Here is the latest version. I have tried to incorporate as many suggestions as possible, although it's impossible to use absolutely everything. If there are no major objections, I will be sending this to every major newspaper/news channel in the UK in the morning.
Jehovah’s Witnesses who disagree with church leadership branded “mentally diseased” by hierarchy
A week ago, on September 11 th 2011, the whole world came together in solidarity against the terrorist atrocities that were committed ten years ago in New York and Washington. Sadly, on this same day, 7.5 million Jehovah’s Witnesses in congregations around the globe united in condemning, isolating and branding as “mentally diseased” any who speak out against the Church’s leaders.
Few people are aware of an oppressed minority of disaffected Jehovah’s Witnesses, spread all over the world, who are trapped in a religion that they no longer believe in. These members remain associated with the religion for fear of being separated from their believing friends or relatives, who are conditioned into shunning those who disagree with the religion’s leadership.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are well known for their door-to-door preaching activity as well as their refusal to accept blood transfusions. What few people know about Jehovah’s Witnesses is that once you become one, it is almost impossible to leave without suffering serious consequences.
New converts to the religion take an oath at baptism to acknowledge the leadership of Jehovah’s Witnesses as representing God’s spirit-directed organisation. If they subsequently reach the conclusion that God does NOT direct the organisation, they are branded as being what is commonly termed an “apostate”, and the religion encourages for them to be shunned by Church officials and their own family members alike. As a result, many Witnesses remain trapped in the religion for years, pretending to recognise the authority of the self-appointed hierarchy for no other reason than to maintain contact with their family members, who would otherwise come under intense pressure to ignore them. Untold numbers of “trapped” Witnesses therefore live in constant fear of having their true beliefs discovered, and being ousted from their own families.
On Sunday, September 11 th 2011, at Witness meetings all over the world, an article was discussed from the July 15 th issue of the Watchtower magazine, which is published by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Watchtower magazine is now published in two separate monthly versions – a public edition for offering in the preaching work, and a “members only” study edition. The July 15 th “study edition” dissuaded any individual Witness from watching any TV news items in which former Witnesses are interviewed, or from visiting any websites or forums on which Witness beliefs are debated.
The article also condemned “apostates”, which is a Witness label for any who turn their backs on the organisation and its belief system. In one forthright and abusive statement, the article declared that any dissenters are “mentally diseased”, and that they “seek to infect others with their disloyal teachings.” This statement was read out at 1,533 congregations throughout the UK, and at least 107,210 congregations globally. Although the statement was discussed and commented on, any who voiced their objections to the wording of the statement would have been silenced by Church leaders, and likely ejected from the meeting.
The claim that those who disagree with the Witnesses are “mentally diseased” stems from the Church’s internal version of the Bible, the New Word Translation. Needless to say, it is a highly offensive expression both for disaffected Witnesses and for those who suffer from genuine mental illnesses. Under current UK law, the wording of the article may even constitute a “hate crime” if it is subsequently used as license by individual members to target and intimidate any who speak out against the organisation’s leadership - a group of seven men based in New York who are known as the Governing Body.
The article also used an analogy in which any Witness who rejects the Church’s authority is said to be infected with a type of “contagious, deadly disease”, and that for this reason, other Witnesses should avoid contact with them at all costs.
All over the middle east, the Arab Spring is freeing people from oppression and tyranny at the hands of ruthless dictators, and yet even in developed countries such as the UK there are those whose lives are influenced on a daily basis by a tyrannical religion that they desperately wish to leave but are unable to, for fear of being separated from their loved ones. To add insult to injury, such ones are now being labelled as “mentally diseased” if they make the mistake of speaking out against the Church’s leadership.
