I am a former born-in Jehovah’s Witness (JW) (left in 2015). I pioneered for decades and was a devout JW. I am now an academic and psychologist who publishes research on the experience of leaving the JWs / shunning. The latest update on the JW website has caused much distress in the lives of exJWs […]
Category: Norway
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES: Few Norwegian religious communities need to worry after the Jehovah’s Witnesses verdict, according to legal expert Vibeke Blaker Strand. – Will not trigger an avalanche of new cases. Vårt Land 05/03/2024 (EXPERT: Professor Vibeke Blaker Strand believes the Jehovah’s Witnesses verdict will stand up in the European Court of Human Rights, unlike human […]
Vart Land March 4, 2024 COURT CASE: After being deprived of state subsidies, Jehovah’s Witnesses filed a lawsuit against the state of Norway. The verdict was handed down on Monday. (VERDICT: The trial between Jehovah’s Witnesses and the State of Norway took place from 8 to 19 January in the Oslo District Court. Lawyer Anders […]
Vart Land January 19, 2024 The case of Jehovah’s Witnesses is a good example of the paradigm shift that the Religious Communities Act has undergone: Before, the religious communities were allowed to govern themselves. Today, the protection of the individual is much stronger. Jehovah’s Witnesses have filed a lawsuit against the state after they were […]
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Standing On Opposite Sides
Vart Land January 19, 2024 By Jor Hjulstad Tvedt On Friday, the parties went their separate ways in the Oslo District Court, after the two-week dispute between the state and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Ben Elder and Jan Frode Nilsen have followed the case from different sides. On Friday, the parties made their closing statements in the […]
Vart Land January 13, 2024 “One of the worst nights I’ve had” Rakel Fjelltvedt (26) left Jehovah’s Witnesses because of the exclusion system. It’s one of the worst nights I’ve had. It felt like I was opting out of a lot of people that I love. One October evening just over three years ago, Rakel Fjelltvedt […]
Vårt Land By Jor Hjulstad Tvedt January 12, 2024 Jehovah’s Witness board member about cutting contact: – Up to the individual family COURT: Kåre Sæterhaug, board member for Jehovah’s Witnesses, explained himself to the court on Thursday and Friday. Here he claimed that the religious community has no rules for contact with expelled family members […]
In the next two weeks, the court will decide whether adults in a strict religious community have real freedom. If Jehovah’s Witnesses lose, it will cause a stir far beyond their own ranks. Morten Marius Larsen, news director Vart Land January 9, 2024 The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ practice of exclusion has become well known in the Norwegian […]
“It can be compared to a feeling of sadness. But it is difficult to describe,” Per Ole Nilsen searches to find the words when he is asked about his son. The distance from Grimstad to the son’s home in Risør hasn’t changed, but the father no longer travels to visit as before. Nilsen is a member of […]
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Living With the Nightmares
Jehovah’s Witness defector Frode: Living with the nightmares https://www.dagbladet.no/tema/jehovas-vitner-avhopper-frode-lever-med-marerittene/78508064 For many years he was part of the religious community Jehovah’s Witnesses. Then Frode (45) had enough. Now he reveals everything about life on the inside, the “forbidden” sexuality and falling in love – and the dramatic break-up. LOST FAITH: Faith disappeared over twenty years ago, […]