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href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso8859-1"> <title>Who Are Jehovah's Witnesses?</title> <meta name="keywords" content="jehovah's witnesses, jehovah, witness, watchtower, christian, news releases, press releases, human rights, religious freedom, official"> <meta name="description" content="Jehovah's Witnesses: A profile of the people who knock at your door, and a brief history of their religion."> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">  </script> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" alink="#3333ff" link="#330099" vlink="#000066" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bgcolor="#8F8FBD"> <tr valign="middle"> <td nowrap height="24" width="100%"><p style="font-size: 10pt"><font face="verdana, helvetica, arial"><b>  Authorized Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses</b></font></td> <td width="151" rowspan="2" align="right"><img src="/web/20090228211205im_/http://jw-media.org/images/hp_03.jpg" width="151" height="72" alt="Jehovah's Witness talking with neighbor" border="0"></td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#000066" valign="top"> <td height="48"><img src="/web/20090228211205im_/http://jw-media.org/images/hp_04.gif" width="313" height="48" alt="JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES" border="0"><img src="/web/20090228211205im_/http://jw-media.org/images/spacer.gif" width="50" height="1" border="0"></td> </tr> </table> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bgcolor="#dadae5"> <tr valign="middle"> <td height="20" nowrap><p class="navbar"><font face="MS Sans Serif, helvetica, arial, verdana" style="font-size: 8pt;" size="1" color="#000066">   <a href="/web/20090228211205/http://jw-media.org/index.html" target="_top">HOME</a>  |  <a href="/web/20090228211205/http://jw-media.org/newsroom/index.htm" target="_top">NEWSROOM</a>  |  <a 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src="/web/20090228211205im_/http://jw-media.org/images/spacer.gif" width="600" height="1" border="0"></td></tr> </table> <table width="80%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tr valign="top"> <td width="150" bgcolor="#dadae5" align="center"> <br> <table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="144" class="toc"> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="tochead"><b>The People</b></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="4"><img src="/web/20090228211205im_/http://jw-media.org/images/bsq2.gif" width="4" height="4"></td> <td><a href="who.htm">Jehovah's Witnesses</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="4"><img src="/web/20090228211205im_/http://jw-media.org/images/bsq2.gif" width="4" height="4"></td> <td><a href="worship.htm">Worship & Conventions</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="4"><img src="/web/20090228211205im_/http://jw-media.org/images/bsq2.gif" width="4" height="4"></td> <td><a href="ministry.htm">Public Ministry</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="4"><img src="/web/20090228211205im_/http://jw-media.org/images/bsq2.gif" width="4" height="4"></td> <td><a href="contribute.htm">Community</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="4"><img src="/web/20090228211205im_/http://jw-media.org/images/bsq2.gif" width="4" height="4"></td> <td><a href="statistics.htm">Statistics</a></td> </tr> </table> </td> <td><br> <blockquote> <h1>Who Are Jehovah's Witnesses?</h1> <p>Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a worldwide Christian religion who actively share with others information about God, whose name is Jehovah, and about his Son, Jesus Christ.</p> <p>They base their beliefs solely on the principles found in the Holy Bible and view first-century Christianity as their model.</p> <p>They believe that in addition to drawing one closer to God, living by Bible principles gives purpose to life, promotes strong family ties, and develops productive and honest citizens.</p> <h2>International brotherhood</h2> <p>This international brotherhood of people of all races is made up of about 6.4 million practicing members organized into more than 95,000 congregations in some 230 lands.</p> <p>They remain neutral in all political conflicts and believe that God will intervene in man's affairs to bring about a peaceful human society earth wide.</p> <p>The worldwide organization is directed by an unpaid, ecclesiastical governing body serving at the international offices in Brooklyn, New York.</p> <h2>Promoting Bible education</h2> <p>Jehovah's Witnesses promote Bible education by publishing and distributing Bibles and Bible study aids, making personal visits to neighbors, and conducting free home Bible study courses.</p> <p>Local congregations meet at places of worship called Kingdom Halls. The public is invited to their meetings, and no collections are taken.</p> <p>Members come from all social, economic, racial, and religious backgrounds. Last year, they devoted more than one billion volunteer hours to Bible education worldwide.</p> <h2>History</h2> <p>The modern-day organization of Jehovah's Witnesses began toward the end of the 19th century with a small group of Bible students near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.</p> <p>In 1879 they began publishing the Bible journal now called <i>The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom.</i> It is published in more than 140 languages and is the world's most widely circulated religious magazine. The name Jehovah's Witnesses was adopted in 1931. Previously, they were known as International Bible Students.</p> <p> </p> <p class="footer"><a href="#top">Top of page</a> | <a href="/web/20090228211205/http://jw-media.org/contact.htm">How to contact us</a> <p class="copyright"><a href="/web/20090228211205/http://jw-media.org/copyright.htm">Copyright</a> © 2004 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.</p> <p> </p> </blockquote> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>