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The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses is the ruling council of Jehovah's Witnesses, [1] based in the denomination's Warwick, New York, headquarters.The body formulates doctrines, oversees the production of written material for publications and conventions, and administers the denomination's worldwide operations.
Jehovah's Witnesses are organized hierarchically, [1] and are led by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses from the Watch Tower Society's headquarters in Warwick, New York. The Governing Body, along with other "helpers", is organized into six committees responsible for various administrative functions within the global Witness community ...
In all, Jehovah's Witnesses brought 23 separate First Amendment actions before the U.S. Supreme Court between 1938 and 1946. [36] [37] Supreme Court Justice Harlan Fiske Stone once quipped, "I think the Jehovah's Witnesses ought to have an endowment in view of the aid which they give in solving the legal problems of civil liberties." [38]
The denomination is directed by a group known as the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, which establishes all doctrines. [18] [19] Congregational disciplinary actions include formal expulsion and shunning, for what they consider serious offenses. [20] [21] Members who formally leave are considered to be disassociated and are also shunned. [22]
Jehovah's Witnesses base all of their beliefs on the Bible, as interpreted by the Governing Body. [ 53 ] However, Jehovah's Witnesses use the terms "Hebrew-Aramaic scriptures" and "Greek-Christian scriptures" as substitutes for "Old Testament" and "New Testament" respectively.
Jehovah's Witnesses' practices are based on the biblical interpretations of Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), founder (c. 1881) of the Bible Student movement, and of successive presidents of the Watch Tower Society, Joseph Franklin Rutherford (from 1917 to 1942) and Nathan Homer Knorr (from 1942 to 1977).
In 1990, 68 Jehovah’s Witness elementary students were expelled for refusing to participate in daily flag-raising ceremonies. In Ebralinag, et al. vs. Division Superintendent of Schools of Cebu, the court ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses are permitted to refrain from saluting the Philippine flag and singing the national anthem.
Four official histories of Jehovah's Witnesses have been published by the Watch Tower Society. The first two are out of print. The most recent one is available online. Qualified To Be Ministers, pages 297–345 (1955) Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose (1959) Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993) God’s Kingdom Rules ...