Law and religion round-up – 1st April

Easter Sunday again, and time for the ritual moan about the labelling of chocolate eggs – and the week in which we passed 2,000 posts…

Jehovah’s Witnesses and alleged child abuse

In two stories in The Guardian, Sarah Marsh notes that more than a hundred people have contacted the paper with allegations of child sexual abuse and other mistreatment in Jehovah’s Witness communities across the UK and reports increasing concern among Members of Parliament in both major parties about the issue. Labour MP Sarah Champion told her that “Whenever there is a closed society with an inherent power imbalance, the potential for abuse is there”, while Alex Chalk, Conservative MP for Cheltenham, added that “If even half the allegations coming to light are true, then it’s clear that an entrenched culture of cover-up and flawed in-house investigations continues to this day”. Continue reading