Coercion at its worst: religious mandated shunning

by Yomama 15 Replies latest jw friends

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  LongHairGal

  MEAN MR. MUSTARD:

  Good post. I really don’t see HOW anybody can stop people from shunning.

  I know there’s a lot of emotion tied up with this. I agree with you that when JWs shun somebody they either do so because they agree with the religion OR they are too cowardly to oppose it because they are worried about how people in the religion will view them! These idiots are paranoid about how they appear. In fact, I would say this is part of the religion: the visuals of how things ‘look’. It’s all about optics.

  I really do feel the only way legally the JWs can be forced to change their behavior regarding shunning is IF a minor is being harmed or being cast out of their house, etc. Other than that, if adults are involved and shunning other adults (even if they are relatives) then Nobody can do anything about it!

  You cannot force people to associate or socialize with other adults they do not wish to or compel people to talk to any adult they don’t want to in a social or personal setting. The only way this will all end is if the JW religion dies out..Anybody who thinks otherwise is beating their head against a wall.
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  BluesBrother

  “Good post. I really don’t see HOW anybody can stop people from shunning.“”

  The WT could modify it in one simple article. I remember back in the 70s when the attitude toward the d/f’d was different. Articles gave examples of , say you spot a d/f’d sister whose car had broken down, they say it would not be showing neighbour love to refuse to help , as we would to anybody. They said then that it was a withdrawal of spiritual fellowship . I know at that time some level of family contact was practiced but no attempt to “ bring them back”

  That did not last. The pendulum swung back and now they are stricter than ever before…

  
  
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  Hopeless1

  Long Hair Girl, I believe you are absolutely correct on this one. No-one can force someone to not shun another person, deep emotions, whatever they are, are certainly involved.

  After 60 years of being one of JWs, (was not born in either), I have observed that many if not most Jehovah’s witnesses see a disfellowshipped person as one who ranks alongside Judas Iscariot, - a traitor to the cause, - as someone who has walked away from everything that is true, noble upright etc, to go pursue their own selfish course in life. Someone who has betrayed them and their god.

  For the record, I never ostracised or shunned anyone in my life, it never seemed a Christian thing to do, and I know there were others that felt the same as myself including some very old-timers who were from the Bible Student era.

  Now that I no longer associate at all, I find myself tending to shun them, I am gradually albeit if slowly, building friendships with people that seem more kind and charitable than most Witnesses I have known in the last few decades. (Elderly husband still in, sadly)

  However, publicity about their shunning practice cannot go amiss as it will hopefully alert any prospective Bible studies before they commit themselves.
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  LongHairGal

  HOPELESS1:

  Thanks! Did you see the decision made by Norway against the JW religion?

  It’s a step in the right direction and hopefully it will alert the world about the religion’s shunning practices among other things they hide from the public! Maybe people here with relatives stuck in the religion might see a little relief in the shunning?? One can always hope.

  Thankfully, I have no family there and this religion can ‘shove it’. May the phony facade they present to the unsuspecting public be stripped away. The world deserves to know what really happens inside this religion once somebody is in. 👍🏻
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  Anony Mous

  Here is the thing, in Europe, a government CAN demand that you do or don’t say certain things, in that sense Patrick is right; if your government can mandate a better treatment of others, then they should do so, whatever the basis is they use to mandate the right to demand you don’t disparage Islam or gays or people with perceived gender disorder, they can also mandate that you don’t disparage exJWs.

  In the end those types of societies and laws end up with a segregated society, the exact thing they say they intend to prevent. You also end up with logical contradictions in law, such as you can’t disparage exJWs but saying that the faith of Islam/JW are evil is also disparaging.

  However, I disagree that it is a human right, you can’t mandate a right. A right is the absence of government regulation.
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  Vidiot

  I think targeting the WT's "charity status" violations are the way to go.

  The fact that they've quietly bend over backwards trying to keep it over the years suggests that they are far more financially dependent on it than we'd previously thought.