AUSTRALIA
Vice

In 2006, Australia instituted mandatory background checks for those who work with children to ensure they’re not baby touchers or prone to cooking little kids in cauldrons. But apparently, God thinks this law is wrong, at least according to the country’s Jehovah’s Witnesses, who have chosen to follow their savior’s law in lieu of their government’s and refuse to have their members screened. But an 11-year-old schoolboy from Traralgon, Victoria, has had enough. He recently filed a lawsuit against the Witnesses, declaring that this negligence is tantamount to child abuse. To learn more, I spoke with Steven Unthank, an ex-Witness who’s launched a crusade against the sect’s policies toward children and who helped the boy (who can’t be named in the press under Australian law) file the suit.

VICE: What is the rationale behind the Jehovah’s Witnesses refusing these background checks?
Steven Unthank: They believe that…