Prosocial Distancing

Описание: Prosocial Distancing - Michael Shemwell
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Disclaimer: This session was delivered for the 2023 ICSA Conference. The speaker of this session does not speak on behalf of ICSA as an organization.
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Abstract: I would like to develop a talk around the impacts of COVID on the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses, presenting both how the organization tried to use it to their benefit but also how the changes necessitated by the pandemic led many to wake up and leave. While JW leaders were using the pandemic as proof of their end-of-the-world scenario, the social distancing of JWs was actually the best thing the cult could have done for them. As a cult recovery coach specializing in working with Jehovah's Witnesses and a podcaster, I got to see how the distancing from the constant busywork and indoctrination gave individuals time to process what they were involved in and to develop their intrinsic doubts into something that led them to freedom. The very end-of-the-world scenario that Jehovah's Witnesses tried to exploit had the opposite effect on many.

My own awakening years ago came, in part, from a period of time when I was so busy that I had to be away from their weekly preaching work, meetings, and association in general. It gave me the time and freedom to process everything that had been poured into me over three decades. It was the impetus for an awakening in me, and COVID was the impetus for a great awakening over the past two years, helping many that I know personally to wake up and leave.