Jehovah’s Witness

Introduction & Top Questions
History
Beliefs and practices

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Three Jehovah's Witnesses stand beside literature carts, holding religious magazines, at the Star Ferry Pier under a blue sign for City Hall and MTR Station in Hong Kong.

At a Glance

Jehovah’s Witness summary

Related Questions

How are Kingdom Halls different from traditional churches?
How did Joseph Franklin Rutherford change the International Bible Students Association?
How did Nathan Homer Knorr expand Jehovah’s Witness missionary work?
How did portable phonographs help Jehovah’s Witnesses spread their message under Rutherford?
How did the belief in Christ’s 1,000-year reign shape Jehovah’s Witness teachings?
How do Jehovah’s Witnesses describe the role of Jesus Christ?
How do Jehovah’s Witnesses understand the Holy Spirit?
How does door-to-door witnessing work among Jehovah’s Witnesses?
How is the Memorial Meal observed by Jehovah’s Witnesses?
How were Jehovah’s Witnesses persecuted in Nazi Germany?
What happened to Russell’s predictions about God’s kingdom arriving in 1914?
When did the headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses move from Brooklyn to Warwick, New York?
When was the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania founded?
Who do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe will rule with Christ in God’s kingdom?
Why did Charles Taze Russell create The Watchtower magazine?
Why did Charles Taze Russell reject belief in eternal torment in hell?
Why did Joseph Franklin Rutherford rename the movement Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931?
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses keep records of visits and Bible classes?
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses not celebrate Christmas?
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses not celebrate Easter?
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses not celebrate birthdays?
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions?
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse military service?
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to salute national flags?
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses reject the Christian Trinity?
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses remain separate from other religious denominations?
Why do only some Jehovah’s Witnesses eat the bread and drink the wine at the Memorial Meal?
Why have blood transfusion cases involving Jehovah’s Witness children caused legal disputes?
Why was 1914 important in Charles Taze Russell’s teachings?
Who are the Jehovah’s Witnesses?
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions?
What do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe?
How do Jehovah’s Witnesses carry out evangelism?
How are Jehovah’s Witnesses different from other types of Christianity?
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External Websites

Pew Research Center - A closer look at JehovahÂ’s Witnesses living in the U.S.
Official Site of Jehovahï¿½s Witnesses - About Jehovah's Witnesses
Hartford Institute for Religion Research - Encyclopedia of Religion and Society - Jehovah's Witnesses
World Religious and Spirituality Project - Jehovahï¿½s Witnesses
Cambridge Core - Jehovah's Witnesses

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Jehovah’s Witnesses - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
Jehovah’s Witnesses - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Jehovah’s Witness

religion

Also known as: Russellites

Written by

J. Gordon Melton

Distinguished Professor of American Religious History, Institute for Studies in Religion, Baylor University; Director, Institute for the Study of American Religion, Woodway, Texas. Author of La Chiesa...

J. Gordon Melton

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 12, 2026 •History

Jehovah’s Witness, member of a Christian-based new religious movement that developed within the larger 19th-century Adventist movement in the United States and has since spread worldwide. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are an outgrowth of the International Bible Students Association, which was founded in 1872 in Pittsburgh by Charles Taze Russell. Their belief in the impending end of the world, millennialism, is combined with a creed of non-Trinitarianism—a rejection of the Christian Trinity—and a restorationist goal of...

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