A guide for educators, child-support professionals, social workers, health professionals, and others working with children
KW Jehovah’s Witnesses, children, school, religious restrictions, holidays, blood transfusions, higher education, disfellowshipping, shunning, child safeguarding
See also:
English adaptation of the Japanese Sunnytas article:
Last updated: October 6, 2026
Important note
This English edition is not a literal translation only. It preserves the Japanese material, updates time-sensitive organizational policies through October 2026, replaces or supplements Japanese citations with English-language primary or authoritative sources where available, and adds context relevant to English-speaking countries.
It is intended as an informational and safeguarding resource, not legal or medical advice. Laws and professional duties differ by jurisdiction.
How to read this guide
The word “prohibited” should be used with care. Not every practice discussed below has the same status.
For clarity, this guide distinguishes four types of evidence:
- Explicit organizational position — conduct that current Jehovah’s Witness publications clearly state should not be practiced.
- Strongly discouraged or restricted practice — conduct that may not be framed as an absolute prohibition but is discouraged through religious teaching.
- Personal conscience or personal decision — matters that current Jehovah’s Witness publications expressly leave to the individual or family.
- Historically taught or reported practice — restrictions documented in earlier publications or reported by people raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses, but which should not automatically be presented as current universal policy.
These are analytical categories used in this guide. They are not official Jehovah’s Witness terminology.
A recurring distinction is also important:
- What the organization currently teaches
- What the organization taught historically
- What a particular family or congregation reportedly required
- What a child personally believes he or she must do
These are not always the same.
General rules and restrictions
Congregational discipline, expulsion, and shunning
Jehovah’s Witnesses maintain a formal system of congregational discipline. Current public material states that congregation elders may intervene where a member is believed to have committed serious wrongdoing and, if the person does not change, the person may be expelled from the congregation.
Source: JW.ORG — How Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Treat Those Who Used to Belong to Their Religion?
This guide uses the neutral descriptive terms expulsion from the congregation and shunning rather than adopting the organization’s preferred terminology. Jehovah’s Witnesses historically used the term disfellowshipping; since 2024, their public materials generally use removal from the congregation.
Expulsion means the formal ending of a person’s recognized membership or standing in the congregation.
Shunning means deliberately restricting or ending ordinary social contact with a person because of that person’s religious status, expulsion, or departure from the group.
Current Jehovah’s Witness material states that members should not socialize with a person who has been expelled, although the person may attend meetings and, in ordinary cases, may now be greeted there. Where an expelled person remains in the same household with a spouse and young children who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, the organization states that ordinary family affection and household dealings continue.
Source: JW.ORG — Current policy toward people removed from the congregation
The term shunning is also widely used in independent academic research.
Source: PubMed — Grieving the Living: The Social Death of Former Jehovah’s Witnesses
Source: Springer — Coping After Shunning, 2026
Medical treatment and blood
Jehovah’s Witness teaching on blood changed substantially during 2026.
Whole blood
The organization continues to state that Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse whole-blood transfusions on religious grounds.
Red cells, white cells, plasma, and platelets
On September 18, 2026, the Governing Body announced that accepting the four main blood components obtained from another person — red cells, white cells, plasma, and platelets — is now a matter of individual conscience.
The organization also stated that each Witness may decide whether to donate blood where the stated purpose is to provide components or fractions for use by another person.
Source: JW.ORG — September 18, 2026 policy announcement
Source: JW.ORG — 2026 Governing Body Update #6
Accordingly, it is no longer accurate to state that Jehovah’s Witnesses universally refuse red cells, white cells, plasma, or platelets.
As of October 2026:
- Whole blood: rejected under the organization’s current teaching.
- Red cells: personal decision.
- White cells: personal decision.
- Plasma: personal decision.
- Platelets: personal decision.
- Blood fractions: personal decision.
- Donation for components or fractions: personal decision.
A patient’s own blood
On March 20, 2026, the Governing Body also clarified its position on the use of a patient’s own blood in medical and surgical care.
The organization now states that medical use of a patient’s own blood is an individual decision.
Source: JW.ORG — 2026 Governing Body Update #2
For medical professionals and safeguarding practitioners, older descriptions of Jehovah’s Witness blood policy should therefore be checked carefully before being relied upon.
Politics, patriotic observances, and military service
Political neutrality
Jehovah’s Witnesses describe themselves as politically neutral.
Their current FAQ states that they do not lobby, vote for political parties or candidates, run for political office, or participate in efforts to change governments. They also state that they obey laws, pay taxes, and respect public authorities.
Source: JW.ORG — Why Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Maintain Political Neutrality?
The organization has distinguished voting for a political candidate from physically entering a polling place where attendance is legally compulsory.
Source: JW.ORG — Flag Salute, Voting, and Civilian Service
Flag salutes and national anthems
Jehovah’s Witnesses regard saluting a national flag as an act of allegiance that they do not perform.
Their school guidance also states that Witness students do not sing national anthems. Depending on the meaning of the act in a particular setting, a student may stand respectfully without singing or may remain seated.
Source: JW.ORG — Flag Salute, Anthems and Voting
The same publication indicates that a school song or school anthem may also be declined if it is understood as an expression of allegiance or glorification.
Student elections
Jehovah’s Witness school guidance states that students generally do not participate in student elections or accept elected student offices, while teacher-appointed classroom responsibilities may be treated differently.
Source: JW.ORG — Flag Salute, Anthems and Voting
Military service
Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse participation in war and do not take up weapons as soldiers.
Source: JW.ORG — Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Go to War?
However, alternative civilian service is not universally prohibited. Jehovah’s Witness material treats participation in nonmilitary civilian service as a matter of conscience.
Source: JW.ORG — Flag Salute, Voting, and Civilian Service
Holidays and celebrations
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not reject every possible celebration under one simple rule. Their current public material describes multiple categories of observances that they do not celebrate, while leaving some other matters to personal conscience.
Source: JW.ORG — Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Celebrate Certain Holidays?
Birthdays
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays.
Source: JW.ORG — Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Celebrate Birthdays?
In school, this may affect participation in birthday parties, birthday songs, birthday cards, gifts, or classroom celebrations.
Christmas
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas.
Source: JW.ORG — Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Celebrate Christmas?
School effects may include nonparticipation in Christmas parties, songs, plays, crafts, or gift exchanges.
Easter
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate Easter.
Source: JW.ORG — Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Celebrate Easter?
Their school booklet expressly discusses Easter eggs and the Easter rabbit and states that Jehovah’s Witness children do not participate in holiday activities connected with such observances.
Source: JW.ORG — Holidays and Celebrations
In an English-speaking school, this may include an Easter egg hunt, Easter-themed crafts, parties, songs, or performances.
Halloween
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate Halloween.
Source: JW.ORG — Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Celebrate Certain Holidays?
Possible school effects include nonparticipation in costumes, Halloween parties, trick-or-treating, decorations, and themed classroom activities.
Thanksgiving
The organization’s current FAQ expressly identifies Thanksgiving as a celebration that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not observe.
Source: JW.ORG — Holiday FAQ
For educators in the United States, an important distinction is between learning about Thanksgiving historically and participating in a Thanksgiving celebration.
Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, New Year’s Day, and May Day
The Jehovah’s Witness school booklet specifically discusses Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, New Year’s Day, and May Day.
It states that Witness children do not take part in commemorative holiday activities such as singing, music, plays, parades, drawing, parties, and related eating or drinking.
Source: JW.ORG — Holidays and Celebrations
National and military commemorations
Current official material also identifies a number of national or military commemorations that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate, including examples such as:
- Independence Day
- Flag Day
- Veterans Day
- Memorial Day
- Remembrance Day
- Remembrance Sunday
- ANZAC Day
- Australia Day
- Guy Fawkes Day
Source: JW.ORG — Holiday FAQ
St. Patrick’s Day
The current Jehovah’s Witness holiday FAQ reviewed for this guide does not specifically name St. Patrick’s Day.
However, it states that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not participate in celebrations that honor or exalt a person regarded as a saint.
St. Patrick’s Day therefore appears to fall within the organization’s stated general criterion regarding celebrations of saints.
This is an inference from the organization’s published rule, not a claim that the current FAQ specifically names St. Patrick’s Day.
Source: JW.ORG — Holiday FAQ
A school should confirm the position of the individual child and family rather than assuming identical practice in every household.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, and similar commemorations
The current Jehovah’s Witness FAQ does not specifically name Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Juneteenth.
It does, however, state that Jehovah’s Witnesses avoid celebrations honoring notable individuals and certain celebrations of political or social movements.
Source: JW.ORG — Holiday FAQ
Accordingly, some Jehovah’s Witness students may decline participation in commemorative activities associated with these days.
This should not be confused with studying Martin Luther King Jr., slavery, emancipation, civil-rights history, racial discrimination, or Black history as academic subjects.
Education and historical study are not the same as commemorative celebration.
The same caution applies to Black History Month. Individual practice should be established rather than assumed.
Religious rites and worship of other faiths
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not participate in interfaith worship or religious rites of other faiths.
Source: JW.ORG — Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Practice Interfaith?
They also reject the veneration of religious images and do not use the cross as an object of worship.
Source: JW.ORG — Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Use the Cross?
However, being present at an event and participating in a religious ritual are not necessarily the same thing.
For example, current Jehovah’s Witness material states that attending a funeral conducted by another religion may be a personal decision, while participation in rituals regarded as religiously unacceptable may be declined.
Source: JW.ORG — How Do Jehovah’s Witnesses View Funerals?
This distinction is relevant to school visits to churches, temples, shrines, mosques, or other religious sites.
Sex, dating, marriage, and sexual conduct
Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that sexual activity should occur only within marriage between a man and a woman.
Source: JW.ORG — Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Rules About Dating?
Their publications reject premarital and extramarital sexual activity.
The organization also teaches that same-sex sexual conduct is contrary to its interpretation of Biblical morality while stating that people should be treated with respect.
Source: JW.ORG — What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?
Pornography is rejected.
Source: JW.ORG — What Does the Bible Say About Pornography?
Masturbation is described negatively in Jehovah’s Witness publications but should not automatically be placed in the same disciplinary category as adultery or sexual conduct involving another person.
Source: JW.ORG — Gain the Victory Over Masturbation
Dating is treated primarily as preparation for marriage rather than casual recreation.
Marriage within the religion is strongly encouraged.
Source: JW.ORG — Family and marriage FAQ
Abortion, tobacco, drugs, alcohol, and gambling
Abortion
Jehovah’s Witnesses generally reject induced abortion when performed to prevent the birth of an unwanted child.
Source: JW.ORG — Religious and Ethical Position on Medical Therapy and Related Matters
Tobacco and recreational drugs
Tobacco use and recreational drug use are treated as incompatible with Jehovah’s Witness religious standards.
Source: JW.ORG — Religious and Ethical Position on Medical Therapy and Related Matters
Alcohol
Moderate alcohol consumption is not prohibited. The religious restriction concerns drunkenness and excessive drinking.
Source: JW.ORG — Religious and Ethical Position on Medical Therapy and Related Matters
Gambling
Jehovah’s Witness publications describe gambling as incompatible with Biblical principles concerning greed and love of money.
Source: JW.ORG — Is Gambling a Sin?
Friendships and relationships outside the religion
Jehovah’s Witnesses interact with people outside the religion at school, work, in public life, and in preaching. It would therefore be inaccurate to state that all contact with non-Witnesses is prohibited.
However, official publications repeatedly caution against close friendships that are believed to have a negative spiritual influence.
Source: JW.ORG — What Should I Know About School Friendships?
Source: JW.ORG — Extracurricular Activities
A more accurate formulation is:
Close social relationships with non-Witnesses may be discouraged or treated with caution, rather than all contact being prohibited.
For practitioners, the practical question is whether a particular child feels free to develop normal age-appropriate friendships outside the religious community.
Higher education and career choices
This subject requires particular care because the organization’s position changed in 2026.
Historically, Jehovah’s Witness publications strongly discouraged some forms of higher education, especially university education.
In the May 2026 Study Edition of The Watchtower, however, the organization explicitly stated that each adult Christian must make his or her own decision about whether to obtain additional education, including university education.
The article’s footnote expressly acknowledges that past publications discouraged certain types of additional education and states that obtaining additional education is now a personal matter. It also states that no Christian, including congregation elders, should judge another Christian’s personal decision.
Source: JW.ORG — Make Wise Decisions Regarding Additional Education, May 2026
The same article still presents a career in full-time religious service as the “best career” and encourages young people to consider the spiritual risks and time costs of further education.
The current position can therefore be summarized as:
University and other post-compulsory education are formally personal or family decisions under the organization’s 2026 policy, while full-time religious service continues to be presented as the preferred life course.
This current policy must be distinguished from the historical experiences of adults who grew up under earlier teaching.
Entertainment
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not currently publish a universal list of specific prohibited films, books, songs, games, anime, manga, artists, or fictional characters.
The organization states that individuals and families should apply Biblical principles themselves.
Source: JW.ORG — Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Ban Certain Movies, Books, or Songs?
Accordingly, statements such as “Jehovah’s Witnesses prohibit Dragon Ball” should not be made as universal doctrinal claims unless a specific source establishes such a rule.
At the same time, the 2023 Japanese survey documents widespread reports of entertainment restrictions in individual families and congregations.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Entertainment restrictions
The organization’s booklet School and Jehovah’s Witnesses addresses patriotic ceremonies, elections, holidays, class instruction, extracurricular activities, and religious issues at school.
Source: JW.ORG — School and Jehovah’s Witnesses
The booklet is still publicly available, but it predates some major policy changes made in 2026. Where it conflicts with more recent material — for example concerning blood — the more recent policy should be used.
Flag salutes, national anthems, and school songs
Witness students generally decline flag salutes and national anthems.
Source: JW.ORG — Flag Salute, Anthems and Voting
The same publication may also lead students to decline a school song when it is understood as an expression of allegiance.
Student elections
Witness students generally do not participate in student elections or accept elected student offices.
Source: JW.ORG — Flag Salute, Anthems and Voting
Holiday activities
A Witness child may decline not only a formal religious ceremony but also holiday-linked classroom activities such as:
- singing
- music
- plays
- parades
- themed drawings and crafts
- parties
- holiday-related eating and drinking
Source: JW.ORG — Holidays and Celebrations
This can affect Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, New Year’s Day, and other observances.
Japanese seasonal and cultural events
The Japanese examples are intentionally retained in this English edition because they document the actual experiences of children raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan.
Examples include:
Tanabata — Star Festival
A Japanese seasonal festival associated with the Tanabata legend and wishes written on strips of paper.
Some respondents in the 2023 Japanese survey reported nonparticipation in Tanabata activities.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — School activities
Setsubun
A seasonal custom commonly involving the throwing of beans to drive away evil and invite good fortune.
Some respondents reported that they were not permitted to participate.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — School activities
Hinamatsuri — Doll Festival / Girls’ Day
A traditional festival involving ornamental dolls.
Family practice may vary depending on whether the event is understood as religious, superstitious, or purely cultural.
Children’s Day
Modern Children’s Day has historical links to seasonal customs. Family interpretation may vary.
Obon and Bon odori
Obon is associated with remembrance of ancestors and Buddhist traditions in Japan. Bon odori is a community dance linked historically with Obon.
A Jehovah’s Witness family may distinguish between a cultural event and participation in an ancestral or religious rite.
Hatsumōde
The first shrine or temple visit of the New Year.
A family may object to the religious acts involved even if the child is physically present at a shrine or temple for another reason.
Shichi-Go-San
A traditional celebration in which young children often visit a Shinto shrine.
The degree of participation may depend on the family’s interpretation of the ritual elements.
These Japanese observances should not all be described as items on a worldwide Jehovah’s Witness “ban list.” Rather, they illustrate how general religious principles can be applied in a culturally specific setting.
Religious instruction, sex education, and evolution
Religious instruction
Jehovah’s Witness school material distinguishes between learning about religions and participating in worship.
Source: JW.ORG — Class Instruction
A child may therefore be willing to learn objectively about another religion while declining prayer, bowing, ritual participation, or worship.
This distinction is also important on school trips to religious sites.
Sex and relationships education
The school booklet states that Jehovah’s Witness parents may object to portions of sex education that conflict with their religious moral standards.
Source: JW.ORG — Class Instruction
However, parental rights to withdraw children from particular classes differ by jurisdiction. The religious publication does not determine the law in each country.
Evolution
Jehovah’s Witnesses reject the conventional scientific account that life and humans arose through unguided evolutionary processes without a creator.
Their school material nevertheless does not simply instruct students to avoid science classes. It frames the issue as studying the academic material while retaining religious convictions.
Source: JW.ORG — Class Instruction
Some respondents in the Japanese survey reported difficulties in evolution-related lessons or examinations, but this should not be treated as proof of a universal rule requiring all Witness children to leave evolution classes.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — School activities
Sports, extracurricular activities, and martial arts
Ordinary physical education
Jehovah’s Witness material does not reject physical exercise or ordinary physical education.
Source: JW.ORG — Extracurricular Activities
Competitive sports and school clubs
The same material expresses concern about organized competitive sports, excessive school loyalty, time taken away from religious activity, and social influences associated with extracurricular participation.
It states that many Witness youths do not participate in school-sponsored extracurricular activities.
Source: JW.ORG — Extracurricular Activities
This should generally be described as discouragement or restriction, not as one universal ban on every club or sport.
Cheerleading and organized cheering
The Jehovah’s Witness school booklet specifically discusses cheerleading and organized cheering.
Source: JW.ORG — Extracurricular Activities
This provides a useful English-speaking parallel to Japanese ōendan and ōengassen.
Japanese sports festivals
Japanese undōkai and taiikusai combine athletic competition, team identity, cheering, coordinated performances, school songs, and sometimes culturally specific activities.
The 2023 Japanese survey reported restrictions involving some sports-day activities, including cheering events and kibasen (“cavalry battle”).
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — School activities
The appropriate conclusion is not that “Jehovah’s Witnesses are prohibited from sports days,” but that particular components may conflict with religious rules applied by a family.
Martial arts and combat sports
The organization’s school booklet specifically identifies combat activities such as judo, karate, kendo, boxing, and wrestling as activities that Witness students do not participate in because they are regarded as training in fighting.
Source: JW.ORG — Class Instruction
The Kobe kendo case
A major Japanese Supreme Court case involved a Jehovah’s Witness student at Kobe Municipal College of Technology who refused compulsory kendo practice for religious reasons.
The student requested alternatives such as written reports. The college refused, he failed the compulsory physical-education requirement, was retained in the same year, and was ultimately dismissed.
On March 8, 1996, the Supreme Court of Japan held that the retention and dismissal measures were illegal as exceeding the scope of the school’s discretionary authority.
The Court emphasized, among other things:
- the seriousness of the student’s religious reason;
- the grave disadvantage imposed on him;
- the fact that he did not reject physical education generally;
- his strong performance in other subjects; and
- the school’s failure adequately to consider feasible alternatives.
Source: Supreme Court of Japan — 1995 (Gyo-Tsu) No. 74, judgment of March 8, 1996
The judgment should not be reduced to a broad claim that every religious objection automatically creates an unlimited right to accommodation. It concerned the legality of the particular disciplinary measures imposed in that case.
Evidence and developments in Japan
2023 survey: overview and key findings
In 2023, the Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers conducted a large survey concerning childhood experiences in Jehovah’s Witness families and congregations in Japan.
The survey ran from May 2 to June 30, 2023 and received 583 responses, of which 581 were treated as valid responses.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Survey overview
Source: Survey report announcement
The respondents included many current and former Jehovah’s Witnesses and adults raised in the religion.
The survey was not a random population survey of all Jehovah’s Witness families in Japan. Participants voluntarily responded to a survey specifically concerning problems related to the religion.
Therefore, percentages below describe the relevant respondents. They should not be interpreted as population prevalence estimates for all Jehovah’s Witness children.
School activities
Among respondents who had been involved with Jehovah’s Witness activities while under 18, 537 respondents — approximately 96 percent — reported at least one school subject or school event in which they could not participate because of Jehovah’s Witness teaching or practice.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — School activities
Reported examples included:
- national and school songs
- flags and flag ceremonies
- student elections
- Setsubun
- dondoyaki
- Christmas songs
- kendo
- judo
- kibasen
- Tanabata
- Valentine’s Day
- Christmas
- other seasonal or school activities
Again, these are respondent experiences, not a universal current ban list.
Friendships, dating, and marriage
The survey reported that 93 percent — 522 respondents — experienced or perceived restrictions on friendships, dating, or marriage.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Friendships, dating, and marriage
For professionals, useful questions include:
- Can the child visit a school friend’s home?
- Can classmates visit the child’s home?
- Can the child spend recreational time with non-Witness friends?
- Does the child believe a close friendship with a non-Witness would disappoint the family or God?
- Is a teenager permitted to develop an ordinary romantic relationship?
- What does the child expect would happen if he or she wished to marry outside the religion?
Entertainment
Approximately 95 percent — 531 respondents — reported restrictions on anime, manga, games, or other entertainment.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Entertainment
The survey documented substantial variation between families. Restrictions were attributed by respondents to combinations of parental rules, organizational publications, congregation elders, traveling overseers, talks, conventions, and pressure from other members.
These reports should not be converted into a universal list of officially prohibited entertainment.
Higher education
The 2023 survey reported that 92 percent — 518 respondents — believed that the organization had provided negative guidance concerning higher education.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Survey overview
This result is historically important but must now be read alongside the 2026 policy change described above.
Source: JW.ORG — Make Wise Decisions Regarding Additional Education, 2026
The correct formulation is:
The 2023 survey documents past and reported pressure concerning higher education. In 2026, the organization explicitly stated that university and other additional education are personal decisions.
Preaching by children
Door-to-door and other forms of evangelism remain central Jehovah’s Witness activities.
The 2023 Japanese survey reported very high levels of childhood participation in preaching among relevant respondents.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Survey overview
The survey also documented respondents who said that they preached despite not wanting to do so, or associated refusal with fear of religious consequences.
These findings should be described as respondent experiences rather than as proof that every Witness child is coerced.
At the same time, current Jehovah’s Witness material continues to encourage parents to train children in preaching.
Source: JW.ORG — Children Are “an Inheritance From Jehovah,” February 2026
Source: JW.ORG — Preparing to Preach: Children’s activity
Thus, two things can simultaneously be true:
The organization encourages and trains children to participate in preaching.
and
Whether a particular child participates voluntarily or experiences coercion must be assessed individually.
Blood-refusal cards carried by children
The 2023 Japanese survey reported that 81 percent — 451 respondents — had carried a blood-refusal card or similar identification document while minors.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Blood refusal
English-language reporting also covered the finding.
Source: The Japan Times — Survey coverage, November 2023
These historical findings must now be read in light of the September 18, 2026 blood-policy change.
Source: JW.ORG — September 2026 blood-components policy
The lawyers’ group also publicly commented on the 2026 doctrinal change.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — September 2026 blood-policy statement
The English edition should therefore state clearly:
The survey findings describe blood-refusal cards and medical practices reported by respondents concerning childhood experiences before the September 2026 policy change.
It should not be assumed that a document carried by a Witness child in October 2026 necessarily refuses all four major blood components.
Corporal punishment: “muchi”
A particularly serious area of the Japanese survey concerned corporal punishment commonly described among former Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan as muchi — literally “the whip.”
The reports concern corporal punishment in which children were struck, including on the buttocks, sometimes with hands, belts, hoses, or other implements.
The survey reported that 92 percent — 514 respondents — had experienced this form of corporal punishment among the relevant respondent group.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Survey overview
These are predominantly retrospective reports concerning earlier childhood experiences, often from previous decades. They should not be used as a direct estimate of the present prevalence of corporal punishment in current Jehovah’s Witness households.
However, maltreatment experiences among former Jehovah’s Witnesses have also been studied outside Japan.
Current Jehovah’s Witness public materials describe parental discipline in terms of instruction and do not publicly endorse child abuse.
The appropriate formulation is:
The 2023 Japanese survey documents extensive historical reports of severe corporal punishment among its respondents. These findings should be taken seriously as survivor evidence while not being presented as proof of the same prevalence among current Jehovah’s Witness families.
Childhood baptism, expulsion, and shunning
Baptism has particular significance because the consequences of later leaving the religion differ for a baptized person.
The 2023 Japanese survey reported substantial numbers of respondents who had been baptized while minors and documented concerns about the voluntariness and motivations surrounding childhood baptism.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Expulsion, shunning, and childhood baptism
Jehovah’s Witnesses state that baptism should be voluntary and that a child should have sufficient understanding and maturity.
At the same time, a baptized person who later formally leaves or is expelled may be subject to shunning.
Current policy allows a simple greeting at religious meetings in ordinary cases but still directs members not to socialize with an expelled person.
Source: JW.ORG — Current policy toward former or expelled members
For child-support professionals, relevant questions include:
- At what age was the child baptized?
- How did the child understand the lifelong consequences?
- Did the child feel free to delay baptism?
- What did the child believe would happen if he or she did not get baptized?
- What does the young person believe would happen to family relationships if he or she later left the religion?
Independent research has documented substantial distress associated with shunning among some former Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Source: PubMed — What Happens to Those Who Exit Jehovah’s Witnesses
Source: PubMed — Grieving the Living
Source: Springer — Coping After Shunning, 2026
How to interpret different Japanese surveys
Different surveys of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan have produced markedly different pictures of family life, discipline, education, and well-being.
They should not be treated as if they sampled the same population in the same way.
2023 survey by the Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers
The 2023 survey was an open, voluntary, problem-focused survey. It included many former members and adults raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses who reported adverse experiences.
Source: Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Survey overview
Its strength is the identification and documentation of adverse childhood experiences and safeguarding concerns.
Its weakness is that its percentages cannot be generalized to all Jehovah’s Witness children in Japan.
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan — A Quantitative Study (JWJ-QS)
A separate study began in 2024 and a full report was published in 2026.
JWJ-QS sampled currently active, baptized adult Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan.
The study selected 150 Japanese-language congregations from 2,807 congregations across all 47 prefectures. Invitations were distributed through congregation elders.
Eligibility required respondents to be adults, baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses, currently attending Japanese-language congregations in Japan, and active in public preaching during the preceding six months.
The completed 2026 report analyzes 7,196 respondents.
Source: JWJ-QS — Study website
Source: JWJ-QS — Full 2026 report
The study does not sample:
- former Jehovah’s Witnesses;
- people raised as Witnesses who were never baptized;
- inactive baptized people who had stopped participating;
- children under 18.
The report itself identifies important limitations, including retrospective recall and limitations on verifying full population representativeness.
Research context
The JWJ-QS investigators included researchers who were themselves affiliated with the Jehovah’s Witness community, while the project also used outside academic advisors and institutional review procedures.
The national Jehovah’s Witness organization assisted with access to sampled congregations and congregation contacts.
These facts should be disclosed, not used either to dismiss the study automatically or to treat it as wholly external research.
Source: JWJ-QS — About the study
Why the surveys differ
The studies answer different questions.
The 2023 lawyers’ survey broadly asks:
What adverse or restrictive childhood experiences have been reported by people raised in Jehovah’s Witness environments, including many people who later left?
JWJ-QS more closely asks:
How do currently active, baptized adult Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan describe their religion, family life, attitudes, and well-being?
Both are legitimate questions.
Neither survey should be treated as a complete description of every Jehovah’s Witness family.
A reasonable synthesis is:
The 2023 survey provides substantial evidence that serious adverse childhood experiences occurred among many respondents. JWJ-QS provides evidence that many currently active adult Jehovah’s Witnesses describe their present religious and family lives differently, often positively. Neither survey alone establishes the experience of every Jehovah’s Witness child today.
Human-rights and safeguarding developments
Japanese government guidance
In December 2022, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare issued official guidance on child abuse related to religious beliefs.
The guidance addresses situations in which conduct motivated by religion may meet existing legal definitions of physical abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse.
Examples include circumstances involving:
- corporal punishment;
- threats or fear;
- severe restrictions on ordinary friendships;
- coercive religious activity;
- interference with education;
- denial of medically necessary treatment; and
- restriction of school activities without adequate regard for a child’s educational opportunities and welfare.
Source: Japan MHLW — Q&A on child abuse related to religious beliefs English translation
Source: Japan MHLW — Summary
The guidance also cautions against mechanical application. Each child’s circumstances should be assessed individually.
Schools and reporting in Japan
Japan’s Ministry of Education has instructed schools not to remain passive merely because a safeguarding concern has a religious background.
Source: Japan MEXT — Guidance to schools
The official English translation of Japan’s Act on the Prevention, etc. of Child Abuse is also available.
Source: Japanese Law Translation — Act on the Prevention, etc. of Child Abuse
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the child’s right to express views on matters affecting the child and the child’s own freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
Source: OHCHR — Convention on the Rights of the Child
Source: UNICEF — Children’s version
For professionals, this supports a distinction between:
- respecting a child’s genuine religious belief; and
- assessing whether that belief or decision is being expressed under fear, coercion, dependency, or anticipated loss of family and community.
Concerns raised by UN Special Rapporteurs
In 2024, UN Special Rapporteurs raised concerns with the Japanese government about aspects of the government’s religion-related child-abuse guidance and its potential impact on freedom of religion or belief.
The Japanese government responded that the guidance does not prohibit parents from providing religious and moral education and applies where conduct reaches existing legal definitions of child abuse.
Source: OHCHR Special Procedures — Communication JPN 1/2024
Source: Government of Japan — Response to JPN 1/2024
This exchange is useful because it highlights two principles that should be held simultaneously:
Children must be protected from abuse and coercion even where conduct is religiously motivated.
and
Ordinary religious upbringing and transmission of belief should not automatically be classified as abuse merely because outsiders disagree with the religion.
England: faith- or belief-based abuse
England’s 2026 Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance explicitly includes faith- or belief-based abuse among harms that safeguarding practitioners should be equipped to identify.
This is general safeguarding guidance and is not specific to Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Source: UK Department for Education — Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026
Source: 2026 summary of changes
Practical guidance for professionals
The following framework may help educators, social workers, school counsellors, physicians, and other professionals.
It does not replace local law or professional safeguarding procedures.
1. Do not infer a child’s situation from religious affiliation alone
Knowing that a child is being raised as a Jehovah’s Witness can alert a practitioner to possible issues involving holidays, school ceremonies, friendships, medical decisions, preaching, or future education.
It does not establish how that particular family applies religious teaching.
Ask rather than assume.
2. Establish the exact activity
Avoid broad questions such as:
“Are you allowed to participate in school?”
Ask instead:
- Are you allowed to attend the Christmas assembly but not sing?
- Can you learn about Easter but not join an Easter egg hunt?
- Can you visit a shrine on a school trip if you do not pray?
- Can you join a sports club?
- Can you go to a friend’s birthday party?
- Can you stand during the national anthem without singing?
The difference between attendance, learning, participation, and religious observance can be crucial.
3. Ask what the child wants
A child may genuinely share the family’s religious belief.
A practitioner should not assume that nonparticipation is imposed merely because the child is young.
But it is also important to assess how freely the preference is expressed.
Useful questions may include:
“What would you like to do?”
“What do you think would happen if you did something different?”
“Would you feel safe telling your parents that you disagree?”
“Are you worried that anyone would stop speaking to you?”
“Would anything happen at home or in the congregation?”
The issue is not whether the professional agrees with the child’s belief.
The issue is how freely the child can form and express that belief.
4. Look for cumulative effects
One restriction may have little developmental effect.
Multiple restrictions may produce a very different result.
For example, the cumulative effect may be substantial if a child cannot participate in birthdays, holiday events, clubs, classmates’ homes, school dances, close friendships, ordinary adolescent relationships, or future educational choices.
The safeguarding question is therefore not only:
“Is this individual rule abusive?”
but also:
“What is the combined effect of these rules on this child’s education, development, relationships, autonomy, and well-being?”
5. Distinguish current organizational policy from historical experience
A former Witness may describe a rule that has since changed.
A family may also continue to follow an older rule after the formal policy has changed.
Important current examples include:
- the 2026 blood-component change;
- the 2026 change concerning higher education;
- the post-2024 modification allowing ordinary greetings to many expelled persons at meetings.
Ask:
“Is this what your family currently requires?”
6. Treat medical decisions involving minors separately
A competent adult’s refusal of treatment raises different legal and ethical questions from a parent’s refusal on behalf of a child.
Professionals should follow the law and safeguarding duties in their own jurisdiction.
This is especially important after the September 2026 change concerning major blood components.
7. Document the child’s own words
Where safeguarding concerns arise, record what the child actually says.
For example:
“My mother said I would die at Armageddon if I stopped preaching.”
is more useful than:
“The family belongs to a controlling religion.”
The first records an allegation or experience.
The second substitutes the practitioner’s interpretation for evidence.
8. Consider whether immediate parental contact could increase risk
Ordinarily, cooperation with parents is important.
However, where a child reports fear of punishment, severe rejection, forced religious activity, removal from education, medical danger, or anticipated shunning, automatically contacting the parents before consulting safeguarding professionals may increase pressure.
Follow applicable child-protection procedures.
9. Do not make the practitioner the arbiter of theology
Teachers, social workers, physicians, and counsellors do not need to decide whether Jehovah’s Witness theology is correct.
The professional questions concern:
- safety;
- health;
- education;
- psychological well-being;
- coercion;
- social development;
- age-appropriate autonomy; and
- compliance with applicable law.
10. Seek specialist safeguarding advice when necessary
Where there is a reasonable concern about abuse, coercion, medical danger, or serious educational harm, follow local safeguarding and reporting procedures.
Terminology, evidence standard, and sources
Terminology used in this guide
Expulsion from the congregation
A neutral descriptive term for the formal ending of a person’s recognized membership or standing in the congregation.
Shunning
A general term for deliberate restriction or cessation of ordinary social contact because of a person’s religious status, departure, or expulsion.
Child abuse related to religious beliefs or practices
Preferred when discussing Japanese governmental guidance.
The phrase avoids implying that religion itself constitutes abuse.
People raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses / children raised in Jehovah’s Witness families
Preferred over second-generation believers in most English prose.
The Japanese expression shūkyō nisei (“religion second generation”) has no fully natural direct English equivalent.
Reported experience
Used where evidence comes from survey respondents or survivor testimony rather than a formal organizational rule.
Current organizational position
Used for a position supported by current official Jehovah’s Witness publications.
Historical organizational position
Used where the organization’s current policy has subsequently changed.
Evidence standard
This guide uses the following hierarchy.
Current Jehovah’s Witness teachings
Current official Jehovah’s Witness publications are used as the primary source for what the organization currently teaches.
Japanese law and safeguarding policy
Japanese legislation, government ministry guidance, and court judgments are preferred.
Reported childhood experiences in Japan
The 2023 Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers survey is used, with its sampling limitations clearly stated.
Attitudes of currently active Jehovah’s Witnesses
JWJ-QS is used, with its eligibility criteria, research context, and limitations disclosed.
Psychological and social effects
Independent peer-reviewed research is preferred.
International safeguarding practice
Governmental and intergovernmental sources are preferred.
Inferences
Where a conclusion is inferred from a general rule rather than specifically stated — for example, St. Patrick’s Day — the inference is explicitly identified as such.
Core sources
Original Japanese Sunnytas page
Current Jehovah’s Witness policies and official material
- JW.ORG — September 18, 2026 blood-components policy
- JW.ORG — 2026 Governing Body Update #6
- JW.ORG — 2026 Governing Body Update #2: use of a patient’s own blood
- JW.ORG — Make Wise Decisions Regarding Additional Education, May 2026
- JW.ORG — Current policy toward people removed from the congregation
- JW.ORG — School and Jehovah’s Witnesses
- JW.ORG — Flag Salute, Anthems and Voting
- JW.ORG — Holidays and Celebrations
- JW.ORG — Extracurricular Activities
- JW.ORG — Class Instruction
- JW.ORG — Holiday FAQ
- JW.ORG — Political neutrality
- JW.ORG — Interfaith worship
- JW.ORG — Dating
- JW.ORG — Entertainment
Japanese legal and government sources
- Supreme Court of Japan — Kobe kendo case, official English judgment
- Japan MHLW — Q&A on child abuse related to religious beliefs
- Japan MHLW — Summary of the Q&A
- Japan MEXT — Guidance to schools
- Japanese Law Translation — Act on the Prevention, etc. of Child Abuse
2023 Japanese survey
- Jehovah’s Witness Issues Support Lawyers — Survey overview
- Survey report announcement
- School activities
- Friendships, dating, and marriage
- Entertainment
- Blood refusal
- Expulsion, shunning, and childhood baptism
- September 2026 statement on blood-policy change
JWJ-QS
Independent research on shunning and former-member experience
- PubMed — What Happens to Those Who Exit Jehovah’s Witnesses
- PubMed — Grieving the Living: The Social Death of Former Jehovah’s Witnesses
- Springer — Coping After Shunning, 2026
- Taylor & Francis — Health and well-being in former Jehovah’s Witnesses in Austria, Germany and Switzerland
International rights and safeguarding
- OHCHR — Convention on the Rights of the Child
- UNICEF — Children’s version of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
- OHCHR Special Procedures — Communication JPN 1/2024
- Government of Japan — Response to JPN 1/2024
- UK Department for Education — Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026
- Working Together 2026 — Summary of changes
English-language reporting
Closing note for practitioners
A useful starting question is not simply:
“What are Jehovah’s Witnesses prohibited from doing?”
A more useful set of questions is:
What does this particular child understand the rule to be?
Does the child personally wish to follow it?
What does the child believe would happen if he or she acted differently?
Can the child safely disagree with parents or the religious community?
Is the restriction causing significant educational loss, social isolation, psychological distress, medical risk, or fear?
Can an alternative respect the child’s genuine religious belief without unnecessarily excluding the child from education, relationships, or ordinary childhood life?
Religious freedom and child safeguarding are not mutually exclusive. The practical task is to protect both the child’s freedom of belief and the child’s safety, development, education, health, and ability to form and express views appropriate to age and maturity.