From child preacher to wicked defector — leaving the Jehovah’s Witnesses

Naomi Mourra grew up as a door-knocking Jehovah's Witness but at 21, she realised Doomsday was not upon her, and left the religion for good. As a child, Naomi thought she was going to live forever. She was told the end of the world was coming, but she would survive the apocalypse and live in paradise for eternity, because she was special. She spent her youth in Western Sydney, preaching these same beliefs to neighbours, strangers, and classmates because Naomi was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness. Now, though, she describes herself as the city's only Lebanese, lesbian, ex-Jehovah’s Witness. Naomi says she “woke up”, and it wasn’t until she realised Armageddon was not actually coming, that she truly started to live. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris, the Executive Producer was Carmel Rooney. It explores religion, Jehovah's Witnesses, dogma, family, Western Sydney, Armageddon, faith, leaving a religion, culture, sexuality, stand up comedy, lesbian, Lebanese culture, apocalypse, school, education, strangers, freedom, neighbours, strangers To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.