We do not burn people at the stake any more. But how far removed are we from that Dark Ages ritual when we tear families apart through the misuse of disfellowshipping by misapplying scriptures such as 1 Corinthians 5:11 and 2 John 9-11? With that thought in mind, please consider the following:
In her book, The Sociopath Next Door, Dr. Martha Stout’s working definition of a sociopath is one completely devoid of conscience. She refers to the conscience as the seventh sense. Under the subheading ‘Moral Exclusion,’ Dr. Stout suggests that whenever someone is excluded from our moral universe, ”interventions of conscience no longer apply to him. He is not human. He is an ‘it.’ And unfortunately, this transformation of a [person] into an ‘it’ makes him scarier as well.
“Sometimes people appear to deserve our moral exclusion. . . But in most cases, our tendency to reduce people to non-beings is neither considered nor conscious, and throughout history our proclivity to dehumanize has too often been turned against the essentially innocent. The list of out groups that some portion of humankind has at one time or another demoted to the status of hardly even human is extremely long.
“And once the other group has become populated by ‘its,’ anything goes, especially if someone in authority gives the order. Conscience is no longer necessary, because conscience binds us to other beings and not to ‘its.’ Conscience still exists, may even be very exacting, but it applies only to my countrymen, my friends, and my children, not yours. You may be excluded from my moral universe, and with impunity—and maybe even praise from others in my group—I can now drive you from your home, or shoot your family, or burn you alive.”
Under the subheading ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’ Dr. Stout writes: “When conscience falls into a profound trance, when it sleeps through acts of torture, war, and genocide, political leaders and other prominent individuals can make the difference between a gradual awakening of our seventh sense and a continued amoral nightmare. History teaches that attitudes and plans coming from the top dealing pragmatically with problems of hardship and insecurity in the group, rather than scapegoating an out group, can help us return to a more realistic view of the “others.” In time, moral leadership can make a difference. But history shows us also that a leader with no seventh sense can hypnotize the group conscience still further, redoubling catastrophe. Using fear-based propaganda to amplify a destructive ideology, such a leader can bring the members of a frightened society to see the ‘its’ as the sole impediment to the good life, for themselves and maybe even for humanity as a whole, and the conflict as an epic battle between good and evil. Once these beliefs have been disseminated, crushing the ‘its’ without pity or conscience can, with chilling ease, become an incontrovertible mandate.”
Interestingly, the Watch Tower Society once criticized the Catholic Church's practice of excommunicating Church members.
“The [Catholic] Hierarchy’s excommunication . . . is altogether foreign to Bible teachings.
“The Encyclopedia Britannica says that papal excommunication is not without pagan influence. . . It was therefore after Catholicism adopted its pagan practices, A.D. 325, that this new chapter in religious excommunication was written.
“Therefore, as the *pretensions* of the Hierarchy increased, the *weapon* of excommunication became the instrument by which the clergy attained a combination of *ecclesiastical power* and *secular tyranny* that finds no parallel in history.” (January 8, 1947 AWAKE!)
It follows, then, that the manner in which JWs practice disfellowshiping “is altogether foreign to Bible teachings” and not without pagan influence.” Only by misapplying 1 Cor. 5:11 and 2 John 9-11 can the Watch Tower Society justify disfellowshiping conscientious Christians who are neither unrepentant sinners nor antichrists.
Furthermore, notice the phrase “as the pretensions of the Hierarchy increased.” Is it not the height of pretentiousness for the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses to declare themselves to be the faithful and discreet slave? Not even C. T. Russell was so pretentious; rather, when asked by others if he was the faithful and discreet slave, he would reportedly respond, “Some say that I am.”