{"id":12915,"date":"2016-04-26T13:30:27","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T18:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/a-closer-look-at-jehovahs-witnesses-living-in-the-u-s\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:18:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:18:40","slug":"a-closer-look-at-jehovahs-witnesses-living-in-the-u-s","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/04\/26\/a-closer-look-at-jehovahs-witnesses-living-in-the-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"A closer look at Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses living in the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jehovah's<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

The death of superstar musician Prince has prompted many reflections on his life \u2013 including his religious faith<\/a>. Prince, who was raised as a Seventh-day Adventist<\/a>, became a Jehovah\u2019s Witness as an adult and attended services in his home state of Minnesota<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, who make up just less than 1% of U.S. adults<\/a>, are known for their door-to-door proselytism. But members of this denomination, which has its origins in 19th-century America<\/a>, are also unique in many other ways. Here are a few facts about Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses in the United States today, based on Pew Research Center\u2019s Religious Landscape Study<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Demographics<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses are among the most racially and ethnically diverse<\/a> religious groups in America. No more than four-in-ten members of the group belong to any one racial and ethnic background: 36% are white, 32% are Hispanic, 27% are black and 6% are another race or mixed race.<\/p>\n\n

Most Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses \u2013 roughly two-thirds (65%) \u2013 are women, while only 35% are men. Christians worldwide<\/a> are more likely to be women than men, but this gender gap is particularly large in the context of U.S. Christian groups<\/a>. For instance, 54% of U.S. Catholics are women.<\/p>\n\n

Compared with other U.S. religious groups, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses tend to be less educated<\/a>. A solid majority of adult Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses (63%) have no more than a high school diploma, compared with, for example, 43% of evangelical Protestants and 37% of mainline Protestants.<\/p>\n\n

Jehovah’s Witnesses have a low retention rate<\/a>\u00a0relative to other U.S. religious groups. Among all U.S. adults who were raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses, two-thirds (66%) no longer identify with the group. By contrast, about two-thirds of those who were raised as evangelical Protestants (65%) and Mormons (64%) still say they are members of those respective groups.<\/p>\n\n

On the flip side, about two-thirds (65%) \u00a0of current adult Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses are converts \u2013 like Prince, they were raised in another faith.<\/p>\n\n

Religious beliefs and practices<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses identify as Christians, but their beliefs are different from other Christians<\/a> in some ways. For instance, they teach that Jesus is the son of God but is not part of a Trinity.<\/p>\n\n

By traditional measures of religious commitment, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses are one of the most highly religious major U.S. religious groups. Nine-in-ten Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses (90%) say religion is very<\/em> important in their lives, while similar shares say they believe in God with absolute certainty (90%) and that the Bible is the word of God (94%).<\/p>\n\n

Our survey<\/a> found at least two other interesting ways in which Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses stand out in their beliefs. For one, while half of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses say they believe in heaven, very few (7%) say they believe in hell, the traditional image of which is challenged by the denomination\u2019s teaching<\/a>. The share of all U.S. Christians who believe in hell is 10 times larger (70%). And most Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses (83%) say their religion is the one true faith leading to eternal life; only about three-in-ten U.S. Christians (29%) believe this about their own religious faith.<\/p>\n\n

Compared with U.S. Christians overall, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses are especially likely to say they attend religious services at least once a week (85%, compared with 47% of all U.S. Christians), pray daily (90% of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses vs. 68% of all U.S. Christians) and \u2013 perhaps not surprisingly \u2013 share their faith with others at least once a week (76% vs. 26%). They also are more likely than U.S. Christians overall to participate in prayer or scripture study groups and to read scripture at least weekly, among other religious behaviors<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Social and political views<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

Like many other highly religious Christians, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses tend to take conservative positions on social issues. For example, three-quarters (75%) say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while similar shares oppose same-sex marriage and say homosexuality should be discouraged by society (76% each). Roughly three-quarters of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses (74%) also reject evolution, saying humans have always existed in their present form since the beginning of time.<\/p>\n\n

But Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses do not commonly advocate for these beliefs in the political sphere. The denomination teaches<\/a> that its members should remain politically neutral and abstain from voting or participating in \u201cany action to change governments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

This is reflected in our polling. Three-quarters of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses (75%) say they are political independents who do not lean toward either major party. Half (50%) decline to answer a question about political ideology (i.e., whether they describe their political views as conservative, moderate or liberal). And most Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses (64%), when asked if they are registered to vote, say they are not registered or decline to answer the question.<\/p>\n\n

Note: The last two paragraphs under the\u00a0\u201cDemographics\u201d section were added on April 27, 2016.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, who make up just less than 1% of U.S. adults, are known for their door-to-door proselytism. 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