It has been just two and a half months since the shunning is a crime survey was launched. In that short time over 500 survey responses have been received. Thank you! Here is a snapshot of some of the findings
SAWS Requests Meeting to Discuss Mandated Shunning With High Control Group
The Foundation Against Watchtower Shunning (SAWS), registered in Aalten, Holland has sent 7 letters to the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (CCJW) in the Netherlands inviting them to enter a dialogue with all those who continue to suffer because of the religious mandated shunning policy. A press release has been circulated stating that if the CCJW Directors or representatives ignore the …
Exclusive Brethren Widower Shunned by Family
I was born into the Exclusive Brethren in 1947, one of five children. In 1959 there was a leadership challenge, which caused a major split. My family decided to stay with the American ‘man of God’ this meant shunning all our friends and relatives who were not members. We were forbidden to eat or talk with these former members; they …
Lee Marsh: The Shunning Policy Hurts People Who Need Support
I was baptized in 1969 when I was 17 years old. Married at 18 and had a baby before I was 20 and another, 4 years later. My husband became an elder after about 7 years. He had one personality for the congregation, kind, helpful, and knowledgeable about the Bible, and another when he was at home, distant, demanding, and …
Richard Kelly Talks to OnionUnlimited About the Genesis of Shunning is a Crime
On 11 September 2023, Richard E. Kelly was interviewed by Daniel Torridon from the Onion Unlimited podcast. The interview explored Richard’s powerful and often painful story and much more: Click here to watch the podcast on OnionUnlimited’s YouTube channel.
Grandfather Has Never Met Grandchild Due to Mandated Shunning
I started to be shunned in 2012 at age 53, 38 years after I became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was not disfellowshipped yet, though. The shunning was neither complete nor universal at that point – only a few JWs really talked to me, but most others would at least greet me if the situation made it awkward to not …
High-Control Groups Abuse the Human Rights of Children
At the time of writing, there are 2.3 billion children in a global population of 8,045,311,447 on the planet. How many of those children are being raised in high-control groups is unknown. One of the reasons Shunning is a Crime (SIAC) is collecting mandated shunning stories and why a small group of researchers created a survey is because we want to document how and …
Lifetime of Shunning, Early Death and Mandated Abuse
In the early 1960’s my mother began to study the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses with the woman who lived next door. She was at a low ebb. My father had recently had another nervous breakdown, and she felt she had nowhere to turn. Jehovah’s Witnesses offered a false hope to a frightened woman, and she still clings to that fallacy …
Painfully Shunned by Mother and Brother
My parents joined Jehovah’s Witnesses when I was 5 years old. I was raised in the cult and knew no other way. I married very young, pioneered, ministerial servant, then elder. I think that by my 30s though I was having many doubts about doctrine, homophobia, the arrogance of the view that theirs is the only true religion, and the …
Grandmother Shunned by Family for the Last 7 Years
I am 51 years old and have been shunned by both of my parents, 2 sisters and 2 nephews for the past 7 years due to my decision to leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion. I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness from a young child but realized at a young age that I did not want to be a Jehovah’s Witness. …