Editing Jehovah's Witnesses practices (section)

==Watch Tower Society literature==
{{See|Jehovah's Witnesses publications}}

Jehovah's Witnesses make extensive use of Watch Tower Society literature, including books, magazines, booklets and handbills, to spread their beliefs and to use as textbooks at their religious meetings. The publications are produced in many languages, with a small selection available in 500 languages. Their magazines, ''The Watchtower'' and ''[[Awake!]]'', are published in hundreds of languages and in various electronic formats. Issues of both magazines are compiled annually into bound volumes.<ref>{{Harvnb|Penton|1997|pp=78}}.</ref>

New books, brochures, and other items are released at their annual conventions. Various [[compact audio cassette|audio cassettes]], [[videocassette]]s, and [[DVD]]s have been produced explaining the group's beliefs, practices, organization and history. Since 1942 all Watch Tower literature has been published anonymously.<ref>{{Harvnb|Penton|1997|pp=78}}</ref> Many Watch Tower Society publications from 1950 onward are available on the ''Watchtower Library'' DVD and online.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Torres-Pruñonosa |first1=Jose |last2=Plaza-Navas |first2=Miquel-Angel |last3=Brown |first3=Silas |date=2022 |title=Jehovah's Witnesses' adoption of digitally-mediated services during Covid-19 pandemic |journal=Cogent Social Sciences |volume=8 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/23311886.2022.2071034 |s2cid=248581687 |doi-access=free |hdl=10261/268521 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Publications were sold to the public until the early 1990s, from which time they were offered free of charge, with a request for donations. The change in policy was first announced in the United States in February 1990, following the loss of a case before the US Supreme Court by [[Jimmy Swaggart]] Ministries on the issue of sales tax exemption for religious groups.<ref>[https://www.oyez.org/cases/1980-1989/1989/1989_88_1374/ Swaggart Ministries v. California Board of Equalization case summary, US Supreme Court Media]</ref> The Watch Tower Society had joined the case as an [[Amicus curiae]], or "friend of the court".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://jwfacts.com/index_files/watchtower-swaggart-amicus-curiae.pdf |title=Watch Tower brief, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries vs California Board of Equalization, US Supreme Court, 1988. |access-date=2010-08-13 |archive-date=2009-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530002548/http://jwfacts.com/index_files/watchtower-swaggart-amicus-curiae.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The court ruling would have resulted in the Watch Tower Society having to pay millions of dollars in sales tax if sales of their literature had continued.<ref>{{Harvnb|Penton|1997|pp=320}}</ref>

Witnesses are urged to prepare for congregation meetings by studying the assigned Watch Tower literature,<ref>{{Harvnb|Holden|2002|pp=88}}</ref> One analysis noted that each year Witnesses are expected to read more than 3,000 pages of the Society's publications, according to its suggested program for personal study.<ref>{{Harvnb|Penton|1997|pp=231}}</ref> Much of the literature is illustrated extensively, with sociologist Andrew Holden observing utopian, post-Armageddon images of happy Witnesses in bright sunshine and pristine environments, often playing with formerly wild animals such as lions and tigers, in contrast to dark-colored images of unfavorable activities such as murders, burglaries and promiscuity that highlight the moral dangers outside the organization.<ref>{{Harvnb|Holden|2002|pp=92–93}}</ref>