Shunning/Ostracising

DevonMcBride

The past few weeks I have been comnunicating with jw's in my area who attend KH meetings physically but not mentally. They are "closet apostates" or "double agents". Some are planning to leave the area altogether to avoid the hassles of being shunned.

According to one of these "closet apostates", he believes that 30% if not more of the members in his congregation would leave if it were not for the shunning. We are living in a free country, but these people are not free. The U.S. Constitution allows the Watchtower, and other cults to shun. This is a form of mental abuse. Shunning is dangerous resulting in suicide and attempted suicide in many who have been shunned.

While it's difficult to change this loophole in the law, we can do a few things.
1. Everyone should contact their local politicians. The only way to make changes in Government is through them.
2. Educate the public on shunning. Before last year, I never knew what shunning was and never guessed religions practiced this. I am willing to bet 90% of the "worldly" public doesn't know this either. If it got around that the WT tells mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters to disown, or disassociate themselves from family that has exercised their free will to leave the Society, it would be an embarrassment to the Watchtower Society. They're losing many members due to the internet, the last thing they need is more bad press.

Please encourage local media to do stories on shunning.

Devon

Marilyn

We really need a guestimate of how many people are being shunned. The public aren't interested unless they know someone personally who is affected, or if there are sufficient numbers which case it makes people sit up and think. Generally the public don't care about minority groups. :-(

nativenyr23

Excellent point.
Excellent idea.

blindfool

Sorry, I don't agree here.
The problem is, no one ever forced anyone to become a JW.
We may live in a free country, but with that freedom comes responsibility. We don't need more laws that protect us from our- selves.
Everytime we look to the government to fix our problems, we lose a little more freedom. Think personal responsibility not government intervention.

BDF
from the treasure your freedom class

dungbeetle

>The public aren't interested unless they know someone personally who is affected, or if there are sufficient numbers which case it makes people sit up and think.<

There is another, lesser known facet to the Watchtower's shunning/expulsion doctine. A facet that, if known by the public, would cause them--and especially their political representatives--to sit up and take notice.

And that facet is, the social expenses that are incurred.

1) When Witnesses and ex-Witnesses go to court over child custody, (the shunning/expulsion doctrine almost always being the culprit here)that is added expense for the taxpayers. Jehovah's Witnesses being on the bottom rung of the money pole (by virtual of the previous discouragement of 'higher' education) they do not pay in anywhere NEAR as much money in taxes as they take out in social services becasue they do not 'love their neighbors as themselves'.

2) When the blood issue comes up, obviously more JW's would take blood if not for the shunning/expulsion doctrine. So that endless stream of court hearings is more tax burdens to be borne by the public, becasue JW's don't treat their brothers with love and forgiveness '77 times' over.

3) The shunning and expulsion doctrine contributes to Jehovah's Witnesses' really screwed up kids, many of whom go on to need a good deal of help at taxpayer's expense. Just read the personal experiences here on the forum and on Silentlamb's site; many have had to get help from tax-based social support systems. When I read these stories, I am so glad we have a tax system in place for people like this, however imperfect it may be.

4) And then there are the human lives; the future doctors, lawyers,artists, musicians, scientists that could-have-been. Like the Freeman, Longo, Bryant, and Slack children. What dollar amount can you put to that?

So waddya figure the JW"s cost the taxpayers here in the US? 1 million? 2 million? 5 milliom? Per year?

And the lost years---don't even get me started on the lost and unrecoverable years...

DakotaRed

I can go along with educating the public and media with the notion and truth of shunning, but disagree on contacting Politicians. The last thing needed is Government interference.

As already stated, no one is forced to become a JW, save maybe a few that were born into it. Even they have the right to leave if they choose.

We have already allowed too many of our freedoms under the constitution to be amended and restricted. If we allow or encourage religiuos restrictions as well, which one will be next?

Write letters to the editors and inform the public of the rudeness associated with becoming a dub, but refrian from contacting the Govt. Give them an inch and they'll take everything you have.

If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?

dungbeetle

>As already stated, no one is forced to become a JW,<

This is not true. The Watchtower has shown, in its own publications, that many of their members are mentally and emotionally ill. While it's true that these people aren't 'forced' in the accepted sense of the word, they are not free to 'choose' NOT to join, and they are not always free to 'deapart' either.

A case in point is the Longos and the Freemans and the Salcks and more too many to number. These people were very ill, clinically ill and needed intervention, even forced intervention. None of these people are 'free', but the only way to help them is through the legal system.

We DO need political involvement to solve this issue, and to save lives. That's what we pay these politicians to do. What we do not need, however, is for THEM to do all the intervention.

No, there are plenty of people who are willing, through their own means, to hold the Watchtower accountable for deceptive recruiting tactics and all teh other harm they do. What we need, are for the politicians/legal system to remove the barriers, those things that prevent us from receiving justice.

We need everybody to just get out of our way!!!!

Sunspot

>>Please encourage local media to do stories on shunning.

Devon, I have been knocking myself OUT trying to do this----from "letters to the Editor" across the nation, to ANY newspaper forum (I have a list of U.S states, cities & towns' newspapers)but as MILDLY and non-inflammatorily as I "word" these topics, they get deleted......somehow, as MUCH as the average person gets annoyed and irritated by JWs, the deleters-in-wait decide to do their thang and eliminate just about everything I post.

I caption them as "PLEASE READ", or "Save the Kids", or "Who is REALLY at your door?", and I stay up til 3-4 AM posting these things, only to check back at 9:00 AM and find them deleted. I get SO heartsick and frustrated........

I stumbled across a site last week (local, mine) where county issues were discussed, and people were calling each other ***holes and ****heads about a LEASH law, so I figured that MY polite and people-friendly posts about being aware of WHO was at your door offering home bible studies, including the URL for silentlambs....would escape the deleter's axe.........but not so. I could JUST cry!!!

I got so pissed off (I'd had a few great replies on one, and they were deleting my post AS I was answering a reply!!!!)that I posted how foolish it was to suppress important info that could HELP the community.....but maybe they'll feel differently when someone in THEIR family gets sucked in by the WTS and their entire family is negatively affected!

Honestly, I don't KNOW what it will take, politicians, whatever, to get INVOLVED in this mind-manipulation at the doors, freely ALLOWING the WTS/JWs to prey upon unsuspecting folks and turn their lives and their minds upside down.

How DO we get the Legislators/Editors/TV networks to LISTEN??????

It beats the hell outta ME!

Hugs,

Annie

JW Elders treat the sheep like mushrooms--keep them in the dark and feed them pure manure.

DevonMcBride

>The problem is, no one ever forced anyone to become a JW.
We may live in a free country, but with that freedom comes responsibility. We don't need more laws that protect us from our- selves.
Everytime we look to the government to fix our problems, we lose a little more freedom. Think personal responsibility not government intervention.<

How many JW bible studies were told about the shunning policy when they first started studying? When asked about this from non-jw's, JW's usually lie. By the time a new bible study learns of this they are usually already indoctrinated. This is misrepresentation.

Why shouldn't the gov't step in? They stepped in to outlaw brainwashing and deprogramming. If it protects the public why not?

Devon

mpatrick

Hi Devon!
I think you make an excellent point!

For one, consider how many were baptized as minors, and yet this decision that so many chose at such a young age is held against them for the rest of their lives. You can't drink until your 21, you can't get married until your 18 (in most states) without parental consent, you can't drive until your 16, yet we see ones as young as 12 getting baptized all the time. I think I was only 14, or 15 years old myself. Infact, five of my immediate family members were baptized in their early teens. It seems that there should at least be a law for minors, and ones baptized as minors.

One of my disfellowshipped brothers admits he only got baptized because of peer pressure and because he wasn't included in things.

And, I totally disagree with the comment about "no one ever forced anyone to become a JW"....my parents forced it upon me, I wasn't given a choice!

mpatrick

He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.-Thomas Fuller

Shunning/Ostracising

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