Editing Jehovah's Witnesses (section)

===Separateness===
{{See also|Sociological classifications of religious movements}}
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Bible condemns mixing religions, on the basis that there can only be one truth from God, and therefore reject interfaith and ecumenical movements.<ref>{{harvnb|Beckford|1975|page=202}}.</ref> They believe that only Jehovah's Witnesses represent true Christianity and that other denominations do not meet God's requirements;{{sfn|Chryssides|2022|pages=57-58}} all other Christian denominations (collectively referred to as "Christendom") along with all other religions are considered "false religion".{{sfn|Chryssides|2022|page=75}} Jehovah's Witnesses are taught that it is vital to remain "separate from the world." Their literature defines the "world" as "the mass of mankind apart from Jehovah's approved servants" and teach that it is morally contaminated and ruled by Satan.<ref>{{harvnb|Holden|2002|page=12}}</ref> Jehovah's Witnesses are taught that association with "worldly" people presents a danger to their faith.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Bryan R. Wilson |issue=2|journal=Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions|title=The Persistence of Sects|volume=1 |year=1993}}</ref> Attending [[university]] is discouraged and [[Vocational school|trade schools]] are suggested as an alternative.<ref>{{harvnb|Chryssides|2008|page=47}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Religion & Education|author-first=Carrie S.|author-last=Ingersoll-Wood|year=2022|title=The Educational Identity Formation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Religion & Education|volume=49|issue=3|pages=310–338|doi=10.1080/15507394.2022.2102875|s2cid=251542550 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Post-secondary education is considered "spiritually dangerous".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ploeg |first1=Luke |title=Lack Of Education Leads To Lost Dreams And Low Income For Many Jehovah's Witnesses |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/02/19/510585965/poor-education-leads-to-lost-dreams-and-low-income-for-many-jehovahs-witnesses |website=NPR |access-date=23 September 2022}}</ref> Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter, nor do they observe birthdays, national holidays, or other celebrations they consider to honor people other than Jesus. They believe that these and many other customs have pagan origins or reflect nationalistic spirit. Members are told that spontaneous giving at other times can help their children to not feel deprived of birthdays or other celebrations.{{sfn|Chryssides|2022|pages=93-98}} Wedding anniversaries are allowed.{{sfn|Chryssides|2019|page=154}} Jehovah's Witnesses are not permitted to work in industries associated with the military and refuse national military service, which in some countries may result in their arrest and imprisonment.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schroeder |first1=Judah |title=The Role of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Emergent Right of Conscientious Objection to Military Service in International Law |journal=Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte |date=2011 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=169–206|doi=10.13109/kize.2011.24.1.169 }}</ref> They also refuse to salute flags or participate in patriotic activities.{{sfn|Chryssides|2022|page=75}} Adherents see themselves as a worldwide brotherhood that transcends national boundaries and ethnic loyalties.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Gene|last=Owens|date=September 1, 1997|journal=Nieman Reports|title=Trials of a Jehovah's Witness. (The Faith of Journalists)}}</ref> 

Jehovah's Witnesses are often viewed as being without agency or [[brainwashing|brainwashed]] by the anti-cult movement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beaman |first1=Lori |title=Defining Harm: Religious Freedom and the Limits of the Law |page=14|date=2008 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=978-0-7748-1429-4}}</ref> Andrew Holden believes that most members who join millenarian movements such as Jehovah's Witnesses have made an informed choice,{{sfn|Holden|2002|pages=x, 7}} but that defectors "are seldom allowed a dignified exit",<ref name="Holden163" /> and describes the administration as [[autocracy|autocratic]].{{sfn|Holden|2002|page=22}} [[Rodney Stark]] believes that Jehovah's Witness leaders are "not always very democratic" and that members "are expected to conform to rather strict standards," but adds that "enforcement tends to be very informal, sustained by the close bonds of friendship within the group", and that members see themselves as "part of the power structure rather than subject to it."<ref name="Stark"/> 

After the publication of ''[[The Elementary Forms of New Religious Life]]'', academics began to describe various new religious movements as either ''world-affirming'', ''world-accommodating'', or ''world-rejecting''. Jehovah's Witnesses were labelled as ''world-rejecting''.{{sfn|Chu|Peltonen|2025}} [[Bryan R. Wilson]] believed that Jehovah's Witnesses conflict with society at large, impose "tests of merit on would-be members", have strict disciplinary procedures, and expect absolute commitment.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Bryan R. Wilson|issue=2|journal=Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions|title=The Persistence of Sects|volume=1|year=1993}}</ref> Sociologist Ronald Lawson has suggested that the group's intellectual and organizational isolation, coupled with the intense indoctrination of adherents, rigid internal discipline, and considerable persecution, has contributed to the consistency of its sense of urgency in its apocalyptic message.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Ronald Lawson|doi=10.2307/3712195|journal=Sociology of Religion|title=Sect-state relations: Accounting for the differing trajectories of Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses|year=1995|volume=56|issue=4|pages=351–377|jstor=3712195}}</ref>

Alan Rogerson describes the group's leadership as [[totalitarian]],{{sfn|Rogerson|1969|page=50}} while historian {{ill|James Irvin Lichti|de}} rejects this interpretation.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Routledge|title=The Routledge History of the Holocaust|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vsrJLASVC3QC&pg=359|year=2010|isbn=9781136870606}}</ref> [[James A. Beckford]] classified the group's organizational structure as ''totalizing'', with assertive leadership, specific and narrow objectives, control over competing demands on members' time and energy, and control over the quality of new members. Other characteristics of the classification include likelihood of friction with secular authorities, reluctance to cooperate with other religious organizations, a high rate of membership turnover, a low rate of doctrinal change, and strict uniformity of beliefs among members.<ref>{{harvnb|Beckford|1975|pages=92, 98–100}}</ref> Beckford also identified the group's chief characteristics as ''historicism'' (identifying historical events as relating to the outworking of God's purpose), ''absolutism'' (conviction that Jehovah's Witness leaders dispense absolute truth), ''activism'' (capacity to motivate members to perform missionary tasks), ''rationalism'' (conviction that Witness doctrines have a rational basis devoid of mystery), ''authoritarianism'' (rigid presentation of regulations without the opportunity for criticism) and ''world indifference'' (rejection of certain secular requirements and medical treatments).<ref>{{harvnb|Beckford|1975|pages=196–207}}</ref> 

Former members [[Heather Botting]] and [[Gary Botting]] compare the cultural paradigms of the denomination to [[George Orwell]]'s ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''.{{sfn|Botting|Botting|1984|p={{page needed|date=May 2022}}}} Critics believe that by disparaging individual decision-making, the group's leaders cultivate a system of unquestioning obedience<ref name="Bevindependent"/><ref>{{harvnb|Beckford|1975|pages=204, 221}}.</ref> in which members abrogate all responsibility and rights over their personal lives.<ref>{{harvnb|Botting|Botting|1984|page=90}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Rogerson|1969|page=178}}.</ref> Critics also accuse the group's leaders of exercising "intellectual dominance" over adherents,<ref>{{cite book|author=James A. Beverley|year=1986|isbn=0-920413-37-4 |location=Burlington, Ontario|pages=25–26, 101|publisher=Welch Publishing Company|title=Crisis of Allegiance}}</ref> controlling information,{{sfn|Holden|2002|page=153}}<ref>{{harvnb|Rogerson|1969|page=2}}.</ref> and creating "mental isolation", which former Governing Body member Raymond Franz argued were all elements of mind control.{{sfn|Franz|2007|loc="Chapter 12"}} Some Jehovah's Witnesses describe themselves to academics as "Physically In, Mentally Out" (PIMO); these individuals privately question certain doctrine but remain inside the organization to maintain contact with their friends and family.{{sfn|Chryssides|2022|page=13}}