shunned

We have an opportunity here to help more people, but I need some assistance in two different ways.  Listen to find out more. Find us online at shunnedpodcast.com Support the show at patreon.com/shunned

  This is my first international interview for the podcast.  Growing up poor in Liverpool, Mark and his family were Jehovah's Witnesses.  This interview is a great conversation about his life growing up, what he went through, and the really unique way that he was outed that shook up his life.  We talk about beliefs and his studies of the books that were left out of the Bible as most know it.  At t...

At the border of the states of Utah and Arizona lies another world, a community known as Short Creek.  A patriarchal world of polygamy with sister wives, where women have few rights, and where certain men have all of the power.  This episode is a fascinating look into a world that most will never enter, a world led by a man (Warren Jeffs) that now is serving a life sentence plus twenty years for c...

Yet another person has their life impacted by the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses.  Listen as DJ recounts his life growing up in the cult as well as his awakening and eventual path out.  There are so many things going on behind closed doors, so many things that don't appear to be what they are, and so many arbitrary rules and the accompanying shame that comes along with them throughout a life as one o...

In this episode we hear the audio of David's Kingdom Hall Crash and discuss the aftermath.  The original video is below, but my commentary and some additional updates are found in the podcast.

This episode is taken from the pre-interview process, before we got deep into David's story.  In it we talk about the abuse, the way abuse is often overlooked within the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses, and lots of other topics relating to the organization.  I think that there are nuggets here that can help victims of abuse as well as victims of the cult in general and that it was worth making somethi...

(see Part 1  for full notes) Trigger Warning:  Sexual Abuse Discussion In Part 2 you will learn more about Steve B. and his interactions with David.  You will see how relationships impacted David, both for the good and the bad as years went by.  You will see how the "loving spiritual shepherds", the elders in the congregations, treat those that are shunned and trying to come back to their flock. ...

In Episode 6 – Part 1, you will get to know David a bit.  This episode builds and will take you through David's upbringing and right up into the beginnings of adulthood.  You will learn a lot about him and if you aren't familiar with the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses you will learn about it as well through this process.  There is no mention of the abuse in this first part, so no trigger warning is n...

Sometimes young people have to make very difficult decisions in order to stand up for what is right. We normally think about it terms of peer pressure, but what if it was the pressure of pretty much everyone that means anything to you? What if you woke up and realized that most of what you were taught was a lie and that by merely saying something about it everything could come crashing down on you...

In this episode we explore Mike's story of being shunned at an early age while still living at home, and how even today although he isn't officially "shunned" he's still treated that way as an inactive Jehovah's Witness. Not all who are "shunned" are disfellowshipped or disassociated from the organization. Shunning is in the DNA of Jehovah's Witnesses, something that really marks them as a high co...

There are many ways to be shunned as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Emily's story highlights a path that many take, a path of personal growth with stumbles along the way that result in ostracism, a path that deviates from the prescribed path of a cult that requires everyone to walk the same or face the consequences. This story shines a light on the spectrum of the JW experience. Download The song tha...

Download Imagine growing up in a very tight knit community where everyone is sheltered from the outside world. Your personal business is the business of the community and they feel that it reflects upon them. What if your mistakes were brought to the light in front of everyone that you knew and they had to vote right in front of you on whether you would be shunned or not. What if you tried so hard...

Download Follow Jenny's story from being raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, the only thing she had ever known, to her awakening to the realities of the cult and eventual shunning. Jenny's song that helped her through the process is by Rise Against - I Don't Want To Be Here Anymore