Written by Lester Somrah - September 13 2022
Reason 7 was updated on September 15 2022 On August 3rd 2022, the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses announced that in-person house-to-house ministry would resume on Thursday 1st September 2022. This is after more than two (2) years of using alternative methods to spread their religious beliefs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article we will consider seven (7) reasons why you should give Jehovah’s Witnesses a listening ear to their harmless message.
A plandemic that this modern world has never seen – much more times worse than the Catholic, Anglican and other religions put together, to form a systemic cover-up of child rape and sexual abuse previously unknown to humans. Where Jehovah’s Witness sexual predators and pedophiles have more protection and rights then their victims. Jehovah’s Witnesses have continued to make sexual predators and convicted pedophiles re-joining their religion a walk in the park and at the same time, ensuring that victims are locked out from the sole support system they have known.
Alleged sexual abuser ‘used religion’ to get to boys and men – By Jocelyn Garcia, The Sydney Morning Herald
A 61-year-old man who has been charged with 21 counts of rape on the Sunshine Coast is believed to have used his Jehovah’s Witness status to allegedly assault teenage boys and young men.
He was taken into custody on Sunday when police executed a search warrant at a Mooloolaba address after ongoing investigations into offences committed over a 10-year period on the Sunshine Coast.
“It will be alleged the man utilised his position of religious standing within the Jehovah’s Witness community to sexually assault young men between 2008 and 2018,” a police statement read.
The alleged offences arose after four male victims aged in their late teens to early 20s came forward.
The man has since been charged with 21 counts of rape, 17 counts of sexual assault, 13 counts of procure sexual acts by false pretence and one count each of incest, torture and common assault.
The man was due to appear in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Monday.
Detectives are appealing for anyone else who might have information relating to the man that might assist with investigations to come forward.
This article raises the following questions:
“And sadly, they will go on protecting these predators, while their god does nothing to protect their victims“– via Twitter
This is not the first time that the victim of child sexual abuse, at the hands of a Jehovah’s Witness adult, made a police report on their own, as a now grown adult.
Shelly Dean-Braieoux (Australia) reported her father to the police as a grown adult. According to an ABC News article,
“After enduring years of secrecy and betrayal, Shelly Rose Braieoux finally dug deep within herself and picked up the phone….Ms Braieoux said the first thing she did after leaving the church was make a report to the police.” The article further stated that “In 2004, after a third trial, her father was convicted and sentenced to three years’ jail on one count each of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault, and four counts of indecent assault.”
Angela Cousins (Scotland) also reported her father to the police as a grown adult. According to a Scottish Daily Record article,
“Angie finally found the strength to make a police complaint about her father in 2000, when a second girl told officers she had been abused by him…
I turned to the church for help and I was abused a second time. I was a child and they should have helped but instead they turned on me…
Her dad Ian Cousins was jailed for five years in 2002 for abusing her….
Cousins was jailed for five years in 2002 for indecent acts on his daughter and two other girls…
Deborah Hines (USA) was sexually assaulted on numerous occasions by her step-father William Briggs, during their tenure at New York Bethel and continued after William Briggs returned back home. William Briggs was employed by Jehovah’s Witnesses between the years 1982 to 1988 to produce videos at their New York Bethel facilities. According to court documents obtained from the New York State Unified Court System, no responsible Jehovah’s Witness adult reported her sexual assault to the New York Police Department (NYPD) or the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. These responsible adults include:
At the time this article was written, William Briggs was not behind bars nor has been convicted of any criminal offenses. Instead, William Briggs, a U.S citizen, has found a safe haven in Ecuador and has been living the “best life ever”, thoroughly involved in the religious activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in that country. The following questions remain unanswered:
Jehovah’s Witness parents who report allegations of child sexual abuse are very rare and few. Janelle Corea (Trinidad and Tobago) and the parents of the victims of now convicted pedophile Roderwick Watkins (USA), were brave enough to come forward to the police.
Martin Haugh (USA), destined to be a congregation elder and a fifth-generation Jehovah’s Witness, was one of those parents who was also very courageous to make a police report. According to a Local 21 CBS News, WHP Harrisburg article, “He tells us he went to his elders, but was told not to go to police. However, he eventually did.” However reporting allegations of child sexual abuse to law enforcement has it risks. According to a Preda Foundation article,
When Haugh and his wife, Jennifer, told the elders who oversaw their congregation about this October 2005 incident, they were greeted with muted concern. Then came the threats.
“We were told on more than one occasion that if we told other parents about this, we would be disciplined,” Haugh, 41, said during a recent interview.
“We never heard the words ‘Go to the cops!’ or ‘Are you considering therapy for her?’ ” his wife added. “Then people stopped talking to us.”
The Haughs were deeply enmeshed in the world of the Witnesses — Martin was fifth generation — but this was their first brush with the wall of silence that the religion’s leaders have relied on to prevent allegations of child sex abuse from reaching law enforcement.
Internal documents show that the Witnesses’ leadership, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, has long enforced a policy of secrecy in any potential legal matters. “The need for elders to maintain strict confidentiality has been repeatedly stressed,” reads one passage from a 1989 memo [July 1,1989] that instructed elders to resist cooperating if police ever showed up at their kingdom halls with a search warrant.
Theresa Clare (Australia) and her daughter Amy Whitby, both left Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2015, after realizing the extent of abuse within the organization, including allegedly against her own daughter. Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that their religion “isn’t responsible for the acts of its members within the family home”, a get-out-jail free card often used by Jehovah’s Witnesses to obtain exemption from participating in both the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the National Redress Scheme.
According to the article Inside the brutal world of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, published by ABC News Australia in September 2021,
Amy was abused by a trusted member of the congregation, inside the home her family shared with another Jehovah’s Witnesses family and her mother reported it to the local congregation elders.
Theresa Clare said that “Jehovah’s Witnesses elders must have known her alleged abuser had been convicted the previous year of offences against an eight-year-old boy…There’d just be no way that those elders would not have known that he was charged, arrested by the police and then went to court”
“They rip your reputation apart. They rip you apart as a person. I mean they even ripped me apart as a mum” – Theresa Clare
“The job of an elder is to shepherd the congregation, to look after the flock, to keep them safe. That’s their job because we’re Jehovah’s people and it’s their job to keep us safe and they failed” – Amy Whitby
“There were meetings with the elders in my friend’s home, but I was never believed. I was told that I was mental. They used my illness against me because I had that breakdown and I suffered manic depression” – Theresa Clare
According to the Final Report: Volume 16, Religious institutions Book 3 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, no responsible Jehovah’s Witness adult nor those in positions of leadership and responsibility, made any police report:
The Jehovah’s Witness organisation told us that it instructs elders to comply with mandatory reporting laws where relevant. However, there was no evidence that the organisation had any general policy requiring or advising elders to report child sexual abuse to the authorities when not required to do so by law. This included cases involving a child complainant. – Page 83
As discussed above, Watchtower Australia produced about 5,000 documents to the Royal Commission, including case files relating to 1,006 alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse, which dated back to 1950. In the Jehovah’s Witnesses case study, we found that there was no evidence of the Jehovah’s Witness organisation in Australia having reported to police or any other civil authority a single one of the 1,006 perpetrators of child sexual abuse recorded in the case files held by Watchtower Australia.
No witness appearing on behalf of the Jehovah’s Witness organisation in the Jehovah’s Witnesses case study could identify an instance of the organisation reporting an allegation of child sexual abuse to the police or other authorities. Mr Spinks told us ‘we are not going to at any point suggest that we have telephoned the authorities or have instructed elders to do that’.– Page 88
Shelly Dean-Braieoux, mentioned earlier in this article, testified before the said Royal Commission, as BCG. Her testimony sums up why no responsible Jehovah’s Witness adult nor those in positions of leadership and responsibility, refused to make a police report:
There was no evidence of the Jehovah’s Witness organisation having reported BCG’s or BCB’s complaints to police or any other civil authority.
BCG told us:
The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that they should not take one another to court. They use a scripture in First Corinthians, 6:1–8. I understand that this includes reporting child sexual abuse to the police. I was told and believed that to take such matters outside the Church would bring reproach upon Jehovah’s name.
BCG said that she was ‘told and believed’ that she could not report the abuse outside the organisation. We accepted her evidence that when she told Mareeba Congregation elder Mr Albert De Rooy that she intended to report her father to the police after he was reinstated, he responded by quoting to her ‘the scripture that says that we don’t take brothers to court’.
In the case of BCB, we found that the elders did not tell BCB that she could, let alone that she should, report the abuse she had experienced to the authorities.
We found that the organisation’s general practice of not reporting serious instances of child sexual abuse to police or other authorities – particularly where the complainant was a child – is a serious failure to provide for the safety and protection of children in the organisation and in the community. – Page 89, Final Report: Volume 16, Religious institutions Book 3
According to the “Shepherd the Flock of God”, an eyes-only publication for congregation elders,
Break-ins, thefts, arson, or other incidents of vandalism should be promptly reported to the local authorities (page 182).
However with regards to child sexual abuse, elders are directed:
To ensure that elders comply with child-abuse reporting laws, two elders should immediately call the Legal Department for legal advice when the elders learn of an accusation of child abuse (page 104).
In all my time of examining court documents, in case after case, I have not found any evidence in which the “legal advice” to local congregation elders, has been to make a police report regarding allegations of child rape/molestation/criminal conduct, whether the law required it or not. The one or two elders that did so on their own free will, Jehovah’s Witnesses retaliated by stripping them off their religious privileges.
According to The Watchtower, September 2022, p. 11 par. 11, Prove Yourself Trustworthy, ” Elders who are known to keep a confidence are “a hiding place from the wind, a place of concealment” for their brothers. (Isa. 32:2) We know that we can talk freely to these men, certain that what we say to them will be kept confidential.” This confidentiality also applies to reports and records of child sexual abuse stored at various locations but not limited to Kingdom Halls. Child Sexual Abuse cases in the United Kingdom have revealed that elders were not cooperative with law enforcement. In other countries, such as Brazil and the Netherlands, Jehovah’s Witnesses have legally challenged law enforcement regarding police raids on Kingdom Halls and Branch Offices, in search of historical written evidence of child molestation.
During Lopez’s trial, Ashe [Jehovah’s Witness representative] testified that the Watchtower instructs elders that child abuse must be kept confidential. – Jehovah’s Witnesses use 1st Amendment to hide child sex abuse claims, Reveal
By classifying allegations that Jehovah’s Witnesses protect pedophiles, as “apostate lies”, “false messages” and “strange teachings” (JW Broadcasting, September 2022); and by conveniently twisting the Bible to suit their own selfish, perverted interests and protect their public image as a harmless religion, Jehovah’s Witnesses have created the perfect paradise for sexual predators and pedophiles since 1950.
During the past ten (10) years of examining court documents, in case after case, in country after country, I have not found any evidence of one (1) responsible Jehovah’s Witness adult who made a police report, whether the law required it or not.
Jehovah’s Witnesses (via their New York, USA based legal corporations) have maintained a private global criminal database of alleged sexual predators and pedophiles who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. These alleged sexual predators include persons in positions of responsibility and authority in their religion, such as elders, ministerial servants and other prominent Jehovah’s Witnesses.
This database possibly go as far back as 1950. The last known estimate of the number of sexual offenders on this global database was between 23,000 to 24,000. – Herman Law. For the past seventy-two (72) years Jehovah’s Witnesses have refused to submit a copy of this global database to law enforcement officials and do not have any intentions to do so. Furthermore, no law enforcement official of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New York City Police Department (NYPD) as well as no official of the United States Department of State and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), have seen and/or had access to the private global criminal database of alleged sexual predators and pedophiles of Jehovah’s Witnesses, with a view to bringing criminal prosecution against these persons.
“Having successfully leveraged the First Amendment as a defense of their right to not serve in the military or salute the American flag, the Jehovah’s Witnesses now are using a similar legal strategy to defend policies that shield serial predators from law enforcement…
“ ‘You come to us first. Don’t tell anybody. … You don’t warn parents in the congregation. We’ll decide what happens here.’ That’s their policy.”— Irwin Zalkin, attorney for Jose Lopez, describing the system he believes the Witnesses have created….
The Watchtower’s frequent defense – that such cases violate protections under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment – has led to the dismissal of several lawsuits. Watchtower lawyers argue that judicial questioning of the spiritual beliefs and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses would trample the organization’s religious freedoms”. – Jehovah’s Witnesses use 1st Amendment to hide child sex abuse claims, Reveal
In court case after court case, it is abundantly evident that Jehovah’s Witnesses are more interested in protecting its reputation; protecting their clergy-penitent and client-attorney privileges; spending large sums of publicly donated funds on civil lawsuits, court fines and out-of-court settlements, rather than the safety and protection of children.
“What has happened with the Catholic Church and with the Witnesses is they have chosen to protect their organization directly over protecting their parishioners, whether that’s children or adults,” Kaufman argues. – ‘Vice Versa: Crusaders’ Director Talks Confronting Jehovah’s Witnesses With Child Sexual Abuse, Cover-Up Claims: “It’s About Corruption”, The Hollywood Reporter
Jehovah’s Witnesses have failed (and continue to) “to be like a hiding place from the wind, A place of concealment from the rainstorm, Like streams of water in a waterless land, Like the shadow of a massive crag in a parched land.” – Isaiah. 32:2. By having policies that aid and abet the non-reporting to law enforcement and non-cooperation with criminal investigations, Jehovah’s Witnesses remain a very serious and dangerous threat to the safety of children in the community.
Who knows – a sexual predator could be very well ringing your doorbell and knocking on your door from September 1, 2022.
The BITE Model is the gold standard for defining cults and was developed by Dr. Steven Hassan. It is based on the previous scholarly work by the following individuals, all of whom were involved in researching communist brainwashing:
Dr. Steven Hassan is the author of the following:
When someone hears the word cult, Jim Jones and David Koresh comes to mind. However a cult is more than simply a one-man show. According to Dr. Hassan,
A destructive cult is a pyramid-shaped authoritarian regime with a person or group of people that have dictatorial control. It uses deception to recruit new members and does not tell them what the group is, what the group actually believes, and what will be expected of them if they become members. It also uses undue influence to keep people dependent, obedient, and loyal.
“Undue influence is any act of persuasion that overcomes the free will and judgment of another person. People can be unduly influenced by deception, flattery, trickery, coercion, hypnosis, and other techniques. In addition to religious cults, there are psychotherapy cults, political cults, commercial cults, terrorist organizations, and trafficking rings. There are also personality cults, particularly if one person exerts undue influence over another (or a small group of people, such as in a family).”
The BITE Model describes the specific methods that cults use to recruit and maintain control over people. “BITE” stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional Control. Further details can be found on the website Freedom of Mind Resource Center.
Below is Dr. Hassan’s assessment of Jehovah’s Witnesses using the BITE Model. I have provided supporting references and brief examples where possible as this is an extensive topic that would be covered in future articles. Most of the material presented below can be found on Freedom of Mind Resource Center.
The following partially applies according to the position of the Jehovah’s Witness such as Bethelites, pioneers, and elders, but not to ordinary Witnesses:
According to Dr. Hassan, “Destructive mind control can be determined when the overall effect of these four components promotes dependency and obedience to some leader or cause; it is not necessary for every single item on the list to be present….
Like many techniques, it is not inherently good or evil. If mind control techniques are used to empower an individual to have more choice, and authority for their life remains within themselves, the effects can be beneficial. For example, benevolent mind control can be used to help people quit smoking without affecting any other behavior. Mind control becomes destructive when it undermines a person’s ability to think and act independently.”
He further states, “”A destructive cult is a pyramid-shaped authoritarian regime with a person or group of people that have dictatorial control. It uses deception to recruit new members and does not tell them what the group is, what the group actually believes, and what will be expected of them if they become members. It also uses undue influence to keep people dependent, obedient, and loyal.
No one today in their right mind would join an authoritarian cult lead by Jim Jones and David Koresh. Nonetheless, some religious cult are extremely deceptive; hide who they really under the veil of harmlessness and take advantage of the general lack of public awareness as to their true colours.
Anyone purchasing a house, a car or company shares, stocks or bonds, would ask questions and do research from a wide variety of independent sources, to ensure that they are getting their money’s worth on their investment. Religious beliefs should be no exception and exemption.
From the above, Jehovah’s Witnesses are no your regular corner Sunday church. Joining them is a lifetime commitment and leaving them is not as simple as selling a house and moving into another one.
According to Dr. Hassan, please do your independent research before you make any life-time investments and commitments to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Do not rely only on information they provide don’t let anyone put extreme pressure on you to make quick, impulsive, or uninformed decisions.
A person becomes one of Jehovah’s Witnesses generally through the following pathway:
Interested Person
It starts with taking one of their religious material and/or agreeing for them to visit you in a few days’ time to continue to conversation. Each subsequent conversation is brief and its recommended that the duration be a maximum of 15 minutes. Whether the Jehovah’s Witnesses offer to return for a conversation is dependent on the acceptance of the presented doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses or if the interested individual challenges their doctrines continuously. The interested person has made no significant changes in his personality and has not abandoned his existing social support system. Their primary targets are persons who are gullible, emotionally vulnerable, depressed, recently experienced the death of a loved one, the jobless and persons who are unsatisfied with civil governance, amongst others.
Bible Student
During one of the conversations above, possibly at the third or fourth, Jehovah’s Witnesses would offer the individual a “free home Bible study” using one of their Bible study aids. The one presently being used is “Enjoy Life Forever!—An Interactive Bible Course“. Previous aids/publications were “What Can the Bible Teach Us?” (2015), ‘What Does the Bible Really Teach” (2005) and “Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life” (1995) amongst others. During this course, the Bible Student is being evaluated to determine if he/she “is rightly disposed for everlasting life”. This is evident by a change in the person’s beliefs and attitudes. The student is also cautioned by Jehovah’s Witnesses that he/she cannot use any other external resources of his/her choice to verify the claims of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
For some Bible Students, they begin shedding their current social support system which Jehovah’s Witnesses label as a bad influence, “bad association that spoils useful habits“, and a hindrance to spiritual progress. This support system is replaced with a new pseudo-social support system made up of only Jehovah’s Witnesses – it is sometimes referred to as “wholesome association” consisting of Roderick Watkins, now a convicted pedophile and many others. During this Bible Study course, assuming that the Bible Student accepts the doctrine of Jehovah’s Witnesses unquestionably, a dangerous process of thought reform and brainwashing begins. Jehovah’s Witnesses refer to this as “making the mind over” and “be made new in your dominant mental attitude” (The Watchtower, June 2019). This is a continuous life-time process subject to self-assessment and making needed improvements.
Thought reform and brainwashing was popularized by psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, M.D, in his book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism in which he outlines “Eight Criteria for Thought Reform” or “making the mind over”, most of which fits Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Unbaptized Publisher
The Bible Student is making sufficient progress at this stage and has met the criteria of Jehovah’s Witnesses to qualify for participation in their public evangelism and proselytizing work. The Bible Student is also encouraged to continue “making the mind over” and “be made new in your dominant mental attitude” so as to make ‘your [their] advancement manifest to all persons.’ (1 Timothy 4:15). For some persons, their previous social support system has been completely replaced with a Jehovah’s Witness-only system. For others, though they still hold on to a very small percentage of their previous social support system, which can sometimes result in the unbaptized publisher being reprimanded by the local elders.
Baptized Publisher (Official Jehovah’s Witnesses)
At this stage, Jehovah’s Witnesses have convinced the Unbaptized Publisher that their beliefs is the truth and to have a hope of everlasting life in Paradise, he/she should make an unreserved life-time commitment to doing Jehovah’s will and pleasing him. According to The Watchtower, March 2020, Are You Ready to Get Baptized?,
“baptism lets others know that you love Jehovah your God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and that you are determined to serve him forever.—Mark 12:30″….
He has made provision to save us from sin and death and has given us the prospect of everlasting life. (John 17:3) Your dedication and baptism will identify you as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. (Isa. 43:10-12) You will be part of a worldwide family of worshippers who are proud to be called by God’s name and make it known to others.—Ps. 86:12.
“Making the mind over” and “be made new in your dominant mental attitude” has result in such as drastic change that his former friends do not recognize who he/she is. The process of thought reform and brainwashing has worked and Jehovah’s Witnesses are in the driver’s seat. Every action that the person now does must please Jehovah and be in accordance with his will. He/she is encouraged through various means (Watchtower publications, religious events and lectures, in-person interactions, just to name a few,) that “making the mind over” and “be made new in your dominant mental attitude” is a continuous process and must be maintained as part of his Christian identity. – Our Christian Life and Ministry—Meeting Workbook, August 2016, Improving Our Skills in the Ministry—Helping Bible Students to Progress to Dedication and Baptism.
At the point of dedication and baptism, the pre-existing social circle of the Baptized Publisher, their former worldly support system has now been completely replaced by friends who are Jehovah’s Witnesses and now treats them as “brothers and sisters and mothers and children” – (Mark 10:29, 30) …..continued below.
A very popular scripture used by Jehovah’s Witnesses to justify their beliefs and practices is 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, “. . .All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, so that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.” There is always at least one (1) scripture for everything that Jehovah’s Witnesses belief and practice. When this is done, their believes and practices are now protected rights and freedoms under law. Below are a few examples.
Therefore, the “inspired scriptures of God” for the religious practice of not reporting allegations of child sexual abuse to law enforcement are:
- Isaiah 32:2 – “. . .And each one will be like a hiding place from the wind, A place of concealment from the rainstorm, Like streams of water in a waterless land, Like the shadow of a massive crag in a parched land.” – Elders must keep all allegations of child sexual abuse confidential. – The Watchtower, September 2022, Prove Yourself Trustworthy
- Proverbs 11:13 – “. . .A slanderer goes about revealing confidential talk, But the trustworthy person keeps a confidence.”
- Proverbs 25:9 – “. . .Plead your case with your neighbor, But do not reveal what you were told confidentially.”
- Joshua 2:2-4 “. . .The king of Jerʹi·cho was told: “Look! Israelite men have come in here tonight to spy out the land.” At that the king of Jerʹi·cho sent word to Raʹhab: “Bring out the men who came and are staying in your house, for they have come to spy out the entire land.” But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said: “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.” – Elders must never voluntarily disclose allegations of child sexual abuse in a court of law; and is scripturally permitted to give misleading statements to investigating officials and in a court of law. Written records of child sexual abuse stored at the Kingdom Hall and other facilities, must never be voluntarily handed over to law enforcement.
The “inspired scriptures of God” for the religious practice of reporting confidential information, obtained at one’s place of employment regarding religious offenses of a client or employee who is a fellow Jehovah’s Witness, to local congregation elders, are:
- Proverbs 28:13 – “The one covering over his transgressions will not succeed, But whoever confesses and abandons them will be shown mercy.” – Anyone committing serious wrongdoing should not try to conceal it – The Watchtower, September 1, 1987, “A Time to Speak”—When?
- Leviticus 5:1 – “If someone sins because he has heard a public call to testify and he is a witness or has seen or learned about it and he does not report it, then he will answer for his error.” – This scripture is used to justify reporting a religious sin to congregation elders, even when doing so means breaking Caesar’s laws and employer’s policies on workplace confidentiality. See Religious Fanaticism vs Confidentiality – Part 2, How Jehovah’s Witnesses Poison the Workplace, for more examples.
The “inspired scriptures of God” for the religious practice of shunning, completely avoiding, having no further contact in any manner whatsoever, for cutting off and ghosting, a fellow Jehovah’s Witness; and described as “a loving provision” are:
- 1 Corinthians 5:2 – “. . .And are YOU puffed up, and did YOU not rather mourn, in order that the man that committed this deed should be taken away from YOUR midst?”
- 1 Corinthians 5:6, 7 – “. . .Do YOU not know that a little leaven ferments the whole lump? 7 Clear away the old leaven, that YOU may be a new lump, according as YOU are free from ferment. . .”
- 1 Corinthians 5:11 – “. . .But now I am writing YOU to quit mixing in company with anyone called a brother that is a fornicator or a greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man.”
- 1 Corinthians 5:13 – “. . .Remove the wicked [man] from among yourselves. . .”
Jehovah’s Witnesses have claimed in various documents and lawsuits that they do not prevent anyone from leaving their religion – this is a deceptive and dishonest statement with the intention of spreading misinformation. People must be able to join or leave any religion without fear or coercion. However, there is no honorable way to leave Jehovah’s Witnesses – either one must commit a religious offense or resign, both of carry the same penalty of shunning described below. – The Watchtower, September 15 1981, Disfellowshiping—How to View It.
Shunning is social avoidance, abandonment, isolation and rejection by the Jehovah’s Witness-only social support network and other Witnesses. It is a cruel religious practice that applies with equal force in the family and to baptized minors.
As their punishment for religious offenses and resigning, Jehovah’s Witnesses remove the fellowship, friendships of fellow Witnesses and the Jehovah’s Witness-only social support network that was formed during the recruitment and indoctrination process described earlier. During the recruitment process, the individual’s former worldly support system is gradually replaced by friends who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. At the point of baptism, this friendship change-over is complete – this is what makes shunning so effective.
When Jehovah’s Witness is shunned, he/she loses all their friends and family members, who are actively encouraged by Jehovah’s Witnesses and their Governing Body, to cease all friendships and contact with the shunned person – The Watchtower, September 2021, When a Loved One Leaves Jehovah. Jehovah’s Witnesses who continue to willfully associate with a shunned person, despite being previously reprimanded by congregation elders, run the risk of being shunned themselves.
Thus, the shunned persons (now a former Jehovah’s Witness) no longer has any friends and must start over re-building new friendships and a new support system, particularly if he/she did not retain some of their “worldly associates” during the recruitment process. Shunned persons who feel it the most are baptized minors, those who grew up in the religion and later got baptized; and grown adults who spent decades as a Jehovah’s Witness.
Several scholarly works have been produced that abundantly demonstrate the devastating effects of shunning. Of course, there is no evidence that Jehovah’s Witnesses acknowledge these effects nor claim being responsible for such devastating effects:
Suicide
“As Merkin points out, depression can lead to rejection, which can then deepen depression. The association between interpersonal rejection and depression is thus a transactional one: Rejection is one of many causes of depression and depression is one of the many causes of rejection”.– Depression and Suicide: Transactional Relations with Rejection, Kimberly A. Van Orden and Thomas E. Joiner Jr., pg. 1
“Social isolation is arguably the strongest and most reliable predictor of suicidal ideation, attempts, and lethal suicidal behavior across the life span (T. E. Joiner & Van Orden, 2008; Trout, 1980). Empirical studies have demonstrated that social isolation is a pernicious risk factor for lethal suicidal behavior among youth (Hawton, Fagg, & Simkin, 1996) and adults (Appleby, Cooper, Amos, & Faragher, 1999), including the elderly (Conwell, 1997). Social isolation also elevates risk for nonlethal suicide attempts (Darke et al., 2007; Hall-Lande, Eisenberg, Christenson, & Neumark-Sztainer, 2007), and suicidal ideation (Bearman & Moody, 2004; Dutra, Callahan, Forman, Mendelsohn, & Herman, 2008; Haw & Hawton, 2008; Skodlar, Tomori, & Parnas, 2008). Thus, to the extent that rejection results in social isolation, it functions as a risk factor for suicide.”Depression and Suicide: Transactional Relations with Rejection, Kimberly A. Van Orden and Thomas E. Joiner Jr., pg. 5
Pain
“Ostracism [being ignored and excluded] is a painful situation that the majority of individuals have experienced at least once in their lives, and sometimes on a daily basis (Nezlek, Wesselmann, Wheeler, & Williams, 2012; Williams, 2009). Social psychologists have studied ostracism systematically for the past 20 years, focusing on the effects of ostracism in social interactions (Williams, 2009). Ostracism occurs in three main modes of interaction—physical, face-to-face, and cyberostracism (Williams, Cheung, & Choi, 2000). Physical ostracism involves being separated physically from the group (e.g., incarceration, exile). Face-to-face ostracism involves being ignored and excluded (p. 21) while in the physical presence of others (e.g., the “silent treatment”)”. – Ostracism and Stages of Coping, Eric D. Wesselmann and Kipling D. Williams, pgs. 1 & 7
“Ostracism can be psychologically harmful to the target, leading to impaired self-regulation (Baumeister, DeWall, Ciarocco, & Twenge, 2005; Oaten, Williams, Jones, & Zadro, 2008). It also increases self-perceptions of dehumanization (Bastian & Haslam, 2010). Furthermore, fMRI data demonstrate that ostracism activates the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), the same region of the brain that is associated with physical pain (Eisenberger, Lieberman, & Williams, 2003).
Ostracism threatens individuals’ satisfaction of four basic human needs: belonging, control, meaningful existence, and self-esteem (Williams, 2001; 2009; Williams et al., 2000; Zadro, Williams, & Richardson, 2004).” – Ostracism and Stages of Coping, Eric D. Wesselmann and Kipling D. Williams, pg. 2
“Accumulating research has suggested that the “pain” of social rejection may be more than just a figure of speech, and that part of the reason that individuals describe rejection as being painful is because experiences of rejection are processed by some of the same neural machinery that processes physical pain (Eisenberger, Lieberman, & Williams, 2003; Eisenberger & Lieberman, 2004, 2005; Eisenberger, 2012a, 2012b).” – Why Rejection Hurts: The Neuroscience of Social Pain Naomi I. Eisenberger, pg. 1
Threat to the needs of the individual
“Models of ostracism (one type of social exclusion) also indicate the importance of being acknowledged and accepted by others (Williams, 1997, 2001; Williams & Zadro, this volume). Williams argues that being ostracized threatens four basic needs: belongingness, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence (Sommer,Williams, Ciarocco, & Baumeister, 2001; Williams, Shore, & Grahe, 1998).”, pg. 282
How does social exclusion affect people?
“With that, deficiencies in one‘s connectedness with others can arouse various negative and severe psychological effects. Social exclusion is a particularly powerful threat to belongingness, as it often elicits behavior that may potentially hamper chances for future acceptance.…“Effects on cognitive processing. Social exclusion produces a ―deconstructed cognitive state in people, whereby they are more passive, lethargic, emotionally numb, and unwilling to control their impulses (Twenge, Catanese & Baumeister, 2003). Cognitive deconstruction is a defensive state experienced by people who suffer a personal failure (resembling the presuicidal mentality), and it is characterized by the rejection of meaningful thought and self-awareness (Baumeister, 1990). When people are rejected by others, they perform poorly on tasks that require a higher level of cognitive processing. Yet excluded individuals can complete elementary tasks that require little effort just as effectively as socially integrated people (Baumeister, Twenge, & Nuss, 2002).
“Effects on self-control.In general, people strive to direct themselves in a way that will reap the greatest rewards while avoiding consequences. However, self-control suffers with increased social isolation, and excluded individuals struggle to maintain this reward-cost balance. Indeed, when people believe that they will be alone in the future, they make self-defeating choices by procrastinating, engaging in riskier money schemes, and engaging in less healthy behaviors (Twenge, Catanese, & Baumeister, 2002).
“Effects on antisocial and prosocial behavior.Increased pro-social behavior promises redemption, regardless of whether one feels increasingly or constantly rejected. However, the negative consequences that individuals experience as a result of social exclusion kindle a vicious cycle of rejection (Cacioppo et al., 2006; Twenge et al., 2002). Socially excluded people view the innocent actions of others as aggressive and respond in a corresponding manner (DeWall, Twenge, Gitter, & Baumeister, 2009).
Specifically, rejected individuals struggle to regulate their actions, help others less frequently, and engage in aggressive behavior more readily than accepted individuals (Baumeister et al., 2005; Buckley et al., 2004; Twenge, Baumeister, DeWall, Ciarocco & Bartels, 2007; Twenge, Baumeister, Tice & Stucke, 2001; Warbuton, Williams, & Cairns, 2006). Excluded people even show less empathetic concern for others, compared to accepted people (DeWall & Baumeister, 2006; Twenge et al., 2007). Social rejection does more than lead individuals to passively ―give up; it alters their analysis of social events to actively undermine their interpersonal progress.” – pgs. 109 to 111
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not pay taxes as a religion. Therefore they make no meaningful contribution to society in rehabilitating former members who are shunned, rejected and ostracized by other Witnesses.
In the article, For Jehovah’s Witnesses, an insular culture and archaic rules have created a “recipe for child abuse.”, David Gambacorta wrote the following regarding Martin and Jennifer Haugh (USA) mentioned earlier:
There’s a heavy price to pay for speaking out. Witnesses are taught to sever ties with anyone who strays from the teachings that have been handed down by the governing body, an emotional punishment known as shunning.
The Haughs know it well. They finally left the religion for good in 2016. “My in-laws held a wake for us,” Jennifer Haugh said. “Like we were dead.”
According to the Scottish Daily Record article “Scottish girl abused by Jehovah’s Witness dad asked church for help – but was molested by trusted elder too, Grace Macaskill wrote regarding Angela Cousins (Scotland) mentioned earlier:
Angie turned her back on the church at the age of 19 and started a new life.
But the religion encourages members to shun people who leave the Kingdom Hall, so her mother stopped speaking to her for six years, even ignoring her daughter in the street.
Devoted mum Angie said: “It was really hurtful.
“When I fell pregnant with my first child in 2000, I wanted to ask mum if she’d had morning sickness, like me, or how long the heartburn lasted, but she just wasn’t there. She didn’t meet her first two grandchildren until she finally, slowly, drew away from the church when they were five and three.”
According to the article Inside the brutal world of the Jehovah’s Witnesses,
The people who break away from the Jehovah’s Witnesses like Amy Whitby and Theresa Clare [daughter and mother mentioned earlier] pay a terrible price.
They remain cut off from their families and closest friends: those they love the most.
In 2017, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found the total social exclusion known as “shunning” made it difficult for abuse survivors to leave the organisation, was “upsetting” and “particularly devastating” for those who suffered child abuse and left because their abuser remained in the congregation.
“I knew I would definitely be shunned by friends, but I honestly didn’t think my siblings would shun me because of what we’d all been through together,” Ms Whitby said.
As a grandmother, the impact on Ms Clare has been heartbreaking.
“One little grandson was with his dad and his dad let him speak to me and he said to me, ‘I’m forgetting you Nanny’. And he said, ‘I’m sorry, Nanny.’ And I said to him, ‘I’ll never forget you’. I said, ‘I will always want you to remember that’.”
Bill Hahn was his congregation’s treasurer or “accounts servant”. He was born into the organisation and raised his three older children as witnesses.
He was “disfellowshipped”, or excommunicated, in 2011, after disagreements with others in the organisation and was shunned by his family.
“Yeah, it’s like a death. Mum died three weeks ago, and I knew it was coming at some point, and I just got a text message from my brother, to say, ‘Oh, by the way, mum died yesterday of stomach cancer. Doesn’t want a funeral. Didn’t want a fuss, and that’s it’,” Mr Hahn said.
He also grieves for his two boys and eldest daughter, who continue to shun him.
“So, really, for the last 10 years, from when the reality of it set in, that, ‘Okay, they view me as dead’ — you almost mourn in reverse,” he said.
In fact, within the ex-Jehovah’s witnesses, we do it once a year, [there] is a memorial day … you take a bunch of flowers and a card to mourn the loss of your family, and leave it on the door of a Kingdom Hall.”
“I just had to grieve the fact that, until they wake up themselves and leave and come out of the religion, that, basically, I just have to view them, that they’ve passed away, which is not nice, but it’s a way of coping.”
According to the article “Shunning and the BITE Model of Mind Control in the Jehovah’s Witnesses” by Dr. , “it is our belief that religions need to fundamentally support basic human rights and need to be transparent and open. We believe that anything that is legitimate will stand up to scrutiny. Yes, if a religious group [Jehovah’s Witnesses] is genuine, then love, compassion and charity will be the dominant emotional teachings, not fear, guilt and condemnation. Relationships between family members [and friendships] should be honored and encouraged, never punitively disrupted.” (Bold mines)
The love and interest in your welfare that Jehovah’s Witnesses claim to have, is fake, pretensive and an outward appearance. Jehovah’s Witnesses are interested in one thing only – your ability to promote their dangerous, extreme religious ideologies and their 1914 conspiracy theories; your ability to convince others that such ideologies is the gateway to Paradise and true happiness; and your ability to encourage and recruit others to spread such destructive beliefs. This was very evident at the Friday Afternoon of the 2022 Convention, with Mr. Chibisa Selemani of Malawi going to South Africa. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not interested in nothing else – they never were in the first place.
Be cognizant that participating in house-to-house ministry consumes almost half a day on any given day of the week. No compensation is neither offered nor given by Jehovah’s Witnesses or the local congregation for the otherwise productive alternatives forgone. You are personally responsible for securing your future – not Jehovah’s Witnesses, not the elders, not the Governing Body and others, especially if you are young and/or intend on leaving Jehovah’s Witnesses irregardless of you having an exit plan.
Any attempt to evade participation in the house to house ministry come September 1st 2022, can be perceived as a sign of “spiritual weakness” by your congregation elders and other Witnesses, who would making any of the following statements or the equivalent: “you are not exemplary” and “your low field service participation is a cause for serious concern”; “your low field service participation is stumbling block to……”.
Please be aware that the following evasive methods are risky. Overuse of any one method will draw the attention of congregation elders and can result in you being reprimanded/counseled, a shepherding visit or even a marking talk. I would recommend that you use a different measure each month, as your circumstances allow:
*PIMO is an acronym for Physically In, Mentally Out. This is used to describe an active Jehovah’s Witness who no longer believes the doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses and recognizes their harmful, destructive nature. This person is however prevented from officially leaving because of the cruel punishment of shunning.
Lester Somrah writes about the beliefs and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses on his social media platforms and was baptized as a member in 1998.
