Shunned
Subtitle: how I lost my religion and found myself
By: Linda A. Curtis
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 301
ISBN-13: 9781631523281
Subjects: Controversial literature; Religion; Family; Biography; Jehovah's Witnesses
Description: Linda Curtis was raised as a Jehovah's Witness and is an unquestioning true believer who has knocked on doors from the time she was nine years old. Like other Witnesses, she has been discouraged from pursuing a career, higher education, or even voting, and her friendships are limited to the Witness community. Then one day, at age thirty-three, she knocks on a door--and a coworker she deeply respects answers the door. To their mutual consternation she launches into her usual spiel, but this time, for the first time ever, the message sounds hollow. In the months that follow, Curtis tries hard to overcome the doubts that spring from that doorstep encounter, knowing they could upend her "safe" existence. But ultimately, unable to reconcile her incredulity, she leaves her religion and divorces her Witness husband--a choice for which she is shunned by the entire community, including all members of her immediate family. Shunned follows Linda as she steps into a world she was taught to fear and discovers what is possible when we stay true to our hearts, even when it means disappointing those we love.
Table of contents: title: Part one. Portland, 1993; title: Part two. Chicago, 1994; title: Part three. The death exemption, 2006; title: Epilogue. The death exemption, 2010.