Listening to the Voices of the Shunned: The Experiences of Former Members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Community in Ghana

Grounded in the religious trauma theory, this study investigated the lived experiences of former Jehovah’s Witnesses who have experienced shunning because of them exiting the Jehovah’s Witnesses community. Nineteen former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses community were selected as participants, using the snowball sampling technique. Using interpretive phenomenological analysis, five themes emerged from the study, namely becoming a Jehovah’s Witness, positive experiences as a Jehovah’s Witness, reasons for being shunned, judicial process in the community, and the impact of shunning on the shunned. The study confirms other studies conducted in this domain emphasizing the devastating effect of shunning on the shunned. Policy-wise, the study recommended that the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs take an interest in shunning as a religious practice in order to formulate policy guidelines that will set the threshold for guaranteeing freedom of religion while protecting the rights of individuals.