Welcome to the board. It does get a little rough around here so try not to let anyone get under your skin. Dave
Dr. Bergman
by Jerry Bergman 109 Replies latest watchtower medical
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GermanXJW
I have known Richard for over a decade now and he has become an apologists for the WT.
Well take a look what this apologist for the WT says about Crisis of Conscience:
"Het unieke en integere relaas van Franz laat niet alleen zien wat zich achter de schermen van het leiderschap van de Jehovah's Getuigen afspeelt. Het is tevens een schoolvoorbeeld van de wetmatigheid dat in religieuze groeperingen het charisma van de stichters na verloop van tijd plaats moet maken voor de bureaucratie van de opvolgers.'"
( http://home.planet.nl/~pijke000/)For those not fluent in > 10 languages:
"The unique and integer story by Franz does not only show what is going on behind the curtain of the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses. It is also a good example for the law that in religious groups the founder's charisma after some time is replaced by the follower's bureaucracy."
This does not sound like an apologist for the WT to me. Neither does the fact that Singelenberg contacted the AJWRB, offering themsupport and wishing good luck.
http://www.ajwrb.org/letters/letter2.shtml
BTW, have you not adressed the information given by Besier yet.
Edited by - GermanJW on 20 August 2002 18:4:45
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Farkel
Dr. Bergman,
Just for the record, I also made a fool over myself preaching 1975 far and wide. I laugh at the matter now, but in the middle sixties to 1972 when I finally got fed up and left, it was a BIG deal in my JW world.
I'll later address your response to me.
Farkel
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detective
Gee, Bchamb, "it's just a coincidence" would have been sufficient.
Detective
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amac
Bchamber,
I am interested in your book about English Bible Translations. Can you please post some more information about this? I think others would be interested as well.
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morrisamb
Interesting debate.
I have never read any of Mr. Bergman's writings, but reading this thread, something popped into my mind. I wonder if my molester was referring to Bergman when he wrote the following :
"As Psychiatrist and Psychologist well know, mental illness is 85 percent higher among Jehovahs Witnesses than the population as a whole. However, when a Jehovahs Witness is admitted to a mental hospital he or she are warned by the Watchtower Society never to reveal in the admission forms that they are Jehovahs Witnesses. Why? The Watchtower leaders would find that devastating to their statement that Jehovahs Witnesses are the happiest people on earth. That is what Jehovahs Witnesses say about themselves. But in reality; they are the most miserable people in the world. Their every move is controlled and monitored and they are constantly brainwashed to walk in step as robots controlled by their masters."
The full text of this letter can be found here: http://www.fatherstouch.com/molester.htm
Of course, I am prejudiced, but I think this is further proof that authors/journalists/ psychiatrists/psychologists have to make sure their information is 100% accurate. If it is proven that facts are exaggerated to fit a particular hypothesis, an entire work may discounted as bogus.
I'd say the onus was on the author to provide evidence when challenged.
In the end, once a work is published, you just never know who may quote or misquote you to further their agenda, anyway.
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Jerry Bergman
Statements like "But in reality; they are the most miserable people in the world" are hardly accurate and I never said, as one person implied, that all JWs are mentally ill. I wrote the first draft of my book when I was an active Witness and my goal was to help the Witnesses. People have completely misrepresented my work (mostly due to the Watchtower's influence). If you have to face them in court,your opinion would change very fast. They are vicious and totally unethical. I have many court documents that they wrote and I would love to put them online. Most of you would be shocked. How can I do this? I need to talk to a lawyer first as to the propriety of doing this. They are public documents so I can not see a problem. If anyone has an idea let me know. The WT will not like it though. As to Richard, yes he has said many semi-unkind things about the WT but nonetheless he has testified in court and has worked for them (and I was told, but have no direct evidence, that he was paid well). He is an ideal witness for them because he seems objective. I can not imagine a knowledgeable witness reading his article in the German journal and not cringe. I have a 20 page reply almost ready. How can I get it on here??? Someone let me know. Thanks.
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GermanXJW
I would still like to see your respond to Prof Besier.
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Jerry Bergman
I am working on it. First you must (and I stress must) read the following to understand what is going on. Bergman, J. (2002). Lying in court and religion: An analysis of the theocratic warfare doctrine of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Cultic Studies Review: An Internet Journal of Research, News, and Opinion, 1(2). http://www.culticstudiesreview.org
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Jerry Bergman
My conclusions about the mental health concerns in the Witnesses is based on about a dozen studies, some poorly done, and others are much better. Yet all of them conclude that the mental health problems among Witnesses is above average. What my critics need is 10 studies that conclude that the mental health rate is below average. No one has produced such a study. If the watchtower had even one such study they would cite it even more often than they have cited the quote about the league of nations being gods kingdom on Earth. I have responded at length in various places to the criticism of the research on the mental health of Witnesses and former Witnesses. I need to find a way to reference these articles on this site. I will give only one example. A major criticism of one of the newer studies (Spencer) is that his "sample was small" (n=50). Those who claim this do not understand research. An example is, if I did a study of Idiot Savants (a retarded person who cannot function in society, yet has a rare talent such as he can out perform a calculator) and found in every institution in the world there were a total of 10. Then I did a study of them and found their average age (the mean) was 34.4. One who did not understand statistics could try to discount this study by claiming that the sample size was small (only 10 persons! How can this be accurate?). This is not a sample, though, but a population. It is not an estimate, but a fact. The mean is not about 34 or around 34 but is 34.4. A sample is when you determine what the entire US population thinks by interviewing 200 people. Yet even here we with what seems like small samples researchers have correctly predicted every presidential election since the 1940.s (before the election, that is because people change their minds, so one needs to do this close to the election). Spencer did not use a sample but a population. He used every person institutionalized that self reported they were a Witness. I have argued that he underreported the results because in my experience many Witnesses in mental hospitals are not honest about their religious affiliation because they do not want to cause the WT to look bad. More soon (is anybody reading my posts??)