Islam promotes war as a way to proselytise, as well as a whole heap of other nasty ideas. I'm pretty sure the JW's don't.

bliss wrote on Dec 8^th, 2008 at 12:54pm:

Shunning, for example, is a possible penalty for apostasy, is it not? The aim of proselytization is to induct new members into a faith from which there are prohibitions about leaving. The aim is not just to share but to bind.

freediver wrote on Dec 8^th, 2008 at 1:10pm:

Shunning has enormous psychological consequences, it is not at all passive and amounts to emotional blackmail, the kind which is also employed by the exclusive brethren. Why can a son or daughter not reject religious fetishes when he or she is old enough without risking being shunned by the only parents and siblings he/she will ever have?

It is entirely immoral in a secular society to consider shunning as anything other than a pernicious form of coercion - a form of terrorism if you will.

NorthOfNorth wrote on Dec 8^th, 2008 at 1:07pm:


Shunning, for example, is a possible penalty for apostasy,

Apostasy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apostasy (IPA: /əˈpɒstəsi/) is the formal religious disaffiliation or abandonment or renunciation of one's religion, especially if the motive is deemed unworthy. In a technical sense, as used sometimes by sociologists without the pejorative connotations of the word, the term refers to renunciation and criticism of, or opposition to, one's former religion.
Many religious groups and even some states punish apostates. Apostates may be shunned by the members of their former religious group[1] or worse.

Often, like myself, because we no longer associate and our ideas change, there is a mutual separation because there is no longer a common goal. It doesn't have to be nasty, it just seems to happen, people move in different directions. Shunning isn't exactly like executing someone for changing belief.

The aim of proselytization is to induct new members into a faith from which there are prohibitions about leaving.

The word 'witnessing' in reference to JWs means going to tell people about Jehovah and his word, bare witness too others. For me the preaching work was not a burden, I believed in what I was sharing and was happy telling others. By the time some one converts and is baptised they know what the deal is with disfellowshipping.

The aim is not just to share but to bind.

If JWs wanted to bind they would baptize infants and let people who convert become dedicated quickly and impulsively. Yet they don't. JW kids and converts study and answer questions to make sure they understand their responsability, have been going out witnessing and been regular at meetings..........before they are encouraged to dedicate themselves.

I know shunning causes much sadness but you can never compare how JWs and other religions deal with various sins, including apostasy
with this............

Apostasy in Islam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apostasy in Islam (Arabic: ارتداد, irtidād or ridda‎) is commonly defined as the rejection of Islam in word or deed by a person who has been a Muslim.

The four major Sunni and the one major Shia Madh'hab (schools of Islamic jurisprudence) agree that a sane adult male apostate must be executed.[1] They differ on the punishment for a female apostate - some schools calling for death and others for imprisonment. According to Wael Hallaq nothing of the apostasy law are derived from the Qur'an,[2] although the jurist al-Shafi'i interpreted the Qu'ranic verse 2:217 as providing the main evidence for apostasy being a capital crime in Islam.[3]

A minority of medieval Islamic jurists, such as Hanafi jurist Sarakhsi,[4] Maliki jurist Abu al-Walid al-Baji, and Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyyah,[5] and some contemporary Islamic jurists, such as Shafi`i Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa[6][7] and Shi'a Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri,[8] argued or issued fatwas that either the changing of religion is not punishable or is only punishable under restricted circumstances, but these minority opinions have not found broad acceptance among the majority of Islamic scholars.[9][10][11][12]

Some prominent contemporary examples of death sentences threatened or issued for apostasy include Salman Rushdie, who was condemned to death in 1989 by Ayatollah Khomeini, (ruler of Iran at the time) for his book The Satanic Verses; and Abdul Rahman, an Afghan convert to Christianity who was arrested and jailed on the charge of rejecting Islam" in 2006 but later released as mentally incompetent.[13]

freediver wrote on Dec 8^th, 2008 at 1:29pm:

It's true you can't force people to speak to anyone to whom they choose to shun. But it's still immoral to emotionally blackmail someone into choosing family ties over good conscience and it should be openly castigated as such.

As a form of punishment, shunning is emotional terrorism for those who are deeply scarred by it having lost parents, siblings or children.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Dec 8^th, 2008 at 2:24pm:

Idiot.

Imagine how it would feel if your wife took the kids and indoctrinated them against you because you were an apostate.

freediver wrote on Dec 8^th, 2008 at 2:30pm:

No, it is a form of terrorising someone by using emotional ties to coerce him into acting against his good conscience. Terrorism by emotional means - emotional terrorism.

I asked what you based your info on, you said................

Quote:


then you say...................


Quote:


That's a lot to deduce from mags or a conversation with JWs at the door.

Even though I'm not a JW fan it annoys the crap out of me when people misrepresent others and shoot their mouths off without the correct facts.

Not all JWs practice shunning anyway, just like not all catholics practice fedelity, not all jews abstain from pork and not all muslims abstain from alcohol.