Sneaky shunning 'work around'
The Jehovah's Witness organisation is at it again. NuSpeaking (George Orwell '1984' style) by changing one of their most stringent rules - that of shunning the disfellowshipped and disowned ones
I really don’t like harping on about being an ex Jehovah’s Witness and it’s been a long whilst since I’ve posted about it here…..but, something came up that you should know about. After being shunned by my mother and stepfather for over 30 years, it was suddenly ok for them to reach out and invite my disfellowshipped brother, who still lives in their area, to their once a year Memorial of Christ’s death in March (Jewish passover or equivalent of Easter). In addition to this, the rules have been well and truly bent to allow said relatives the chance to approach and speak to their shamed and disfellowshipped family member, at The Kingdom Hall. BUT, this is only on condition of them attending The Memorial, or in fact any other meeting during the week. Note: My sister and I were not invited, despite being disfellowshipped, because we don’t live in the same area as our parents…..go figure! So being cynical, does that mean because they won’t get to see us they didn’t bother to invite us? i.e. we would have to attend a congregation in our own area….
I became aware of a great project ‘Stop Mandated Shunning’ last year and indeed wrote about it in my blog dated 24 July 2024 entitled ‘Shunned 30 years by mother.’ Because I follow the progress of court cases of individuals taking the Jehovah’s Witnesses org to task about the cruelty of shunning and it’s violation of human rights, I was also aware that the JWs lost a case in Norway and their charitable status was threatened.
Mission Statement:
“Stop Mandated Shunning* works to expose, challenge, and criminalise the coercive practice of mandated shunning by high-control groups. Through research, legal advocacy, and with survivor support, we fight to protect human rights, ensure justice, and empower individuals to leave these groups without fear of isolation or harm.”
I immediately started hearing about the flip/change of the disfellowshipping rule for those ‘sinners’ (myself included) who, formerly shunned in a cold-hearted manner, who were now being contacted by their families from whom they had not heard for many, many, years. To say this caused emotional turmoil for some exJWs in the FaceBook groups I follow, is an understatement. Imagine, if you can, that you’ve not had a text, letter or phone call from your ‘loving’ Christian parents for say twenty years. Out of the blue, a message lands which says something trite like “dear…….. hope you’re well. I just wanted to invite you to The Memorial this year. I do hope you will come and we can take the opportunity to talk. It’s been too long.”
“Yes, it has been too long, and whose fault is that??”
Call me cynical, but the timing seems suspiciously close to the failed court case in which the Organisation loses its charitable status. Dollars, Pounds, Sheckels… so if they tweak the rules a little, they can now barefacedly lie in court and say that they don’t cut people off, or ban them from speaking with their relatives and families that have left, “because look, we give them a chance to meet on neutral territory and actually have a conversation.” The fact that this is not neutral territory and it’s still forbidden to invite them for a coffee or God forbid, to their own home, is beside the point. So, as you can tell, I’m a little mad about this. It didn’t trigger me emotionally, as I’m SO over the whole thing like 30 years ago. It did make me angry though, that they can be so MANIPULATIVE.
If you feel curious about cultic shunning or you have experienced it personally, there are three simple things you can do to help this project bring justice through the court system worldwide. Click link above to take part.
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If you are interested in the background that led to winning the court case in Norway click here:
Timeline of success in Norway court case
If the JWs no longer have charity status, guess what? No tax relief. So they are wriggling out of a material punishment as quickly as their fierce legal team can action it.
The Open Minds Foundation, more background info about cults
Read about their campaigns against all forms of cohesive control.
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