Too bad they didn't give any contact information.
June 11, 2007 Macleans article re. ex-JW support group in Toronto
by kwintestal 22 Replies latest social current
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Mary
I know some JWs who subscribe to Macleans, and I suspect they'll be sending nasty letters to Macleans because of this.
Yep....maybe some of us should likewise send a heartfelt 'thankyou' to Macleans for running this story. Like someone already mentioned, the Canadian Dubs have gotten a lot of bad press recently. Most of it is thanks to the stupidity of their own lawyers trying to enforce their antiquated rules in a court of law which exposes their disgusting practices for everyone to see.
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Frank75
I wonder if the JW's are going to sue Macleans for copyright infringement for using their picture?!
Kwin
With a little digging, we will probably find out the picture isn't even the WT domain! They being plagiarists themselves!
Frank75
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Frank75
I applaud the article for revealing the darker side of the religion, however two problems with it are it gives no way for JW's with issues to contact the support groups mentioned that I can see.
Secondly, it kinda paints us Xjw's as a little pathetic, lonely and depressed. Many of us were on antidepressant meds while in the religion, freedom has been emotional but very positive!
My wife was depressed for 15 years, and many times contemplated ending her life. Since we left she has had no depressive or suicidal thoughts whatsoever!
It would be nice to run an article on JWD as a support group. A group of 60 in NYC and 3 or 4 in TO seems diminutive of the Xjw community as a whole.
My thoughts.
Any idea who these TO xDubs might be?
Frank75
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Bumble Bee
I have to agree with Frank75. It would have been nice to have put in an email addy for the guy - I'm sure there would be JW's reading this article that would soooo like to get in contact with him! Also, it would have been nice to see some more positive experiences about the ones that have left, instead of talking about being damaged etc.
On the plus side, Macleans is in every Dr's office, and with the amount of sick JW's it will be seen!
BB
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sf
Maybe we should let Maclean's know about JWD.
Done. More encourgement surely cannot hurt though.
sKally
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Gayle
I just sent an email to Julia McKinnell with my appreciation to: [email protected]
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sf
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070611_106146_106146
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A support group for the disowned
Former Jehovah's Witnesses are banding together to ease the pain of loneliness
JULIA MCKINNELL | June 11, 2007
When Jehovah's Witness-raised Craig Danielson (not his real name) was 17 at a Toronto high school, he fell in love with a girl who was not a Jehovah's Witness. The fallout was severe but typical for church members who break consequential rules. "I got kicked out of the church, and my home. My parents changed the locks." His girlfriend's parents took him in for a while but, eventually, drained emotionally and financially, he called his parents who agreed to take him back on the grounds that he "repent, and convert back, and do a bunch of things to prove to them that I wanted to come back." He fell in line and married a Jehovah's Witness. He has two daughters, 6 and 16. Both his girls are Jehovah's Witnesses.
Danielson is 43 now, and works at one of the big banks in downtown Toronto. He broke with the church for good two years ago. "I couldn't take it or fake it anymore," he said recently at a Starbucks. Danielson is one of a growing number of ex-Jehovah's Witnesses who are banding together to talk about the trauma they've endured. "Probably the single most damaging thing we all need support for is the way our families treat us when we leave."
The idea to start an ex-Jehovah's Witness support group came to Danielson after he'd heard about a group in Manhattan who get together to do "fun things" like bowl and go to dinner. His first meeting in April was in the basement of a Toronto library. Two women showed up. Danielson suggested they meet the next time at a coffee shop, but neither is ready to whoop it up in public like the New York group for fear of bursting into tears.
The older of the two is very unhappy, says Danielson. "She lives alone. She admits she goes home from work, takes her anti-depression medication, watches TV, goes to bed, and that's her life." The younger of the two told Danielson she'd be curious to know what the suicide rate is of ex-Jehovah's Witnesses. "In extreme cases where you are totally alone, and the reason you're alone is that a group of people think you're evil, and it's reinforced when you see your mother, and she won't speak to you because you're evil, it f--ks you up," he said.
Danielson divorced the mother of his children, and remarried a non-Jehovah's Witness, but assimilating into society hasn't been easy.For one thing, he had never voted. Jehovah's Witnesses aren't allowed to vote. He had never celebrated Christmas or a birthday. "Wicked people celebrate birthdays," he was told in church. "In every office, somebody comes around with a card and says, 'Could you sign this for Joe?' " When Danielson was in the church, he told colleagues, "I can't. It's a birthday card. It's against my religion."
He is careful, however, not to position his support group as a "Witness-bashing" thing. "I just want to help people who have left. A lot of us appear normal but we're a little screwed up. We're all kind of damaged."
Thirty-five-year-old Lily Burgos runs the Manhattan group. In a year, membership has grown to 60 people, including some who are still in the church but who are investigating leaving. "When I was 25, I was like, I am done!" said Burgos. "I was angry for the first three years. They train you to be scared of the outside world: 'Look how bad it is, all these people on drugs, and illegitimate pregnancies and STDs, they live so lasciviously!' You have this in your head and stay because you're scared." Burgos advises anyone wanting to leave not to tell anyone in the church how they're feeling. "The first thing the minister is going to say is, 'You need to read your Bible, you need to pray.' "
These days, Danielson says it's "very weird" for him when Jehovah's Witnesses knock at his door. His parents took him door to door as an infant, and when he was 10, he was expected to do the talking to strangers. "I hated it," he says. "It wasn't shyness so much as I couldn't get over the notion I'm knocking on someone's door to tell them how to live their life. What business do I have doing that?" Now he says of the knocks at his door, "I always think ahead of time that I'll create a scene or throw something."
"Witnesses have territory maps," he explains. "On each territory there is a list of addresses that are 'Do not call.' Either the person is violently opposed and you'll get hurt, or they have asked, 'Do not call.' So that's what I've been thinking of doing the next time a Witness calls. I'm going to say, Please put me on the 'Do not call' list. See, it's my wife I have to hold back. She hates them."
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skeeter1
This article will further solidify to the public at large that the JWs are a cult. The public will see that the religion messes up people's minds and lives. Alot has been written about the JWs coercive policies in Canada, especially regarding blood & shunning. This furthers the cause.
The active JWs will consider this more badgering by Satan to deter the Slave Class. Plus, it will further cement that those who leave, leave Jehovah's good graces behind. Otherwise, the ex-JWs wouldn't need to be on pills & all wimpy sounding. The average dub will not admit that many, many, many current JWs are also depressed, screwed in the head, and on prescription "happy" pills. Hypocrisy.
Skeeter
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EarthyFire
Thanks so much for posting this!! Some members of my group were wondering if this was about them and now I'm wondering the same thing. A few of them got together back in April I believe in the basement of a library.
I run a small yahoo group of Canadian ex-JW's http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/CanXJW and we encourage people in the same area to connect in person. There's so many of us out there so why not?! I've not found anyone in my area to connect with but I hope I will one day.
~Corrinna