That is truly heartbreaking. I'm gratified to know those siblings have each other for friendship and support. How many others are out there with no one?
Could someone really pull away and leave their life of rules on their own without someone to help? My guess is there must be realtives or friends to help them leave. To be able to just do this on their own would take tremendous courage. When I see this kind of religious indoctrination I worry whether we in the secular world can convince the religious to leave their known life of family and friends and social context and rules for the unknowns of the secular world. It will take a lot for adults to do this. My hope is that the Internet the world-wide communications media will enlighten the youth of today and make them see religion for the yesterday world view it so much is.
Cents, people do leave the extremely religious world by themselves and against the pressure of the family and community, sometimes even before they're legaly adults.
Yes, it's a very difficult transition and some return to their religious life because they can't handle the required independence, that's why in Israel there's a group of volunteers to aid those individuals in adjusting with anything from simple conversations, to housing and financially supporting them for a time, which could be months.
Communication is a great help in bringing the modern world to the religious people, but the more extreme the religious beliefs, the less interaction it allows with the modern world. That translates to poverty that can't support modern communication channels, and some households don't even have a radio, not to mention TV or a PC.
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