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They

They

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Do you see what I see?

“They” is the voice of inauthenticity.

Courage is required to know and to be yourself – but it’s the only way to live with truth and authenticity and richness.

It’s the only way to thrive.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSLvcJ4I1mw[/youtube]

They, by Jem

Who made up all the rules
We follow them like fools
Believe them to be true
Don’t care to think them through

And I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry it’s like this
I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry we do this

And it’s ironic too
Coz what we tend to do
Is act on what they say
And then it is that way

And I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry it’s like this
I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry we do this

Who are they
And where are they
And how can they possibly
know all this
Who are they
And where are they
And how can they possibly
know all this

Do you see what I see
Why do we live like this
Is it because it’s true
that ignorance is bliss

Who are they
And where are they
And how do they
know all this
And I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry it’s like this

Do you see what I see
Why do we live like this
Is it because it’s true
that ignorance is bliss

And who are they
And where are they
And how can they
know all this
And I’m sorry so sorry
I’m sorry we do this

Sadistic Foster Mom a Devout Jehovah’s Witness

Sadistic Foster Mom a Devout Jehovah’s Witness

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I had intended to do a summary of recent stories on Jehovah’s Witnesses in the news, but I can’t put this in as a story among others. It illustrates the extreme of a general tendency fostered by Jehovah’s Witnesses, however they may try to deny it.

Twice-divorced foster mom Eunice Spry, of Tewkesbury, Glos, has been found guilty at Bristol crown court of 26 charges of cruelty and assault. This Jehovah’s Witness has shown no sympathy for her victims, nor accepted any blame for torturing three children over a period of almost 20 years.

Spry, 62, routinely beat, abused and starved the two girls and a boy as punishments. The victims, now in their late teens and early 20s, said the devout Jehovah’s Witness forced sticks down their throats, made them eat their own vomit and rat excrement, drink washing-up liquid and bleach and locked them naked in a room without food for a month.

Spry claims that the children were possessed by the devil. Sandpapering their skin seemed like a good solution.

Child A, now 21, came into Spry’s care when she was five. She said: “We were regularly beaten. We were starved or made to eat blocks of lard, drowned in the bath and kicked down the stairs.

“Mum had an array of sticks and would beat us with them and kick us until we were bruised and collapsing with pain. If we screamed, she would push the sticks down our throats. The pain was unbearable. These things happened all through my childhood.”

Child B, a girl also now aged 21, said: “We had no friends. We were told not to speak to anyone.” Child C, a boy of 23, told Bristol crown court: “One summer, when I was seven or eight, we were starved for a month.

“We were kept locked in a room with no clothes on and had very little to eat.

“If we wanted to go to the toilet we had to do it in the corner. I remember being made to eat my own excrement off the floor.”

Spry, 62, who faces jail after she was yesterday convicted of child cruelty, wounding, assault and perverting justice, kept her savage regime secret by refusing to send the children to school. She taught them at home and rarely let them to leave the house.

The children were routinely punished for supposedly misbehaving by being made to swallow rat droppings, dog food, bleach, washing-up liquid and the antiseptic TCP.

Prosecutor Kerry Barker said that interviews with the victims resulted in a “horrifying catalogue of cruel and sadistic treatment,” but the case relied heavily on evidence from forensic scientists.

Police described Spry as intelligent and clever who had showed no emotion when she was questioned. Det Con Victoria Martell said: “Most mothers who’d been accused of such things would have shown something. She didn’t and it was quite chilling.”

Although a spokeman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses claimed that the faith does not tolerate physical abuse, her behavior was clearly fueled by JW beliefs. Fanatical Jehovah’s Witness Eunice believed the two girls and a boy were possessed by the Devil – she wanted to “purify” them. At a local Kingdom Hall, Spry made one of the children wear a sign on back which said: “This child is evil. Do not look at her or talk to her.” Did anyone intervene? Nah. This nasty woman was considered a pillar of her local community.

Yes, clearly this story is beyond the pale of any kind of acceptable behavior. Why does it matter that she was a “devout Jehovah’s Witness”? It matters because the authoritarian/perfectionist mindset of JWs contributes to the pathology of individuals like this. In such simplistically totalitarian groups (and JWs are not alone), there is simply more child abuse, more domestic abuse, more sexual abuse, and more violence.

Despite their “pacifist” beliefs about not fighting in wars (which really have to do more with their separation from the world and this “system of things” – like their refusal to vote), the internal dynamic of the followers of the Watchtower Bible and Tract corporations encourages behaviors of domination and control. In a very real psychological sense, they are controlled and thus abused, and often become abusers themselves. As any non-JW family member can tell you, kindness is not at the top of their list of priorities. This is especially so for men, although this case involves instead a woman. I hope to hear more about the background – I think the history here must be very convoluted.

I never saw an elder chastised for cruelty. I never saw a single JW interfere with physical, abusive “correction” of children (or women). The man is head of the household. This book excerpt describes a common situation that I observed in my own youth.

When I was twelve years old, my nineteen-year-old sister married a Jehovah’s Witness, and one year later she delivered a beautiful baby boy. Sadly, Jon would come to know at a tender age of one the frustration I experienced sitting on that anthill during those long sermons in the Kingdom Hall. When Jon started fidgeting, his father grabbed him by the arm and literally dragged him to the restroom to beat him. Jon’s beating became such a ritual that when his daddy reached for him during a meeting, he knew it meant a beating. He cried and pleaded “No, Daddy” as he buckled his legs, refusing to walk willingly to meet his fate. Everyone in the Kingdom Hall could hear his screams. The sound that echoed from the blow varied; sometimes Jon’s father used his hand, sometimes a belt. After ten or fifteen minutes, they would return with Jon hyperventilating, desperately trying to catch his breath. Beaten into composure, he would sit still for a while longer. Usually he stared motionless into space, his eyes bloodshot from crying. If fate smiled on him, Jon fell asleep in my arms for the duration of the meeting. If not, then back again to the restroom he would go for another beating and the cycle continued, until the closing prayer. One heart-wrenching day in particular is forever seared into my memory. My sister confided in my mother, father, and me that Jon, then two years old, had asked his father to hit him on his hands with the belt instead of his buttocks. When asked why he wanted to be punished that way, he replied, “Because my butt is too sore.” Within a year, my sister had another child and his fate, sadly, was no different than Jon’s. Meanwhile, my sister’s husband was rewarded for his devotion to the faith. He was made an Elder.’ – from Out of the Cocoon: A Young Woman’s Courageous Flight from the Grip of a Religious Cult by Brenda Lee.

Punishments are inflicted – even at the Kingdom Hall itself – to try to create the perfect submissive JW child who will never make a mistake of any kind. That kind of situation was the subtext of a poem I wrote about how I learned to re-imagine my role in order to navigate through difficult situations. My mind was always my realm of freedom. As a child, there are some things you can’t escape. I was hit with a belt, but not nearly as much as some others. Sticks are also common, since they seem to remind people of the “rod.”

While the actions of this horrible woman are not typical, they are on the same continuum. The protective paranoia of the group, which considers all “worldly” authorities to be ruled by Satan, discourages reporting to outsiders. They don’t trust psychologists, psychiatrists, or child development specialists. They don’t trust the police or the legal system or any part of government. They discourage reading outside their publications, and think that education is a waste of time and energy. People who are so controlled sometimes do odd and destructive things, like this. She would have been horrible without the JWs, but this gave her the ideology and rationalization, and the cover, to do it. She was also able to pull the kids out of school (for “home-schooling”) when concerns arose about their neglect, possible starvation, and the environment of “austere” parenting. Children, who may grow up thinking that abuse is “normal,” should be better protected.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. – C.S. Lewis

Evangelical Atheists Oppose Christian Nationalism

Evangelical Atheists Oppose Christian Nationalism

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I would like to see more opposition to the (so-called) christian nationalism (or dominionism) movement that has such a destructive effect on the American values of liberty, justice, and freedom.

Opposition from the perspective of atheism(s) is one method:

As an “out atheist,” Collette-Van Deraa said she often feels scorned as the other – “capital O in quotes.”

“There are misconceptions that atheists hate anyone who is in organized religion, or that atheists are baby killers or old-people killers,” she said. “There is a sense that atheists to some extent can’t be sensitive to the spiritual views of others.”

Though theologically not a religious group, the courts have increasingly ruled atheism deserves the same protections.

“And it should,” said Derek H. Davis, a Baptist who has written about atheism and is dean of the college of humanities and graduate school at University of Mary-Hardin Baylor in Texas. “Nonreligion as a worldview needs to be treated like a religious worldview in terms of giving people protections to live out their conscience.”

A cyborg alliance across groups that would suffer should the ideas of dominionist movement gain further traction would be helpful. The issue of net neutrality has shown that there can be unlikely alliances between people and groups who agree on little else, but can work together on a specific issue. Right now, many decent people are being manipulated into giving up many of the central messages of christianity – compassion, forgiveness (and perhaps most importantly) kindness toward others.

I was involved with the JWs for many years; their rule-based authoritarian regime looks less and less “fringy” in American life. Just when it seemed (to me, at least) that we were actually moving toward a society of freedom and justice for all, intolerance and hate went on the upswing.

From within organized religion, spiritual leaders of various paths must raise their voices to oppose fear-hate-control religious movements – and remind their people of the ethical paths of wisdom and compassion within their diverse disciplines. You can’t force spiritual insight or affinity using the methods and ideas that are antithetical to the whole point, just as you just can’t force “democracy” at gunpoint and expect that it will be democracy.

Whether by opposition or better example, the time is now to hold the manipulation up to the light. Atheism is not the only position to take, but the rights of those who do not believe in the God of contemporary hardline right-wing-affiliated Christianity matter just as much as anyone else in America. There is plenty of ammunition to support atheism these days – especially if you actually associate dominionists and other such power-mongers with God. (We’ll leave the issues of hypocrisy and cynicism to the side for the moment. I personally believe that it’s really all about the power and the money.)

There is no “generic” atheist. There are atheists who oppose any notion of God, there are atheists who are just not interested in ideas about God, there are atheists who are more humble toward religious reality than the ones who thump their chests about it, there are atheists who believe God is dead, there are atheists who see atheism as a religious position, there are atheists who really only oppose the views of God to which they have been exposed. There is a diversity of opinion on any given issue, except that – overall – there is some agreement that agenda of the christian nationalists should be opposed on the basis of freedom of (and freedom from) religion. This is something that affects everyone (even christians!). Americans should not be forced to be christian. The particular pseudo-christianity that is being shoved into being is powerful insult upon injury.

Once when Jesus and His disciples were traveling to Jerusalem, they were refused lodging in a Samaritan village. “And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?’ But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.’ And they went to another village” (Luke 9:54-56).

The results of the recent election give me hope, but when you consider the wide range of Republican offenses, the numbers were still very close. Too close. It should have been a landslide in every race. Now is the time for Democrats to show what they can do – and there is a lot to do. If they are successful across many fronts, perhaps this country can begin to reorient itself, to recover and thrive. The damage to our system of government and to our citizens has been great. The next several weeks will be very dangerous as the last session of the current Congress tries to push through whatever it can while Republicans still hold the majority.

Americans shouldn’t be traveling with people who want to regulate the whole country under one theology, especially this theology of power and control. The power-hungry manipulators (of any religion) who use religion as a tool to control the masses have missed the central messages of faith. This reality resonates with people of deeper and kinder and more loving faith – in American, in the Middle East, and all over the world. If a messiah or prophet showed up, for the first or second or thousandth time, these would be the first in line to scapegoat, jail, institutionalize, behead, hang, or stone her/him to death. And in the name of God, too.

If there really is a God of Love, I say that God weeps to see what is said and done in God’s name.

“I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding”
— Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

“What is hateful unto you, do not do unto your neighbor. The rest is commentary” –Hillel the Elder

atheism

JWs: From Bible Students to Slaves

JWs: From Bible Students to Slaves

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Under founder Charles Taze Russell, “International Bible Students” were somewhat anti-organizational, centered on personal study of the Bible.

Watchtower, Sept. 15, 1895, p. 216.
Beware of ‘organization.’ It is wholly unnecessary. The Bible rules will be the only rules you will need. Do not seek to bind others’ consciences, and do not permit others to bind yours. Believe and obey so far as you can understand God’s Word today.

A couple of years after Russell’s death, that view was already in transition to its opposite:

Watchtower, April 1, 1920, pp. 100-101.
We would not refuse to treat one as a brother because he did not believe the Society is the Lord’s channel. If others see it in a different way, that is their priviledge. There should be full liberty of conscience.

Russell’s successor Judge Joseph Rutherford was well-known for his exclamation that “religion is a snare and a racket.” Nonetheless, his first move was to claim the Society as the Lord’s “channel,” while still holding onto liberty of conscience and brotherly, agapic love.

The “Judge” changed the name of the group to “Jehovah’s Witnesses” in 1931, and it was only after this that they stopped celebrating holidays and using the cross as a symbol. While they did move away from following any particular human leader (as some had followed Pastor Russell), the organization did something much worse: they claimed to be God’s only voice and actual visible presence in the world. Since then, they have been focused on advertising work. Evangelical marketing. Viral spread.

Instead of being submissive to God alone, JWs are submissive to the Governing Body of the Watch Tower (or Watchtower) Society. Criticism and debate are prohibited and classified as apostate, demonic, pornographic. They equate questioning of the organization with Satan’s rebellion against God, while actually accusing the questioner of hubris! Amazing. There is no discussion of how this Governing Body actually gets its direction from God, but to question them is to question God; it’s unthinkable for the average JW to do so.

For all their “anti-worldly” talk, the Watchtower Society has built a lucrative publishing empire with a dedicated salesforce of unpaid associates – an unquestioning set of followers to spread the memes.

In answer to a reader’s question (thank you, Kathy S!), JWs are no longer forbidden to use the Internet. Their work has always gone hand-in-hand with “wordly” technological advances – they really aren’t Luddites. For obvious reasons, JWs were very resistent to the Internet at first, but after some time they gave up and simply gave the same kind of warnings that they would issue with regard to any other kind of publication or interaction: Stay away from worldly influences, don’t look at porn, don’t read information that opposes the Society, and so on. They have a great legal team. They have been able to strongarm a couple of opposing sites off the net with copyright issues, but they really can’t control the information that is out there. The Society set up their own official website, and the PR site, and advised their people not to attempt to represent the Society or its teachings in any way. They are doing damage control at assemblies and through their publications, casting any critical voices in the usual terms.

They are not opposed to using outside sources of information, just so long as they are selectively filtered and approved by the Governing Body of the Watchtower Society – but their outside source selections and interpretations of them are as cherry-picked as the evidence to go to war in Iraq.

The perceptions and insights of others, even of their own people, don’t count at all. Human life is subordinated to the controlling doctrines – which are loaded with special terminology, cliches, and code phrases that trigger reactions even in people who have left the group.

Attempts at authentic personal study and discovery are squelched, and dismissed as Satanic. Higher education is discouraged, and research is conducted only by authorized persons of the corporation. Rank and file JWs will not even supplement the materials of the publications with studies in languages, archeology, textual analysis, sociology, or pastoral counselling. They are not “bible students” or “ministers” – they are slaves of a corporation.

The Watchtower is not the instrument of any man or any set of men, nor is it published according to the whims of men. No man’s opinion is expressed in The Watchtower. – Watchtower, November 1, 1937, p.327.

God uses The Watchtower to communicate to his people: it does not consist of men’s opinions. – Watchtower, January 1, 1942, p. 5.

Theocratic ones will appreciate the Lord’s visible organization and not be so foolish as to pit against Jehovah’s channel their own human reasoning and sentiment and personal feelings.” – Watchtower, February 1, 1952, p. 80

Newcomers must learn to fall in line with the principles and policies of the New World society and act in harmony with them. Sometimes it becomes rather difficult for some of our new associates to make the change. They are prone to be a little rebellious or unruly. But to become genuinely a part of the New World society it is Imperative that proper respect for theocratic arrangement and order be shown. A humble, obedient mental attitude is required. – Watchtower, June 1, 1956, p. 345.

Who controls the organization, who directs it? Who is at the head? A man? A group of men? A clergy class? A pope? A hierarchy? A council? No, none of these. How is that possible? In any organization is it not necessary that there be a directing head or policy-making part that controls or guides the organization? Yes. Is the living God, Jehovah, the Director of the theocratic Christian organization? Yes! – Watchtower, November 1, 1956, p. 666.

Only this organization functions for Jehovah’s purpose and to his praise. To it alone God’s Sacred Word, the Bible, is not a sealed book. – Watchtower, July 1, 1973, p. 402.

Avoid Independent Thinking
From the very outset of his rebellion Satan called into question God’s way of doing things. He promoted independent thinking. ‘You can decide for yourself what is good and bad,’ Satan told Eve. ‘You don’t have to listen to God. He is not really telling you the truth.’ (Genesis 3:1-5) To this day, it has been Satan’s subtle design to infect God’s people with this type of thinking.—2 Timothy 3:1, 13.

How is such independent thinking manifested? A common way is by questioning the counsel that is provided by God’s visible organization. For example, God’s organization has from time to time given warnings about listening to certain types of immoral and suggestive music, and about frequenting discos and other types of worldly dance halls where such music is played and people are known to engage in immoral conduct. (1 Corinthians 15:33) Yet certain ones have professed to know better. They have rebelled against such counsel and have done what is right in their own eyes. With what result? Very often they have become involved in sexual immorality and have suffered severe spiritual harm. But even if they have not been so affected, are they not reprehensible if others follow their example and suffer bad consequences?—Matthew 18:6.

This fact cannot be overemphasized: We are in a war with superhuman foes, and we constantly need to be aware of this. Satan and his demons are real; they are not mere figments of the imagination. They are “the world rulers of this darkness,” and we have a spiritual fight against them. (Ephesians 6:12) It is absolutely vital that we recognize their subtle designs and not allow ourselves to be overreached by them. Very appropriately, then, we will next consider how we can arm ourselves to fight against these wicked spirits. – Watchtower, January 15, 1983, pp. 18-22, “Exposing the Devil’s Subtle Designs”

They rigorously promote the idea that any questioning or “independent thinking” is evil by definition. I hope a few ex-JWS (and current JWS too) have been watching the Frontline series “From Jesus to Christ” to get an idea of the range of some of the information they’ve been missing.

Actually, as I observe the sad collection of fanaticisms that pass for Christianity in America today, I hope much of the country was able to catch at least part of the series.

For such a prideful organization, an organization that has taken the place of God for so many, to equate discussion and debate and inquiry with Satanic rebellion, shows just how far from authentic spirituality they have strayed. JWs have lost the critical capacity even to see this contradiction, which negates their own historical aims. They have become much of what they had opposed. Now one could argue that in some ways they worship the organization, the governing body of the Watchtower Society, as much or more than they worship God. It’s a form of idolatry based on very very shaky biblical interpretation.

Victims of Child Abuse Hotline

Victims of Child Abuse Hotline

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Do you know a child who is being abused or molested?

If the crisis is now, please call 9-1-1!

Call the National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)

Do not listen to any counsel that tells you to be silent. Everyone matters.

All calls are anonymous and toll-free. The hotline is staffed 24 hours daily with professional crisis counselors who utilize a database of thousands of emergency, social service and support resources.

The Childhelp hotline counselors can…

  • discuss signs and symptoms of abuse with you.
  • help you decide a course of action.
  • prepare you as to what to expect when reporting child abuse.
  • provide the number of the local reporting agency you should call.

Hotline counselors can look up the local reporting telephone number and give it to you. They can also stay on the phone line and make a 3-way call if you are nervous about doing it alone.

Law enforcement agencies (the police or sheriff’s departments) and child protective services are the ones who decide what will happen when there is child abuse. If a child is in immediate danger, however, counselors can call the local police to go to the child’s location if the hotline caller gives the address and the name of the child or teen who is being abused.

Other Hotlines

If you are in immediate danger call 9-1-1.

  • United States Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
    Spanish Language: 1-800-942-6908
    TDD: 1-800-787-3224

  • United States Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
  • Youth Crisis Hotline: 1-800-448-4663
  • National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: 1-800-843-5678
    TDD: 1-800-826-7653

  • United States Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-2433
  • Hotline For Parents Considering Abducting Their Children: 1-800-A WAY OUT
  • United States Missing Children Hotline: 1-800-235-3535
  • United States Elder Abuse Hotline: 1-866-363-4276
  • Find a Therapist: 1-800-865-0686
Ex JW Documentary: Losing My Religion

Ex JW Documentary: Losing My Religion

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A trailer for the documentary Losing My Religion has been released to raise awareness (and funding). I am very pleased to be involved with this project.

View the Trailer.

Contact Stephan T. McGuire to contribute to this unique film. Please support this effort if you can.

Losing My Religion: In and Out of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Organization

That knock on your door is meant to save your life! Daily, over 6,000,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses are being instructed that very soon, those who do not obey their exact teachings will be ferociously exterminated by God himself in Armageddon at the end of the ‘world’!

So who are these people? And what is it like to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

Losing My Religion is a soul-searching, interview-style film documenting the experiences and exoduses of Jehovah’s Witnesses as they leave behind family, friends, their acquired interpretation of “God”, and a very unique ‘fundamentalist reality’. Losing their religion, many who leave must undergo an often emotionally agonizing and dramatic transition into the once ‘forbidden’ world.

Jehovah’s Witnesses who ‘awaken’, who figure things out and leave; who permanently lose their religion, and speak up against the Watchtower Society, are in fact accused of being the absolute worst of all creation. Basically, the Watchtower Society’s stand is: You are either with us or against us.

Why Losing My Religion?

A deep conversation and intelligent study is needed on the effects of extreme fundamentalism in the world today. There are currently millions of ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world who struggle with adjustment to their new lives. Billions of other people find their life purposes and identities almost solely through their religions, political persuasions, marriages and/or other relationships, their corporate careers, nationalism, the military, etc. Upon close examination, most of us are willing to throw out our own personal reasoning capabilities and deny our own personal experiences to be relieved of the oppressive burden of figuring out life ourselves. Why? What is happening?

The interviews in Losing My Religion will serve as a metaphor highlighting the disservice of extreme fundamentalist ideology and the triumph of the human spirit.

Losing My Religion will be a powerful journey into the life of the filmmaker, Stephan McGuire as documents the dilemmas of current Jehovah’s Witnesses, other ex- Jehovah’s Witnesses, solicit the opinions of cult specialists and psychologists who focus on identity and life purpose. So far we have been interviewing ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses, and already the dynamics of self-realization being revealed before the camera will make for a psychologically fascinating study. Once film production begins, we will want to document several Jehovah’s Witnesses as they are leaving the ‘truth’.

With a kaleidoscope of cutting edge style, highly informed specialists and provocative footage, Losing My Religion will be an experience of synergized story telling, deep healing and an exploration of our insatiable quest for real truth.

Ex Jehovah’s Witnesses and other experts on Identity and Life Purpose:

Links

Ex JW Meetup

Rick A Ross Institute

Silent Lambs– Protecting JW children from abuse

Watchers of the Watchtower World

A Common Bond

Dr Jerry Bergman

A tribute and a memorial to Jehovah’s Witnesses who have taken their own lives

Cult Busting information

Recovering ex Jehovah’s Witnesses Webring

Watchtower Whistle Blower

Lightbearer’s Escape from the Watchtower

Watchtower Exposure

Ivor Hope

Survivors of Abusive Religions Outreach & Self-help

12 Steps of Ex JW Theocratic Addiction and Religious Abuse

Ex Jehovah’s Witnesses Chat

In Depth Watchtower Survey

Former Jehovah’s Witnesses Helping One Another Outside the Watchtower

The Truth about Jehovah’s Witnesses

See also my JW-related links, helpful books, and the Forward You Ex-JWs webring.

If you need a little distancing humor, see the JW jokes.

TSHIRT JEHOVAHS WITNESS BAR CODE