A presentation is being made to the Canadian government about some of the harms of the policies of the Watch Tower organization, which are contrary to Canadian and international law.

HOW YOU CAN HELP?

Statements of baptized ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses who have been harmed by the religion will also be submitted.

The primary focus is on the impact caused by mandatory ostracization (shunning) required by the religion’s leaders.

ADDITIONAL POINTS 

Please include:

1.  Indicate of which country you are a citizen.

2.  Your age when you were baptized, and your age when you went over the questions. 

 

NON-DISCLOSURE OF CONSEQUENCES OF JOINING 

3. If you were a minor, did you have ‘legal capacity’ to understand the consequences of joining?

 

4. Did going over the questions for baptism fully provide you with the future consequences of formally joining the religion?

 

5. Do you feel that you were pressured or misled into joining the religion? 

 

This would hardly be the case if Jehovah’s Witnesses were known to use deceptive and unethical techniques to recruit members or if they used manipulative methods to control the minds of their followers.

~ February 15, 1994 Watchtower 

 

38  Molko v. Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (1988) 46 Cal.3d.1092 (Supreme Court of California) is one of the so called brainwashing cases. Molko was recruited into the Unification Church. He alleged that the church had used deception and fraud to seduce him into the church. He sued, alleging fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and restitution. The church conceded that it had knowingly misrepresented its identity with the intent to induce Molko to firstly associate with the recruiters and later to join the church’s activities.

~ Hughes (Estate of) v. Hughes, 2006 ABQB 159 (CanLII), https://canlii.ca/t/1mvk0 

 

USE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE 

6. Did Watch Tower’s endless use of an imminent Armageddon play a role in your decision to formally join the religion?

 

7. How did the imagery and videos of Armageddon impact you (anxiety, nightmares, etc.), especially when you were a minor? Does it still impact you?

 

COUNSELING AND JUDICIAL COMMITTEES 

8. Were you ever counseled by elders? Did you seek out the counseling, or was it unwanted?

 

9. Were you ever in a Judicial Committee Hearing? Did you view the Committee as shepherding? Were you asked unnecessary or unwanted questions? Were you asked intrusive or inappropriate questions of a very personal nature? Did you ask to be in a Judicial Committee Hearing, as if confessing a serious sin and seeking absolution from God, or were you compelled to attend?

 

10. Did you ever anticipate being counseled or being in a Judicial Committee Hearing when you were baptized? Had you ever imagined that the JC would be what it turned out to be?

 

COUNSELING AND JUDICIAL COMMITTEES AS A MINOR 

11. Same questions as above, except at what age were you counseled or in a Judicial Committee Hearing if you were a minor at the time?

 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF PUBLIC REPROOF AND DISFELLOWSHIPPING/DISASSOCIATION 

12. Were any announcements made to the congregation that you had been reproved or that you were no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF PUBLIC REPROOF AND DISFELLOWSHIPPING/DISASSOCIATION AS A MINOR 

13. Same questions as above, except at what age were you announced to the congregation if you were a minor at the time? 

 

FREE TO LEAVE – PSYCHOLOGICAL DETENTION 

Watch Tower continuously states that persons are “free to leave” the religion, while engaging in what the Supreme Court of Canada has termed “psychological detention.”

 

39  … He says he was psychologically detained earlier, when the police parked the first police cruiser behind his car, because at that point the police had removed his choice to drive away. … Based on all the circumstances, he says it is inconceivable that a reasonable person in his shoes would believe that he was free to leave after the police obstructed his car.

41  Grant and Suberu clarified that, when there is no legal compulsion, psychological detention is evaluated under an objective test. The operative question is “whether the police conduct would cause a reasonable person to conclude that he or she was not free to go and had to comply with the police direction or demand”: Grant, at para. 31. 

46  He conducted a largely subjective inquiry into the appellant’s state of mind during the encounter, rather than an objective inquiry about whether the police conduct would cause a reasonable person in the appellant’s circumstances to conclude that he was free to leave.

50  The correct question, however, was not whether the appellant intended to drive away, but whether objectively the police had taken away his choice to do so.

~ R. v. Thompson, 2020 ONCA 264 (CanLII), https://canlii.ca/t/j6mc4

referring to: R. v. Grant, 2009 SCC 32 (CanLII), [2009] 2 SCR 353, https://canlii.ca/t/24kwz

CONSEQUENCES OF LEAVING THE RELIGION

Normal family affections and dealings continue.

~ https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/shunning/ 

15. What are some of the consequences that you have experienced because of being disfellowshipped/disassociated? (Loss of family, social network, employment, housing, etc.) 

Did “normal family relations” continue? Can you provide examples in your personal situation?

For how long have you been shunned/ostracized? 

 

16. If you disassociated, please specify that. (Being ostracized for changing your religious belief(s) is contrary to Canadian law and contrary to international law.) 

 

EFFECT ON YOUR HUMAN DIGNITY

Section 12 of the Charter guarantees the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. In essence, the purpose of s. 12 of the Charter is to protect human dignity and ensure respect for the inherent worth of each individual.

~ R. v. Bissonnette, 2022 SCC 23 (CanLII), https://canlii.ca/t/jpf5d

 

17. How did being a Jehovah’s Witness as a minor affect your dignity?

How did being counseled or being in a Judicial Committee Hearing affect your dignity?

How did being denounced from the platform affect your dignity? 

 

REGARDING TRAUMA

18. Have you experienced traumatization from the threat of Armageddon, counseling, Judicial Committee Hearing, being denounced from the platform, being ostracized? (Explain if you feel you are able)

 

Testimony of Governing Body member Geoffrey Jackson to the Australian Royal Commission.

 

We’ve made  changes, your Honour, because those changes in the actual technicalities of the policies don’t change ‐ they are not  affected by the actual Bible principles, except the very important principle of showing love, empathy and concern  and trying to avoid any form of trauma. And that is our desire. …

To answer your question, the answer is yes, that is  possible, but if the reason for doing so is to avoid  trauma, then that is something the Governing Body is interested in. We want to see how we can encourage all the countries to avoid that. …

The Governing Body is happy for our organisation to spend money helping persons ‐ how much more so someone who has been traumatised or affected in a bad way.

~ Australian Royal Commission transcript, August 14, 2015 

 

BAPTISM REGRET 

Watch Tower states that no one, including minors, ever regrets getting baptized.

 

Young ones who love Jehovah and who understand what dedication means do not hold back from getting baptized; nor do they at any time regret their decision.
~ March 2016 Watchtower

 

19. Do you regret getting baptized? Would you ever have gotten baptized if you truly understood the repercussions?

 

MENTAL HEALTH – SUICIDE – SUICIDE ATTEMPTS 

Watch Tower denies that shunning causes suicide attempts.

 

Asked to comment on the study, the Jehovah’s Witnesses Australasia branch says it is “not aware of any evidence, empirical or otherwise” supporting claims that disfellowshipping or shunning can lead to suicide.

“We categorically reject the suggestion that the Bible-based practice of disfellowshipping causes individuals to commit suicide,” spokesman Tom Pecipajkovski says in a statement. 

~ Radio New Zealand, August 10, 2023

https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/in-depth-special-projects/story/2018901718/something-evil

20. Do you have first-hand knowledge of suicide and suicide attempts as a result of any of the above? Provide details if you are able.