Our Stories

Lester Rafuse: A Lifetime of Faith, Then Silence

I was basically born into the religion. My grandparents—and subsequently my parents—were converted around the time I was born in 1934. I was thus raised in the religion. As a child, I had to deal with rejecting the flag salute (as an ...

Elle Ariah: Red Flags I Missed—My Life Inside Jehovah’s Witnesses

I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness from about the age of five. My family and I became involved after fleeing a genocide. I remember my parents saying they were surprised by how loving everyone was, and since that wasn’t an environment...

Lauren: I Lost Everything for Choosing My Own Life

I was born into a religious group called The Geelong Revival Centre. At 18 years old, I had finally had enough. During my first semester at university, my eyes were opened to the world around me. For the first time, I understood what they were al...

Trapped, Betrayed, and Free—My Story of Abuse, Shunning, and Survival

Dedication This story is for every survivor who has been silenced, for those still trapped in cycles of abuse, and for those who are just beginning to find their way out. It is for Pete, who saw me when no one else did. I wish you could see me to...

Julie: Shouldering the Burden—Julie’s Journey from Shunning to Freedom

I was born into the religion (Jehovah's Witnesses). I was disfellowshipped at age 28. At the time, I was married with young children, and both my then-husband and I were disfellowshipped and shunned. It was devastating to us both. We attempted to ...

Yanil Barbosa: Dead to Them—How Mandated Shunning Robs Families of Life and Love

On May 28, 2019, my husband and I left the Organization of Jehova's Witnesses when sudden changes happened. We made research on topics and found out the incompatibilities between dogma and practices accomodating this as "New Light". We found out t...

Daniel Balderas: Escaping the Small Box—My Life with Jehovah's Witnesses

My name is Daniel B. Finally, there's a forum to tell my history. I'm six decades old now. This JW cult has brought death, destruction, and ostracism to my family and me. It all started when my mom and father came to the USA looking for a better ...

Micki: Real Life is Better—My Journey Out of the Jehovah's Witnesses

2020 was the year I realized I had spent most of my life in a doomsday cult. A perfect storm of events propelled me into researching my religion: a breakup, the pandemic, conspiracy theories, and job loss. One day, while on Reddit debunking QAnon ...

Science Saved Me

During my formative years, my parents aligned themselves with the Jehovah's Witnesses. Their affiliation led to my initiation into the faith through baptism at the age of twelve. My spiritual journey progressed steadily, culminating in my appointm...

Jordan: I Couldn't "Pray the Gay Away"

I was born and raised a Jehovah’s Witness in a loving family, the youngest of six children. My family was extremely involved in the organization. My father was a presiding overseer in the congregation, my three brothers were ministerial serv...

Don't Look in Their Eyes—It's Easier That Way

Our very young daughter was sexually assaulted by the Presiding Overseer. I reported the incident to the Elders and my father and was categorically informed that without 2 witnesses our daughter was not believed. Our family was a perfect target fo...

Kairo Kirk: Scared to Openly Question

I grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness. I got baptized at 11, and became a pioneer as soon as I could. My father was an elder. My parents were both extremely controlling and strict; I had no privacy whatsoever, and they monitored everything I did ...

Eric: Jehovah's Witnesses Use Pain, Loss, and Sadness as Power

I was raised in "the truth" by my mother. When I was 9, she married my stepfather who was very strict in religion. I had to study technology at school while I actually wanted to work in healthcare. But he wanted us to study engineering because tha...

Quin Moon-Reed: Shunning is Traumatic

When I was 18, I was kicked out of my parents’ house, largely because I began questioning the Jehovah’s Witness religion that I had been born and raised in. Despite still attending meetings for a while, my disconnection from the faith ...

April Fraedrich: From Despair to Healing–My Journey Out of the Jehovah’s Witnesses

My mother started studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses when I was just seven years old. From that moment, my entire world changed. I was taught that I had to be separate from “worldly” people—no friends outside the faith, no b...