I have chosen to study children (now adults) of Jehovah's Witnesses for my Anthropology class. It's a subject near and dear to my heart, as most of you know if you read my LiveJournal.
I would like to investigate how children who are raised in the Jehovah's Witness religion deal with loss of a support network if they leave. The religion severs ties with those who leave, whether by their own choice or by disciplinary means (if by disciplinary means, the term "disfellowshipping" is used).
The question I hope to answer with this interview study is "How do people cope with having to choose between contact with friends and family and contact with the rest of the world?"
I will be interviewing six people who either left the religion as young adults or were disfellowshipped. I will try to interview three people who were re-instated as Jehovah's Witnesses, and three people who chose to not come back.
These are the questions I have prepared:
1. Were you born into the religion, or did your family join later in your life?
2. Were you baptized, and if so, what was your main motivation for being baptized?
3. Did you leave of your own accord, or were you disfellowshipped?
4. While you were in the religion, who would you have considered to be your support network?
5. Did you have friends or family outside of the religion before you left?
6. How significant was the role of religion and worship in your family's life?
7. If you were re-instated, what was your main motivation for coming back to the religion?
8. How did being raised in the religion affect you as a person?
9. Have you joined another religion, or have you decided against any organized religious group?
10. Once you left, were you able to maintain connections with friends and family within the religion?
I'm hoping these questions are neutral enough that a JW in good standing would feel okay about answering them, maybe even consider it an opportunity to witness. We'll see. I don't have an agenda, here. I just want to know what motivates people to do the things they do.
SOSC 125 (The Lucky Nun Returns)
by LuckyNun 3 Replies latest jw friends
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LuckyNun
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candidlynuts
1. Were you born into the religion, or did your family join later in your life? born into it.. great grandmother on down were witnesses.
2. Were you baptized, and if so, what was your main motivation for being baptized? baptized at 25 cuz ex dh insisted we get b'd together
3. Did you leave of your own accord, or were you disfellowshipped? faded away, got public reproof but not df'd
4. While you were in the religion, who would you have considered to be your support network? hindsight.. i didnt have one.
5. Did you have friends or family outside of the religion before you left?no
6. How significant was the role of religion and worship in your family's life? externally 100% important , internally important to myself and kids but ex was just for show
7. If you were re-instated, what was your main motivation for coming back to the religion? n/a
8. How did being raised in the religion affect you as a person? i assume everyone has authority over me and would always defer to ex. now i have a problem being around groups of people .
9. Have you joined another religion, or have you decided against any organized religious group? will not join any other religion however pray more and believe God knows my heart and Jesus is my judge not elders.
10. Once you left, were you able to maintain connections with friends and family within the religion? immediate family yes. extended family no. -
Satanus
Yes, i remember your name.
That is an excellent subject to study. It will help people who have never been jws to understand the religion, and also give authorities in various fields the opportunity to see how dangerous and destructive the wt really is.
S
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LuckyNun
would you like to expand upon your answers? I'd love you to be a part of my Anthropology paper, but I need more than just yes/no or very short answers. feel free to be longwinded, I don't mind. that goes for anyone who wants to participate. you can email me at [email protected]
I purposefully did not make one of my questions, "Why were you disfellowshipped?" because I realize how traumatic it is to go before the elders. However, some of the reasons for being disfellowshipped can be downright ridiculous. When I sent in my proposal, the teacher asked me to include that question. I will leave it up to you. I have no room to judge anyone, and i will never meet you guys in person. I also have to keep this anonymous due to the nature of this project. So, if you feel like telling me, go ahead. Or you can make it very general. This is supposed to be something even people who've never dealt with the witnesses could understand, so I have to spell a few things out. But a general statement, like adultery or caught smoking, or
seducing a promising young MS in the libraryreckless conduct will do.