Our Stories

Jean-Pierre Coquand: From Faith to Freedom

In 1984, at the age of 36, I found myself at a crossroads. After years of witnessing the notorious corruption and cruelty of the untouchable leaders within the Watchtower Society, I began to see through the deceptive ideology that had trained Jeho...

Patrick Haeck: Mandated Shunning is a Crime Against Humanity

I have spent almost 40 years of my life as an active member of Jehovah’s Witnesses. For 20 of those years, I served as an elder (local congregation pastor), which is a highly respected position in the congregation. In 2005, my daughter was disfel...

19 Years a Captive: I Pretend to Believe for Fear of Shunning

I have spent almost 40 years of my life as an active member of Jehovah’s Witnesses. For 20 of those years, I served as an elder (local congregation pastor), which is a highly respected position in the congregation. In 2005, my daughter was disfel...

Daniel Torridon: Believing the Lie—A Story of Cognitive Dissonance

I was born in 1969 to parents who were both Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) from birth. Their parents were also Jehovah’s Witnesses, so it’s all I ever knew growing up. From a young age, my life was shaped by the doctrines and high-cont...

Esther Gebhard: Mandated Shunning at an Early Age

I was five when my parents joined a faith-based group that practised and enforced mandated shunning. At seven, my mother’s good friend was disfellowshipped and everyone in our group was informed that we had to shun this person to be loyal to God. ...

Luisa Haas: Traumatized By Mandated Shunning

I was a born-in to true-believing members of a faith-based group that practised mandated shunning. At ten years of age, I learned just how inhumane the practice is. And for me, it was a traumatizing event; one that I will never forget. My parent...

Corina Gabriel: It’s Not Easy, But There Is Life After Mandated Shunning

To say that I was born and raised in the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion does not accurately describe the scope and magnitude of its effect on my life. It was more than a religion; it was my entire existence. It wasn’t just how I worshipped; it was w...

Jake Reinert: A Lifetime of Pain

My name is Jake Reinert and I am a 25-year-old ex-Jehovah’s Witness from Spokane, WA, USA. I was born and raised in the religion and was a 3rd to 4th generation Jehovah’s Witness. Shunning was a theme of the religion that I learned from a young ag...

Pablo Rodriguez: Mandated Shunning Hurts People

My story starts in Mexico City, where I grew up in extreme poverty. At age 18, I emigrated to the USA in the hope of a better life, but that’s not exactly how it worked out. After a few weeks in this new country, I was without a job, without money...

Monica Velin Rodriguez: Can You Help Me Stop Mandated Shunning?

I was 39 years old when I first realized I was going to die. All my life I’d been led to believe and cherished God’s promise to me that I would live forever on a Paradise Earth. However, I had begun to doubt this was possible. Was I mortal? Had I ...

Richard E. Kelly: Mandated Shunning is Damaging!

When I was four years old (1947), my mother joined a high-control religious organization, Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs). At age twenty (1964), I stopped going to their meetings and participating in their door-to-door ministry. In 1977 I was disfellow...

Rachel Jackson: Shunning Experience

My name is Rachel Jackson. I was baptised at the Palmerston North District Convention in New Zealand, at the age of 25 back in 1990. I was young, naive and somewhat of an idealist. Coming from a Catholic background, I was ripe for indoctrination. ...

Exclusive Brethren Widower Shunned by Family

I was born into the Exclusive Brethren in 1947, one of five children. In 1959 there was a leadership challenge, which caused a major split. My family decided to stay with the American ‘man of God’ this meant shunning all our friends and relatives ...

Lee Marsh: The Shunning Policy Hurts People Who Need Support

I was baptized in 1969 when I was 17 years old. Married at 18 and had a baby before I was 20 and another, 4 years later. My husband became an elder after about 7 years. He had one personality for the congregation, kind, helpful, and knowledgeable ...

Grandfather Has Never Met Grandchild Due to Mandated Shunning

I started to be shunned in 2012 at age 53, 38 years after I became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was not disfellowshipped yet, though. The shunning was neither complete nor universal at that point – only a few JWs really talked to me, but most oth...