Women and Religion...
Quote: New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17323272.200.html
Men of God
26 January 2002
From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
Betsy Mason
That doesn't mean that women's religious feelings or experiences are weaker than men's, cautions psychologist Kate Loewenthal. The difference may reflect cultural influences. For instance, Muslims and Jews generally consider the religious role of men more important, and women are under less pressure to attend places of worship. In some cases they are actively discouraged—women are not supposed to enter a mosque if they are menstruating, for example.
The traditional view that women are the more pious sex is based on studies done almost exclusively on Christians, says Loewenthal. So her team at Royal Holloway University of London surveyed 530 Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim men and women about their religious practice.
The team assessed activity such as prayer, study of religious texts and visits to a place of worship. "We found that in the non-Christian religions in Britain the men were more religious than the women," says Loewenthal.
Daniel Batson, a psychologist at the University of Kansas, agrees that the findings could be due to cultural differences among the religions. But he cautions that British culture could also be having some unforeseen effect. "Europe is quite different in religion from the US," he says. "In Europe, religion is not seen as the bastion of culture that it once was."
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Actualy I know of other studies that suggest the women are geneticaly drawn to religion, I will have more of a look.
WT filters and why people don't see what's right in front of them
by Lady Lee 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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vomit
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greendawn
It's just as well that the FDS has got all those thought stoppers otherwise there wouldn't be many JWs left for them to abuse and exploit, it's always crucial to have this tactic when your ideology can so easily fall apart upon examination.
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Lady Lee
I recieved a PM earlier today and I think this addresses the issue of Loaded Language the WTS uses to control people.
Sometimes we think once we recognize a problem - like Loaded Language used to put the JW mind in a very small box we should be free but I will add an esperience I had about this.
As a victim of abuse I spent most my time in victim-mode. That made me a target for any and every person abuser out there and believe me I wound up a makr for many of them. (also why I was such an easy target for the JWs).
As a victim of many kinds of abuse it always seemed I totally ignored my gut feeling and shoved them so far down that I never responded at all - just sucked it up and let them do what they wanted.
But when I started dealing with my issues I would notice issues but 3 months after the fact. Over time the time lag decreased. It became weeks later and then days later. Sometimes I thought I would never see it coming and stay in victim mode forever. But I had to pat myself on the back. The time lag fram an event kept getting shorter. It is a lot easier to deal with a problem that happens if you can see it WHEN it is happening.
Eventually I couls see it WHILE it was happening - a huge step forward - from months to weeks to days and then hours or minutes. It was all progress. And we have to pat ourselves on the back for that progress.
Happily I can now see it AS it starts and can choose to stop it immediately.
Don't think you aren't making any progress because the WT triggers still have some effect on you. Whether you don't recognize it immediately doesn't mean you aren't making progress. You at least SAW the problem which is far more progress that most active JWs will ever see.
So pat yourself on the back for the progress in recognizing the issue. You deserve it
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Finally-Free
The WTS teaches JWs to tune out everything that does not support their worldview. In fact they are so good at teaching this skill that JWs not only tune out information from the outside but learn to tune out their own doubts and questions.
I work in a political environment and I see some of that here too, though to a lesser degree. I see it in my family as well when it comes to their Catholic beliefs. Sometimes it seems almost impossible to get someone to think objectively and view things from a different perspective.
W
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unique1
I love Luxor!!
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cognizant dissident
I have spent a little time meditating, both in silence, and using a chant (mantra). I don't think using a mantra or chanting is necessarily a harmful thing, at least I have found it to be a positive and beneficial experience especially if used with awareness. (Awareness of the purpose)
I think the important thing is "what is the message?" one is repeating to oneself over and over again. Is it it positive/beneficial? Is it a harmful, message? JW's do repeat messages over and over again in their literature and in their meetings. Many of those messages are psychologically preparing the followers for unquestioning obedience and other "sheeplike" qualities. It's not even subliminal, it is quite overt.
Any cult/religion/political ideology (they are really the same thing) that encourages one to give over one's thinking abilities to others is dangerous whether they use chants or repeated slogans etc. As any of us who have been indoctrinated in this way since childhood can attest to, undoing this brain programming is no easy feat. Even those not intentionally raised by a high control group have been indoctrinated with other messages on a repeated basis. How many of us can still sing those advertising jingles for our favorite toy, candy, cereal, soda pop, that we heard repeatedly as children even if they have been off the air and off the market for decades?
The reason this type of programming is so pervasive throughout all aspects of society, politics, the military, religion, education, advertising, sports, business, etc is because it works! That is how our brain works and learns, by learning and recognizing patterns and ascribing meaning to them. Awareness of that process and using it to our benefit can be a good thing also. People can use repeated positive affirmations to quit smoking, lose weight, visualize success at meeting a challenge.
As mentioned earlier, I have chanted a positive, affirming mantra while meditating in order to re-program my brain and block out all those negative harmful messages of self-hatred, criticism, and judgement that I absorbed from my parents and JW's. Sometimes, with silence alone, I have not been able to do this, the past programming/conditioning is so strong. The goal of this has not been "mind control" but awareness of how the mind has been conditioned for years and attempting to free itself from this kind of control and understand what is "real" and what is "beneficial" to ourselves and to others. Yes, there is a trap to avoid, of substituting one type of mind control for another, just changing the record so to speak. Awareness of the process, the message, and the intent of the message, is the best way to avoid this trap, I believe.
Cog
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cognizant dissident
I just met Belbab (a JWD poster) and his wife on Friday! My first mini-apostafest and they were such warm and hospitable people. They made me the most delicious lunch and we chatted all afternoon. They know Gary Botting, he lives quite close to them and they just gave me a copy of that book! I haven't read it yet, I am currently reading the complete novels of George Orwell. 1984 is last, I am just about to start it. Then I will read Gary's comparison. I'll post any interesting points I find. By the way, anyone who has not read Orwell yet, he is just an excellent writer. Even without the JW comparisons, I would highly recommend him. One of the greats!
Cog
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cognizant dissident
One more thing on that, (not trying to be sexist) but I think maybe males are more likely to doubt and get sick of it, because religion is an emotional device women are more captive to this than men... but I am seeing a lot of women on here though! :) I still think this, even in this "women indepence" era. :)
I too see this phenomenon but I don't believe that it is because women are inherently more captive to the emotional devices of religions. I do believe that the majority of women have been trained since babyhood to subject their own thoughts and feelings to those of others, parents, family, friends, lovers, spouses, to a greater extent than men have and this carries through every aspect of thier life, work, social, religious, etc. Women have been trained to a greater degree than men in not trusting their own instincts but to look to the external group for validation. The truth of this has been demonstrated time and again in study after study.
We can see examples of women who have broken free of this kind of conditioning and have raised their daughters to be independent thinkers with a voice. They have shown themselves to creative, independent and capable of the same type of scientific/logical thinking as any man. Sadly, though, women raised in this way are still very few in number compared to the ones who are not. Think of Judaic, Christian and Muslim fundamentalism and the messages given to women about their role. This affects the majority of women in the world today. The JW view of women is a strange mix of the 1950's pop culture meets Victorianism. Women's lib never quite made it to the Kingdom Hall did it?
Cog
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Lady Lee
Excellent input Cog. I see it everywhere.
My pet peeve of the moment commercials where actresses say they want to age naturally but have a cream (or other item) that will remove wrinkles -- so much for aging naturally.
Sitting in silence and looking for your inner voice can be helpful. I often suggested that surviviors of incest reprogram their minds with positive affirmations. The negative messages were constantly running in their minds -- I'm bad. -- I deserved it, I will never be OK. Growing up all they heard were negative messages and demands to be unselfish.
Part of recovery for them was to replace those negative messages with positive ones even if they didn't believe them at first.For people who had flashbacks to the abuse they could remind themselves that the abuser is no longer here and they are now an adult and can learn to protect themselves.
I think the same thing applies to those of us who have left the WTS behind. Just think about the messages the WTS gives to active members
- do more,
- more meetings
- more service
- more prayer
- keep on the watch
- keep reaching out
- be vigilant
And those are the messages for active JWs. We know what they say about those who leave
- gluttons
- sex-craves
- depraved
- drunkards
- have no moral sense
This list can go on and on. One of the last times I spoke with my sister before she died we talked about the JWs. She told me to stop explaining why why the WTS was a cult. Mt sister turned her back on the WTS as a teen. She didn't think she could ever measure up to the standards of the WTS. She still believed the WTS had "the truth" but said she could never be good enough to be one. And if she couldn't be a good JW she would be a bad anything else. She got involved in drugs and alcohol and prostitution. She couldn't handle the thought that she had trashed her life over something that was a lie.
We have the expression that we need to teach children standards to live up to. But if the expectations are bad people will live up (or down) to those standards as well. She lived down to all the expectations of our mother and the WTS. In the end she took hwer own life. An extreme case perhaps but if she could have learned to think of herself in a positive way maybe she would still be here with us.
It takes time to retrain our minds to think differently. But it does happen.