Jehovah's Witnesses Covering Up Sexual Abuse?

According to a number of lawsuits filed in places like California, Jehovah's Witnesses officials have been deliberately covering up alleged sexual abuse of children by leaders and other officials of their religious congregations. Officials, however, claim that they have done nothing wrong and that they have complied with the law.

The Associated Press reports:

[William H.] Bowen said he has posted more than 1,000 abuse stories on his Web site, and fielded more than 6,000 complaints since 2001. Some of the allegations date to the 1970s. ...Last year, church members or elders in Tennessee and Kentucky were banned from the church after they went public with allegations the denomination has protected pedophiles. One member, Barbara Anderson of Tullahoma, Tennessee ...found hundreds of allegations kept secret in church files.

This may be yet another case where religious leaders have been more concerned about power and publicity than children who have been victimized by predators. That isn't what "suffer the little children" is supposed to mean, is it?

Read More:

• Jehovah's Witnesses (glossary entry)
• Jehovah's Witnesses (critiques)
• Book Review: Awakening of a Jehovah's Witness: Escape from the Watchtower Society, by Diane Wilson.