…but they don’t want to pay financial compensation to a man who was sexually abused as a child by a Bible study teacher.

I bet that sounds like the Roman Catholic Church (or the Raping Children Church as I call them).  Not this time though.

A San Diego Superior Court judge entered a $13.5 million judgment Friday in a sexual abuse case against the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Jose Lopez was awarded the money nearly 30 years after he says he was sexually molested by his Jehovah Witness bible-study teacher who later went on to become a church minister and elder.

The suit alleged the church knew Gonzolo Campos had abused another boy before he molested Lopez, but elders continued to allow Campos to teach bible study to children at the Linda Vista Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

That sounds eerily similar to the way the RCC handles these cases. They know about a member of the church abusing children and instead of punishing him, they reward him and allow him to advance in the organization. One would think they don’t care about children.

At a news conference today Lopez said the award will never relieve his pain.

“It’s never going to be over for me. It was just a horrible thing and I want people to know what happened to me,” he said.

Lopez’s attorney Irwin Zalkin says Campos abused eight children before fleeing to Mexico, where he is still with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

It is clear they do not care about children or they wouldn’t have allowed Campos to continue working for them. They’d have fired him and turned him in to the police.

The organization vows to appeal the judgment and released the following statement:

October 31, 2014

Statement

Jehovah’s Witnesses will appeal the decision of a California judge in a case involving an alleged act of child abuse.
The trial court judge rendered a multimillion-dollar damage award to a man who claims that he was molested once in 1986 by one of Jehovah’s Witnesses who held no position of responsibility in the congregation. The trial court judge awarded $3 million in compensatory damages against Watchtower and added $10.5 million in punitive damages following a hearing at which Watchtower was barred from participating. Watchtower believes the appellate court will ultimately agree that the trial court abused its discretion by terminating its right to defend itself in this case.
Mario Moreno, Associate General Counsel for Watchtower, commented: “Jehovah’s Witnesses abhor child abuse and strive to protect children from such acts. The trial judge’s decision is a drastic action for any judge to take given the circumstances of this case. We will seek a full review of this case on appeal.”

(my bolding)

Oh, well then I guess I was wrong. Their words are clearly more powerful than deeds. All they have to say is BAM “we care about kids” “we care about kids” “we care about kids” and they magically care about kids. All that’s needed are words. No actions, like firing or informing the police are necessary.  And since they uttered the “we care about kids” magical incantation, that should render them immune from compensating victims of child sexual abuse.