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Authority and accountability · Claim record

The organisation today still names Russell, still prints his history warmly in current magazines, and still uses the formula first printed in his own obituary in 1916: that he “was not the founder of a new religion”. Proclaimers quotes the 1916 sentence directly, and the current jw.org answer to “Who Was the Founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses?” repeats it and adds: “Since Jesus is the Founder of Christianity, we view him as the founder of our organization.”

Claim ID claim-authority-org-position-todayOrganisation's explanation
Organisation's explanation Verified

The organisation today still names Russell, still prints his history warmly in current magazines, and still uses the formula first printed in his own obituary in 1916: that he “was not the founder of a new religion”. Proclaimers quotes the 1916 sentence directly, and the current jw.org answer to “Who Was the Founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses?” repeats it and adds: “Since Jesus is the Founder of Christianity, we view him as the founder of our organization.” Frequently Asked Questions About Jehovah’s Witnesses (jw.org)The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 1 December 1916Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), 1993The Watchtower (Study Edition), February 2018

Show the evidence (4 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

Frequently Asked Questions About Jehovah’s Witnesses (jw.org), “Who Was the Founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses?”

· Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

“Among that group of sincere Bible students was a man named Charles Taze Russell. While Russell took the lead in the Bible education work at that time and was the first editor of The Watchtower, he was not the founder of a new religion. ... Since Jesus is the Founder of Christianity, we view him as the founder of our organization.”

The organisation's current public answer to the question of who founded Jehovah's Witnesses. The wording “not the founder of a new religion” repeats the phrase first printed in Russell's own obituary in 1916.

Official source Archived or alternative copy

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Read on jw.org and on the Watchtower Online Library; the two agree. Both give the citation code “ijwfq article 10” — this is article 10 of the organisation’s online Frequently Asked Questions series, not page 10 of a printed publication, and neither copy carries a publication date. The wording “not the founder of a new religion” is the phrase first printed in Russell’s obituary in 1916.

Corroborated by. src-ctr-wt-1916-1201-biography, src-ctr-jv-1993-p707-not-founder

Notes. Previously recorded in this ledger as page 10 of the 2012 brochure Jehovah’s Witnesses—Who Are They? What Do They Believe? That attribution was wrong: a full-text search of the library returns this sentence only in the FAQ series and in Proclaimers’ quotation of the 1916 obituary.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-ctr-jwfaq-founder

Primary JW publication Verified

The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, “Biography”

1 December 1916 · pp.354-356 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“Charles Taze Russell, known the world over as Pastor Russell, author, lecturer and minister of the Gospel, was born at Pittsburgh, Pa., February 16, 1852; died October 31, 1916. ... He was educated in the common schools and under private tutors. ... He was married in 1879 to Maria Frances Ackley. No children blessed this union. Seventeen years later they disagreed about the management of his journal and a separation followed. ... He was the greatest religious teacher since St. Paul ... He was not the founder of a new religion, and never made such claim.”

The official obituary biography published in the first issue after Russell's death, printed above his will. It is the source of the sentence about his education, of the Society's one-clause account of the separation, and of the “not the founder of a new religion” formula that the organisation still uses.

Scan of original

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Read in the Reprints volume for 1916. The Biography opens immediately after the masthead “VOL. XXXVII … BROOKLYN, N. Y., DECEMBER 1, 1916”, on the Reprints page following the marker [5995], and runs past the marker [5997]; the running head printed over it reads “(354-356)” (the second running head in this run is damaged in the OCR). Proclaimers (1993) independently cites the “not the founder” sentence as page 356 of this issue, which agrees.

Scan provenance. The Internet Archive item titled “The watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1916” is the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1916: it reproduces each issue with its masthead, and every page carries a continuous Reprints page number in square brackets together with the original magazine pages in parentheses in the running head. Read in the item’s OCR text file.

Corroborated by. src-ctr-jv-1993-p707-not-founder

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-ctr-wt-1916-1201-biography

Primary JW publication Verified

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), “Chapter 31: How Chosen and Led by God”

1993 · p.707 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“A biography of Russell, published shortly after his death, explained: “He was not the founder of a new religion, and never made such claim. He revived the great truths taught by Jesus and the Apostles, and turned the light of the twentieth century upon these. He made no claim of a special revelation from God, but held that it was God's due time for the Bible to be understood…”—The Watch Tower, December 1, 1916, p. 356.”

The chapter argues that the Bible Students, rather than any church of Christendom, met the Scriptural marks of the true congregation when the last days began in 1914.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library (jv chap. 31 p. 704 – p. 709); page marker 707 precedes the passage, and Proclaimers itself cites the 1916 original as “The Watch Tower, December 1, 1916, p. 356”. The 1916 printing was also read in the Reprints scan; the wording agrees, apart from capitalisation (“the apostles” and “his service” in 1916, “the Apostles” and “His service” as re-set in 1993).

Corroborated by. src-ctr-wt-1916-1201-biography

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-ctr-jv-1993-p707-not-founder

Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower (Study Edition), “From Our Archives: Public Talks Spread the Good News in Ireland”

February 2018 · pp.31-32 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

“It was May 1910. For one man in their midst, Charles T. Russell, this was the fifth trip to Ireland. ... Beyond the shipyard, a dozen Bible Students stood on the quay, awaiting his arrival.”

A regular “From Our Archives” feature. Russell is named warmly and called “Brother Russell” throughout; the article is part of the current magazine and remains on jw.org.

Official source Archived or alternative copy

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library; the document’s citation code is “w18 February pp. 31-32”, the page markers 31 and 32 appear in the text, and the matching article is live on jw.org at the address recorded above.

Notes. The article names Russell throughout as “Brother Russell” and recounts his seven visits to Ireland between 1891 and 1911.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-ctr-w-2018-02-p31-ireland

Claim page

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-authority-org-position-today/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.