I certainly hope it's a hoax. Otherwise I certainly hope it's actionable.
[I'm editing out most of my previous speculations, too easy for them to be wrong or misleading...]
First of all, the letter makes the Newsletter section of silentlambs.org on 10/15.
Note the intended sense of the phrase "why do we baptize children as young as 7 or 8 from time to time?" It's an odd phrasing for a true defender drawing from a remembered experience, but a typical phrasing of someone trying to generalize a provocation against JWs, or summarize a rule from an anecdotal article.
Note the thread that started here on 10/13 called Baptized at 5. Gopher and Greven beat me to the same comment I was about to make about it, and it would have looked suspicious if another person with a G initial posted the same thought:
[Gopher wrote:] And the JW's say they don't believe in infant baptism! What a crock!! The earliest I'd heard of anyone being baptized into JW-dom was 7, and she couldn't defend anything of what she believed. She wasn't any more special than any of the other kids her age I've seen. She was apparently "persuaded" to do so by her single JW parent. If a 5 year old can make this MOST important decision in her life (as they say at most JW baptism talks), they might as well let her get married and attempt to bear children too.
I hope for her own sake that she doesn't rebel and get DF'd at, say, the age of 8, and experience the cruelty of shunning.
This indeed works counter wise. How can a girl be deemed immature to marry someone at age 16 but can make a life decision like babtism at age 5? The great JC himself dipped at 30, eventhough he surprised the teachers at age 12. Strange how these people claim to follow the bible.... also they give other religions flack for babtizing kids!
That is ... if this story is true! It reeks of Urban Legend to me. Maybe you could ask to meet this girl and see if it is true.
Greven
There's a perfect germination for an idea to create a hoax letter that discusses baptism at age 7 or 8 which was pretty much the consensus in the posts.
Here's one of the interesting parts of the silentlambs letter:
I know some people, perhaps you included, believe that children are not capable of consent at such an early age. But ask yourself the question; why do we baptize children as young as 7 or 8 from time to time? Such a decision is a decision that affects the course of their entire lives, tantamount to that of marriage. Why would Jehovah authorize the baptism of those who are incapable of deciding anything important or life-altering for themselves? Please be assured that I am not attempting to justify what I did in any way, but I believed this would be your next line of inquiry, so I thought to address it ahead of time. As for this "pedophile paradise" you claim exists, let me address that. I was once used in the congregation some years back.
Sorry to be such a skeptic. Hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings,
Gamaliel
