# Jehovah's Witnesses · The Cult Dossier · The Atlas · The Congregation of Tomorrow

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The Cult Dossier · No. 130 · Christian-Derived
Jehovah's Witnesses
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
1870s – present · Warwick, New York; worldwide
XII. THE WIDER FIELD — CONCISE ENTRIES
Fully religious — a large established denomination
### Who led it
### What it worshipped and taught
### Who was in it
### How it ended, or where it stands
### The dead
### Of note
### Its timeline
- 1879 Zion's Watch Tower begins publication.
- 1931 Rutherford introduces the name Jehovah's witnesses.
- 1914, 1925, 1975 Successive prophesied dates for the end of the present system; each passes and is reinterpreted. The 1975 failure produced a significant membership loss.
- 1945 Blood transfusion prohibition introduced.
- 1952 Formal disfellowshipping and shunning policy adopted.
- 2012 Candace Conti awarded 28 million dollars in California (later reduced) over childhood abuse by a congregation member.
- 2015–2017 Australian Royal Commission findings published.
- 2017 Russia BANS the organisation as extremist and imprisons members — a measure widely condemned internationally as religious persecution.
- 6 FEBRUARY 2019 DENNIS CHRISTENSEN, A DANISH BUILDER RESIDENT IN RUSSIA SINCE 2000, BECOMES THE FIRST JEHOVAH’S WITNESS IMPRISONED UNDER THE BAN. Arrested on 25 MAY 2017 in an armed raid on a worship service in ORYOL at which he had given the sermon, he is convicted under ARTICLE 282.2(1) of the Russian Criminal Code — ORGANISING THE ACTIVITY OF AN EXTREMIST ORGANISATION — and sentenced to SIX YEARS. THE CONDUCT PROVED AGAINST HIM WAS ATTENDING AND ADDRESSING A RELIGIOUS MEETING. He served the term, was released on 24 MAY 2022 and was deported.
- 2019–2026 PROSECUTION AT SCALE, AND THE TWO AVAILABLE COUNTS ARE ATTRIBUTED SEPARATELY BECAUSE THEY COME FROM DIFFERENT KINDS OF SOURCE. The SOVA RESEARCH CENTER, an independent Russian monitor, recorded 49 new cases in 2024 and 28 more between January and early October 2025, with 169 Witnesses deprived of liberty as at October 2025. THE ORGANISATION’S OWN TALLY, published January 2026 and therefore an interested one, gives 665 believers convicted, 215 of them sentenced to prison. Both describe the same machine; only the second claims a total.
- 2021–2026 A NEWER MECHANISM: STRIPPING CITIZENSHIP AFTER AN EXTREMISM CONVICTION. FORUM 18 reported in FEBRUARY 2026 that the practice was gaining momentum, documenting at least twelve Jehovah’s Witnesses and two Muslims who had lost Russian citizenship following convictions for exercising freedom of religion. THE CONVICTION IS NO LONGER THE END OF THE PENALTY.
- December 2022 Norway deregisters the organisation's national legal entity and blocks its state grants, citing the shunning practice and children's rights.
- March 2024 The Oslo District Court UPHOLDS the government.
- March 2025 The Borgarting Court of Appeal UNANIMOUSLY OVERTURNS that ruling in the organisation's favour.
- 30 APRIL 2026 THE SUPREME COURT OF NORWAY RULES FOR JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AND AGAINST THE STATE. It holds the deregistration and the withholding of grants unlawful, and finds the State did NOT provide sufficient evidence that shunning subjects minors to psychological violence or negative social control severe enough to breach their statutory rights. A majority held the practice does not amount to undue pressure under Article 9 ECHR. THE RULING IS FINAL AND CANNOT BE APPEALED. The State must pay about 11.9 million kroner in legal costs plus the withheld grants.
### Its people
### Charles Taze Russell
Pastor Russell
Founder, the Bible Student movement (later Jehovah's Witnesses) · 16 February 1852 – 31 October 1916 · active 1870s–1916
Before the law. Sued for libel and involved in several civil disputes; no criminal conviction.
Where things stand. Deceased 1916.
- 1879 Begins publishing Zion's Watch Tower.
- 1881 Founds Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society.
- 1914 The predicted end of the Gentile Times; the outbreak of war is read as confirmation.
- 31 October 1916 Dies on a train in Texas.
Checked
### Joseph Franklin Rutherford
Judge Rutherford
Second President, Watch Tower Society; architect of Jehovah's Witnesses · 8 November 1869 – 8 January 1942 · active 1917–1942
Before the law. CONVICTED under the Espionage Act, 1918; convictions overturned 1919. His movement's later legal campaigns produced dozens of landmark US Supreme Court rulings on religious liberty and free speech.
Where things stand. Deceased 1942.
- 1917 Becomes President after Russell's death; a leadership struggle splits the movement.
- 1918 Convicted under the Espionage Act; imprisoned nine months. Convictions overturned in 1919.
- 1920 Promotes 1925 as the year of the resurrection of the patriarchs.
- 1925 The prediction fails; a large share of the membership leaves.
- 1931 Adopts the name Jehovah's Witnesses.
- 8 January 1942 Dies.
Checked
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