Grieving the Living: The Social Death of Former Jehovah’s Witnesses

Abstract

Addressing a relative lack of research investigating the experiences of individuals who have left the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW), this research utilizes a works draw on the social identity approach to examine qualitatively, the process of transitioning towards post-JW life, experiences of ostracism and perceived threats to self-identity. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in the homes of six former JWs, and transcripts were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Narratives suggest that experiences of ostracism following religious exit can be associated with diminished mental health, while having a sense of agency and establishing new (online) social connections may help mitigate adverse consequences. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Identifying well‐being profiles and resilience characteristics in ex‐members of fundamentalist Christian faith communities

“…Several membership-related aspects were not relevant characteristics for the identified profiles, including reason for joining, membership duration, extent of involvement, voluntary versus involuntary exit, time since exit, or social support experienced during exit. This contrasts with existing studies that found that the mode of joining the religious group (Illig & Kaufmann, 2020), the level of commitment/devotion towards the faith (community; Fenelon & Danielsen, 2016), the mode of exit (Ransom, Monk, & Heim, 2021a), and social support (Ransom et al, 2021b) were relevant factors for understanding the heterogeneous outcomes in ex-members. However, it may be that the different methodological approaches (e.g., qualitative vs. quantitative research designs, type of faith community assessed) could account for these differences.…”

“…Disaffiliation from such religious groups often has so‐called ‘exit costs’ (Scheitle & Adamczyk, 2010 , p. 325), in which exit from the group is linked to negative consequences for the individual. Such disaffiliation can not only cause major struggles with self‐perception or a loss of social identity (Ransom, Monk, & Heim, 2021a ; Testoni et al., 2019 ), but also severe stress due to acculturation to secular (i.e., mainstream) society (Engelman et al., 2020 ). The latter may be aggravated by a lack of knowledge or misinformation about secular society, as well as by a lack of higher education, which is often not encouraged by such religious groups (Illig & Kaufmann, 2020 ).…”

A Faithful Journey. Following a Married Couple’s Religious Trajectory over the Adult Lifespan

“…Enstedt and colleagues state in their introduction to their edited volume that while conversion (i.e., turning toward a new religion) is rather well-researched, the process of deconversion still needs more attention, especially regarding the aspect of what is carried along from one's former denomination, which is a crucial point since " [b]ehaviours rooted in moral codes and religious teachings (especially if they have been adopted at a young age) tend to colour the life of the individual even though he or she has taken a new path" (Enstedt et al 2019b, p. 3). That being said, there is literature on the deconversion processes from the religious groups that play a role in the lives of the cases presented here-and most of these studies also choose a qualitative approach and can be situated within the field of psychology of religion: For example, Nica (2018) investigated exiters from religious fundamentalism and Björkmark et al (2021) portrayed, in a qualitative research design, people who had left various high-cost religious groups (among them Jehovah's Witnesses), while Ransom and colleagues (Ransom et al 2021) exclusively focused on gains and losses following the exit from JW. However, the aim of this study is to show continuity as part of the multiple deconversions experienced by the couple as well as outline where this "faithful journey" has led them.…”

“Living Between Two Different Worlds”: Experiences of Leaving a High-Cost Religious Group

“…Membership is inseparably connected to an individual's identity, so an individual considering leaving the group is faced with a difficult choice, because leaving the group entails much more than just leaving an organization. Studies show that leaving these high-cost groups can lead to poor health both physically and psychologically (Coates, 2010;Ransom et al, 2021;Scharp & Beck, 2017).…”

“…Previous studies show that leaving a religious group can be experienced as difficult, mostly due to the resulting losses, including that of family and community (Coates, 2010 ). Religious disaffiliation can significantly impact family systems and lead to the loss and diminishment of social relationships and social support (Knight et al, 2019 ) as well as experiences of ostracism and social shunning (Ransom et al, 2021 ). Disaffiliates may have difficulties fitting into society and can feel “out of place” (Coates, 2010 ) as well as needing to develop a new identity and new self-concepts after leaving the group (Nica, 2020 ).…”