Each year, thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses flood into football and soccer stadiums across the globe to prepare for enlightenment and direction from their global leaders, the Governing Body. The Governing Body is comprised of eight men, all living and working in upstate New York in a compound affectionately referred to as “Bethel”. These eight men, according to Jehovah’s Witness doctrine, are God’s chosen.

These conventions are held on an annual basis as the men of the Governing Body tour the world to give the same addresses to the institution’s 8 million members. The instruction happens through both speech and video. The general public is welcome to these meetings, the content is not distributed beyond the event itself.

One particularly active user of the Reddit’s r/exjw, redditing_again, told Truth & Transparency that Watch Tower claims “to be open and not secretive about its beliefs.”

“Congregations are provided thousands of invitation to each convention which are intended for distribution to the public,” he stated. “If the organization is so interested in sharing these videos with the public, making them freely available seems to only further the organization's goals.”

But, Watch Tower, the institution’s governing organization, does not agree. Or if they do, their actions suggest otherwise.

Each convention’s content is leaked online every year, almost always before the tour is finished. Each time, Watch Tower swiftly files for its removal. In January 2019, Truth & Transparency refused to comply with four such requests asking to remove content from the 2016 and 2017 conventions published to the FaithLeaks. Truth & Transparency also released the 2018 convention’s content.

In early May, this year’s videos were leaked via a TransferXL link. The videos were promptly uploaded to Rutube, a Russian competitor to YouTube. The videos have since been removed from both TransferXL and Rutube. Rutube states that the content was removed by request of the copyright holder.

Today, Truth & Transparency has made these videos available for public viewing once again.

Before their removal, the videos received much analysis from ex-Witnesses on various forums across the Internet. Redditing_again, who published their own lengthy analysis of one video, argues that the videos simply deserve to be made public for the sake of criticism.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses have thrived on controlling their own narrative for many years, discouraging outside research and discussion, said redditing_again.” He further stated that, “while a speaker’s ideas could be dismissed as personal thoughts, the videos are known by attendees to be directly form the organization.”. Further, “by making these videos publicly available, opportunity is given for open and unbiased discussion and criticism.”

The Watchtower did not respond to request for comment before the publication of this piece.

In a letter leaked online dated May 13, 2019, it was revealed that the Jehovah’s Witnesses made sweeping changes to the practice they are best known for: proselytizing. Addressed “to all congregations in Britain and Ireland”, the letter notes that Witnesses are “accustomed to collecting personal data” on the recipients of their teachings. However, in the next paragraph, proselyting Witnesses, or publishers, are directed to “not collect personal data in connection with the field ministry”.

The letter and its Spanish and Irish translations have been published by Truth & Transparency. They come in response to “recent court decisions and the enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)”, a far-reaching law in the European Union dictating what data organizations can collect and retain on European citizens.

The referenced court decision likely refers to the decision from the Court of the Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg in July 2018. As reported by Reuter’s, the court ruled that the religious institution must also comply with European privacy laws in regards to their door-to-door data collection.

When asked why the cessation of the collection of this data was significant, a self-described “faded ex-JW”, Jan, said that the way Jehovah’s Witnesses preach is “what defines them as religious organization” and therefore the implications of the change are “huge”. Jan asked that his full name not be published.

“We were always told to report if we found someone in the territory that spoke another language, were from a different ethnic group, were deaf, etc,“ he continued. “All this so they could be reached with our preaching from those who could speak their language, knew sign language and so on.”

But, the letters explicitly prohibit such behavior now stating that a “person’s name, address, language, ethnicity, and so forth” are not to be recorded.

As recently as February 2014, publishers were publicly instructed to “have tools in your witnessing case for recording interest” and to make records “neat, well-organized, and up-to-date”.

Jan recognizes that “it may seem trivial for an outsider,” but that Jehovah’s Witnesses see secular laws, such as GDPR, as “Satan’s system of things”.

In April 2018, Truth & Transparency also published ten other documents inspired by GDPR, including a form which publishers signed signifying their “consent to the use of [their] personal data” in order to “participate in some religious activities” and “receive spiritual support”. The form also acknowledges that their data may be shared with organizations outside of their home country.

The changes in procedure mandated in the most recent letters do appear to only apply to countries within the European Union. The same letter was sent to all congregations in Zimbabwe only to be retracted two days later.

This past Sunday, May 5, 2019, Truth & Transparency published hundreds of letters written in Portuguese by the highest leaders of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The vast majority of the letters, dating back to the 1970s, are addressed and intended only for the eyes of those possessing the title of Elder.

Each congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses is lead by a body of elders, typically comprised of six to eight men. They are the spiritual leaders for the few hundred people attending services at a specific Kingdom Hall location.

It is a regular occurrence that Watch Tower, the governing organization of the religious institution, sends letters to every body of elders in order to dictate, reiterate, or clarify policy. Occasionally, the letters direct the leaders on sensitive topics that could have a negative effect on their religious constituents.

Perhaps the most controversial of such direction came on August 1, 2016, in a letter titled “Protecting Minors From Abuse.” In this letter, elders were instructed to call Watch Tower’s legal department immediately after becoming aware of child sex abuse allegations, rather than law enforcement.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have a history of not reporting child abuse and neglect. In January 2018, Truth & Transparency released a series of 33 letters between a body of elders in Massachusetts and Watch Tower discussing the sexual abuse of three young girls at the hands of another member of the congregation. The elders never reported the instances to law enforcement.

In other religions, the knowledge of otherwise concealed policies has often empowered its membership to act. In November 2015, the New York Times reported that thousands of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints resigned their membership upon learning that children of LGBTQ parents could not be baptized into the faith. The church has since rescinded the policy.

Many of these same letters were quickly made available in English days after they were given to elders. This is the first time they are widely available to Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brazil and Portugal in their native tongue. Also published is the “Elders Manual” in Portuguese, the English version of which was published by Truth & Transparency in February 2019.

All these letters may be accessed here and here. The elders manual for those Jehovah’s Witnesses residing in Brazil is here, and for those in Portugal, here.

Also recently published are talks given by the leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses in portuguese that were originally on AvoidJW.org.

Last Thursday, President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as the Mormon Church, took to the stand and rescinded a policy that caused a massive uproar in Mormonism.

Leaked with the help of Truth & Transparency co-founder, Ryan McKnight, in November 2015, the policy in question has since been referred to as the “November policy” and sometimes as the “policy of exclusion”.

The policy named all gay Mormon couples apostates and forbade their children from being baptized until the age of 18. The announcement garnered national media attention and caused many to resign from the Church

On April 4, 2019, President Oaks altered the policy. In a statement released by the Church’s Newsroom, Oaks stated that that “children of parents who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender may be baptized without First Presidency approval.”

He added that, while gay marriage is still viewed as a “serious transgression” those that are married are no longer apostates. According to the Church’s handbook, the label of apostasy warrants excommunication.

The rescission of the policy created as large a shock as its implementation. Hundreds of Mormons took to social media to express their surprise, praise, and excitement. However, the reaction in the LGBT community did not express the same sentiments.

Weston Clark, board member of Equality Utah compared the Church's actions to gardening in a statement made to ABC4 News. He stated, “You can't plant weeds in your own backyard and then pick them and expect everybody to congratulate you for doing so.”

Similarly, dozens shared a quote from Malcolm X saying that progress is not “[sticking] a knife in a man's back nine inches and then [pulling] it out six inches”.

But, perhaps the most powerful statements since Thursday were the various forms of protest that happened at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City during the Church’s world-wide 189th Annual General Conference.

Dozens of LGBT individuals and allies took the street corner and stood in solidarity with gay and transgender pride flags in hand. River Jude August, an agender individual and one of the protesters, said they participated out of “solidarity with our queer family whose lives we lost because of the 2015 policy”.

August continued by saying, “Some of the most beautiful people are queer, like Bertita,” referring to Berta Marquez, a popular LGBT activist whose suicide in June 2018 sent shockwaves through both the Mormon and LGBT communities.

August says that leaving Mormonism saved their life and that the pain they and so many other LGBT individuals experienced is “irreconcilable”. They feel the Church rescinded the policy to “stop the hemorrhaging form the amount of members that have left the Church”.

June Hiatt, a queer woman who resigned from the Church shortly after the November policy, said it is time to have an honest and frank discussion about how the Church has historically treated the LGBT community. “The Church has always been anti-gay,” she said. “This policy does not change that.”

She added, “I think that’s the conversation we need to start having in open spaces, that the Church does not support the queer community.”

Hiatt says she has lost two LGBT friends to suicide “because of how the Church treated them”. One of these friends endured conversion therapy after, according to Hiatt, his bishop suggested it.

Another group of LGBT persons, identifying as active Mormons, held signs encouraging others to put differences aside and “hug a Latter Gay Saint” or a “transgender Mormon”. Peter Moosman, a gay Mormon, has been participating in this action since April 2016, the first General Conference following the November policy.

In a public Facebook post, Moosman said he started these actions because he “wanted queer members to have a glimmer of hope that they weren't alone.” Adding that “representation and visibility [matter]” and that he knows that life is “dark, lonely, and defeating” for LGBT Mormons still “in the closet.”

When asked if this action carried particular weight, Moosman told Truth & Transparency that it did because his face was featured in a picture published by Buzzfeed News covering the policy change. He noted that the “atmosphere” felt different. He explained that saying “people would occasionally approach us and ask us how we’re feeling about the policy rescission.”

Moosman also noted that they received “considerably less hugs” on Sunday morning during the silent protest that happened adjacent to Moosman’s action.

While the reactions from passersby were mixed, Blaire Ostler, a queer Mormon woman who participated in the hug campaign, reports that most were positive. She shared several such reactions on Facebook.

Ostler recounted a favorite incident when a man and his son approached and embraced her. The father then said “These things take time. Try to be patient with the knuckleheads who just don’t get it yet.”

Moosman reported that his first positive reaction came when a young woman approached him and confided in him that she was pansexual. He felt he was able to help her in that moment after speaking with her about “having hope, building confidence, and the power of authenticity”.

Moosman says he has since given thousands of hugs at these events and that this was the first instance in which he didn’t have any “negative or hostile face-to-face interactions”. Rather, he received a “flood of vitriolic attacks”, including a death threat, from anonymous persons online.

The two LGBT groups have certainly responded differently to their religion’s teachings regarding their sexuality, some having left the Church and others hoping to promote change from within. Those decisions were made apparent in the different ways they chose to protest this past weekend. However, both groups agree that this adjustment in policy is not enough.

Header photo: silent protesters outside the Conference Center in Salt Lake City wield transgender and gay pride flags on April 7, 2019. Photo courtesy of June Hiatt.

In 2003, Alonzo Gaskill joined the faculty of the Department of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University’s (BYU) College of Religious Education. Gaskill had just completed eight years working at the Mormon Church’s Institute of Religion, part of the Church Educational System (CES), in Palo Alto, CA teaching Mormon doctrine to college-aged adults.

He originally applied to teach in the Department of Ancient Scripture, but his application was denied. He subsequently applied to his current department where many professors with backgrounds in CES roles hold positions.

He was accepted for the position despite having earned his Ph.D. from Trinity Theological Seminary in 2000, an institution lacking regional or national accreditation. Presently, he is the only faculty member of the department without an accredited doctorate degree. According to his vitae, he earned a Master’s of Arts in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 1996.

The February prior to joining BYU, Deseret Book, the Mormon Church’s publishing arm, released a book penned by Gaskill titled, The Lost Language of Symbolism: An Essential Guide for Recognizing and Interpreting Symbols of the Gospel. In this book, Gaskill “explains the origins and meanings of the rich symbolism found in the scriptures . . .”

Upon investigation, it was found that many ideas and phrases in this book were directly copied from InterVarsity Press’s Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. While Gaskill cited the book several times in footnotes, verbatim words and phrases were not correctly attributed. For example, this assertion appears on page 28 of The Lost Language of Symbolism without quotation and can be found on page 43 of Dictionary of Biblical Imagery:

“Depending on the context, the image of an arm in scripture can represent power in good or evil circumstances…The outstretched arm is always a symbol of God’s power being exercised, whether in creation . . . , judgment . . . , or deliverance of his people . . .”

The University was made aware of this plagiarism on February 21, 2019 when the College of Religious Education and the Academic Vice President’s office received a document, written by a third-party, outlining the concerns. In an analysis “[constituting] only a few weekends”, the author of the document found Gaskill plagiarising from Dictionary of Biblical Imagery 11 times.

Additionally the document claims numerous cases of self-plagiarism in which Gaskill republished or reused ideas, phrases, and entire excerpts from his previous works without proper indication. The author suspects that many more instances of both plagiarism or self-plagiarism would be found in Gaskill’s work “if an exhaustive study was completed”.

Truth & Transparency was able to confirm the infringements described in the document.

Standards Broken

The BYU Honor Code, the standards that all students and employees agree to uphold while working or attending the institution, says the following about plagiarism:

“Intentional plagiarism is a form of intellectual theft that violates recognized principles of academic integrity as well as the Honor Code. Such plagiarism may subject the student to appropriate disciplinary action administered through the university Honor Code Office, in addition to academic sanctions that may be applied by an instructor.”

Gaskill addressed this standard in at least one of his course syllabi saying, “It is a violation of the Honor Code for a student to represent someone else’s work as his/her own.”

The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the accrediting body to which BYU belongs, addresses plagiarism under their standards of academic freedom stating:

“Individuals with teaching responsibilities present scholarship fairly, accurately, and objectively. Derivative scholarship acknowledges the source of intellectual property, and personal views, beliefs, and opinions are identified as such.”

Past and Current Investigations

This is not the first time that BYU has dealt with plagiarism from this particular department. In 1998, Bruce Van Orden came under fire for copying the work of multiple authors in his book, Building Zion: The Latter-day Saints in Europe.

According to Deseret News, Van Orden stated the plagiarism was not a result of “malicious intent”, apologized to all the authors whose work he copied, and was permitted to continue teaching at BYU.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation claimed that both the present investigation into Gaskill and the 1998 investigation into Van Orden were delegated to Alex Baugh, the current Chair of the Church History and Doctrine department. They alleged that Baugh has neglected the current investigation and that an investigation is essentially non-existent.

Baugh was contacted in effort corroborate these claims, but did not return the request for comment. However, Carri Jenkins, spokeswoman for BYU, stated “We take these matters very seriously and are conducting a thorough review.”

It is unknown how much time is needed to conduct and conclude such an investigation. Each opinion given to Truth & Transparency varied. Ms. Jenkins was asked when the review could be expected to conclude and action taken. This article will be updated should she respond.

When contacted, Gaskill directed comment to the University.

Defense of a Forgery

In addition to this plagiarism, in 2014 Gaskill published The Lost Teachings of Jesus on the Sacred Place of Women, a book heavily based on Nicolas Notovitch’s 1894 book, The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ. Notovitch’s book is known among scholars as a forgery, but Gaskill fails to explicitly recognize this claim.

After public criticism, Gaskill addressed the concern, in which he blamed the oversight on the “reviewers” of his original manuscript who encouraged him to remove his original “[discussion of the] controversy surrounding the text.” Despite criticism, the claims were never retracted and the book remains in publication.

At the time, Gaskill held the position of Associate Professor, but has since been promoted in Full Professor. Nearly all the junior faculty members do not come from backgrounds in CES, whereas nine of the 11 senior professors do.

Update March 21, 2019 11:30 am: This article originally claimed that “many of the current Assistant Professors in the Department of Church History and Doctrine who have applied for promotions as tenured professors have been promptly denied.” This is not true. Truth & Transparency retracts the statement and regrets the oversight.

On February 4, 2019, rumors of the release of a new Elders manual, meant only for the eyes of the top leaders in each congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW), began to surface on ex-JW forums across the Internet. Less than 24 hours later, the manual was leaked and seemingly non-stop analysis and comparison to previous versions began.

The secretive manual is only distributed to those who hold the position of Elder. Showing the manual to anyone else is strictly forbidden.. Each congregation is lead by a group of men known as the Body of Elders, all of whom hold the honored title. The manual instructs them in administering to their congregation and how the Elders above them can assist in their duties. Topics also include pornography, child abuse, and “medical matters”.

According to Jason Wynne, founder of AvoidJW.org, previous versions of this manual left much “open to interpretation by bodies of elders,” but “the language has been significantly simplified to be clear, concise and direct” in this latest edition.

Child Sex Abuse

One notable and significant change lies in the chapter addressing child abuse. The manual clearly states “the victim, her parents, or anyone else who reports such an allegation to the elders should be clearly informed that they have the right to report the matter to the secular authorities.”

This is undoubtedly a welcome change among abuse survivor advocates. While the family is not necessarily encouraged to go to the authorities, the mere recognition of their right is an improvement in JW policy. There are countless stories in which survivors of sexual abuse and their families chose not  — in some cases even actively discouraged — to report the incident to authorities because of JW beliefs that all organizations, outside the religion itself, are corrupt.

In January 2018, Truth & Transparency released letters thoroughly documenting one such instance.

Branch Manual

In addition to the already released Elders manual, today the Truth & Transparency also releases another internal manual, often informally referred to as the “branch manual”. The January 2015 edition of the same manual was used as an exhibit in an investigation conducted by the Australian government into child sex abuse, but chapters four and five were nearly entirely redacted. Today the largely revised August 2018 edition is published without redactions.

This manual is only distributed to the highest leaders within Watch Tower (WT), the governing JW organization. A group of eight men comprise the Governing Body, the most senior leaders of the organization. Below them are six Branch Committees, each responsible for administering a specific area of the worldwide religion. The branch manual is for members of the Governing Body and the Branch Committees only.

Jennifer Torres, an ex-JW, says that she would have benefited greatly as an active JW from seeing this manual, especially as a woman. “If you were to ask a JW woman, they would have no idea how the Branch Committees affect them,” she says.

When Torres’ family experienced inappropriate interactions with leaders in her congregation, they reported the problem, but it did not improve. Assuming the problem was isolated to only their congregation they moved to a different one. The problem persisted and little did she realize that it was systemic, something that publicly publishing the branch manual would have empowered her to know and make suggestions to correct it.

Data Privacy

In addition to the light shed on the systemic workings and problems of Watch Tower (WT), Torres is interested to see if WT has changed their approach to the destruction of records. The 2003 branch manual, leaked in 2011, shows that they do not destroy records even if a JW voluntarily disassociates with the Church.

Such policies have changed, undoubtedly in response to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The manual now states in Chapter 3 paragraph 103(d):

“If a data subject requests access to, correction of, or deletion of personal data or sensitive personal data about himself, the organization will fairly consider granting the request by balancing the interests of the individual in gaining access or correcting or deleting data against the legitimate religious interests of the organization, including whether granting the request would endanger the organization’s right to religious freedom and practice.”

In April 2018, Truth & Transparency released documents in various European languages that Jehovah’s Witnesses in the EU were asked to sign. By doing so, they agree that they “consent to the use of my personal data so that I may participate in some religious activities in connection with my worship. . .”

Watch Tower did not respond to request for comment before this story was published.

View the August 2018 branch manual here.

View the January 2018 branch manual here.

View the January 2019 elders manual here.

The Mormon Church, formally the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has long maintained a neutral position regarding political parties and candidates. They do, however, explicitly reserve the right to call attention to issues that they feel have a significant impact on church members.

A local leader of the Mormon Church in San Clemente, California exercised that right last month, ahead of an information session held by the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD), to discuss the proposed adoption of a new comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) curriculum for middle school students. The proposed curriculum change is part of ongoing efforts by many California school districts to comply with the state’s California Healthy Youth Act, which took effect in 2016.

According to an email obtained by the Truth & Transparency Foundation (TTF), and published on MormonLeaks, a Mormon leader, known as a Stake President, asked members to attend one of the three information sessions and express their opposition to the proposed curriculum changes. According to the Stake President, the proposed curriculum contains “...highly offensive, controversial, age-inappropriate and inaccurate material that would be inconsistent with the standards of any home, family or parent in our stake.” It is unclear what specific proposal he is referring to and requests for comment from the Mormon Church have gone unanswered.

Recipients of the email are told to visit the home page of United Parents, a local organization that helps parents fight against the CSE curriculum changes. The website provides scripted comments and questions that parents can ask at informational meetings or during other interactions with politicians involved in passing the curriculum. Additionally, the email instructs the recipients to not identify as members of the Mormon Church and to not make any statements that would suggest they officially represent the church.