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Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist Christian denomination, stemming from the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. Russell co-founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in 1881 to organize and print the movement's publications. A leadership dispute after Russell's death resulted in several groups breaking away, with Joseph Franklin Rutherford retaining control of the Watch Tower Society and its properties. Rutherford made significant organizational and doctrinal changes, including adoption of the name Jehovah's witnesses in 1931 to distinguish the group from other Bible Student groups and symbolize a break with the legacy of Russell's traditions. In 2024, Jehovah's Witnesses reported a peak membership of approximately 9 million worldwide.
Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their evangelism, distributing literature such as The Watchtower and Awake!, and for refusing military service and blood transfusions. They consider the use of God's name vital for proper worship. They reject Trinitarianism, inherent immortality of the soul, and hellfire, which they consider unscriptural doctrines. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the destruction of the present world system at Armageddon is imminent, and the establishment of God's kingdom over earth is the only solution to all of humanity's problems. They do not observe Christmas, Easter, birthdays, or other holidays and customs they consider to have pagan origins incompatible with Christianity. They prefer to use their own Bible translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
Jehovah's Witnesses consider human society morally corrupt and under the influence of Satan, and most limit their social interaction with non-Witnesses. The denomination is directed by a group known as the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, which establishes all doctrines. Congregational disciplinary actions include formal expulsion and shunning, for what they consider serious offenses. Members who formally leave are considered to be disassociated and are also shunned. Some members who leave voluntarily successfully "fade" without being shunned. Former members may experience significant mental distress as a result of being shunned, and some seek reinstatement to maintain contact with their friends and family.
The group's position on conscientious objection to military service and refusal to salute state symbols—for example, national anthems and flags—has brought it into conflict with several governments. Jehovah's Witnesses have been persecuted, with their activities banned or restricted in some countries. Persistent legal challenges by Jehovah's Witnesses have influenced legislation related to civil rights in several countries. The organization has been criticized regarding biblical translation, doctrines, and alleged coercion of its members. The Watch Tower Society has made various unfulfilled predictions about major biblical events, such as Jesus' Second Coming, the advent of God's kingdom, and Armageddon. Their policies for handling cases of child sexual abuse have been the subject of various formal inquiries.
Jehovah's Witnesses have an active presence in most countries. In 2024, Jehovah's Witnesses reported approximately 8.8 million publishers—the term they use for members actively involved in preaching—in about 119,000 congregations. In the same year, they conducted Bible studies with 7,480,146 individuals (including those conducted by Witness parents with their children). 4,091 members served as missionaries in 2021. In 2024, Jehovah's Witnesses reported a worldwide annual increase of 2.4%. 21,119,442 people attended the annual memorial of Christ's death. The official published membership statistics, such as those above, include only those who submit reports for their personal ministry. As a result, only about half of those who self-identify as Jehovah's Witnesses in independent demographic studies are considered active by the faith itself. Research regarding the demographics of Jehovah's Witnesses is incredibly limited; sample sizes tend to be small and focused to a specific region. Cross-cultural studies are "virtually non-existent".
The 2008 US Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey found a low retention rate among members of the denomination: about 37% of people raised in the group continued to identify as Jehovah's Witnesses. The next lowest retention rates were for Buddhism at 50% and Catholicism at 68%. The study also found that 65% of adult American Jehovah's Witnesses are converts. In 2016, Jehovah's Witnesses had the lowest average household income among surveyed religious groups, with approximately half of Witness households in the United States earning less than $30,000 per year. As of 2016, Jehovah's Witnesses were considered to be the most racially diverse Christian denomination in the United States. A sociological comparative study by the Pew Research Center found that American Jehovah's Witnesses ranked highest in getting no further than high school graduation, belief in God, importance of religion in one's life, frequency of religious attendance, frequency of prayers, frequency of Bible reading outside of religious services, belief that their prayers are answered, belief that their religion can only be interpreted one way, belief that theirs is the only one true faith leading to eternal life, opposition to abortion, and opposition to homosexuality. Jehovah's Witnesses also ranked lowest in interest in politics.
Scholarly analysis of Jehovah's Witnesses is limited in Western academia, with most works focusing on legal challenges faced by the group. The denomination does not cooperate with scholars beyond limited communication from anonymous individuals. Consequently, academics often rely on literature written by former members such as James Penton and Raymond Franz to understand its inner workings. The denomination has been variously described as a church, sect, new religious movement, or cult. Usage of the various terms has been debated among sociologists. When the term sect is used by sociologists, it is within the framework of church-sect typology for their activities within a specific country. Sociologists from the 1940s to the 1960s frequently compared the group's structure with totalitarianism. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, sociologists determined that cult was a reductionist label when applied to Jehovah's Witnesses, noting that new members did not undergo "sudden transformations" and made a rational choice to join the group. Academics generally stopped using the term cult in the 1980s due to its pejorative association and its usage by the Christian countercult movement, with new religious movement largely replacing it. George Chryssides and Zoe Knox avoid using the term new religious movement because it also has negative connotations. Chryssides refers to the denomination as an "old new religion".
In 1870, Charles Taze Russell and others formed a group in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to study the Bible. During his ministry, Russell disputed many of mainstream Christianity's tenets, including immortality of the soul, hellfire, predestination, Christ's return, the Trinity, and the burning up of the world. In 1876, he met Nelson H. Barbour. Later that year they jointly produced the book Three Worlds, which combined restitutionist views with end time prophecy.
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Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist Christian denomination, stemming from the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. Russell co-founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in 1881 to organize and print the movement's publications. A leadership dispute after Russell's death resulted in several groups breaking away, with Joseph Franklin Rutherford retaining control of the Watch Tower Society and its properties. Rutherford made significant organizational and doctrinal changes, including adoption of the name Jehovah's witnesses in 1931 to distinguish the group from other Bible Student groups and symbolize a break with the legacy of Russell's traditions. In 2024, Jehovah's Witnesses reported a peak membership of approximately 9 million worldwide.
Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their evangelism, distributing literature such as The Watchtower and Awake!, and for refusing military service and blood transfusions. They consider the use of God's name vital for proper worship. They reject Trinitarianism, inherent immortality of the soul, and hellfire, which they consider unscriptural doctrines. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the destruction of the present world system at Armageddon is imminent, and the establishment of God's kingdom over earth is the only solution to all of humanity's problems. They do not observe Christmas, Easter, birthdays, or other holidays and customs they consider to have pagan origins incompatible with Christianity. They prefer to use their own Bible translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
Jehovah's Witnesses consider human society morally corrupt and under the influence of Satan, and most limit their social interaction with non-Witnesses. The denomination is directed by a group known as the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, which establishes all doctrines. Congregational disciplinary actions include formal expulsion and shunning, for what they consider serious offenses. Members who formally leave are considered to be disassociated and are also shunned. Some members who leave voluntarily successfully "fade" without being shunned. Former members may experience significant mental distress as a result of being shunned, and some seek reinstatement to maintain contact with their friends and family.
The group's position on conscientious objection to military service and refusal to salute state symbols—for example, national anthems and flags—has brought it into conflict with several governments. Jehovah's Witnesses have been persecuted, with their activities banned or restricted in some countries. Persistent legal challenges by Jehovah's Witnesses have influenced legislation related to civil rights in several countries. The organization has been criticized regarding biblical translation, doctrines, and alleged coercion of its members. The Watch Tower Society has made various unfulfilled predictions about major biblical events, such as Jesus' Second Coming, the advent of God's kingdom, and Armageddon. Their policies for handling cases of child sexual abuse have been the subject of various formal inquiries.
Jehovah's Witnesses have an active presence in most countries. In 2024, Jehovah's Witnesses reported approximately 8.8 million publishers—the term they use for members actively involved in preaching—in about 119,000 congregations. In the same year, they conducted Bible studies with 7,480,146 individuals (including those conducted by Witness parents with their children). 4,091 members served as missionaries in 2021. In 2024, Jehovah's Witnesses reported a worldwide annual increase of 2.4%. 21,119,442 people attended the annual memorial of Christ's death. The official published membership statistics, such as those above, include only those who submit reports for their personal ministry. As a result, only about half of those who self-identify as Jehovah's Witnesses in independent demographic studies are considered active by the faith itself. Research regarding the demographics of Jehovah's Witnesses is incredibly limited; sample sizes tend to be small and focused to a specific region. Cross-cultural studies are "virtually non-existent".
The 2008 US Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey found a low retention rate among members of the denomination: about 37% of people raised in the group continued to identify as Jehovah's Witnesses. The next lowest retention rates were for Buddhism at 50% and Catholicism at 68%. The study also found that 65% of adult American Jehovah's Witnesses are converts. In 2016, Jehovah's Witnesses had the lowest average household income among surveyed religious groups, with approximately half of Witness households in the United States earning less than $30,000 per year. As of 2016, Jehovah's Witnesses were considered to be the most racially diverse Christian denomination in the United States. A sociological comparative study by the Pew Research Center found that American Jehovah's Witnesses ranked highest in getting no further than high school graduation, belief in God, importance of religion in one's life, frequency of religious attendance, frequency of prayers, frequency of Bible reading outside of religious services, belief that their prayers are answered, belief that their religion can only be interpreted one way, belief that theirs is the only one true faith leading to eternal life, opposition to abortion, and opposition to homosexuality. Jehovah's Witnesses also ranked lowest in interest in politics.
Scholarly analysis of Jehovah's Witnesses is limited in Western academia, with most works focusing on legal challenges faced by the group. The denomination does not cooperate with scholars beyond limited communication from anonymous individuals. Consequently, academics often rely on literature written by former members such as James Penton and Raymond Franz to understand its inner workings. The denomination has been variously described as a church, sect, new religious movement, or cult. Usage of the various terms has been debated among sociologists. When the term sect is used by sociologists, it is within the framework of church-sect typology for their activities within a specific country. Sociologists from the 1940s to the 1960s frequently compared the group's structure with totalitarianism. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, sociologists determined that cult was a reductionist label when applied to Jehovah's Witnesses, noting that new members did not undergo "sudden transformations" and made a rational choice to join the group. Academics generally stopped using the term cult in the 1980s due to its pejorative association and its usage by the Christian countercult movement, with new religious movement largely replacing it. George Chryssides and Zoe Knox avoid using the term new religious movement because it also has negative connotations. Chryssides refers to the denomination as an "old new religion".
In 1870, Charles Taze Russell and others formed a group in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to study the Bible. During his ministry, Russell disputed many of mainstream Christianity's tenets, including immortality of the soul, hellfire, predestination, Christ's return, the Trinity, and the burning up of the world. In 1876, he met Nelson H. Barbour. Later that year they jointly produced the book Three Worlds, which combined restitutionist views with end time prophecy.