A closer look at Jehovah’s Witnesses living in the U.S.

[rug]

APRIL 26, 2016
BY MICHAEL LIPKA

The death of superstar musician Prince has prompted many reflections on his life – including his religious faith. Prince, who was raised as a Seventh-day Adventist, became a Jehovah’s Witness as an adult and attended services in his home state of Minnesota.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, who make up just less than 1% of U.S. adults, are known for their door-to-door proselytism. But members of this denomination, which has its origins in 19th-century America, are also unique in many other ways. Here are a few facts about Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States today, based on Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study:

Demographics

Jehovah’s Witnesses are among the most racially and ethnically diverse religious groups in America. No more than four-in-ten members of the group belong to any one racial and ethnic background: 36% are white, 32% are Hispanic, 27% are black and 6% are another race or mixed race.

Most Jehovah’s Witnesses – roughly two-thirds (65%) – are women, while only 35% are men. Christians worldwide are more likely to be women than men, but this gender gap is particularly large in the context of U.S. Christian groups. For instance, 54% of U.S. Catholics are women.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/26/a-closer-look-at-jehovahs-witnesses-living-in-the-u-s/

[MisterP]

1. they're 1. why we don't legally have to Pledge Allegiance and 2. the closest thing to Orwell's

Oceania that any researcher has found

[rug]

3. They are responsible for a good half dozen Supreme Court cases.

I miss the Oceania reference.They are explicitly nonpolitical.

[struggle4progress]

2. I really don't understand most of their views, such as their opposition

to evolutionary theory, but I like their uncompromising pacifism, and I respect the personal integrity that led many of them to death in Nazi dungeons for their refusal to give the Hitler salute

[rug]

4. In a nutshell, they are literalists.

Unfortunately, their translation of the words they rely on are widely seen as mistranslations.

I agree with you though. By and far they have great personal integrity.