The full piece is now online: http://theliftedbrow.com/post/88214463157/in-the-belly-of-jehovah-by-pete-nicholson
nomoreklondikes
JoinedPosts by nomoreklondikes
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33
Looking to speak to current & ex-JWs in Australia
by nomoreklondikes inhope you don't mind me posting.
i'm a freelance writer, and am currently writing a story on the jehovah's witnesses church for a melbourne magazine.
i've spoken with an elder/spokesperson of a melbourne jw church, who explained the official positions of the church at length, but i'm really interested in getting more of a sense of the day to day experiences of jws, both current and former.
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33
Looking to speak to current & ex-JWs in Australia
by nomoreklondikes inhope you don't mind me posting.
i'm a freelance writer, and am currently writing a story on the jehovah's witnesses church for a melbourne magazine.
i've spoken with an elder/spokesperson of a melbourne jw church, who explained the official positions of the church at length, but i'm really interested in getting more of a sense of the day to day experiences of jws, both current and former.
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nomoreklondikes
MF, this is my first longform article on religion, though I've written on Eastern spirituality before. I was inspired by two pieces: this piece on a Christian rock festival, and this amazing expose on Scientology.
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Longform article on the JW: 'In the Belly of Jehovah'
by nomoreklondikes insome of you might know me from this thread.
i wrote a longform article, 'in the belly of jehovah', on the jehovah's witnesses for an australian magazine, which today has been published online: .
http://theliftedbrow.com/post/88214463157/in-the-belly-of-jehovah-by-pete-nicholson.
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nomoreklondikes
Some of you might know me from this thread. I wrote a longform article, 'In the Belly of Jehovah', on the Jehovah's Witnesses for an Australian magazine, which today has been published online:
http://theliftedbrow.com/post/88214463157/in-the-belly-of-jehovah-by-pete-nicholson
The piece began eighteen months ago. I was intrigued by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and not knowing much about them beyond what gets commonly repeated, I wanted to investigate the lives and practices of their members.
In recent times, a fair few cult-busting pieces have been written on the Jehovah’s Witnesses; I wanted to take a different tack, and look at how they saw themselves, and what attracted people to join a church that, from the outside at least, seemed to require its adherents to live quite an austere, set apart life, and face so much rejection.
I had some trouble getting active Witnesses to talk to me. Then I had a stroke of luck when two Witnesses appeared at my door one morning, not knowing I was writing about the church. They invited me to their Kingdom Hall, and I spent the next few months attending meetings and conventions and listening to Witnesses’ stories. I also spoke with a few people who’d decided to leave the church. There were a lot of compelling stories, not least of which is the church’s own history. The piece eventually took on a life of its own, and became much broader than I'd first imagined.
Anyhow, interested to get people's thoughts.
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33
Looking to speak to current & ex-JWs in Australia
by nomoreklondikes inhope you don't mind me posting.
i'm a freelance writer, and am currently writing a story on the jehovah's witnesses church for a melbourne magazine.
i've spoken with an elder/spokesperson of a melbourne jw church, who explained the official positions of the church at length, but i'm really interested in getting more of a sense of the day to day experiences of jws, both current and former.
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nomoreklondikes
Thanks Missfit! Next article I'm planning is on prison rehabilitation –– the kind of programs in Australian jails, and what effect these have on inmates and crime and communities.
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33
Looking to speak to current & ex-JWs in Australia
by nomoreklondikes inhope you don't mind me posting.
i'm a freelance writer, and am currently writing a story on the jehovah's witnesses church for a melbourne magazine.
i've spoken with an elder/spokesperson of a melbourne jw church, who explained the official positions of the church at length, but i'm really interested in getting more of a sense of the day to day experiences of jws, both current and former.
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nomoreklondikes
Hi MissFit, you can buy a copy of the magazine here: http://theliftedbrow.myshopify.com/products/the-lifted-brow-22-pre-order-now-out-monday-28th-of-april
The most surprising thing I think I learnt about the Witnesses is how dour the whole operation is –– how little religious fervour I encountered, at least in the way I thought about religious fervour: people getting shaky in the aisles, etc. The Witnesses I met were definitely very committed, but the meetings and conventions felt very formulaic, sober, and didactic, like business seminars almost.
The main Witness I interviewed for the story also said that two decades in the church hadn't really made him feel closer to God. It had helped him stay off drugs, though. I asked one elder how he defined religious growth in a religion where there are absolutely no mystical trappings, no goal of absorption in God. And he said it was in a person's behaviour –– them showing themselves to be a balanced individual, which I took to mean just being a normal social character in the way the WTS defines that, able to do what the religion requires of you without complaint. Which, considering the work involved, is difficult enough.
From the ex-Witnesses, it struck me how ingrained the teaching was in them, and remained –– kids who'd rejected the church, for instance, to go and be young and wild, and who went off and did that, but then who saw the towers fall on 9/11 and thought it was a sure sign of Armageddon coming, just as the WTS said. I think it's difficult to get a proper sense of how deep it all goes unless you're born into it, or have spent a long time in the church.
For me it was never a cult busting exercise, this article. There's enough of those out there; most articles just repeat the same things. I wanted to do it from more of a sociological viewpoint, to find out why people choose to join the church, what makes people want to stay – or leave. The answers I found, along with the church's fascinating and strange history, really surprised me.
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Looking to speak to current & ex-JWs in Australia
by nomoreklondikes inhope you don't mind me posting.
i'm a freelance writer, and am currently writing a story on the jehovah's witnesses church for a melbourne magazine.
i've spoken with an elder/spokesperson of a melbourne jw church, who explained the official positions of the church at length, but i'm really interested in getting more of a sense of the day to day experiences of jws, both current and former.
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nomoreklondikes
The Lifted Brow has published a companion piece to the main article online, a kind of collage of facts and observations and Watchtower quotes I unearthed in my research: http://theliftedbrow.com/post/86860497611/all-along-the-watchtower-the-world-of-jehovahs
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Looking to speak to current & ex-JWs in Australia
by nomoreklondikes inhope you don't mind me posting.
i'm a freelance writer, and am currently writing a story on the jehovah's witnesses church for a melbourne magazine.
i've spoken with an elder/spokesperson of a melbourne jw church, who explained the official positions of the church at length, but i'm really interested in getting more of a sense of the day to day experiences of jws, both current and former.
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nomoreklondikes
The piece will be posted online in 4-6 weeks. Will post the link to it here then.
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33
Looking to speak to current & ex-JWs in Australia
by nomoreklondikes inhope you don't mind me posting.
i'm a freelance writer, and am currently writing a story on the jehovah's witnesses church for a melbourne magazine.
i've spoken with an elder/spokesperson of a melbourne jw church, who explained the official positions of the church at length, but i'm really interested in getting more of a sense of the day to day experiences of jws, both current and former.
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nomoreklondikes
Hi Oz, thanks for your post. I'm trying to write a general piece on JWs for a general audience. Looking at what everyday life in the church is like, what JWs believe and are expected to do in terms of service to the church, as well as the experiences of some people who have left the church (this thread has helped me find a few great ex-JWs to talk to).
I know from reading on here that a lot of people have had negative experiences in the church, and I want to relate some of those experiences as honestly as possible. But I also want to hear from people still active in the church, and talk to them about their faith and involvement in with JWs. I came to this article not knowing much about JWs, and I think a lot of general readers are unfamiliar with what they believe, so I'm hoping to give an overview of their beliefs and way of life in the article (as best I can).
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33
Looking to speak to current & ex-JWs in Australia
by nomoreklondikes inhope you don't mind me posting.
i'm a freelance writer, and am currently writing a story on the jehovah's witnesses church for a melbourne magazine.
i've spoken with an elder/spokesperson of a melbourne jw church, who explained the official positions of the church at length, but i'm really interested in getting more of a sense of the day to day experiences of jws, both current and former.
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nomoreklondikes
Thanks again to everyone who responded. Forgive my naievete –– I have spent a bit of time on the forum, and am wondering if there are many active JWs who post here? I've had a great response from ex-JWs, but am also looking to speak to a few more people still actively involved in the church.
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33
Looking to speak to current & ex-JWs in Australia
by nomoreklondikes inhope you don't mind me posting.
i'm a freelance writer, and am currently writing a story on the jehovah's witnesses church for a melbourne magazine.
i've spoken with an elder/spokesperson of a melbourne jw church, who explained the official positions of the church at length, but i'm really interested in getting more of a sense of the day to day experiences of jws, both current and former.
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nomoreklondikes
Thanks everyone for your responses. I can definitely assure anyone who wishes to speak anonymously that the article will not identify them.