So much of apologetics and counterapologetics involves men that I’m delighted to right the balance slightly with this guest post by Karen Garst, author of the just-released book Women Beyond Belief. Here is an excerpt of the story of one of the women she writes about.
Ceal Wright is a young woman who arrives on campus eager to learn and experience what university life has to offer. She meets the man of her dreams and falls in love. But this young man is not a Jehovah’s Witness like she is. A “friend” turns her in to the church because she has slept with a non-believer. A tribunal of three church elders is convened.
From the book:

“You must consider him a tool of Satan.”
My face refused to remain neutral as my ears took in this sentence. Did I hear him right? With an expression of incredulity and confusion, I looked back at the elder who’d just spoken and the two others on the panel with him, and replied, “Uh, I don’t see how that’s possible. I don’t think you understand—I love him. This isn’t just a crush—I love him—I wouldn’t be with just anybody. Jehovah is a God of love and this is love, so I don’t see how that is even remotely connected to Satan.”
“Satan is using him to draw you away from Jehovah and is disguising himself as this boy,” another elder chimed in.
Oh silly young Ceal, you hadn’t realized that you’d fallen in love with the devil.
The fluorescent lights became unbearably bright as I felt my body stiffen, preparing for my reply. I stood my ground and continued to refute their offensive correlation of my love with the devil. Trying to reason and explain my logical feelings (as opposing as that sounds) to this tribunal of elders was futile though. In this Church females were not given equal voice and stature; therefore, for me to come into the room prepared for anything but groveling for forgiveness was tantamount to disrespect. I had naïvely presumed they would treat me with the respect and openness that I had been raised to believe I deserved, and in the heat of that moment, I did not recognize the danger I was in by voicing my thoughts. After a solid two hours of back-and-forth, they left the room for an agonizing ninety minutes to deliberate, during which time I sat alone in the back room of the Kingdom Hall feeling confused, abandoned, and pissed.
Believing still that God was real and his Holy Spirit was directing the men outside, I was convinced by my conditioning that my case would be dealt with justly—after all, this was my first offense in my twenty-three years of life. Finally, they filed into the small room and sat back down.
They all read a scripture that they had personally chosen for me and then informed me that they were leaning toward disfellowshipping me—the highest punishment available to them—but by the grace of one elder who had known me for years, they decided to grant me a reprieve to think upon their counsel and come back repentant.
And in that instant, my faith shattered.

Ceal Wright is one of 22 women who tell their personal stories of leaving religion. Karen L. Garst has compiled these essays into Women Beyond Belief: Discovering Life without Religion, which is available online and in bookstores.
Dr. Garst became incensed when the U. S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby in 2014. This decision said that because of its religious views, Hobby Lobby, a craft store, would not be obligated to follow the dictates of the Affordable Care Act and provide certain forms of birth control to its employees. Would the fight for women’s reproductive rights never end? Once again, religion has influenced the laws of our land. Politicians cite their religion in supporting restrictions on abortion, banning funding for Planned Parenthood, and a host of other issues that are against women.
Dr. Garst wants to add a focus on women and the role this mythology has played in the culture of many countries to denigrate and subordinate women. Religion is the last cultural barrier to gender equality. More and more women atheists are speaking out. And as we all know, if women leave the churches, they will collapse.
She has received support with reviews by Richard Dawkins, Valerie Tarico, Peter Boghossian, Sikivu Hutchinson and other atheist authors.
I encourage you to check out Dr. Garst’s blog at faithlessfeminist.com and order her book, Women Beyond Belief. At this writing, the book is Amazon’s #1 new release in Atheism.

We don’t worship cancer or hunger or a hurricane,
we don’t worship many things that have power to devastate us,
nor do we appeal for mercy to these things,
because we have an idea they’re not directing themselves at us….
Inside a snow globe no one can hear you scream,
and the person stops shaking it when they’re done being amused.
It’s pure delusion to think there’s a relationship going on here.
— commenter Kodie