Gay "Knocking" director Joel Engardio writes again on shunning by JW family members

by MrMonroe 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • MrMonroe
    MrMonroe

    A previous thread http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/200592/2/Joel-P-Engardios-article-on-JWs-Washington-Post has covered an earlier story Joel Engardio wrote on gays and Witnesses.

    In the Washington Post (Nov 7, 2010) he writes again of how his JW mother grieved for him "as if I had died" when she learned he was gay. Engardio notes:

    "Among Jehovah's Witnesses there is no easy exit for the adolescent who skillfully parrots theology at age 10 or 12 and decides in his late teens or early twenties that the religion isn't for him. Anyone who officially joins through baptism is subject to shunning if they don't follow the agreed upon rules.

    "I was never baptized and it saved my relationship with my mom. Gay kids who got baptized before they could come to terms with their sexuality are not so fortunate. In the most extreme cases, parents cut all contact with their shunned adult children.

    "...I wonder if parents with religious objections to homosexuality have fully considered the consequences of insisting their gay child follow a faith that works for them but not their child. Can the religious parents who lost a gay child to suicide or shunning ever find peace with the outcome? Or would they rather have a relationship with their child, alive, separate from their religion?

    It's a shame that Engardio, whose "Knocking" doco was embraced by Witnesses as a glowing endorsement of their religion, didn't address the issue of shunning by families in his piece.

    The lesson in Engardio's tale is a powerful one: kids are pushed into baptism at an early age, long before they are mature enough to know how they will feel in adulthood. But once baptised, they are trapped in a religion that refuses to allow anyone to escape without being eternally damned, their families forced by a cold, calculating religious doctrine to refuse to speak to them again, treating them as if they are dead.

  • MrMonroe
    MrMonroe

    Sorry, forgot the link: http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/11/when_religion_is_the_bully.html

    Incidentally, is there an easy way adding a URL link here?

  • MrFreeze
    MrFreeze

    Yeah it's funny how JW's just love the knocking documentary. If only he hadn't told 1/10 of the story and instead went into full detail.

  • MrMonroe
    MrMonroe

    A further point: Engardio's mother is apparently comfortable maintaining a relationship with her gay son because he chose not to get baptised as a teen. Just more example of the talmudic application of rigid, pharisaic rules: if he had been baptised, she would presumably have been happy to never speak to him again. God's will, of course.

    As the Watchtower (Feb 1, 2009) so accurately put it:

    MANY religious people treasure their own beliefs and traditions. But what happens if these teachings are not in harmony with what is found in God’s Word, the Bible? Jesus showed the danger of following man-made traditions when he said to the religious leaders of his day: “You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition.” He then went on to quote these words of God: “This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.”

  • skeeter1
    skeeter1

    Freedom of religion and freedom of thought should include the ability to change ones religions and ones thougths, without the fear of an Organization telling and encouraging your mother to shun you forever.

    I have heard time & time again that people on the far homosexual end of the sexuality choice bar knew at a very young age that they were gay. Sexual orientation is a spectrum, between "straight" and "gay" . . . just like being "black" or "white". We're all shades of brown.

    Skeeter the Conservative for Gay Equality

  • lisaBObeesa
    lisaBObeesa
    Incidentally, is there an easy way adding a URL link here?

    First, paste the link into your post.

    Second, highlight the link you posted.

    Third, click on the little icon that looks like a chain link above. (it's right under the "font family" drop-down menu.)

    Fourth, paste your url (again) into the "Link URL" spot of the box that popped up when you clicked the link icon

    Fifth, click "insert"

    http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/11/when_religion_is_the_bully.html

  • leavingwt
    leavingwt

    Mr. Engardio deserves some credit for shining a spotlight on one of the destructive aspects of this cult. He should now expect to be treated differently by active JWs, because he has now publicly criticized them.

  • CuriousButterfly
    CuriousButterfly

    One of the things that I find disturbing with the WTS and their shunning policy. Minors should not be getting baptized, that decision can ruin their whole life if they decide to take another spiritual path.

  • TimothyT
    TimothyT

    Thanks for posting!

    Timmy xxx

  • Mad Sweeney
    Mad Sweeney

    The reason the Borg pushes kids to get baptized is because if they don't get them when they're young, they probably never will. It is bad enough (for the Borg) that they lose nearly 2/3 of all born-in JWs. If they didn't allow baptism until these kids were of age, they'd probably lose more than 90%.

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