May 22, 2011
Jehovah's Witnesses are an offshoot of Christianity founded as a
bible study group in the 1870's by Charles Taze Russell. They have
since been evangelizing their unique view of the readings of the
Bible all over the world and have grown to a membership, as they
claim, of 7.5 million people worldwide. They believe that we have
been in End Times since 1914, the year that the whole world went
haywire as the end of the "Age of the Gentiles." Leaving the
Jehovah's Witnesses is a difficult process because of the
tremendous pressure to remain. Once a member leaves, they are
"shunned" by the society. Even family members; sisters, brothers,
parents, children along with cousins and uncles and aunts will
refuse to have contact with apostate JW's. James Zimmerman, our
guest, is a former Jehovah's Witness who could not believe the
tenets of the faith. His wife also left the church, and they are
now members of the Minnesota Atheists. James and I will talk about
the beliefs of the Jehovah's Witnesses, how he came to question the
faith and finally left it. James is the editor the Minnesota
Atheists newsletter, and frequent host of the Atheists Talk
television show.