Jehovah’s Witnesses Say Charles Taz Russell Did Not Found a New Religion

The Jehovah’s Witnesses say their modern body dates back to the late 19th century, when a small group of Bible students living near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States, began to study the Bible systematically, according to a page on the group’s official website, jw.org.

The site says Charles Taze Russell took the lead in Bible education at that time and served as the first editor of *The Watchtower*. Russell and the other Bible students, as the group was then known, compared church teachings with what they understood the Bible to say, and they published their findings in books, newspapers and *The Watchtower*, the website states.

The jw.org material says Russell did not establish a new religion. It describes the aim of Russell and his fellow Bible students as promoting the teachings of Jesus Christ and imitating the work of the first-century Christian congregation. A small circle of students keeping a written record of what they studied reflects the practice of remembering the past and passing the faith on to others (Psalm 78:4).

The page also includes an introduction explaining why the organization helps people learn about the Bible. It offers answers to questions about the Bible and provides further information about the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The two jw.org pages, one a general account and one a set of frequently asked questions, give the same account of Russell’s role and do not contradict each other. Both come from the group itself, and the material reviewed for this article contains no independent sources, outside records or other accounts of these events.