2018/01/01 by Zoe Knox · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity #Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies #Religion and Society Interactions #Neutrality #Persecution #Politics #Hostility #Political science #Law #Doctrine #Deportation #State (computer science) #Social psychology #Psychology
paper · doi:10.1057/978-1-137-39605-1_3
openalex publication_date 2018/01/01 · openalex created_date 2022/05/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/03/03
This chapter examines the historical junctures at which both public and political hostility towards Jehovah’s Witnesses has been sharpest: during times of war. Since 1915, the Bible Students/Witnesses refusal to serve in the military has led to persecution. The chapter examines the organisation’s position on secular war, which derives from the doctrine of political neutrality. The claim to neutrality has been rejected outright by some states; in the Soviet Union, for example, the Watch Tower Society was identified as an anti-Soviet political organisation and Witnesses were subjected to state reprisals, among them mass arrest and deportation. The refusal to bear arms has led them to be regarded with hostility by regimes of various political stripes all over the world. The question of why Witnesses, who repeatedly claim to be politically neutral, are so often regarded as a highly politicised group is a key concern of this chapter.