1. it
Soturdoy, April 23, I9BB RHLIG[#N B/6
ffilllq Methodist bishops chonge thinking on AIDS: B-7 U.S. teen sces Bible quiz: B-7 Howoiion minisier beors messoge of the ukulele: B-8
hou$e
dtui ded' reiterates the Biblical mandat'e of
shunning former membero, r&
. minding followere that such disci-
' pline is a "te6t of loyalty to God'
and "can yield peaceable fruit."
Rusk says: "We're not anxious
to kick people out of the organiza-
tion. We glve fallen membere
every opportunity to repent. But if
they continue to ignore the truth,
then we have no choice but to take
this action."
That explanation doers not ease
the burden for WelLon, who, since
her expulsion, has given birth to
her second child and has been
severely injured in a car accidenL
Neither event was enough to
resiore the support of her parents
and older sister.
"You can understand why I
consider the Witnesses a culL
What kind of religion pits family
members against each other?" she
88y8.
It angers Welton that she must
pay such a dear price for leaving
an organization that wasn't even
her choice in the first place. Raised
in the Baptist faith, her parents
became Jehovah's Witnesses when
she was 10. Living under her
parent's roof, she had no choice
but to conform to the Witness
lifestyle.
That meant not attending high
school and earning a correspond-
ence degree ins[ead, so she could.
"pioneer" door-todoor for the
-
church to recruit new memberg.
The church bases its beliefs on the
Bible's teaching that "bad associa-
tions apoil useful habits," and
frowns upon schooling past the
etaie's mandatory requ i remen t.
It meant not, celebrating birth-
days or holidays, because the
organization believes these are
heathenish activities. There was
no need to register to vote, because
that also is forbidden.
It meant mainly aseociating
with other Jehovah'e Witnesses,
attending the required five meet'
ings a week, and essgntially mak-
ing the church the cenler of her
life.
When Welton moved into her
own apartment at age 19, she
began to see the world in a
different light Against her par-
ents' wisheg eho stBrted working
full-time at Smitty's and attending
claeses at Phoenix C,ollege.
Not only did her commitments
cut into her church-going t!me, it
also opened up a new circle of
friende and experiences. Welton
started questioning the religion's
rigid regulations and eventually,
after her marriage to a Catlrolic,
she drifted away from the organi-
zation.
It wasn't until she was officially
expelled by the church elders that
Welton felt the ultimate blow of
her actions.
"lf you've never been a Witness,
you're a potential Yitness. There's
still hope for you," she explains,
bitterness edging into her voiee.
"But a Witness who knows the
'truth' and gives it up? You're no
better than the spit on the ground.
And that's just how you're
treaced."
Jack Schulze, a substitute
teacher who serves as the overseer
for Tempe-area Jehovah's Wit
nesses, declined io be interviewed
about shunning, saying "it's better
off to be misundersbood than to
have something in print that can't,
be understood."
"What you have (with shunning)
ia good people doing hard things
for the sake of righteousness," he
says. "Read the Bible and it will
make sense."
David Brown, a volunteer who
counsels former Witnesses through
the nondenominational Alpha and
Omega Minist,ries in Phoenix,
thinks otherwise. A Protcslant
who convertcd to thc Jelrovah's
Witnesses against his palents'
wishes when he was 15, Brown
spent 11 years in the organization,
including three years working at
the headquarterg in the publishing
department.
"I bought the whole story. I
believed ii all, even enough to
work in New York in exchange for
my ?oom and board and $'30 a
month," says Brown, now a book-
binder. "I was dedicated to God's
service and I thought,I was making
See I Shunned, B-7
By Michelle Beorden
hen former Jehovah'e
Witness Linda Welton
hnally got up the cour-
age F cgltact her par-
ents last year, she blocked out'her
fcars of rtjection and dialed the
number of thcir Paradise Valley
home.
A stranger answered. The for-
mcr occul)ants, Welton was told,
had moved back to the Midwest.
IIc wasn't sure rvherr.
"Tlral's when I knew the ties
had really been cut," recalls Wcl-
ton, a 3O-yearold mother of two
and a sales represcntatiye for a
camera compsny. "lIere my par-
ents had moved and didn't even
leave me a forwarding address. If
that's not insult to iniurv. .. ',
Iler voice trails'off and her
bright eyes darken. After a mG
pelt, she regains her composure.
It has been nearly three vearc
since slre has talkcd to hei par-
e.nts, and the pain, though duiled,
Iingers.
The cause of Welton'e.estrange'
men{,.tls one only understood 6v
Jehovah's Witnesies; follower.s of i
3.4 million-member denomination
with worldwide headquarters in
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Irt' the eyes of this apocalyptic
secf;, Welton had committed'iwo
grave sins: She altowed a Chrish
mas tree in the home she shared
wilh.her husband, wlro was raised
a Calholic, and she maintained a
relationship with her vounser
blother, a fornrer Jehova-h's Wil-
ncss'who had been expelled for
wayrtrard bchavior, such' as drink-
ing urrtl snroking.
l,'or her actions, considcredr un-
denlably destructive by the or-
gani/ation, she was "disiellowshipr.
pcq"" in absentia by a
thrbe-member court of elders'from
hcr'local church. The sentence
carries a heavy penalty: complete
osl,racism by family membera and
fricnds who remain devout WiL
nesses.
ACcording to a spokesman for
the Watchtower Bible and Tract
Q*ig.ty, the group's formal name,
thci'e's sound reason to banish
.. .:, : i Lo Vems Horrir, Phocnix Gozelle
Jehovoh's Wilne:ses shun oll members who leove rhu ioia; o proctici thot splits up mqny fomilies.
membere who have either resigned
or been expclled from the church.
"lt's nol something we pulled
out of the air. It's .a scriptural
rtt;uilenrcnt righ! out of the lli-
ble," Fred Rusk says in a tele-
phone intcrryiew from the church'g
ft adquartere in Brooklyn
'"Yes,
it can be traumatic. But
sometimes a traumalic situation
can help a person underaland the
truth and lead him back to the
right pa[1r."
Rusk says the number.of mem-
: trerg who leave annually, either
through voluntary disaEsociation
or expulsion by a committee from
their local church, is confidential.
In the April 15 issue of Watch-
tower magazine, published semi-
monthly by the society, an article
Fomily, friends shun former Jehovoh's Witness
By Michelle Becrden per - iocluding his m ucle, if.d*-
-mig!"Uoo.
After Ftau w eu ia a Nry ir its fourth printing, it ba sld
Pheni'Ge.E ick llana the orgrniztionb pgidoi Ftaurot with lhe diwiatcd mem- l8,000opieedhs'bffinalheb@kof
_
Ray Fn-u -vc fu frcm a ruual gia6 19?Z
- w in ofiw tbit r;skd ber, the tel leden had the amuition reirra fdr fallen Witnseq ;[. ;;;obsenerofhisfaith. _-spulsion. .IlEi peDalty me sith u toousttrlae tims lind it dilliolt to re'rlairc tUeir
_ A thild€enentior Jehovah's Witnesq wia stiffer *nteie: He faed shwirg So ia the a4 it ru aot Fns's felingstothewlarworld" . .:. , .
Fnnzdevoted nerly 40;ren ofhis life to by his Jehovah's Witns fuily ad dci'rinal dimioir that sled hjs fate lhJfaithful, ho*e"e., have been forbid-
brb +ot_.!t, +rgDC _T nesly every friends.
@pacity. He @lminated his stellar erer . Although his detrac'toE we re wble to 'tl"y r"t" the diwiplinary policia banned by the wiety u heretiel.
with.a nin+year. stint at the top^* a g€i ttt"
-t**tlia" @jority ,rcte_ to od thiy-harc tli; p"d;;''d-;b;il ttt"oic-l^tion'sentiallyondemns
memDer ol lE ellE and lowefiul l$man q@muhi@te him, Ftu wa forced to thrcushi Fru svi of the remine iuderndent thinkine. This is a sond-gowmhg body' _ mign frcm the govmirg board iu 1980 board. "It c@t6 a ilmst siegi nentai: hand faith, where yo-u do as you're !old,"
But then Franz did the uthinkable He in a pwe thal-included about a d%! ity. I wrcte *oi l"tt"n ufuryi.d oking he uys. "If the soiiety tells iou to jumir,
began to doubt_the t€achings *t forth by officiais.
- foi u
"pp""t,
iui thei wouldn't erei your'only mpore- shouli be, "Howhis peeE. at the Watchtower Bible ad At 58. he found hirelf with oo lbb disifv thth with an aclinowledgement of Ligh?'
,' -
TEctsciety, the grcup's fomal nme. pmpests, lto,ooo in sveme pay ina r#ipl t Ua b*.u. non-peno*n." -noUe.t
Johmn, a spoksman who
"Whenthercrlddidn'tendin1975," $600 in pemnal svings. A W-itrs tn'1984,Fn@brchehGm@deof works8ttfieBruklynheadquarten,uys
Fmu sys in a phone itrteiliew frcn his frieud, Peter Gregemn of Gadsden, Ala., ailoe about bis strugle io a elf-oub there is no official iommad uol to re;d
home neu Atlanta, "I had to eriouly @e [o his 8id, I@ins Fw md his lishedbok'Ctisisof 6reiene.'It'w* tJleb@k.Ateynte.hedoubtsWitns
qustion all the_ other pledictions that fell wife a hou* lrailer ad finding bin work his my of iepoading to the thowds of would have ay interst in il
by the
-
walside, too. The more-- I e c a hudyman. fomei or oitused
-Witnffi who had nVe,re had other people lmve and
srched, lhe more I ws disturbed." h 1981, Gregemon's om seriou doubts written FnDz, shaing their m storie miie b@ks. We,re ully nirt iniercted in
Toquestiotrthedogmastforthbyhis aboui the Wiines dogna led to his orprirbinghiDwithqu6tioN. SreIFrnr,B-7

2. E Frsnz From 8-6
following up the accounts of the
disgruntl€d oneq," Johnson sayo.
"Our position is that Bome PeoPIe
have honorable motives, and oth-
ers have less than that."
Although the book grves an
insider's account of the generally
closed society, it can't be labeled
an exposd, chock-full of shocking
revelations. In straight talk, the
author detaile decisions made bY
the governing board based on
"God's law," the affect those dic'
tums have had, and how thoee
decisions could be reversed bas€d
on human whims.
. "It's an amazing Power, even
grealer than the Frope's control of
the Roman Catholic Church. Just
one board, controlling thousands of
publicatione, every regulation and
every concept. I could no longer
partake in that power with a clear
conscience," he Bays. "It's their
way of telling the followers they
don't trust them to use their own
minds."
The society, which had modest
beginnings in the earlY 1870s as a
Bible study group in Pennsylvania,
now claims 3.4 million members.
That ligure shows a resurgence
from an exodus in 1975, Franz
slq when disillusioned Witnesses
lefl en masse after the societY's
prediction of the world's end thai
year didn't materialize.
According to society lit,erature,
the world also was supposed to end
in 1914, 1918 and 1925
- but
those assertions fell flat" too.
Although the sect shies awaY from
dates these days, it now maintains
Armageddon will take place "bs
fore the generation that saw'the
events of 1914 passes awaY."
If that's the case, the end is
near. And preparing for the end is
a full-time pursuit for Witnesses,
who believe they will be sPared
God'g wrath and will live forever
in a "paradise on Earth" after the
rest of the population ie annihi'
lated by Jehovah and sent to the
eternal grave. A select grouP of
144,000 followers
- of which
Franz had been' considered a
member
- will be born again and
go to heaven.
"lt'B an elitist way of thinking
that has no room for anY other
theology," Ftanz Bayo.
Like any other exPelled mem-
ber, Franz has no contact with his
family and former friends. Never'
theless, he saye life ig "far more
meaningful, far more rewarding"
since hia departure.
It's also free of organized reli'
gion and the rules that accomPany
ir
"l can look at other PeoPle's
faith now without judging. I can
recognize the good in other beliefs,
and I know how to have an oPen
mind," he Bays. '"That is the
example set by Jesus Christ. Un-
fortunately, it is contrary to the
system set for the Jehovah'e Wit"
nesse8.tt
' NoncY Engebrotson, Ynoenx uozetre
Volunleer Dovid Brown counsets former or confused Jehovoh's
Witnesses tfrrough Alpho ond Omego Ministries.
I
I
i : i.
: From 8-6
s Shunned
the ultimate commitmenl
Like most rffitnesses, Brown was prepared
for the world to end in 19?5, a date predicted by
the society's high-powered goverltlg bof4
baecd on Biblical interpretations. When 1975
pa.ssed without Armageddon' the disillusion'
ment and doubt began to set in.
Brown's questioning of the society's interpr*
tation of the Bible and his own research led to'
his resignalion in March 1980. Although tlg **
braced
-to
aeal with the shunning, it still wag
painful to be cut off from his former peer8.
"I had good friends and good times as a
Witness," he aays. "My biggest problem is with
the leadere, who claim so much authority.
Their track record of failed prophecies and
strained theology wa.s unacceptable to me."
Not being a Witness required adjus[ment'at
home because his wife did not follow his path.
The aociety "highly regards", the marriage
Bacrament irnd only considers aduitery a sound
reason for dissolving a union. It does not
require couples to divorce when one leaves the
organization, Brown sa)r, but any spiritual
con[act is forbidden. '
Members who defy the society's dictums
-
such as reading forbidden anti'Witness materi'
als or associating with former lVitnesees
- risk
being expelled themselves. For that reason, a
Valley elder who joined Brown in an intcrview
insisted on anonymity for fear of losing his
standing with the organization. I
"I've seen the practice in action. I've sat on
the judicial commitLee that makes those
decisions," the elder says. "It can cause such
pain and bitterness. I'm not comfortable with
iL" ':
In the elder's opinion, the practice of
disfellowshipping and shunning "keeps qgoRle
in ignoranie" and puts more emp}esia on
orgaiizational requirements than Biblical bs
liefs.
'There is so much good in the eociety"' he
says softly. "But if I could change one thing, it
would be allowing more coneideration for one's
own @nscience, iather than laying down rules
and making all meinbers march fo their tune'o
' Jan, a Scottsdale'woman who didn'! want her
last name revealed, epent 21 years in the
'organization until she, her husband and their
l2lyearold daughter decided to leave in 1979.
Lilie many former Witnesses, ehe had been
warned that departing the ranks would lead to
a demonic existence mired in alcohol, drugs and
other immoral activities.
Instead, Jan say they have found the "kind of
things they don't tell you about
- freedom,
independence, happi ness and conientment."
"The disfellowshipping is just their way of
punishing Xou, emotionally and -
mentally.
Feople tt'ith-*eak minds can't stand.up q iL"
Jan- Ba!B; "lf that'a not I brainwashing
techniqrie,I don't know what is-"
But like all former members, the threesome
has had to live with the pain of being shunned
by family and.friende.
"It was, like gtarting all over,' she' says.
"Still, we don't trave a single regret over
leaving. If anything, we're angry at ourselves
for being so durnb and staying in so long. Never
again witt I accept things blindly without'
questionng or researching."
't.' ,,,.. i..,-...
Noncy Engebrolson, Phoenix Gozette