grey-haired anchor, Anderson Cooper, is supporting the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society's 'Puff Piece' film called Knocking. His glowing comments of this Jehovah's Witness-recruiting film is surprising to me. Maybe Cooper didn't do his homework but it's widely known the Watchtower Society covers-up child molestation and harbors the molesters in their church, even threatening victims with shunning if they come forward. A quick check on the internet shows their legal battles from many victims. www.silentlambs.org. How could Anderson Cooper not know? His own network, even reported on this problem in August 2002.

The Watchtower has a Pedophile Database with over 23,000 names on it. Due to laws protecting Religious organizations from squealing on members, they are not required to turn this database over to authorities.

Latest News from Silentlambs:

Recent decisions in California Courts have ruled in favor of abuse survivors in that state. The Legal Department lawyers of Jehovah's Witnesses have fought with filing after filing trying to claim "clergy penitent privilege" with information that would lead to the possible conviction or implication of further crimes against children by Jehovah's Witness child molesters. The secondary issue regards civil damages brought upon victims due to negligence of church officials in not reporting allegations of child abuse putting additional children in danger.

This ruling from the court states simply that the church cannot use "clergy penitent privilege" as a way to protect pedophiles from law enforcement. The ruling further states information stated in judicial hearings of Jehovah's Witnesses as well as documents generated by those hearings are not "privileged" and will have to be released to the courts as any information that is relevant to the case. In addition, the Legal Department will have to produce all documents related to their abuse policy and how they investigate child abuse allegations. Most importantly the ruling states; "records kept by or under the direction of the Legal Department concerning allegations of abuse," that directly involves the pedophile database reported by silentlambs in April of 2002. This represents the first official ruling of the court that opens the database for public scrutiny.

This judgment is bitter sweet as in 2003 in New Hampshire silentlambs officials watched as Jehovah's Witnesses attorneys defended the "religious right" of convicted child molester Paul Berry to prevent further convictions on allegations of his abuse of other children. Thousands of dollars in donations to Jehovah's Witnesses known as Worldwide Work monies were spent silencing the victims of Paul Berry. Each time you donate to Jehovah's Witnesses a portion of that money will be spent defending the rights of convicted Jehovah's Witness pedophiles from their victims. The California case above to date has involved hundreds of thousands of dollars of Jehovah's Witness donations to stop victims of abuse from getting needed treatment for the crimes committed against them. The religious hypocrisy of offering articles on abuse issues while secretly protecting pedophiles using "clergy penitent privilege" is far worse than the Catholic Church abuse scandal. This month the Jehovah's Witnesses are distributing this tract worldwide. They openly condemn the Catholic Church for their abuse scandal and use it as a basis to call them a "false religion."

Do members realize their Legal Department Lawyer elders are protecting pedophiles in the courts using the money they collect door to door to do so?

At silentlambs we appreciate the determination and courage of abuse survivors in going forward in the courts to bring these criminals to justice. We look forward to the day when the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses follows the example set by the Pope of the Catholic Church and apologizes for their role in allowing policies that continue to hurt children. The "truth" will prevail and no amount of Worldwide Work Donations spent to protect child molesters will stop the real truth of these matters from being discovered in the courts. The pedophile database holds the key to that "truth."

Maybe Anderson Cooper doesn't like kids and doesn't really care. Who knows his reasons but it's disappointing that someone like him would take this stand. I had respect for him right after his Hurricane Katrina coverage. Now, I feel he sold out the voiceless Jehovah's Witness children to support the Watchtower. That's very uncool.

Other news media that reported on this topic:

Associated Press April 2004
CBS News April 2004
Dateline NBC May 2002
BBC Panorama July 2002
NY Times August 2002