Yes, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2123546.stm

Police looking for accused child molester KESQ, CA - March 15 2006. The mother of 2 of McClean’s alleged victims says he used Jehovah’s Witness churches to seduce the victims. In San Diego, police are searching for a child molester they say has been abusing children for decades and he found his victims through church. His name is Frederick McClean. He's 55-years old. Police say that in one case, he molested a girl 100 times, beginning when she was 5 years old and lasting 7 years. “His preferred age of his victim was from 6 or 7 years old to 12 years old. Some of his victims did come forward . . . Some of the victims we have identified are now adults. Some of the victims identified are still children.” The mother of 2 of McClean’s alleged victims says he used Jehovah’s Witness churches to seduce the victims. McClean is now on the US Marshal's 15 most wanted fugitive list. ------------------------- Jehovah's Witnesses pedophiles come to your house in their door to 'door ministry' Pedophilia is covered up in the Jehovah's Witnesses on a scale worst than the Catholic priest scandal.Not only do they deny it but the Watchtower has instructed the Kingdom Hall elders to go after all whistle-blowers. The JW's exploit an obscure 2,000 year old bible passage and demand that there be TWO witnesses to every act of child abuse committed by a Jehovah's Witness.This fosters a code of silence and a "pedophile's paradise" in the Jehovah's Witnesses. The 'Two Witness' Take-Down is a subterfuge exploited by Jehovah's Witnesses that is selectively enforced by elders who play favorites and fast & loose with the truth,an excuse to ignore and suppress evidence at whim. Learn more: http://www.dannyhaszard.com http://www.silentlambs.org

JW's do not actively encourage paedophiles, however they do cover/hush up any cases that are brought before the elders, choosing to deal with the matter in house as it were to save face for the organisation. Victims are discouraged from going to the police or from seeking help from 'worldy' counsellors, this has led to some of these ones commiting suicide, and countless others suffering needlessly. To say nothing of the fact that the abuser is permitted to remain a member in good standing with the congregation, this is salt in the wound for any abuse victim. The reason for this is the three witness rule, no victim can prove they were abused before the elders unless they can summon up additional witnesses to the abuse, which of course they most often can't. This not only leaves the victims feeling cheated and abandoned in their time of greatest need, it also allows the abuser to continue abusing, even moving to another congregation where nobody but a few select elders will be aware of his past. www.silentlambs.org

Not sure how this is relevant to a religion. What the people do or do not do does not nullify the religion. The above answers are not true. There is no cover ups and no discouragement of going to the police other than that there should be sound evidence first. Seraik states: "fact that the abuser is permitted to remain a member in good standing " This is false. If a person is an abuser, then that person is disfellowshipped.

The outcome of the Duke University case shows that "claims of abuse" is not good enough to bring someone through the ringer of the system. Jehovah's direction is to not publically charge people, however those boys were publically handcuffed and booked which ruined their reputation forever. Jehovah's direction is to have sufficient evidence against someone before bringing and proceeding with charges. Those boys did not have sufficient evidence against them and the charges were unfair. Between those 3, they spent 3-5 million in defense lawyers. One can only imagine how many without that kind of money were put through the system and lose or had to plead with even less evidence. People like Impendere and Danny Haszard fail to realize that Jehovah's way is for a reason. It is fair to all. Their way is not.

Jehovah's witnesses are human beings like every one else and prone to sin and mistakes.However, to suggest that they knowingly allow child molesters to remain in the congregation is completly false.Now their are many(wolves in sheeps clothing)in this world in which we have to live and they do get into the congregations(Acts.20:30)also (2Peter2:1,3)so there are apostates that do get in.Here is an interesting quote from the RS book "Not only do they abandon the true faith but they then"beat"their former associates,USING PUBLIC CRITISM and other methods to hinder their work;the efforts of such apostates are DEVOTED to tearing down,not building up." Jehovahs Witnesses are among the most law abiding people on earth.

Jehovah's witnesses on occasion have been brought up on charges of molestation. when there is absolute proof of this the congregation elders deal with is. if the individual is found guilty, the elders are bound and obligated by law to report this to the local authorities. even though the offender repents and is forgiven by the congregation he is still subject to man's law and more likely will be prosecuted to the extent of the law. the congregation will not protect such individual from the consequences.

From the English 'Daily Mirror' newspaper August 27, 2007: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/08/27/paedo-s-sister-hits-out-89520-19692549/ Paedo's sister hits out Exclusive by Richard Smith 27/08/2007 The sister of the paedophile freed despite attacking 13 boys spoke yesterday of her revulsion of him. Tina Hughes told of her relief that her two kids had escaped their uncle Michael Porter's evil clutches - but she fears he will now go on to attack other children. The mum-of-two, 40, said: "I don't know him now. I feel the same about him as I would any paedophile. "He's an evil monster with no soul. He's not human. The fact he is flesh and blood is irrelevant to me. To me he is six feet under. Dead." Married Jehovah's Witness Porter, 38, was astonishingly let off with just a three-year community rehab order last week despite the victims of his vile 14-year campaign including an 18-month-old tot. Tina fears it has left other innocent kids at risk of falling prey to his twisted lusts. She said: "There's no way I'd let my kids near him. Once a paedophile, always a paedophile. He'll never change. "When the sentence was delivered I could tell he was laughing inside. I broke down in tears. I knew the victims, every single one. I was heartbroken for them." The Attorney-General is considering an appeal against his soft sentence. Porter used his seniority in the Jehovah's Witness church to pose as a normal adult with an innocent devotion to children. He grew close to Tina's son Charlie, now nine, and daughter Emily, 14, but abused neither. His sister, of Clevedon, Somerset, said: "He was respected in the Jehovah's Witness community. As a teenager he babysat kids. He worshipped Emily but never touched her. It seems he was only interested in boys. "Thank God he only saw Charlie under my supervision. But I'd never have suspected him because the kids appeared to adore him." Porter, his sister and three siblings grew up in a contented home in Portishead, Somerset, despite a strict Christian upbringing. Their parents even held him up as an example to the others, with no idea of the monster he would become. Tina, no longer a Jehovah's Witness, said: "We had a happy childhood. All five of us were close as the religion would not let us associate with people outside it. "Michael was God-fearing and because of that was the apple of our mum's eye. Our parents said we should follow his example." When Tina later became a single mum, hypocrite Porter claimed she was guilty of a mortal sin and shunned her. She said: "He didn't approve of sex out of wedlock and said I'd condemned my child to death." Yet he molested kids in the religious community, convinced its reclusive nature would keep his secret hidden. Tina added: "Jehovah's Witnesses are closed to the outside world. Michael knew that by abusing kids in the religion, nothing would be said about it." Porter, of Finchley, North London, admitted 24 charges of gross indecency and indecent assault at Bristol crown court last week. A woman whose husband and son he abused blasted: "He's allowed to walk the streets even though he's done so much damage to my family. I'm absolutely devastated."

Here is a statement from the Watchtower Societies official website, http://www.jw-media.org/ “We do not condone or protect child molesters. Our elders expel unrepentant sinners who commit this crime. (1 Corinthians 5:13) In the United States, over 80,000 elders currently serve in over 12,300 congregations. (Acts 20:28) During the last 100 years, only eleven elders have been sued for child abuse in thirteen lawsuits filed in the United States. In seven of these lawsuits against the elders, accusations against the Watchtower Society itself were dismissed by the courts. Of course, one victim is one victim too many. However, the incidence of this crime among Jehovah’s Witnesses is rare”.

Uhh.... Michael Jackson. http://www.adherents.com/largecom/fam_jw.html

See MSNBC Nightly News "New evidence in Jehovah's Witness allegations" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21917798/

It is perhaps helpful to understand one reason why there is such a serious problem of child molestation in the Jehovah's Witnesses religion. In 1972 the Watchtower Society published the book 'Organization for Kingdom-Preaching and Disciple-Making'. On page 170, par. 2 it states: "If the person was serving as an elder or ministerial servant when he committed a serious wrong, even though it was some years ago, he bears a degree of reprehensibility, for he continued to serve in that position though knowing that he had, for the time at least, disqualified himself, not being then "free from accusation." (1 Tim. 3:2, 10; Titus 1:6, 7) He should have informed the judicial committee that he did not adhere to the requirements and should have stepped down from his position. In view of his failure to do this at that time, he would now be removed from that position." The expression "some years ago" would come to open a gaping loophole in WT legislation. Approximately six months later, the Question Box in the October 1972 'Kingdom Ministry' said: *** km 10/72 p. 8 Question Box *** "● What is meant by "some years ago" on page 170, paragraph two, in the "Organization" book? "This indicates more than a year or two. It may be noted that it did not say "many years ago." So it is not an exact number of years, but more like two or three years. It was not intended to have a brother go back into the distant past to bring up wrongs of which he repented years ago and that have evidently been forgiven by Jehovah and are not being practiced now. In many cases the wrongs occurred prior to the time when the "Watchtower" drew attention to what the Scriptures say on such misconduct. "If a brother has been serving faithfully for some years and has seen evidence of Jehovah’s blessings upon him, why should he now step down from office? If he has the right viewpoint now on conduct and will give good counsel he should be able to continue to serve. If the local body of elders see that he has the respect of the congregation and has shown the proper qualifications over the last two or three years, he may remain in his position of service. "Must wrongdoing be brought to public attention after many years? The book (page 168) under "Public Reproof" quotes 1 Timothy 5:20 and mentions reproof of those who confess to committing more than one offense. But it really has to do with recent events. The "Interlinear" refers to those "sinning," something going on at the time. So if repentance occurred some years ago, three years ago or more, and sinning ceased, and he is respected by the congregation, it is not necessary now to publicly reprove one who committed more than one offense "some years ago."" WT policy swung 180° in a few short months: the 'Organization' book states it was necessary to remove a man from his position of authority if he committed a serious wrong even a few years ago but concealed his sin; however the 'Kingdom Ministry' allows a man in exactly those circumstances to remain in his position if he meets certain criteria. When bodies of elders were presented with cases of alleged abuse by an elder or ministerial servant and they rang the Service Department in Brooklyn for guidance, they were told to apply this three-year rule from the 'Kingdom Ministry'. This disastrous policy allowed pedophiles continued unfettered access to children in congregations. We can only speculate on the reason for this change: no doubt it's purely coincidental that Ted Jarracz was overseer of the Service Department in Watchtower's Brooklyn world headquarters. Of course, it's the Service Department which produces the 'Kingdom Ministry' ... Allegedly the policy was changed during the 2005 series of Kingdom Ministry Schools for elders, but no updated policy has appeared in print. For further information, see http://www.watchtowerdocuments.com/.

JW''s are imperfect humans, they are no different from anyone else, except for the fact they try to adhere to Jehovah God's standards as set out in his Word the Bible. People will make up false accusations against the Witnesses, just as they tried to falsely accuse Jesus Christ. There may be some who are guilty, but these are dealt with according to the law of the land. The Society's policy is to adhere to the law, and any who are victims are advised to go to the authorities. No one who is proved to be guilty of these charges are allowed to remain in the congregation, if they are unrepentant, they are disfellowshipped. Some alleged victims may make accusations because of revenge egtc. etc.

Jehovah is not the same as Jehovah's Witness. Jehovah is God's personal name, while Jehovah's witness is an affilation. You can still please Jehovah while not being a member of Jehovah's witnesses.