Post by Paddy by Grace on Nov 30, 2008 10:31:53 GMT -7
Former cult member opens up about past, helps others
www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=334698
Former cult member opens up about past, helps othersCharlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 11/28/2008 4:35:00 AM
A former Jehovah Witness has written a book called The Spanking Room: A Child's Eye View of the Jehovah Witnesses.
When Bill Coburn was four years old, his mother became part of the Watchtower Society. He remembers attending a meeting discussing plans for a new Kingdom Hall. "The elder then announced that what we may not have noticed was that there was a spanking room installed next to the women's bathroom," he explains. "This was to solve the problem of women waiting in line at the bathroom with crying children, waiting for them to be beaten during the meeting."
Coburn was asked why he calls it a beating instead of a spanking. "I would describe it as a beating because it was described how to inflict more pain upon the child," he adds.
He notes that a youngster would be beaten for the slightest infraction. "Not just fidgeting or making noise during the meeting, but not paying attention, not looking up at the speaker and pretending to hear every word they said for two hours straight was the reason to be dragged out and disciplined," he adds.
Coburn left Jehovah Witnesses at age 17 and converted to Christianity. He claims his purpose in writing the book was to help others who grew up in the same Kingdom Hall atmosphere.
www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=334698
Former cult member opens up about past, helps othersCharlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 11/28/2008 4:35:00 AM
A former Jehovah Witness has written a book called The Spanking Room: A Child's Eye View of the Jehovah Witnesses.
When Bill Coburn was four years old, his mother became part of the Watchtower Society. He remembers attending a meeting discussing plans for a new Kingdom Hall. "The elder then announced that what we may not have noticed was that there was a spanking room installed next to the women's bathroom," he explains. "This was to solve the problem of women waiting in line at the bathroom with crying children, waiting for them to be beaten during the meeting."
Coburn was asked why he calls it a beating instead of a spanking. "I would describe it as a beating because it was described how to inflict more pain upon the child," he adds.
He notes that a youngster would be beaten for the slightest infraction. "Not just fidgeting or making noise during the meeting, but not paying attention, not looking up at the speaker and pretending to hear every word they said for two hours straight was the reason to be dragged out and disciplined," he adds.
Coburn left Jehovah Witnesses at age 17 and converted to Christianity. He claims his purpose in writing the book was to help others who grew up in the same Kingdom Hall atmosphere.