Faith of Our Mothers

There has been a great deal written about the passing of Michael Jackson on June 25^th. Like so many others I grew up with Michael. We were born in the same year, and we shared something else which I believe had a great deal of impact on who we would become. Katherine Jackson and Bessie Mae Robinson were Jehovah’s Witnesses. Michael Jackson and I shared the faith of our Mothers.

There was much about the life of Michael Jackson that captivates the curious. What fueled his genius and animated his seemingly endless imagination, creativity and fascination with the paraphernalia of childhood? How did the unique cultural, social and religious environment that is the Jehovah’s Witness faith influence his family, his art and his life?

A devout Jehovah's Witness, Katherine Jackson is said to have nurtured her children's love of music by singing with them, and that she made her sons' costumes as their father booked local gigs. However, like so much else about Jackson’s life the truth about his relationship with the Jehovah’s Witnesses is hard to nail down. Some reports suggest that Michael was an ardent Witness throughout most, if not all, of his life.

One news report said that Jackson publicly proclaimed his adherence to that faith as late as four years ago. A Jackson family friend Firpo Carr told CNN that Jackson once said "he wanted me to study the bible with him because he was raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses early in life, [and] he would want his children to be raised the same way." On the other side, in 2005 an Arab-Israeli newspaper reported that Jackson was moving from Jehovah’s Witness to Islam. An Iranian newspaper reported that he donated a huge amount of money for building a state-of-the-art mosque near his luxury palace in the Bahraini capital.

I recall when the groundbreaking Thriller was released; it created an enormous ruckus within the Jehovah’s Witness congregations. The Jehovah’s Witnesses vehemently objected to the imagines of and illusions to the supernatural, the occult and the notion of the living dead. This was just one of the many oddities of this faith where Jackson faced the paradoxes of the dictates of his Mother’s religion and possibly what remained as his faith at that time. Notably he separated himself from his own work reportedly saying he would never do such a thing again. It seems fairly clear that in the spring of 1987 Michael disassociated himself and was shunned by his former Jehovah’s Witness friends.

In general, Witnesses believe that true Christians should remain separate from the world as much as possible and that the Bible is God's word. It is however relevant to note that their translation of the Bible is not recognized by any other denomination and of dubious scholarship. They also believe that a select 144,000 faithful will go to heaven to rule alongside Jesus Christ, that death is a non-conscious state—there is no hell and resurrection to an earthly paradise free of the evil-doers is promised to the faithful.

The beliefs and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses are based on the Bible teachings of its founder, Charles Taze Russell (pictured) and his successors, Joseph Franklin Rutherford and Nathan Homer Knorr. Since 1976 the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been based on decisions made at closed meetings of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Jehovah’s Witness beliefs are propagated through The Watchtower magazine and other publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and at conventions and congregation meetings. Members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses are expected to adhere to all such doctrines without criticism or dissent.

Jehovah’s Witnesses endeavor to remain separate from secular society, which is regarded as a place of moral contamination and under the control of Satan the Devil, refusing any political and military activity and limiting social contact with non-Jehovah’s Witnesses. Members practice a strict moral code, forbidding adultery, premarital sex and homosexuality. Drug abuse, smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol are prohibited, as are blood transfusions. Discipline within congregations is maintained by a system of judicial committees, which have the power to expel members (disfellowshipping) who breach organizational rules and demand their shunning by other Jehovah’s Witnesses. The threat of shunning also serves to scare off other members from dissident behavior.

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society publications teach that Jehovah’s Witnesses alone represent true Christianity and for that reason they refuse all ecumenical relations with other religious denominations. Members are expected to attend all congregation meetings that are held in local Kingdom Halls, as well as regular large-scale conventions, which are highly structured and based on material from Watchtower publications.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are instructed to make their preaching work the top priority in their life. Higher education is discouraged because of the futility of planning secular advancement in a world they believe faces imminent destruction, as well as fears about succumbing to “worldly thinking” and concerns that advanced education might lead to a lack of humility. Clearly being the King of Pop does not integrate easily into the demands of this restrictive life-style.

Despite my parents strict adherence to this faith and the many meetings, and conventions I attended I, like the Jackson children, am ill-suited for such a self-righteous, narrow-minded faith. Being gay and seeking out the mind-expanding opportunity of higher education allowed me to think for myself and have my own experience of God and truth. I no longer believe that Jehovah’s Witnesses’ narrow idea of God is “the truth.”

As some of you who know the story of my almost three decade long separation from my family you know that our strong disagreements on morality, faith and religion played a major role in sustaining our separation. That truly deep healing has only recently begun.

Other prominent individuals are known to be Jehovah’s Witnesses or have been raised in Witness families. Venus and Serra Williams’ (the aspiring tennis divas pictured on the right) mother is a Jehovah’s Witness and some news reports have it that they remain active in the faith. Damon Waynans was raised by a Jehovah’s Witness father though he is not a follower. Prince aka The Artist formerly known as Prince, is a convert and actor Terrance Howard wanted to be but could not live the “life-style” demanded of the servants.

Religion shapes the lives of many Americans in both positive and negative ways. The faiths of our Mothers (parents) no matter that we turn away or embrace the beliefs in adulthood have a way of making themselves known—more often than not writing the narrative for our personal dénouement.

There is a general consensus that Michael Jackson was a brilliant yet troubled individual. We many never know to what degree the conflict and the shame created by the narrow-minded; fundamentalism of his childhood religious indoctrination created a seemingly irreconcilable internal dissidence.