The Copenhagen Post - March 9, 2009
A television documentary has reportedly uncovered cases of child abuse in two religious groups
Two religious groups have been reported to the police for abusing children, after an investigative journalism documentary was televised on Sunday evening by public broadcaster DR.
Several child and teen members of the groups Father House and Evangelist said on the programme that they had regularly experienced physical beatings and forms of mental torture that included the driving out of demons.
Social Democrat Lars Rasmussen, a city council member, reported the two religious groups to the police on Monday.
It is the second time that Father House has been reported to the police for alleged child abuse. Police were forced to drop a similar case in November due to a lack of evidence.
According to DR, children’s rights advocacy group Børns Vilkår has been aware of some of the accusations against the organisations for some time, but it has been unable to intervene due to the groups’ closed-door policies.
Evangelist refuted the charges through a written statement to the station.
‘We have never been charged with these violations before. We are astonished over the criticism. There are a lot of families that come to us with difficult problems and we often help to get children from wrecked families re-established so they can again function normally,’ read the statement.
Evangelist’s founder, Christian Hedegaard, has indicated he plans to sue DR over the programme and its allegations.
This article was found at:
http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/45002-child-abuse-allegations-for-religious-groups.html
Showing posts with label Faderhuset. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faderhuset. Show all posts
10 Mar 2009
9 Mar 2009
Evangelist sect will sue Danish broadcaster over child abuse documentary
Politiken - Denmark March 9, 2009
Evangelist to sue DR
Edited by Julian Isherwood
The national broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) can expect to be sued following Sunday’s documentary about the Christian fundamentalist Evangelist and Faderhuset sects.
The documentary, carried in the “21 Søndag programme, contended that children associated with the groups are traumatized and even subjected to torture-like treatment.
The programme has already resulted in a Copenhagen Social Democratic councillor Lars Rasmussen reporting both Evangelist and Faderhuset to the police.
Dirty tricksThe founder of Evangelist – Christian Hedegaard – has told Hillerødposten that he intends to sue DR.
“I understand that DR has done a dirty trick at home. We will be suing them. This is one of the worst things that we have been subjected to yet,” Hedegaard says in an email to Hillerødposten. Hedegaard is currently on a missionary visit to the United States and has not yet seen the documentary.
DemonsIn the programme, an eight-year-old girl tells of her fear of Evangelist members thinking she has a demon in her.
“I’m afraid that they think I have a demon – because then the adults will hold me and shout in my face,” she writes to the Børns Vilkår (Children’s Welfare in Denmark) organization.
Other children tell of torture-like experiences at a Faderhuset camp in which they are closed in and subjected to violence.
Evangelist: Deeply offensiveEvangelist management has called a news conference at its headquarters in Hillerød, and says in an email to politiken.dk:
“We feel that DR1’s connection between Evangelist and the case about child neglect at Faderhuset is deeply offensive and mendacious. We have no contacts with Faderhuset and distance ourselves from the things that are described in the programme,” the email says.
This article was found at:
http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article665311.ece
RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG
Claims of torture against Faderhuset sect in Denmark
Danish evangelical Christian cult accused of abusing children
Evangelist to sue DR
Edited by Julian Isherwood
The national broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) can expect to be sued following Sunday’s documentary about the Christian fundamentalist Evangelist and Faderhuset sects.
The documentary, carried in the “21 Søndag programme, contended that children associated with the groups are traumatized and even subjected to torture-like treatment.
The programme has already resulted in a Copenhagen Social Democratic councillor Lars Rasmussen reporting both Evangelist and Faderhuset to the police.
Dirty tricksThe founder of Evangelist – Christian Hedegaard – has told Hillerødposten that he intends to sue DR.
“I understand that DR has done a dirty trick at home. We will be suing them. This is one of the worst things that we have been subjected to yet,” Hedegaard says in an email to Hillerødposten. Hedegaard is currently on a missionary visit to the United States and has not yet seen the documentary.
DemonsIn the programme, an eight-year-old girl tells of her fear of Evangelist members thinking she has a demon in her.
“I’m afraid that they think I have a demon – because then the adults will hold me and shout in my face,” she writes to the Børns Vilkår (Children’s Welfare in Denmark) organization.
Other children tell of torture-like experiences at a Faderhuset camp in which they are closed in and subjected to violence.
Evangelist: Deeply offensiveEvangelist management has called a news conference at its headquarters in Hillerød, and says in an email to politiken.dk:
“We feel that DR1’s connection between Evangelist and the case about child neglect at Faderhuset is deeply offensive and mendacious. We have no contacts with Faderhuset and distance ourselves from the things that are described in the programme,” the email says.
This article was found at:
http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article665311.ece
RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG
Claims of torture against Faderhuset sect in Denmark
Danish evangelical Christian cult accused of abusing children
22 Oct 2008
Claims of torture against Faderhuset sect in Denmark
Politiken.dk - Denmark
October 22, 2008
Former members of the Faderhuset sect speak of physical and psychological torture training of children down to the age of 10.
edited by Julian Isherwood
Children of the Faderhuset religious sect have been trained to withstand torture in order that they could preach the gospel in Muslim countries, according to Samuel Hesselberg, who was a sect member for seven years.
Handle tortureCamps were designed to prepare children for their role as evangelists according to Hesselberg.
"We wanted to prepare them for torture. Children down to the age of 10 have been through this military camp. We had direct torture in which they were trained to handle physical pain and psychological torture," Hesselberg tells Kristeligt Dagblad.
Hesselberg, who claims to have been one of the leaders of the camps, says they were the experience that he regrets most from his time at Faderhuset.
Hit by Evensen's husbandOther former members of the sect have also spoken of abuse.
Music Teacher Niels Eric Werner entered the Faderhuset sect for a short period last year and met several children he felt had been abused.
"One child, who was eight or nine at the time, was locked away in a room for three days. On another occasion the child was hit by Ruth Evensen's husband Knut Evensen and came to me to ask if I could help report the case to the police," says Werner.
ExorcismThe association for children's conditions Foreningen Børn Vilkår says it has received information over the past year that gives cause for concern about conditions for 44 sect children. The information suggests that they have been subject to neglect and abuse.
"The problem is much greater than we had imagined. What was explained to us was children who were physically and psychologically punished and subjected to things like exorcism," says Bente Boserup of Børns Vilkår.
Defended FaderhusetBørns Vilkår was wary of the fact that information about Faderhuset could have been given as revenge on the part of those who left the organisation, but found quite the opposite.
"There was a tendency to play down rather than exaggerate and they defended Faderhuset. It was not revenge, as they would have made it much more dramatic. These were also people who recounted the same things independent of each other," says Boserup.
Faderhuset has declined to comment on the allegations.
This article was found at:
http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article585770.ece
October 22, 2008
Former members of the Faderhuset sect speak of physical and psychological torture training of children down to the age of 10.
edited by Julian Isherwood
Ruth Evensen of the Faderhuset sect. The sect is alleged to have subjected children down to the age of ten to physical and psychological torture. - Foto: Jacob Ehrbahn
Handle tortureCamps were designed to prepare children for their role as evangelists according to Hesselberg.
"We wanted to prepare them for torture. Children down to the age of 10 have been through this military camp. We had direct torture in which they were trained to handle physical pain and psychological torture," Hesselberg tells Kristeligt Dagblad.
Hesselberg, who claims to have been one of the leaders of the camps, says they were the experience that he regrets most from his time at Faderhuset.
Hit by Evensen's husbandOther former members of the sect have also spoken of abuse.
Music Teacher Niels Eric Werner entered the Faderhuset sect for a short period last year and met several children he felt had been abused.
"One child, who was eight or nine at the time, was locked away in a room for three days. On another occasion the child was hit by Ruth Evensen's husband Knut Evensen and came to me to ask if I could help report the case to the police," says Werner.
ExorcismThe association for children's conditions Foreningen Børn Vilkår says it has received information over the past year that gives cause for concern about conditions for 44 sect children. The information suggests that they have been subject to neglect and abuse.
"The problem is much greater than we had imagined. What was explained to us was children who were physically and psychologically punished and subjected to things like exorcism," says Bente Boserup of Børns Vilkår.
Defended FaderhusetBørns Vilkår was wary of the fact that information about Faderhuset could have been given as revenge on the part of those who left the organisation, but found quite the opposite.
"There was a tendency to play down rather than exaggerate and they defended Faderhuset. It was not revenge, as they would have made it much more dramatic. These were also people who recounted the same things independent of each other," says Boserup.
Faderhuset has declined to comment on the allegations.
This article was found at:
http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article585770.ece
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