Terrixjw Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Hi there, My name is Terri, I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness which I left when I was 21, and am now 32. I was very much involved in my religion, and a firm believer, but am now an atheist. I'm currently studying for a degree in the UK in Social Psychology, and am doing some research on the effects of leaving a high control religious group such as the JWs, Scientologists, Mormons, etc. If people from here don't mind and if some are interested, would it be ok, if I posted a link to my questionnaire here soon for people to take part in if they want to? It would just be a questionnaire that asks questions about your attitudes and characteristics. It would be completely confidential, and I wouldn't ask any questions, like names, locations (other than country) or anything that could specifically point an individual out. All data would be kept confidential and would be analysed statistically only by myself and my supervisor at the university. And of course people could change their mind and drop out at any point through the questionnaire. Anyway, it might be interesting to people here.... My main reason for searching for this forum, is because I'd like to compare and contrast people who leave mainstream christianity to those who leave more high control religious groups, to see what if any the differences are. Do people think that they might find this interesting? And do people think that maybe people would like to take part? Are most here from mainstream Christianity, or not??? Feel free to ask me any questions about my own history..... I've chatted in forums like this for xJWs for years now, so it would be interesting to see if you guys are the same as us! Probably! lol! xxxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcame Faith Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 I like what you are trying to do. Concerning the profile of the "typical" exChristian on this forum, I have done no formal surveys and so I have no percentages to offer, but based on the various posts here, there is a wide spectrum of church backgrounds represented here. There are exJWs, Mormons, Pentecostals, Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, etc., etc. My advice, if you haven't already included it on your survey, is to ask the respondents to identify their former Christian demoninations so you can separate them out when you get the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Hi and welcome to ex-C! Hey let me just say sorry right off the bat because I'm a former mainstream Protestant non-denominational fundamentalists so I was one of those guys who were judging your former religion and culture. I apologize for my hypocrisy and stupidity. As for your experiment . . . maybe we need to define high control and medium control. Are you trying to compare people who lived on a "sect" compound to people who dragged their children to church multiple times per week and used passive aggressiveness to shape them in the sect's image? I think to get a low control family you need to find someone who's parents were liberal Christian, agnostic or atheist; a family where the parents didn't care too much about getting the kids indoctrinated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izzytheterri Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 The psychological effects that religion has on us as individuals is a extremely interesting to me. I realize now how damaging even our 'innocent' stories are. People casually talk about murder to their very young children in the form of the Passover, Noah's Ark, Moses... the list goes on, and we teach them so nonchalantly even though it's referring to mass murder! It makes it very easy to see how God approves of killing people that don't believe in Him. Then the fear of Hell on top of it? Don't back talk your mother or you're going to burn in hell... FOREVER!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholiKitty Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Foreeeeeeever!! lol Is your questionnaire only for ex-Cs or will there be questions for current Christians too? Either way, I would love to see the results if you don't mind posting them after you finish the analysis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrixjw Posted December 2, 2011 Author Share Posted December 2, 2011 Hi Doubter, yeah it's for anyone who ever left or was asked to leave a religious group. xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrotherJosh Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 I'd be down. Variety of background, quasi-Baptist/non-denominational, entire K-12 education was religious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudhoney Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 I would definitely take the survey. My former protestant churches used to teach that jw's and mormons were cults and false religions, never realizing that that's exactly what they were, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrotherJosh Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 I would definitely take the survey. My former protestant churches used to teach that jw's and mormons were cults and false religions, never realizing that that's exactly what they were, too. During Christmas dinner with my family I had the privilege to listen in on them describe how Mormonism is a cult, never realizing that what they were saying applied to themselves as well. The mental gymnastics was astounding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RankStranger Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Sure, I'd fill out a questionnaire. My wife did similar online research in one of her psychology classes, and It turned into a master's thesis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrixjw Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 Thanks guys! Well I will let you all know soon when I've passed it through the universities ethics committee! xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 From being controlled to studying being controlled. Very interesting. Welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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