Inside the Brutal World of the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Since the royal commission exposed the cruel treatment of victims of child abuse within the Jehovah’s Witnesses, little has changed.
But in a landmark civil case, former member Amy Whitby is taking on the secretive religious group in court.
By Adam Harvey, Mary Fallon, and Lucy Carter with photography by Harriet Tatham

Eight million Jehovah’s Witnesses around the globe believe that Armageddon is imminent, and the only path to survival is to follow the organisation’s strict rules.
A US-based Governing Body of eight men sits at the pinnacle of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe these men are anointed as the voice of God on Earth.
All Witnesses are expected to obey instructions and doctrines that influence every aspect of life: Women are considered subservient to men, higher education is discouraged and homosexuality is not permitted.


Doomsday images from Jehovah's Witnesses publications.
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

The organisation’s in-house production studio and publications pump out fear-driven content that keeps followers afraid that the end is coming and that they are being persecuted by the outside world.
Witnesses are also taught to distrust everyone outside the group.

Surely doesn’t make one even want to worship a god this brutal and cruel.