People 
| No Choice For Children |
| Written by Besty |
| Wednesday, 25 March 2009 17:14 |
 I was baptized in 1986 age 16 on the 'invitation' of my father. Yes - unluckily I committed myself to the spirit-directed organization just one year after the revised baptism question deftly substituted the Watchtower Society for the Holy Spirit. I always felt gently pressured and subtly coerced into baptism by peer pressure, family expectation and the complete absence of any other world view. And yet clearly it was something I 'volunteered' for. And a few weeks ago I read the most eloquent explanation for what high control groups are doing to children.
The poster Leolaia on JWN expressed it like this, - I haven't seen it put any better: "If you started off as an adult learning about the "truth", you are free to ask any question and voluntarily come to your own conclusion of whether the religion is "the truth". But for those who were first exposed to the religion as children, there is no such opportunity -- it is presented with the force of parental authority as the "truth", and the young mind is not able to critically examine the religion in the same way as a more experienced adult." Thanks Leolaia. That is beautifully simple. When my parents told me not to cross the road without holding their hand, it surely saved my life. When they told me there was an invisible man in the sky called Jehovah who required me to do X Y and Z that just as surely was going to save my life. And then the decision point of baptism comes at an age when behaviours giving the appearance of adulthood are most critical to the teenage pysche. Funny that - the Watchtower presents a rite of passage into adulthood that binds you to them under fear of extreme shunning and familial alienation just when you are most vulnerable to their mores. Of course once dunked the other normal rites of passage are denied or guilt-tripped away. So I and millions of other JW children did not and do not have a proper informed choice, even although those still in the faith may be convinced otherwise, as they claim to believe in adult baptism yet also promote child baptism. Take 5 minutes to watch the Watchtower Comments video clip on the subject - another dark underbelly of the Watchtower Society is being exposed to daylight.
The ethical dilemma for me as a supporter of freedom of religion is how to simultaneously protect the rights of children born into fundamentalist high control groups which are clearly and palpably using group psychology to coerce minors. Perhaps we should work on a full disclosure document that all pre-baptismal minors would do well to read...now there's an idea... In the meantime my hope is websites like this one will educate the children of Jehovah's Witnesses before it is too late for them and they take the final steps down into the turgid baptism pool of no return.
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