News And Links For Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses: Jehovah’s Trumpet And More!

Shunning Makes Us Joyful

This one is from Jehovah’s Trumpet, a site that spoofs the Watchtower. Jehovah’s Trumpet is to the Watchtower magazine what The Colbert Report is to Bill O’Reilly’s The Factor. The best part is the comments. Note that lots of people didn’t get the joke. If you were one of them, now you know! Bear in mind that this is the same website that features stories like Conjoined Twin Shuns Brother and Family Repudiates Thursdays.

Note to fellow skeptics and atheists: Remember to use critical thinking skills where applicable!

Evolution: A Satanic Theory

Also from Jehovah’s Trumpet. Same deal as above – lots of people didn’t get the joke. But this article was retweeted by Richard Dawkins and Penn Jillette. 🙂

Dawkins isn't even an XJW and he gets it!

 





Seth Andrews: The Ultimate Question

The link above will take you to the whole talk, which belongs as much under the heading of atheism as ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses. The video below takes you to a point in the talk where Seth (from The Thinking Atheist) talks about what it’s like to deal with family and others who look down on you for not believing what they believe. Ex-believers of all stripes should get why that appears here and not just in the atheist news section.

The thing is that many atheists and ex-Witnesses – even ex-Witnesses who still have faith in a deity or religion – have plenty in common. Exxers who bash atheists often miss the commonalities.

Note: If it won’t play in the little box below, or you want it bigger, just click on the button that says “YouTube” at the bottom of the box. 🙂

Chilliwack family blames RCMP for failing to return their daughter

Jeff Wier and Candis McCarville-Wier are the legal guardians for Cassidy McCarville; Candis is also her biological mother. The teen became a Jehovah’s Witness two years ago but her parents are not followers, and that has been a point of strife between Cassidy and her parents.

Candis says her daughter has taken the religion too far — preaching door to door instead of doing her school work. When she tried to ground Cassidy on Tuesday night, preventing her from going to a Jehovah’s Witness meeting, the teen ran away from home.

Candis McCarville-Wier says she just wants her 15-year-old daughter, who ran away from home after a dispute over being a Jehovah’s Witness, to come home and get counselling. (CBC)

Grammar Nazis take note: the article above is from Canada, so some words may look incorrect to you. No words were actually harmed in writing the article, however.

Blood Transfusions – What are the risks?

The typical Jehovah’s Witness believes that blood transfusions are bad medicine and the equivalent of playing Russian Roulette. They have been so thoroughly indoctrinated about the risks by the Watchtower Society that the mere thought is totally abhorrent to many of them. Oddly enough, it is not unusual to see these irrational fears persist even in former Jehovah’s Witnesses for many years after they leave the Watchtower Society.

AAWA Announces “Watchtower Victims Memorial Day”

News And Links For Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses And Atheists: Richard Dawkins on the Bill Maher Show – Overtime

VIDEO: Richard Dawkins on the Bill Maher Show – Overtime

VIDEO: Caller Pastor George on The Atheist Experience

VIDEO: The Atheist Experience Discusses the Difference Between Indoctrination (Cults) and Socialization

Children of religious parents at ‘more risk’ of abuse

Countering JW Shunning: How the Implications of Stanley Milgram’s Work May Suggest Using a Different Approach

In an attempt to force abandonment of the cruel practice of shunning, we’ve seen countless impassioned pleas from ex-JW members who point out how cruel and emotionally-painful it is for THEM, the targets of shunning. Although these painful accounts are absolutely heart-felt, they often are quite ineffective; the shunning continues, partly because the cries paradoxically CONFIRM the message that the WT delivers to their members, telling them shunning HAS to be uncomfortable for the shunned since it’s done “for their own good”! The Society claims that shunning WON’T be effective UNLESS it causes pain in the shunned!

Shameful Shunning in a Thousand Words

This is a picture of my dad eating. He had just made lunch for me, but he couldn’t eat it with me. I had to eat it at another table with my four-year-old son while he sat there away from me.
Why? Because that’s what the Watch Tower Society tells him to do.

What is Jehovah’s witnesses?

Add your answer today.

Science Of Cult Behavior


Finally, I am not dead. But posts will be far fewer during the college semester. Also, as happens every other month it seems like, updates continue to wreck the editor on my WordPress install. One minute it’s there, the next it isn’t. Grrr…

To Jehovah’s Witnesses: Our Experiences At Our Kingdom Halls Aren’t About You

I've never seen a yellow Kingdom Hall in real life before. It just goes to show you that all Kingdom Halls are not alike.

I’ve never seen a yellow Kingdom Hall in real life before. It just goes to show you that all Kingdom Halls are not alike.

Some Jehovah’s Witnesses assume that former Witnesses like me are lying when we talk about our old Kingdom Halls. If you’re one of Jehovah’s Witnesses who has read an experience at Atheist Geek News (or any other ex-Witness site) that doesn’t agree with your experiences at your own Kingdom Hall, please try to remember the following:

Our experiences at our Kingdom Halls have nothing to do with your experiences at your Kingdom Halls. And no, believe it or not, we aren’t lying about our experiences. We don’t have to.

If it’s hard for you to believe that our bad experiences with “the truth” really happened, then consider this: some ex-Witnesses suspect that you guys are the ones who are really lying to us. That’s because many of us had it so bad at our old Hall that we can’t believe you had it so good.

Continue reading

How To Avoid Making Big Mistakes When Coming Out As A Nonbeliever To Jehovah’s Witnesses

Door opensWhen one of Jehovah’s Witnesses decides to “come out” as a nonbeliever to members of his family, he knows that they will cut him off for good. Yet many ex-Witnesses come out anyway because they can’t stand living a lie. (For the record, I really do think that coming out is almost always better than fading in the long run.) Some ex-Witnesses make serious mistakes when revealing their lack of faith in the Society to their families, mistakes that create needless complications for everyone involved. I have some tips on how these can be avoided below.

Note, in this case, I’m referring to Jehovah’s Witnesses who are “nonbelievers” because they don’t believe in the Society’s truth anymore. Nonbelieving ex-Witnesses may still believe in God or favor another religion, so they aren’t necessarily atheists as I’m using the word here.

So what’s the best way to come out as a nonbeliever to your relatives? And why should you consider coming out instead of fading?

Continue reading