Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1997, page 69
According to this definition, WTS qualifies as a high-control group on a number of levels.
Members‟ lives are bound by explicit and implicit rules governing their behavior in public as
well as in private. Rules range from the insignificant, such as dress code, to the life
threatening, such as the prohibition on blood transfusions. Association with outsiders
(“worldly people”) is discouraged, except to conduct necessary business or try to convert
them. Throughout its history, WTS has encouraged its members to dedicate themselves to
preaching work over other activities, “as the end is very near.” For this reason, preaching
work is paramount in a member‟s life, often to the exclusion of higher education,
professional careers, and pursuit of personal interests, at times, even marriage and
parenthood.
Members experience negative consequences for questioning doctrine or expressing doubts
and can be severely punished if they continue to have questions after being “corrected” by
the Elders. Access to information that could be construed as critical of the group is severely
restricted, and members are told to “loath” ex-members who publish and speak out about
why they left (“Search Through Me,” 1993). In addition, members who leave are almost
always subject to “disfellowshipping” or are “disassociated” (supposedly a less harsh
judgment, but with essentially the same results), which involves a ban being placed on the
disfellowshipped person that requires members to shun and avoid contact with that person
for the rest of his or her life, or until the ex-member submits to a process of
“reinstatement.”
Legalism in Daily Life
For Jehovah‟s Witnesses, life is constricted by innumerable spoken and unspoken rules and
regulations, that is, the locus of control for an individual‟s life lies almost entirely with the
organization. Members are not permitted or are highly discouraged from a number of
activities, including celebrating birthdays or holidays, attending other churches, working for
the government, smoking cigarettes, listening to many kinds of modern music, joining the
army, wearing beards, dating non-Witnesses, joining 4-H, and voting, to name just a few.
Some of these “sins” result in censure or “marking” and loss of status within the group
others can lead to the cruel shunning treatment of disfellowshipping. Recently, for example,
an elderly woman was disfellowshipped because she began smoking cigarettes. Instead of
being helped by the congregation with this issue, she was cut off from the community and
left on her own, depressed and suicidal at the age of 68 because of her “sin” (personal
communication, 1992). Franz (1991), a former member of the WTS governing body (now
disfellowshipped himself), cites an instance of a member who made a living installing
burglar and fire alarm systems and who was disfellowshipped for providing monitoring
services for a system he had installed in a local church (pp. 351-352). Doing work for a
church is seen as “supporting the work of the devil” who, in the eyes of WTS, is at the head
of all other religions. Franz also discusses the case of a 91-year-old man who, after 56 years
of active membership, was disfellowshipped for talking about the Bible to a disfellowshipped
friend (pp. 353-356). Since 1975, it is estimated that more than 40% of those who were
involved with WTS have left or were forced out, and that between 1975 and 1985 alone,
more than 880,000 people exited the group (Bergman, 1992, p. 308). This makes it entirely
possible that there are as many or more former Jehovah‟s Witnesses in the world as there
are current members.
The Watchtower Society puts forth innumerable “suggestions” as to what members should
wear, whom they should date and marry, what medical procedures they may not have, how
they should wear their hair, what kinds of jobs they should perform, how many hours a
month they should preach, how many meetings they must attend, what kind of people they
should spend their time with, how much and what kind of education is acceptable, what
material to read and not to read, and so on. Many of these edicts are put in the form of
suggestion, yet are actually disguised rules. For an example of how this is accomplished,
According to this definition, WTS qualifies as a high-control group on a number of levels.
Members‟ lives are bound by explicit and implicit rules governing their behavior in public as
well as in private. Rules range from the insignificant, such as dress code, to the life
threatening, such as the prohibition on blood transfusions. Association with outsiders
(“worldly people”) is discouraged, except to conduct necessary business or try to convert
them. Throughout its history, WTS has encouraged its members to dedicate themselves to
preaching work over other activities, “as the end is very near.” For this reason, preaching
work is paramount in a member‟s life, often to the exclusion of higher education,
professional careers, and pursuit of personal interests, at times, even marriage and
parenthood.
Members experience negative consequences for questioning doctrine or expressing doubts
and can be severely punished if they continue to have questions after being “corrected” by
the Elders. Access to information that could be construed as critical of the group is severely
restricted, and members are told to “loath” ex-members who publish and speak out about
why they left (“Search Through Me,” 1993). In addition, members who leave are almost
always subject to “disfellowshipping” or are “disassociated” (supposedly a less harsh
judgment, but with essentially the same results), which involves a ban being placed on the
disfellowshipped person that requires members to shun and avoid contact with that person
for the rest of his or her life, or until the ex-member submits to a process of
“reinstatement.”
Legalism in Daily Life
For Jehovah‟s Witnesses, life is constricted by innumerable spoken and unspoken rules and
regulations, that is, the locus of control for an individual‟s life lies almost entirely with the
organization. Members are not permitted or are highly discouraged from a number of
activities, including celebrating birthdays or holidays, attending other churches, working for
the government, smoking cigarettes, listening to many kinds of modern music, joining the
army, wearing beards, dating non-Witnesses, joining 4-H, and voting, to name just a few.
Some of these “sins” result in censure or “marking” and loss of status within the group
others can lead to the cruel shunning treatment of disfellowshipping. Recently, for example,
an elderly woman was disfellowshipped because she began smoking cigarettes. Instead of
being helped by the congregation with this issue, she was cut off from the community and
left on her own, depressed and suicidal at the age of 68 because of her “sin” (personal
communication, 1992). Franz (1991), a former member of the WTS governing body (now
disfellowshipped himself), cites an instance of a member who made a living installing
burglar and fire alarm systems and who was disfellowshipped for providing monitoring
services for a system he had installed in a local church (pp. 351-352). Doing work for a
church is seen as “supporting the work of the devil” who, in the eyes of WTS, is at the head
of all other religions. Franz also discusses the case of a 91-year-old man who, after 56 years
of active membership, was disfellowshipped for talking about the Bible to a disfellowshipped
friend (pp. 353-356). Since 1975, it is estimated that more than 40% of those who were
involved with WTS have left or were forced out, and that between 1975 and 1985 alone,
more than 880,000 people exited the group (Bergman, 1992, p. 308). This makes it entirely
possible that there are as many or more former Jehovah‟s Witnesses in the world as there
are current members.
The Watchtower Society puts forth innumerable “suggestions” as to what members should
wear, whom they should date and marry, what medical procedures they may not have, how
they should wear their hair, what kinds of jobs they should perform, how many hours a
month they should preach, how many meetings they must attend, what kind of people they
should spend their time with, how much and what kind of education is acceptable, what
material to read and not to read, and so on. Many of these edicts are put in the form of
suggestion, yet are actually disguised rules. For an example of how this is accomplished,
