New York, Jan. 9, 2008—Ann and Ben (not their real names) have asked us not to disclose their true identity because, only a year out of Jehovah's Witnesses, they still fear the repercussions from the their parents and what they call "The Organization."
"We're hiding, sort-of," says Ann. "If my family found out about this, I don't know if they'd talk to me anymore," says Ann. "Ben's family doesn't know about it. And the religion we came from could track us down and get us in trouble."
Ann comes from three generations of California-based Jehovah's Witnesses. Ben's family are missionaries in Mexico who do not know that their son, a former fulltime "pioneer" (door knocker) in the sect, is now estranged from the religion. Ann, too, "did the ministry," going door to door to try to make converts until she was 23.
Both say that their disaffection from the religion was a gradual process based on science and logic. "I'm not angry, and I did not leave because something happened to me. I left because I had questions that they couldn't answer," says Ann. For Ben, it was the feeling of being subjected continuously to what he calls thought control. "They don't want you to be educated because you would be subjected to influences that might be contrary to the doctrine. It's Orwellian, almost like thought police," he says.
"You move from 'I can't be in this religion' to 'Is any religion worth my time?'" says Ann. "And then you wonder, if there is a god, then why does it look like there's not? Then it comes down to, you don't really need a god to explain the universe."
