Professor Utsch, what did you think when you heard about the shooting that killed eight people in a meeting room of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg?
That doesn’t fit at all, I thought, because the Jehovah’s Witnesses are very believing in the Bible. Murder and manslaughter are strictly forbidden, killing people is taboo.
However, it is now said that the perpetrator could have been a former member of the religious community.
That changes the situation, so of course you think of revenge, of reckoning. There is a new study by a stress researcher at the University of Zurich who, among other things, examined dropouts from Jehovah’s Witnesses. She comes to the conclusion that such an exit is an absolutely stressful event. In certain phases of life, a closed, close community can provide support and orientation. You feel cared for, that’s giving meaning. But if the corset gets too tight when you want to get out, then it becomes difficult. Then many people fall into mental difficulties. However, in order for such a serious rash act to occur, there must probably have been a previous mental illness.