Australia Newspaper alerts: JWs likens "defectors to 'contagious deadly disease'
by Gayle 43 Replies latest social current
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life is to short
Great new the more the word gets out the better.
LITS
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Desilusionnee
(((Great News)))!!!
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Mickey mouse
THE official magazine of the Jehovah's Witnesses - the church best known for its doorknocking to gain recruits - has described those who quit the religion as "mentally diseased".
A members-only version of the Watchtower magazine, which states official church doctrine, describes defectors from the religion as apostates and likens them to someone infected with a "contagious, deadly disease ... who seeks to infect others".
The magazine instructs Jehovah's Witnesses to avoid greeting or speaking to anyone who has left the religion so they cannot be "deceived" by them.
It also tells them they should never watch a TV show or visit websites that highlight "fabricated" criticism of the religion and reinforces a directive that parents should shun children who are expelled from or quit the religion.
The religion's tactic of "disfellowshipping" and shunning those who quit the religion or dispute official church teachings will come under scrutiny at a national conference in Canberra next month that aims to alert lawmakers to the need for tougher laws to protect vulnerable people from controlling religions.
John McAlpin, a spokesman for the Cult Information and Family Support group, said high-control religions commonly used the threat of being banished and shunned by family and friends to maintain a grip on members and silence criticism.
"Cults recruit people who think this is the next big thing in their life, but the mind control they employ is insidious," he said.
"Once they're in, people are not allowed to think for themselves and they lose control of their lives.
"They're convinced that they will be the only ones who will survive the destruction of the world, that theirs is the one true religion and are threatened that if they leave the cult they will lose their family."
The seminar will be co-hosted by independent Senator Nick Xenophon, who has raised concerns in Parliament about Scientology and the Exclusive Brethren in the past.
Figures from Jehovah's Witnesses show that they have 65,000 active door-to-door preachers in Australia and that more than 1200 were baptised as members last year.
A major sociological study of the religion by English researcher Andrew Holden found that devotees were urged to limit their contact with the outside world and typically ended up with a social circle consisting only of other Jehovah's Witnesses.
This, the study found, added to their trauma if they wished to leave.
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Chemical Emotions
Yes, yes, yes!
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cantleave
Ohhhhhhh YESS!!!!!!
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cedars
Great news erupting across mutliple threads!
It will be fascinating to see if anything comes from the conference that they have planned.
I'm wondering whether it might be worthwhile if our Aussie friends try writing to Senator Nick Xenophon (he sounds like he should be a comic book hero?) in advance of the conference? He already appears to be on the case with the Scientologists - maybe we can raise his awareness of the impact of shunning on the JW community?
Here's the man himself:
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ohiocowboy
This is a really good article in the fact that it doesn't sugar coat things that the JW's say and believe, and tells it like it really is in a straight forward, no holds barred way.
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Glander
The Catholic church called them "heretics".
Most of us remember from history the fate of "heretics", whether Catholics or Puritan prostestants. Death wasn't enough, they had to be tortured by fire, water or mechanical means. Then their bodies were put into cages and hung in public places until they dissolved.Noun 1. heretic - a person who holds religious beliefs in conflict with the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church misbeliever, religious outcast castaway, outcast, pariah, Ishmael - a person who is rejected (from society or home) 2. heretic - a person who holds unorthodox opinions in any field (not merely religion) recusant, nonconformist - someone who refuses to conform to established standards of conduct -
Glander
dbl post
