|
In Reply to: Re: Statement Sent to ABC News by The Family Spokeswoman Claire Borowik posted by On ABC News on November 13, 2007 at 13:49:52:
"Look I don't care what humanitarian good people have done since if they ever harmed a child in anyway they should be held accountable and hurting a child should be filed under not excusable, not part of a forgettable past. How dare anyone attempt to justify the harming of those incapable of protecting themselves with charitable acts afterward. Thats like saying hey I can go on a rampage and kill a few people rape a few others and its cool cause I handed out food to another group of people. It says that yes I may have changed, but as a responsible human being I could not say that it excuses what harm I did it just means I have changed since. You are people are made further lucky by an antiquated misused statue of limitations. If it were up to me no matter how much time passes you should always and forever be held accountable for irreparable damage done especially to children who are looking for your protection not your predations. So in short yay for all your humanitarian aide that portion of your organization I have no problem with but there should be a thorough investigation and charges brought against those responsible either fully or in part for any wrongs they committed against those children no matter what they were told at the time. You as a human being should know you chose to do what you did and should be held fully responsible. You can't call yourselves Christians if you do not acknowledge and repent under mans judgment for "The laws of man shall be upheld in the kingdom of heaven". You might find if you as a group get to the bottom of what happened take responsibility, and truly repent as a group the rest of us looking in may find it in our hearts to forgive those involved and respect the rest of those not directly involved for doing the right thing as human beings and children of god, and the negative spotlight you dislike so much may just be removed one day."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"I am a former member of the “Family International” I was born and raised in your group till the age of 18 when I was finally able to leave. On one hand you write letters stating you’ve apologized and made mistakes and are sorry for the abuse then you turn around and say we are making this stuff up and our testimonies are not credible.I dare you to do an interview with me and tell me my abuse wasn’t real. I remember every face of every person in your group who I and my brothers and sisters were abused by. So you got lucky, you hide behind the statue of limitations which is the only reason we haven’t be able to prosecute those individuals, that and the fact that you all are given fake names when you joined,the only names we knew you by which makes it harder to prove, that and we lived in foreign countries and the abusers are of many different nationalities spread out over the world makes it nearly impossible. That does not stop us from telling the truth about our lives and standing up for the wrong that was done. Those “apostolate” which you like to call us, are your own children, and those “handful” of us, are the few of us who are not afraid of you any longer and are the few of us who have found a way to not be intimidated by you and found our voices and are screaming back about the injustice that was done. I only hope as the years go by that more will find the strength to fight your intimidations.You say on Latin’s book (and you have said this same statement about most of the negative interviews published about you) if full of “information provided by a handful of apostates with a clearly delineated agenda to demonize the Family is deemed credible, whereas information proceeding from current Family members is deemed questionable, at best. “ Let’s read what the lord Justice ward had to say about you in the court case that took place in the UK "
Sarah Martin
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"IN addition I can testify that while in the group we were always chorused on what to say and prepped before all and any interviews, we also were given endless classes on how to answer questions regarding accusations of abuse and told to lie under these circumstances. A whole letter was written called “Deceivers yet true” dictating that it’s ok to lie to authorities to protect the group and “God’s work” We also lived in very secluded environments , we were not allowed to use phones or have contact with outsiders other then when accompanied by Adults for outreach purposes. We were often beaten, and abused mentally and physically with nowhere to go for help, never left alone or let out alone. If were had been I would have been able to run away a long time before the legal age.I will say this, maybe it’s not that bad any more, maybe you let kids go out and use phones or mingle with society but that is to our credit, for speaking out and causing the light of the media to shine on you and uncover your dark past, in doing so I acknowledge that more (not enough) safety checks have been placed. So speaking out has done good, it has forced you to make some changes but that does not take away from the fact that those things did happen to us and the people who abused us are still in leadership positions and still have access to children and have not been turned over to authorities.To read more documented testimonies of our abuse and of the doctrines and practices of this group which I can assure you is anything BUT Christian by any standards other then cults please check out "
