Lucky,
While driving home from Pr. George, B.C. last night, I tuned in a phone-in talk radio show and the topic at hand was how some fundy types were reacting to "Harry Potter". The general consensus among the callers was that most who believed themselves to be "good Christians" found nothing wrong with letting their children read the books or see the movies, and that it was the dogmatic approach of only the most fundamentalist groups that makes them ban such things...leading to feelings of social isolation from their peers because while everyone else is engaged in enthusiastic discussion of the latest Harry Potter book or movie, they can't be a part of it. ( For a JW child, the number of incidents in which they become isolated socially from their peers can be quite often...)
How that relates to this discussion is that while any religious group can be found to have abuse of all sorts occurring within their ranks, there are more problems than just child abuse that can have a negative influence on an individual's ability to function in the real world. If a child is raised in an environment of social isolation and ends up disfellowshipped and alone in the world with no family support and lacking the social skills needed to function effectively in today's world, that individual may indeed find life very difficult. In this case, I have no problem seeing a link between the social isolation a JW child suffers as a direct result of JW dogma, and the problems that can result later in adulthood outside the closed environment of the "organization". You won't find that link in "mainstream" denominations.
Jrig
Edited by - Jigrigger on 19 November 2002 22:0:16