Like the Early Christians

In the book Church, State, and Freedom the author, Leo Pfeffer, singles out Jehovah’s witnesses as being unique, that uniqueness being due to their following Christ as the early Christians did. Writes Pfeffer: “To a large extent the problem of adjusting the conflicting interests of domestic tranquillity and religious liberty has revolved around the Jehovah’s Witnesses cases. Probably no sect since the early days of the Mormon Church has been . . . as much a victim of communal hate and persecution as Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Mormon’s difficulty lay in their unconventional approach to marriage; except for that one eccentricity they were quite respectable; and once that problem was solved the Church of Latter Day Saints was accepted as an honored member of the community of faiths. Not so with the Witnesses. . . . Their aggressive missionary tactics are reminiscent of those employed by the early Christians, and the reception accorded them by the nonbelievers is likewise reminiscent of that visited on the early Christians.”