"Watch out for researchers and don't
express personal viewpoints!"

By Rado Vleugel

On April 25, 2001 the Watchtower Society send a letter to all bodies of elders in the United States to warn them for academic researchers. The letter shows that hey are afraid that individual Witnesses might express personal viewpoints that deviate from official Watchtower teachings.

The letter writes:

"we certainly want to avoid having publishers expressing personal viewpoints that may not be in line with the Bible principles that really govern each Christian's conduct and the united efforts of the brotherhood to carry out Jehovah's will."

In this way the Society desperately tries to uphold the illusion that Jehovah's Witnesses are a perfect unity where everyone believes the same and everyone fully agrees with Watchtower teachings.

Happily most academic researchers see through this veneer.

Below are the scans of this letter:

(With thanks to watchtower.observer.org for providing the scans)