Why in news?
- Two people were killed and scores injured after a series of blasts at a Sunday prayer convention of the Jehovah’s Witnesses sect near Kochi.
- Dominic Martin, an estranged member of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who is now in police custody, posted a video on social media taking responsibility for the act.
What’s in today’s article?
Who are Jehovah’s Witnesses?
- A Christian sect
- Jehovah’s Witnesses are a Christian sect, but do not believe in the Holy Trinity.
- The Holy Trinity doctrine says that God exists in three equal persons of the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit.
- Origins of the sect
- The origins of the sect lie in a Bible Student movement started in the 1870s by American pastor Charles Taze Russell.
- Today, the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is located in Warwick, New York.
- Gods they worship
- They worship Jehovah as “the one true and Almighty God, the Creator”, who is “the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus”.
- They believe Jesus Christ to be the “King of God’s Kingdom in heaven”, but not as the Almighty God.
- Religious text
- They base their beliefs only on the text of the Bible, which they see as the word of God.
- Festivals
- They don’t celebrate Christmas or Easter, because they believe such festivals to be inspired by Pagan traditions.
- Paganism describes a group of contemporary religions based on a reverence for nature.
- These faiths draw on the traditional religions of indigenous peoples throughout the world.
- Known for their evangelical work
- Evangelical work- Believing that religious ceremony is not as important as belief in Jesus Christ and study of the Bible. For this they go door to door, to spread “The Truth”.
- They believe the end of the world is near, and the Kingdom of God will replace human governments and accomplish God’s purpose for the earth.
Jehovah’s Witnesses in India
- Presence
- Jehovah’s Witnesses have been present in India since 1905.
- They established an office in 1926 in Bombay (now Mumbai), and obtained legal registration in 1978.
- SC verdict and Jehovah’s Witnesses
- A landmark case involving the sect in India was Bijoe Emmanuel vs State Of Kerala.
- The Supreme Court, in its 1986 verdict, granted protection to three children belonging to the sect, who did not join in the singing of the National Anthem at their school.
- The court held that forcing them to sing the Anthem violated their fundamental right to religion under Article 25 of the Constitution.
