Crisis Of Conscience

The tendency of religious authority to seek to dominate rather than serve, and the struggle of those who wish to prevent the erosion of their God-given freedom of conscience -- these form the heart of the very personal and candid account in Crisis of Conscience. The scene of struggle is within the membership of a distinctive Jehovah's Witnesses. The same fundamental issues that mark this account, however, could arise within any of the world's religions. Starting in the 1870's as an independent Bible study group composed of a handful of persons in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jehovah's Witnesses today number more than five million in some 200 lands. When their publishing agency, the Watch Tower Society, puts out a new book, the normal initial printing is one million copies, with other millions following. In countries where they are active, few people have not had contact with the Witnesses as a result of their intense door-to-door activity.