Editing Jehovah's Witnesses (section)

== Government interactions ==
{{Main|Jehovah's Witnesses and governments|Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses}}
[[File:Jehovas Zeugen - Länder ohne berichtete Aktivitat.png|thumb|upright=1.15|Countries where Jehovah's Witnesses' activities are banned]]
Controversy about various beliefs, doctrines and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses has led to opposition from governments, communities, and other religious groups. Religious commentator Ken Jubber wrote, "Viewed globally, this persecution has been so persistent and of such intensity that it would not be inaccurate to regard Jehovah's Witnesses as the most persecuted group of Christians of the twentieth century."<ref>{{cite journal |first=Ken|last=Jubber |doi=10.1177/003776867702400108|issue=1|journal=Social Compass|pages=121–134|s2cid=143997010|title=The Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Southern Africa|volume=24|year=1977}}</ref> Several cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses have been heard by [[List of Supreme Court cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses|Supreme Courts worldwide]].{{sfn|Botting|1993|p={{page needed|date=May 2022}}}} They generally relate to the right to practice their religion, displays of patriotism and military service, and blood transfusions.{{sfn|Richardson|2015|p=286}} Cases in their favor have been heard in the United States, Canada and many European countries.{{sfn|Richardson|2015|p=292}}

Political and religious animosity toward Jehovah's Witnesses has at times led to [[mob action]] and [[government]] oppression in various countries. Their political neutrality and refusal to serve in the military has led to imprisonment of members who refused conscription during [[World War II]] and other periods of compulsory [[national service]], especially in countries that do not provide [[religious exemption]]s. Their religious activities are banned or restricted in some countries,<ref>{{cite news|title=UN investigator: Rights of minorities to worship undermined|url=https://apnews.com/article/religion-maldives-freedom-of-religion-discrimination-north-korea-16c8581a5a00b5d4f0887e803e8c40dc|work=[[Associated Press]]|date=November 4, 2020}}</ref> including [[China]], [[Russia]], [[Vietnam]], and many [[Muslim world|Muslim-majority countries]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Global Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses|year=2020|url=https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2020%20Issue%20Update%20-%20Jehovahs%20Witnesses.pdf |last1=Morton |first1=Jason |last2=Bakken |first2=Keely |last3=Omer |first3=Mohy |last4=Greenwalt |first4=Patrick |publisher=[[United States Commission on International Religious Freedom]]}}</ref>

=== Australia ===
In 1931, the Australian government monitored radio broadcasts of Rutherford's sermons as they had received complaints about anti-Catholic rhetoric.{{sfn|Knox|2018|page=72}} The religious group became especially unpopular after 1940 due to their political neutrality in the second world war, prompting people to write to government officials about the names and addresses of known members.{{sfn|Knox|2018|page=73}} In 1941, Jehovah's Witnesses became an illegal organization. Various groups supported the ban,{{sfn|Knox|2018|page=63}} which caused political pressure to enforce it;{{sfn|Knox|2018|page=75}} Member of Parliament [[Maurice Blackburn]] opposed a ban, believing it to be caused by [[religious intolerance]].{{sfn|Knox|2018|page=75}} Once the ban was enacted, the assets of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society were seized by the government.{{sfn|Knox|2018|page=76}} Witness homes were raided to confiscate their religious literature.{{sfn|Knox|2018|page=77}} Despite these measures, Jehovah's Witnesses continued their activities.{{sfn|Knox|2018|page=78}} The ban was overturned in 1943 when the High Court concluded that these restrictions violated the [[Constitution of Australia|constitution]].{{sfn|Knox|2018|pages=78-79}}

=== Canada ===
{{Main|Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada}}
In the early 1900s, radio stations were operated by congregations in [[Saskatoon]], [[Edmonton]], [[Vancouver]], and [[Toronto]]. In 1927, the federal government minister responsible for radio licensing, [[Arthur Cardin]], revoked the licenses for these radio stations because they shared airspace with the [[Ku Klux Klan in Canada]]. According to [[Gary Botting]], this "strange alliance" was formed due to a mutual opposition against the Roman Catholic church.{{sfn|Botting|1993|pages=21-23}} In response, Rutherford bought airtime from other radio stations. When [[Hector Charlesworth]] banned this activity as well, he was "indirectly attacked" in an issue of the ''Golden Age'' and Jehovah's Witnesses launched a petition to regain their licenses that resulted in 406,270 signatures. Charlesworth's actions were debated by the House of Commons in 1933. While multiple members expressed concern that this prohibition was censorship of [[free speech]], the ban was not lifted.{{sfn|Botting|1993|pages=23-25}}

In 1940, a year after Canada entered World War II, the denomination itself was banned under the [[War Measures Act]] as a subversive organization.{{sfn|Botting|1993|page=29}} This ban continued until 1943.{{sfn|Richardson|2015|p=290}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Canadian Wrongs: Quebec's Attack on Jehovah's Witnesses |url=https://exhibits.library.utoronto.ca/exhibits/show/canadianlawandidentity/cdnwrongshome/cdnwrongswitnesses1|website=University of Toronto Libraries |publisher=University of Toronto |access-date=16 July 2022}}</ref> A separate ban on the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was not lifted until 1945.{{sfn|Botting|1993|page=29}} More than 100,000 dollars in assets were seized by the Canadian government and [[tonne]]s of literature produced by the group were confiscated.{{sfn|Botting|1993|page=26}} Hundreds of adherents were prosecuted as members of an illegal organization.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kaplan|first=William|title=State and Salvation—The Jehovah's Witnesses and Their Fight for Civil Rights|place=Toronto|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=1989|isbn=0-8020-5842-6}}<!--Page number?--></ref> Jehovah's Witnesses were interned in camps along with political dissidents and people of Chinese and Japanese descent.<ref>{{cite news|last=Yaffee |first=Barbara|title=Witnesses Seek Apology for Wartime Persecution|work=The Globe and Mail|date=September 9, 1984|page=4}}</ref> During this period, many Jehovah's Witness children were expelled from school, while others were placed in foster homes or juvenile detention.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kaplan |first=William |title=State and Salvation |location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1989}}</ref> After the ban was lifted, men who had been jailed tried to apply for the ordained minister exemption of the ''[[National Selective Service Mobilization Regulations]]'' without success.{{sfn|Botting|1993|pages=29-30}} This led to a legal case being filed, ''[[R. v. Stewart]]'', which ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses were participants in a "commercial undertaking" and did not qualify as ministers.{{sfn|Botting|1993|page=30}} A similar outcome was reached in ''[[Greenlees v. A.G. Canada]]'', where the judge decided that Jehovah's Witnesses could not be ministers because they considered every member to be one and that they did not have an organizational structure independent of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.{{sfn|Botting|1993|pages=31-33}}

Jehovah's Witnesses faced discrimination in [[Quebec]] until the [[Quiet Revolution]], including bans on distributing literature or holding meetings.<ref>{{cite web |author=Supreme Court of Canada|series=[1953] 2 SCR 299|title=Saumur v Quebec (City of) |url=https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1953/1953canlii3/1953canlii3.html |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706012152/http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1953/1953canlii3/1953canlii3.html|archive-date=July 6, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|archive-date=January 12, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112043742/http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1959/1959canlii50/1959canlii50.html|author=Supreme Court of Canada|series=[1959] SCR 121|title=Roncarelli v Duplessis|url-status=dead |url=https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1959/1959canlii50/1959canlii50.html}}</ref> ''[[Roncarelli v Duplessis]]'' was a 1959 legal case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. The court held that in 1946 [[Maurice Duplessis]], [[Premier of Quebec|Premier]] and [[List of Ministers of Justice of Quebec|Attorney General]] of Quebec, had overstepped his authority by ordering the manager of the [[Société des alcools du Québec|Liquor Commission]] to revoke the liquor licence of Frank Roncarelli, a Montreal restaurant owner and Jehovah's Witness who was an outspoken critic of the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec. Roncarelli provided bail for Jehovah's Witnesses arrested for distributing pamphlets attacking the Roman Catholic Church. The Supreme Court found Duplessis liable for $33,000 in damages plus Roncarelli's court costs.<ref name="canencyc">{{cite web
 | url = https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/roncarelli-v-duplessis  | title = Roncarelli v Duplessis | last = Scott | first = Stephen A.  | date = 2006-02-07  | publisher = The Canadian Encyclopedia  | access-date = 2021-04-21 }}</ref> Another legal case heard that year was ''[[Lamb v Benoit]]'', where a Jehovah's Witness woman was arrested for distributing religious pamphlets.<ref name=LambvBenoit>{{cite report|title=Lamb v. Benoit et al.; [1959] S.C.R. 321 (January 27, 1959)|publisher=Canadian Government News}}</ref>

=== China ===
Jehovah's Witnesses are banned in China.{{sfn|Chryssides|2022|page=136}} Missionaries like [[Amber Scorah]] were sent there to preach clandestinely.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Martin |first1=Rachel |title='Leaving The Witness': The End Of The World As She Knew It, Upon Losing Her Religion |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/06/05/729771739/leaving-the-witness-the-end-of-the-world-as-she-knew-it-upon-losing-her-religion |website=NPR |access-date=15 December 2024}}</ref>

=== Eritrea ===
Religious groups must be registered in order to legally worship in [[Eritrea]]. Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as other Christian and Muslim groups, have been refused this legal recognition. Jehovah's Witnesses have been imprisoned for their refusal to perform military service and for attending religious services.{{sfn|Chryssides|2022|page=138}}

=== France ===
Jehovah's Witnesses were officially registered as a religious group in France in 1947.{{sfn|Richardson|2015|p=298}} In 1995, they were designated as a "dangerous sect" by French law.<ref>{{cite web |title=Court backs Jehovah's Witnesses against France |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/78933/court-backs-jehovah's-witnesses-against-france |website=[[RNZ]] |access-date=6 August 2024 |date=1 July 2011}}</ref> In 1999, the country demanded [[back taxes]] on donations to the religious group's organization from 1993 and 1996, which would have been €57.5 million. This tax ruling was overturned by the [[European Court of Human Rights]] on June 30, 2011.{{sfn|Richardson|2015|p=298}}

=== Germany ===
{{Main|Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany}}
[[File:Purple Triangle.JPG|thumb|right|Jehovah's Witness prisoners were identified by purple triangle badges in Nazi concentration camps.]]

In 1933, there were approximately 20,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in [[Nazi Germany]],<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Penton|isbn=978-0802086785|page=376|publisher=University of Toronto Press|title=Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/jehovahswitnesse0000pent_f0s7|year=2004}}</ref> of whom about 10,000 were imprisoned. Jehovah's Witnesses suffered [[religious persecution]] by the [[Nazism|Nazis]] because they [[Conscientious objector|refused military service]] and allegiance to Hitler's National Socialist Party.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Jolene|last=Chu|date=September 1, 2004|doi=10.1080/1462352042000265837|issue=3|journal=[[Journal of Genocide Research]]|pages=319–342|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|s2cid=71908533|title=God's things and Caesar's: Jehovah's Witnesses and political neutrality|volume=6}}</ref><ref name="Wrobel 2006">{{cite journal |last=Wrobel|first=Johannes S.|date=August 2006|url=https://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/rss/34-2_089.pdf|title=Jehovah's Witnesses in National Socialist concentration camps, 1933–45|journal=Religion, State & Society|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|volume=34|issue=2|pages=89–125|doi=10.1080/09637490600624691|s2cid=145110013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521084542/https://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/rss/34-2_089.pdf|archive-date=May 21, 2012|url-status=live|access-date=October 22, 2020}}</ref> Of those, 2,000 were sent to [[Nazi concentration camps]], where they were identified by [[purple triangle]]s;<ref name="Wrobel 2006"/> as many as 1,200 died, including 250 who were executed.<ref>{{cite book|first=Detlef|last=Garbe|isbn=978-0-299-20794-6|location=Madison, Wisconsin|page=484 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|title=Between Resistance and Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich|year=2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Jehovah's Witnesses |url=http://www.holocaust-trc.org/jehovahs-witnesses/|website=Holocaust Education Foundation}}</ref> They were hanged,{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|page=16}} beheaded,{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|page=47}}{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|page=60}} beaten to death,{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|page=72}} or shot dead.{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|page=129}} Conditions for Jehovah's Witnesses improved in 1942, when they were increasingly given work details that required little supervision, such as farming, gardening, transportation and unloading goods, while others worked in civilian clothing in a health resort, as housekeepers for Nazi officials, or were given construction and craft tasks at military buildings.{{sfn|Garbe|2008|pp=440–447}}

Unlike [[Jews]] and [[Romani people|Romani]], who were persecuted on the basis of their ethnicity, Jehovah's Witnesses could escape persecution and personal harm by signing a document indicating renunciation of their faith, submission to state authority, and support of the German military.<ref name="holocaust-trc.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.holocaust-trc.org/PRJW.htm|title=Persecution and Resistance of Jehovah's Witnesses During the Nazi-Regime|first=Michael|last=Berenbaum}}</ref> Historian [[Sybil Milton]] writes, "their courage and defiance in the face of torture and death punctures the myth of a monolithic Nazi state ruling over docile and submissive subjects."<ref name="BaumelLaquer2001">{{cite book|last1=Laqueur|first1=Walter|last2=Baumel|first2=Judith Tydor|title=The Holocaust encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nPbr0XzlTzcC|access-date=6 April 2011|year=2001|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-08432-0|pages=346–50}}</ref> Jehovah's Witnesses would preach inside the concentration camps,{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|page=123}} hold meetings, and smuggle in their religious literature.{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|pages=172-173}}

Approximately 800 children of Jehovah's Witnesses [[Children in the Holocaust|were taken away from their families]].{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|page=62}} Witness children typically expressed defiance to the Nazi regime's attempts to make them act against their beliefs.{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|page=52}} They were often expelled from public schools due to their refusal to say "[[Heil Hitler]]". Some children were sent to reeducation centers,{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|page=56}} while others were adopted by families in good standing with the Nazi regime.{{sfn|Reynaud|Graffard|2001|page=62}}

In [[East Germany]], from the 1950s to the 1980s, Jehovah's Witnesses were persecuted extensively by the [[Stasi]], which frequently used [[Zersetzung|decomposition methods]] against them. Jehovah's Witnesses were considered a threat because their beliefs did not conform to [[socialist]] standards and their members sometimes had contact with the West.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mike Dennis & |first1=Norman LaPorte |title=State and Minorities in Communist East Germany |date=2011 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-0-85745-196-5 |pages=61–86 |chapter=Jehovah's Witnesses: From Persecution to Survival}}</ref>

In 2023, there was a [[2023 Hamburg shooting|mass shooting]] in [[Hamburg]] that targeted Jehovah's Witnesses, killing six people. Police were warned about the shooter ahead of time, but failed to take action.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Boffey |first1=Daniel |title=Hamburg police were tipped off about gunman but did not take his weapon |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/10/hamburg-shooting-police-jehovahs-witness-germany |website=The Guardian |date=March 10, 2023 |access-date=14 December 2024}}</ref>

=== Greece ===
Greece had a ban on public evangelism in the 1930s. Approximately 60 Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned for violating this law. The case was eventually appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, who ruled in favour of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1993. This decision also [[Freedom of religion|benefited other religious groups]] in the country.{{sfn|Chryssides|2022|page=136}} 

=== Japan ===
In Japan, following the publication of ''[[Shūkyō nisei]]''-related guidelines, a survey was conducted about child abuse within Jehovah's Witnesses, the results of which were forwarded to the government.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.asahi.com/sp/articles/ASRC867CKRC5UTIL015.html|title=エホバでの性被害159件申告 役職者の加害、性行為の告白強制も|trans-title=159 cases of sexual abuse reported in Jehovah’s Witnesses. Perpetrators in positions of authority, forced confessions of sexual acts, etc.|date=2023-11-09|access-date=2023-11-21|publisher=The Asahi Shimbun|language=ja}}</ref> Ninety-two percent of 583 respondents reported that they had experienced [[physical abuse]] as children. The lawyer's group conducting the survey believed this to be evidence of systemic [[religious abuse]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Miyagi |first1=Hiroya |title=92% of former 2nd-gen Jehovah's Witnesses in Japan were 'whipped': survey |url=https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20231121/p2a/00m/0na/017000c |website=[[The Mainichi]] |date=November 21, 2023 |access-date=7 December 2024}}</ref>

=== Norway ===
[[Norway]] provides state subsidies to religious communities, with some restrictions. Although Jehovah's Witnesses qualified for more than thirty years, they did not receive this funding in [[Oslo]] and [[Viken (county)|Viken]] in 2022. The decision was appealed and upheld by the Ministry of Children and Families.<ref name="USreport"/> In 2023, Jehovah's Witnesses were [[Freedom of religion in Norway#Religious group registration|fully deregistered]] as a religious community in Norway as a result of their [[#Disciplinary action|shunning practice]]. The Supreme Court ruled that religious communities can determine who can be members but that restrictions on additional funding are acceptable.<ref name="USreport">{{cite web |title=2022 Report on International Religious Freedom: Norway |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/norway/ |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=1 September 2024}}</ref> Therefore, the organization no longer receives 1.3 million euros each year in state subsidies.<ref name="CNE"/> The denomination's deregistration also means that they lost the right to perform civil marriages.<ref>{{cite web |title=2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Norway |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/norway/ |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=23 August 2024}}</ref> The director of [[Human Rights Without Frontiers]] believes that by deregistering Jehovah's Witnesses, Norway is interfering with the group's religious freedom.<ref name="CNE"/>

=== Russia ===
{{Main|Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia}}
In April 1951, about 9,300 Jehovah's Witnesses in the [[Soviet Union]] were deported to [[Siberia]] as part of [[Operation North]].<ref>Валерий Пасат ."Трудные страницы истории Молдовы (1940–1950)". Москва: Изд. Terra, 1994 {{in lang|ru}}</ref>

In April 2017, the [[Supreme Court of Russia]] labeled Jehovah's Witnesses an extremist organization, banned its activities in [[Russia]], and issued an order to confiscate its assets.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-religion-jehovah-s-idUSKBN17M1ZT|title=Russian court bans Jehovah's Witnesses as extremist|publisher=Reuters|access-date=April 20, 2017|date=April 20, 2017}}</ref>

=== Singapore ===
{{Main|Jehovah's Witnesses in Singapore}}
In 1941, all publications by the [[Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania]] were banned, as a result of Jehovah's Witnesses' persistent refusal to enlist in the [[Allies of World War II|Allied Forces]] in World War II.{{Sfn|Pereira|2016|p=99}} In 1960, Jehovah's Witnesses were officially registered as a society under the Societies Ordinance Act of 1890.{{Sfn|Pereira|2016|p=99}} In 1972, Jehovah's Witnesses were deregistered for being "prejudicial to public welfare and order",<ref name="TNP270798">{{cite news|title=Jehovah's Witnesses|newspaper=[[The New Paper]]|date=27 July 1998|page=9}}</ref> with their refusal to take part in [[National service in Singapore|mandatory military service]] being cited as an aggravating factor.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tan|first=Kevin Y. L.|title=Law, Religion, and the state in Singapore|journal=The Review of Faith & International Affairs|volume=14|number=4|pages=65–77|doi=10.1080/15570274.2016.1248537|year=2016}}
</ref> Since their deregistration, all Witnesses who refuse to serve in the military—around six men annually—have faced imprisonment under the [[Enlistment Act 1970]], but none of these men have incurred permanent criminal records {{As of|2021|alt=as of 2021}}.<ref>{{cite news|last=Cai|first=Derek|title=The men going to military jail for their faith|publisher=[[BBC News]]|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58647485|date=13 October 2021}}</ref>

=== South Korea ===
South Korea did not have a religious exemption for military service until 2018, which led to more than 19,000 Jehovah's Witnesses being imprisoned there.{{sfn|Chryssides|2022|pages=137-138}}

=== United States ===
{{Main|Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States}}
In the United States, legal challenges by Jehovah's Witnesses prompted a series of state and federal court rulings that reinforced judicial protections for civil liberties.{{sfn|Botting|1993|pages=1–14}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Shawn Francis Peters|pages=12–16|publisher=University Press of Kansas|title=Judging Jehovah's Witnesses|year=2000}}</ref> Among the rights strengthened by Witness court victories in the US are the protection of religious conduct from federal and state interference, the right to abstain from patriotic rituals and military service, the right of patients to refuse medical treatment, and the right to engage in public discourse.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=August 16, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901075011/http://www.knocking.org/Jehovahs_Witness_History_Civil_Rights.html|archive-date=September 1, 2012|publisher=Knocking.org|title=Jehovah's Witnesses and civil rights|url-status=dead|url=http://www.knocking.org/Jehovahs_Witness_History_Civil_Rights.html}}</ref> Authors including [[William J. Whalen|William Whalen]], Shawn Francis Peters and former members [[Barbara Grizzuti Harrison]], Alan Rogerson, and William Schnell have claimed the arrests and mob violence in the 1930s and 1940s were the consequence of what appeared to be a deliberate course of provocation of authorities and other religious groups by Jehovah's Witnesses.<ref>{{cite book|first=Shawn Francis|last=Peters|isbn=978-0-7006-1008-2|page=82|publisher=University Press of Kansas|title=Judging Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/judgingjehovahsw0000pete|year=2000}}</ref>{{sfn|Rogerson|1969|page=59}} Harrison, Schnell, and Whalen have suggested Rutherford invited and cultivated opposition for publicity purposes in a bid to attract dispossessed members of society, and to convince members that persecution by the outside world was evidence of the truth of their struggle to serve God.<ref>{{cite book|author=Barbara Grizzuti Harrison|chapter=6 |title=Visions of Glory|year=1978}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=William J.|last=Whalen|location=New York |page=190|publisher=John Day Company|title=Armageddon Around the Corner: A Report on Jehovah's Witnesses |year=1962}}</ref>

In 1943, the Supreme Court ruled in ''[[West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette]]'' that requiring students to salute the flag was a violation of their [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] rights.{{sfn|Knox|2018|page=69}}