Modern History of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Part 20—Theocratic Warfare by Christian Neutrals During World Conflict

IN 1940 the United States passed the Selective Training and Service Act that authorized the conscription for military service of all young men over 18 years of age. Provision was made in Class IV-D for the exemption of those who were duly ordained ministers. General Lewis B. Hershey, the director of Selective Service for the United States, published an opinion in June, 1941, that members of the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Bethel family and pioneers may be granted exemption. However, like all others, they must establish such claims before the local draft boards.a Then on November 2, 1942, General Hershey published an amended opinion as to whether Jehovah’s witnesses may be placed in Class IV-D as regular or duly ordained ministers of religion exempt from military training and service. In this opinion he expressly shows that Jehovah’s witnesses constitute a religious body.

“The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc., is incorporated under the laws of the State of New York for charitable, religious and scientific purposes. The unincorporated body of persons known as Jehovah’s Witnesses hold in common certain religious tenets and beliefs and recognize as their terrestrial governing organization the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc. By their adherence to the organization of this religious corporation, the unincorporated body of Jehovah’s Witnesses are considered to constitute a recognized religious sect.”b

This administrative opinion aided many to clarify their respective positions under the legal classification “minister of religion.”

In actual fact Jehovah’s witnesses are already dedicated as ministerial ‘soldiers of Jesus Christ.’ Therefore they cannot take on another dedication to serve in the armies of Caesar. (2 Tim. 2:3) Most of the male witnesses were able to establish their ministerial status before their local draft boards successfully. However, due to local draft board prejudice, some who claimed the status were not granted recognition. This necessitated the bringing of many of such before the courts, with eventual imprisonment from one to five years. Consequently several aspects of the draft issue have been brought before the Supreme Court of the United States, involving cases of Jehovah’s witnesses. Some have been won, others lost. Two thirds of all the thousands of criminal persecutions of those claiming conscientious objector status under the Selective Service Act involved Jehovah’s witnesses.

“This surprising number of prisoners is composed almost two thirds of Jehovah’s Witnesses, practically all of whom demanded recognition as ministers of the gospel and were denied it by their draft boards.”c

To take care of the many prisoners who were witnesses, special camps under the supervision of various federal prisons were established. Upward of 3,500 young ministers were thus confined during the war.d However, these young men did not idle their time away but rather spent their spare hours in vigorous study of the Scriptures and other subjects to equip themselves better for the ministry upon their release. These prisoners were allowed to have weekly group studies of the Bible and at regular intervals were permitted the visit of a special minister sent from the Society’s headquarters to serve them spiritually. The integrity of these young men served as a great witness to the nation. It took more courage to stand for one’s principles of neutrality than to go along with the crowd.

All these legal actions have built up a monumental record that can be read by all men. Note how the late Mr. Justice Murphy, of the United States Supreme Court, put it:

“From ancient times to the present day, the ingenuity of man has known no limits in its ability to forge weapons of oppression for use against those who dare to express or practice unorthodox religious beliefs. And the Jehovah’s Witnesses are living proof of the fact that even in this nation, conceived as it was in the ideals of freedom, the right to practice religion in unconventional ways is still far from secure. Theirs is a militant and unpopular faith, pursued with a fanatical zeal. They have suffered brutal beatings; their property has been destroyed; they have been harassed at every turn by the resurrection and enforcement of little used ordinances and statutes. See Mulder and Comisky, ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses Mold Constitutional Law,’ 2 Bill of Rights Review, No. 4, p. 262. To them, along with other present-day religious minorities, befalls the burden of testing our devotion to the ideals and constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.”e

So at great cost to themselves of time, money and personal suffering the witnesses in the United States during the war period vigorously pursued a consistent course of neutrality. They made a fighting effort to keep open the door of freedom of worship through which to expand their preaching activities. At the close of the war much of the great flood of opposition ceased and they entered calmer waters in which to continue their God-given ministry. Incidentally, the United States Supreme Court up to 1955 has decided fifty cases involving Jehovah’s witnesses, 23 favorable decisions in 37 cases and 10 unfavorable decisions in 13 cases.

Following the end of World War II in 1945 Jehovah’s witnesses dug themselves out of the debris of war. Thousands began to return from concentration camps and prisons. Those first hours of freedom were sweet. Immediately on the way home the witnesses began to preach.f Many are the reports of the moving reception the witnesses were given in their preaching from house to house. To the public they seemed to be as ones resurrected from the dead. Efforts were made to reassemble the witnesses into congregations for organized field-service activity. Branch offices were reopened in country after country as the Nazi armies retreated to final defeat. There was a great demand for organizational servants with sufficient health to become circuit servants. In their poverty, makeshift equipment was gathered together to start the wheels of the publishing work again, to supply printed literature and other Bible helps. Food and clothing were secondary considerations. The prime objective was the re-establishment of the Biblical feeding service, first for the witnesses themselves and then for the vast spiritually starved public of good will.

In the more fortunate countries the witnesses immediately organized a worldwide relief campaign that went into operation January, 1946. The thousands of brothers in the United States, Canada, Switzerland and Sweden voluntarily shared with their less fortunate brothers clothing and money to buy food. The relief program covered two years and a half to rehabilitate the witnesses in the following war-torn countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Philippine Republic, Poland and Romania. The total shipments of clothing amounted to 1,056,247 pounds and of food 718,873 pounds, besides 124,110 pairs of shoes. All of this came to the value of $1,322,406.90.g This figure does not include the value of many hours of time spent in gathering and distributing the materials. Surely this manifests love on the part of the brothers to share their blessings, which flowed both ways. In the one direction flowed material aid and, in exchange, in the other direction flowed the record of integrity that made world news, bringing the witnesses to global fame as champions of Christian principles. Thus the witness work to Jehovah’s praise was made easier in all parts of the earth. (2 Cor. 8:13-15) All of this serves as evidence that Jehovah’s people are a unified world-wide family under the loving direction of a theocratic New World society motherly watching over them.

How did their publishing activities fare during the heavy years of the war? Though in many countries the vast distributions of literature were greatly cut down and thousands of ministers were imprisoned, nevertheless the world distribution is a sizable figure. But the amazing thing is that the peak number of active ministers almost doubled, demonstrating that the heat of war hastens the bringing forth of more honest-hearted ones into the preaching ranks of the witnesses. Note the following global activity figures.

1874-1892 1,535,600 400

1893-1918 9,737,224 21,274

1919-1930 93,500,000 23,988

1931-1939 215,984,991 73,469

1940-1945 158,315,308 141,606i

The spreading of Bible truth grandly moves on, war or no war. This is the time of the end when the good news of the established kingdom is being preached in every continent of earth. Men and demons cannot stop it for long. If they try to fight against God and the irresistible power of his holy spirit, they put themselves in the way of eventual destruction, as well exemplified by that infamous puny fighter against God and his witnesses—that one named Hitler.

(To be continued)

[Footnotes]