Former Jehovah's Witness lifts the lid on the brutal isolation he faced as a child being cut off from the real world - revealing how CHILDREN are regularly shunned by their own families and thrown out of their homes if they 'stop believing'

Daily Mail, UK/November 25, 2023

By Raven Saunt

A former Jehovah's Witness has lifted the lid on the brutal isolation he faced as a child after being cut off from the world.

Owen Morgan, originally from Connecticut, appeared on a recent episode of the Cults To Consciousness podcast.

He described his experience as 'oppressive' and 'destructive' as part of a religion that 'ruined people's lives.'

Owen even went one step further in his expose as he claimed kids within the religion were regularly shunned by their own families and thrown out of their homes if they 'stop believing.'

Owen, who was born into the religion, told host Shelise Ann Sola: 'Jehovah's Witnesses very much attempt to separate their members from everybody else because of one Bible verse that says you should live in the world but not be a part of it.

'So, of course, they take that opportunity to interpret that in the most extreme way imaginable and try to separate their members any way they can.'

He continued: 'When you're little you don't fully realize how negatively this is affecting you.

'You don't really realize it until after you exit and you see the world for what it is, you see what other people are doing and realize that you're missing out on a lot - not just missing out on fun but missing out on a piece of culture that you live in.'

Owen revealed that he was not allowed to celebrate holidays in the same way as everyone else, adding: 'I didn't get to celebrate my first Christmas until I was 18 years old when I finally ended up leaving the religion.

'I'm not a member anymore. I have no love for the religion I think it's absolutely terrible in every way. It's done irreparable harm to countless people - including myself.'

The content creator, who now has more than 386,000 subscribers on his own YouTube channel, explained how he had moved from Connecticut to West Virginia aged eight.

He said that it was there that he began getting home-schooled: 'I was completely socially isolated at that point.

'I was completely separated from the rest of society for four years and because of Jehovah's Witnesses I wasn't allowed to associate with other people.

'For a while, I was riding my bike to a neighbor's house and hanging out with them until my parents discovered that I was doing that and then took my bike away. I wasn't allowed to do that.

'I was only allowed to hang out with Jehovah's Witnesses and there weren't any around my age or wanted to hang out.'

Going into further detail about his upbringing, Owen said: 'Unfortunately for children, there's actually specific guidance for Jehovah's Witnesses on how they're supposed to treat children if they exited the religion.'

He said that the methods were implemented on kids as young as eight, which was the earliest members usually got baptized in the religion, all the way up until 18.

'The guidance is absolutely psychotic, unsurprisingly...,' he said.

'Most Jehovah's Witness kids probably get baptized between the ages of 10 and 14. It's effectively a contract you're signing with this organization - a serious lifelong contract and the penalties for breaking it are dire.'

Owen adds that if a baptized child decides 'that it's not true, it's nonsense, he doesn't want anything to do with this or he wants to celebrate birthday parties at school and refuses not to - there are number of different mundane things that could get him disfellowshipped - his parents are expected to not eat dinner with him first of all.'

'There's a list of things you shouldn't be doing. You're not supposed to sit at the kitchen table with the kid, he should be eating the food in his room,' he said.

'They're not supposed to talk to them about any "spiritual matters" which means anything to do with Jehovah's Witnesses is absolutely off limits except for the father.

'The father - as the spiritual head - can try to continue to shove this stuff down the kid's throat.'

He said that if a teenage child began questioning the teachings, parents were 'supposed to do everything they can culturally - not officially - but culturally to get the kid out of the house.

'If there's a family member they can go to who's not Jehovah's Witness or whatever just get them out of the house at any cost...

'That's how it goes for Jehovah's Witness kids if they stop believing. It's over, it's absolutely ugly and disgusting, it's an evil practice.'

Owen said that he did not leave the religion under his own free will but was instead kicked out.

'I was doing stuff that you're not supposed to do - going to other people's houses who were worldly and I was drinking and just experimenting with stuff.

'I smoked a cigarette just learning how this stuff works and they called me in for a judicial committee because one of the other people in the congregation knew what I was up to.'

He said he 'admitted everything' but 'they said "okay that's it, you're out" and they kicked me out even though I was repentant.'

Owen was then also kicked out of his family home and ended up staying with a friend while working a part-time job at Burger King.

He said: 'I believed I was in the wrong. I believed my parents were correct in shunning me at the time.'

But he eventually found his feet and moved to New York with a child of his own, adding that he 'finally realized how nonsensical this stuff was.'

Owen concluded: 'Jehovah's Witnesses spent my entire life teaching me how wrong every other religion was and when I realized how wrong that religion was it was a short leap to walking away from all of it.'

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