# Jehovah's Witnesses · The Canon · The Atlas · The Congregation of Tomorrow Source: https://congregationoftomorrow.org/atlas/library/canon/jehovahs-witnesses/ · The Congregation of Tomorrow · the Atlas · language: en The same words a person sees on this page, nothing more and nothing hidden. Our own words are free to use under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), naming the Congregation of Tomorrow. Words of others keep their own terms. Every page of the site, listed: https://congregationoftomorrow.org/ai/pages.json · the whole site in one file: https://congregationoftomorrow.org/llms-full.txt ← The Canon: all 125 The Canon · No. 088 Jehovah's Witnesses Bible Students; the Watch Tower movement 1870s CE – present · Abrahamic · Living · Worldwide, in 240 countries VII. THE MODERN AGE — 1800 – 1945 ### How many ### Who began it ### What it is for ### What it worships ### What it holds ### What it does ### After death ### Its texts ### Its branches ### Of note ### Its timeline - 1870s CE Russell's Bible study group forms in Pennsylvania. - 1879 CE Zion's Watch Tower begins publication. - 1914 CE The date Russell identified for the end of the Gentile Times; the outbreak of world war is taken as confirmation of the invisible enthronement. - 1916–17 CE Russell dies; Rutherford takes control amid a schism. - 1931 CE The name Jehovah's Witnesses adopted. - 1933–1945 CE Persecuted under the Nazis for refusing the Hitler salute and military service. Roughly 1,500 die; they are marked in the camps with the purple triangle. They were the only group who could obtain release by signing a renunciation, and the great majority refused. - 1940–1943 CE US Supreme Court cases on flag salute — Gobitis (1940) goes against them, and West Virginia v. Barnette (1943) reverses it, establishing that the state cannot compel expression. It is one of the most important First Amendment rulings in American history, won by an unpopular minority. - 1975 CE Widespread expectation of the end; the failure causes substantial defections. - 1990s–present Bans in Russia (2017), Singapore and several other states. - 2015–present The Australian Royal Commission and other inquiries find serious failures in the handling of child sexual abuse, particularly the two-witness rule. ### Sources Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source. The Atlas The Door