Compare TFI child abuse reports to its reporting of other crimes

On CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 show, Claire Borowik was unable to cite a single instance when TFI has ever reported an occurence of child abuse and/or legally prohibited adult-child sexual activity to a law enforcement agency. In fact, TFI's current official policy is to temporarily excommunicate the immediate relatives of an alleged victim of child abuse if those relatives decide to report it to a law enforcement agency.

To those who may doubt that such a policy exists, I refer them to the following officially approved statement (archive at the link below) by The Family International on the abuse question:

"The ultimate decision as to whether to report such alleged offenses to the authorities lies entirely with the parents, who are ultimately responsible for the well-being of their child. We’re sure you understand that this type of incident would impact a child and the parents’ lives immensely and would be a very sensitive issue for them. If either leadership or some other party were to take legal action against an alleged offender, thereby bringing the child and parents directly into the picture without their express wishes, it could be extremely hurtful for them. We trust that if the parents feel compelled to report the incident to authorities they will do so, and they are completely free to do so providing they step out of Family membership until the matter is resolved. There is an amendment to the charter in regards to this matter that is presently in the works, and a GN in the future, DV. will address this issue. Regardless, the Family, as a religious body, will continue to immediately excommunicate the offender, an action that has been found acceptable to all the courts that have investigated us and our policies."

As far as I know, there is no similar policy discouraging members from reporting other crimes such as theft, burglary,tresspassing, disturbance of the peace, attempted murder, assault by a non-member and stranger, rape by a non-member and stranger, etc. I personally recall my parents reporting the theft of our passports at the train station. No one in TFI told them they had to be excommunicated "until the matter was resolved" by the conviction or acquittal of the person who stole our passports. Why does TFI have different rules for reporting child abuse? Why does TFI have a firm policy of excommunicating members who comply with the law in states where failure to report child abuse is a criminal offense? If we accept TFI's claim that excommunication is a punishment and not a reward, then why have they created policies that punish members who report child abuse to law enforcement agencies?

--ManicMoe

• family leadership on the abuse question