cedars, thanks for taking on board views like mine but one does not need to be a witness to express such views. Much of what I say nowadays stems from immersing myself in critical thinking during this my final year at university - at the moment most of it goes over my head so please bear with me and I welcome dissenting argument.
I agree that witnesses privilige the sanctity of marriage over life and that the society is misogynistic and naive in how they apply their principles. But from what I have seen most of the truly horrorifying cases of domestic abuse are not recent - by recent I mean in the last 10 years. It seems to me that nowadays couples do call the police and separation is encouraged. Within the congregation both parties are given help and strong counsel where needed. Once the police are involved and if there are children, social services also get involved. I'm really glad about the outside help victims and their children are given.
What I don't agree with is that couples are still then actively encouraged to try to repair their marriage. Elders want to see couples doing this even after there has been severe violence. This is the advice that comes directly from the GB and some elders take this to extremes in their naive obedience to the GB.
