100 Speak Out is a documentary film focusing on the stories and experiences of former Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are a fundamentalist group whose beliefs are based on their New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures along with other publications and magazines produced by the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society Inc. (WTB&TS Inc.)
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures is considered by modern Jehovah’s Witnesses to be the most accurate version of the Bible. However, many modern Bible scholars feel their translation to be frequently inaccurate.
- Freeminds.org: “The New World Translation and Its Critics”
- ExJW.org.uk: “Criticism Of The New World Translation”
- Wikipedia.org (English): “New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures”
Raymond Franz (May 8, 1922 – June 2, 2010), a former member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ “Governing Body,” exposed many controversial scandals and unethical practices of the Watchtower Society in his book Crisis of Conscience.
The film 100 Speak Out will not promote any particular religious view or philosophy, but will only scrutinize the teachings and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses that pertain to their detrimental effects on people’s lives. Many of the core doctrines mandated by the Watchtower Society have split up families, caused dire and needless suffering, and have actually cost thousands of people their lives.
The film will focus on the stories of one hundred individuals who were emotionally and psychologically abused within the fundamentalist group. Some were also physically and sexually abused, but for many years the stories and facts about those cases of abuse were hidden or ignored by Jehovah’s Witness elders.
This film not only exposes the unethical and socially detrimental practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but also the Watchtower’s blatant lie that any of its baptized members who separate themselves from the fundamentalist group open themselves to “satanic attack.” The idea is strongly promoted within the group that leaving will eventually lead to suffering and ultimately death. This film will expose the fallacy of that doctrinal teaching and prove that nothing is to be feared by separating from the group.