Dear Readers,
During my involvement with numerous religious groups, starting from Jehovah's Witnesses to Christian Scientism, to Roman Catholicism, Seventh-day Adventism, Orthodox Mormonism ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, Lutheranism, Quakerism, Hinduism, Laveyan Satanism, Wicca, Unitarian Universalism etc., I always believed in thinking for myself and believed that I am person to be treated with dignity. I often post and read about ex-Jehovah's Witnesses extensively. I never really fit into the JW worldview, despite being raised in that denomination my mother who is a multi-generational Jehovah's Witness. I never got along with her to begin with, not really. She raised me in her denomination of Christianity, which she believes has the "truth". She may have had my best interests at heart. Yet, there comes a time when I have to decide what is best for me, even if it doesn't please someone else.
Being baptized into the JW's or any of the other groups that I belonged to that I was officially a member of despite my doubts and eventual discovery of disagreements that I had may not have been the best decisions to make, yet I don't think that they did me any lasting or significant harm. I told myself: nobody has ever died from having joining a religious group and later realizing that they have more than a few doubts". That is true, except in cases where you join an extremist religious group that would physically hurt or kill you for joining their group, when you discover after a while that you cannot quite commit to it. I don't think that a person can live their life by constantly trying to please someone else. In the Wikipedia article on the JW's, it is mentioned that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society doesn't discourage their members from individuality or having an imagination, Yet, it seems that JW's can only be individuals in a limited sense and can only express their imagination in a limited sense. You constantly must live up to code of standards based on an even ancient code of moral "instructions" as dictated to you by a group of men who believed that they have been given a position of authority from a deity can get mad very quickly and one who doesn't seem to be very happy with you when you do something "sinful" and this same deity can supposedly stop loving you even if you don't live up to that deity's expectations of you, as some people have claimed to have experienced during their involvement with the Jehovah's Witnesses and other religious groups.
Some ex-JW's, ex-LDS's ( Mormons, Orthodox or otherwise), ex-SDA's etc., sometimes do make up false allegations about their former religious group and that is something that I as an ex-Jehovah's Witness, ex-Mormon, ex-Adventist and now as an atheist do not agree with despite the fact that I might not see eye-to-eye with them over the "moral", "philosophical, "religious", "educational" content of the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price ( three religious text used by members of the LDS movement), the writings of Charles Taze Russell, Judge Joseph Franklin Rutherford, Nathan Knorr ( the last two were presidents of the WBTS) " The Watchtower" and "Awake!" magazines, the writings of Mary Eddy ( Christian Scientism) or Ellen G. White. It is perfectly fine to disagree with the beliefs and practices of any or all religious groups, but it is wrong to make up things about them that aren't true. There is no need for that and I strongly discourage such behavior. Disagree all you want, but I think that you should strive to be honest when you are speaking up the beliefs, practices and history of the group that you are criticizing.
Sometimes fundamentalist religious groups like the JW's, Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists, Christian Scientists, Southern Baptists and Missouri Synod- Lutherans may not always be honest about the history of their group and can be dishonest over certain beliefs and practices in order to protect their "truth", that's not a very good thing to do in my eyes. I have always believed that people who claim to have the "truth" in the religious sense of the word, I felt should always be open to critical evaluation. Critically evaluation ones' beliefs is not a crime, it is a necessary part of life. I know that many ex-JW's have gone through the hellish experience of being shunned by family members, relatives, friends and former fellow JW's. Many ex-members of the Amish community have also gone through this experience. I think that as long as you are not hurting anyone else or yourself, you have the right to ask questions and that you are person who should feel valued, respected and loved.
I remember reading through the website known as the "Advocates for the Awareness of Watchtower Abuses" ( referred to as AAWA; formerly known as the Association of Anti-Watchtower Activists", however they changed the name of their group, possibly because they realized that it was a bit too harsh despite their disagreements with the JW's), a support group for current and former JW's who have undergone emotional, psychological, physical, sexual or religious abuse during their involvement with the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, many of them were and still are hurting. I can sympathize. Losing loved ones over religious disagreements is rather ridiculous and absurd. Some of them didn't like how AAWA didn't promote Christianity or any other religious stance. AAWA has stated that they don't and will not promote any religious/ spiritual-but-not-religious./non-religious stance on it's members or supporters, they believe that people can, should and must be able to decide what they believe for themselves and that they can come together despite their differences. One question their FAQ page asked if AAWA supported the persecution of the Jehovah's Witnesses is foreign countries like Georgia. AAWA has stated that they do not support the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses or any other religious or non-religious group and are against such behavior. Likewise, they do not support people who use their religion as an excuse to act in unkind ways towards others, say hurtful things to others or who wish to actively bully or harm others.
Likewise, I don't support the persecution of any religious or non-religious group. Expressing disagreement is fine, it can be done in humane ways, but actively persecuting religious groups or preventing them from practicing their religion as long as they don't harm others is not something that I condone or support. I know that the JW's have faced actual instances of persecution in the country of Georgia, Russia today. The Jehovah's Witnesses were systematically killed by the Nazis under Adolf Hitler and by the Communists under the reign of Joseph Stalin and that is something that I can sympathize with. Those were terrible times when so many people were in such desperate economical and social situation, those supporters of Nazism and Communism were looking for guidance and support and turned to fanatical political leaders who were looking for scapegoats to blame for all of the problems that they were facing. I hope that you would be willing to keep in mind of course, Jews, blacks, gypsies, mentally and physically disabled persons, anti- social persons, political minorities, gays, lesbians and numerous religious groups were also persecuted and tormented by the Nazis and Communists as well. I think that the suffering that they faced should also be acknowledged, honored and respected. These groups and many others still face intense persecution in today's world.
Former members of any religious group faced persecution and prejudice as well. I know that the JW's literature referred to former Jehovah's Witnesses as being "mentally-diseased". Some JW's would have to find that a bit harsh, it could even be considered as being slanderous in a way. The Governing Body may not see eye-to-eye with ex-JW's but to say and/or suggest that they are mentally-diseased and have no loving or caring feelings at all and that they are incapable of showing such emotions as non-member of the WBTS is quite inappropriate and even hateful. Some ex-JW's are not very loving or caring people, but not all of them are like that. Some ex-JW's are even mean-spirited to other ex-JW's. I have witnessed that behavior before myself. I also have seen such behavior from ex-Mormons, ex-Adventists, ex-Jews, ex-Hindus, ex-Muslims and others who can act mean towards fellow ex-members of their same religious group. Some JW's are mean-spirited to ex-JW's or even towards fellow Jehovah's Witnesses and sometimes even towards non-JW's and they don't care, in fact, they may feel justified in doing so. I don't care what justification they use, being mean-spirited despite having different views is not okay. Some ex-JW's can say hurtful things to JW's out of anger. You can disagree all you want, but watch what words you use towards someone. You can criticize any or all of the beliefs, history and practices of the Jehovah's Witnesses or any other religious group that you want, but making personal attacks against the individual person is not appropriate. If the person makes personal attacks against you, you should respectfully call them out on their behavior and let them no that making personal attacks is not appropriate, despite your differences in beliefs.
I personally don't engage in religious debates. I don't expect to change anyone's mind. If a person is to change their mind, they have to do it themselves. I don't and wouldn't expect people to agree with me, nor should I. I may mention a piece of information, but it is up to them to do their research and have them decide for themselves about what they think of it and to make their own choices. I know when I had the JW's and Mormons saying things about how you should obey the dictates of their religious authorities without question, I knew that I had the ability to do research and see if what I was being told was "true" and that I had the right to ask questions even if they led me out of the religious group. Freedom of speech and belief are important to me and hopefully it is to many of you who are reading this. I think that when it comes to speech that their are certain things that are not appropriate to say. Death threats are never okay in my eyes. I don't think that threating people with hellfire or annihilation is okay either, those latter views are beliefs, but they still don't seem appropriate to me and does that not violate their religious tenets about not assuming where one will end up after they die, when it is their deity's place to make that decision and not theirs? I was never a fundamentalist, I am quite sure that I could not bring myself to threaten people with hellfire or eternal death by divine annihilation if I were still involved with an organized religion. I did not consider that as being my place to decide. If there were a god or if there is a god, I would have to be responsible for my own beliefs and actions, then it would be up to that deity to decide what to do with me in regards to my thoughts and behavior in regards to eternal life, that would not be the decision of anyone else.
Freedom of thought is important and it is something that everyone should support as it helps you to figure out what you believe, it helps you to examine what is true, what is reality, your beliefs influence your behavior, so it would probably be best to think about what you believe and always be open to new information which might prompt you to change your mind on your beliefs, if necessary. What do YOU think about this?
Sincerely,
B.W.
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