Huffington post requires that you connect to facebook to comment. I'm just not willing to do that... I hope someone else here has an account to comment there...
I did find the author's email on his website and sent him this email:
I am writing you regarding your article on the Huffington Post, A Sin at the Intersection of Faith, Religion and Mental Health. I want to inform you, as I am sure many others will, that the choice to praise Jehovah's Witnesses for their work around suicide is a poor one since the Jehovah's Witnesses actually do none of the things you mention in your article that clergy/faith communities should do. In fact, they do most all of the things your article says not to do, plus their practice of extreme shunning (similar to scientology's 'disconnection' -all family and friends treat the shunned person as if they are dead, forever) have pushed many toward suicide, rather than away from it.
It is even more troubling since at this very moment, members of the ex-Jehovah's Witness community are trying to get the word out about the very dangerous way Jehovah's Witnesses handle suicide, prompted most recently by a disturbing leaked Jehovah's Witness training video on how to handle suicide. The video is meant for the 'elders' of the congregation (their clergy, but they don't use that term) and is not meant for the rank and file members.
See the video here: http://www.mediafire.com/watch/cvas6fcrc9zca94/Shepherding_instructional_Suicidal_Widow.avi I am very interested in your take on this video, since you have some training in this area. The Jehovah's Witnesses are working hard to keep this video off the net, so if the link doesn't work, please let me know and I will try to find you another.
Also, just and FYI, the Awake! magazine put out by the Jehovah's Witnesses is not a good source of information about what they believe or how they behave. It is even a bit misleading in that area. The Awake! is mostly just a tool for very early in the recruitment process and a tool for public relations.
Thank you very much for your time and for your work to prevent suicide, ******
Who knows if he will see the email, but I figured it was worth a shot...
