Jehovah's Witnesses is a nontrinitarian, millenarian, restorationist Christian denomination.[8] In 2023, the group reported approximately 8.6 million members involved in evangelism, with around 20.5 million attending the annual Memorial of Christ's death.[6][en 1] 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.[9]
The group emerged in the United States from the Bible Student movement founded in the late 1870s by Charles Taze Russell, who also co-founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in 1881 to organize and print the movement's publications.[3] 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.[10] Rutherford made significant organizational and doctrinal changes,[11] including adoption of the name Jehovah's witnesses[en 2] in 1931 to distinguish the group from other Bible Student groups and symbolize a break with the legacy of Russell's traditions.[13][14]
Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their door-to-door preaching, 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. They do not observe Christmas, Easter, birthdays, or other holidays and customs they consider to have pagan origins incompatible with Christianity.[15] They prefer to use their own Bible translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.[16][17] Adherents commonly call their body of beliefs "The Truth" and consider themselves to be "in the Truth".[18] They consider human society morally corrupt and under the influence of Satan, and most limit their social interaction with non-Witnesses.[19]
The denomination is directed by a group of elders known as the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, which establishes all doctrines.[20][21] Congregational disciplinary actions include formal expulsion and shunning, for what they consider serious offenses.[22][23] Baptized people who formally leave are considered disassociated and are also shunned. Members are not allowed to socialize with a shunned individual. Shunned individuals may eventually be reinstated if deemed repentant. Former members may experience significant mental distress as a result of being shunned,[24] and some seek reinstatement to keep contact with their friends and family.[25]
The group's position on conscientious objection to military service and refusal to salute state symbols (like national anthems and flags) has brought it into conflict with some governments.[26] Some Jehovah's Witnesses have been persecuted, and 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.[27] 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.
In 1870, Charles Taze Russell and others formed a group in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to study the Bible.[28] During his ministry, Russell disputed many of mainstream Christianity's tenets, including immortality of the soul, hellfire, predestination, the fleshly return of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, and the burning up of the world.[29] 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.[29]
The book taught that God's dealings with humanity were divided dispensationally, each ending with a "harvest", that Jesus had returned as an invisible spirit being in 1874,[29] inaugurating the "harvest of the Gospel age", and that 1914 would mark the end of a 2,520-year period called "the Gentile Times",[30] at which time world society would be replaced by the full establishment of God's kingdom on earth.[31] Beginning in 1878, Russell and Barbour jointly edited a religious magazine, Herald of the Morning.[32] In June 1879, the two split over doctrinal differences, and in July, Russell began publishing the magazine Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence,[33] saying its purpose was to demonstrate that the world was in "the last days" and that a new age of earthly and human restitution under Jesus' reign was imminent.[34]
From 1879, Watch Tower supporters gathered as autonomous congregations to study the Bible topically. Thirty congregations were founded, and during 1879 and 1880, Russell visited each to provide the format he recommended for conducting meetings.[34] In 1881, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was presided over by William Henry Conley, and in 1884, Russell incorporated the society as a nonprofit business to distribute tracts and Bibles.[35][36] By about 1900, Russell had organized thousands of part- and full-time colporteurs,[33] and was appointing foreign