Chris Stevenson tells his friends that he was born into “the world’s most unnecessary religion” – Jehovah’s Witnesses. And yet, before he left the religion for good in the early 1990s, he spent many hours doing everything that active and faithful Witnesses do including being a full-time “Regular Pioneer” and accepting assignments as a Ministerial Servant. After a great deal of personal research and soul-searching, he eventually left the organization. Now he uses public forums available to him to share the facts he’s discovered about his former religion.
Being a “former Jehovah’s Witness” does not make Chris Stevenson particularly unique. There are tens of thousands of “ex JWs” in North America and perhaps well over 1 or 2 million more throughout the rest of the world. In fact, scores of ex-JWs are AAWA volunteers and supporters.
What makes Chris Stevenson different? It’s his willingness to take an active role to be an outspoken advocate for personal freedoms for all Americans – and especially those most closely associated with his own African-American community. In most countries, those freedoms include expansive educational opportunities, functional and supportive family relationships, and the right to proper medical care whenever a life is in the balance.
Watchtower policies effectively deny or restrict obedient Jehovah’s Witnesses from exercising those rights.
Unlike many of us who feel we must hide our identity to preserve what few connections we still have with our JW friends and family, Chris puts his name and face on everything he writes. While some of us choose to keep low profiles by using anonymous blogs and videos to share our beliefs and experiences, Chris is clearly willing to let those he chooses to battle know exactly who he is and what he fights for.
“I don’t know how to make friends.” “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to trust again.” “I feel socially backward.” These are just a few of the statements I hear from former Jehovah’s Witnesses who have parted ways with the faith. The root cause always comes down to one thing: trust has been broken.
For most of us exJWs, our trust was broken along the way. For some, they realized they could no longer trust the Watchtower leaders to provide accurate information, having had many doctrinal flip-flops over the past century. Yet others were emotionally and physically abused by those in authority, or those leaders swept abuses under the carpet, leaving members vulnerable.
