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Doctrine changes · Claim record

In 1968 The Watchtower said a mature Christian would avoid even imitating false religious rituals when toasts were offered, while closing the same answer by saying that no one else can serve as another Christian’s conscience.

Claim ID claim-doctrine-toasting-1968-imitating-ritualConcerns 1 January 1968Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 1 January 1968 Verified

In 1968 The Watchtower said a mature Christian would avoid even imitating false religious rituals when toasts were offered, while closing the same answer by saying that no one else can serve as another Christian’s conscience. The Watchtower, 1 January 1968

Show the evidence (1 source)
Primary JW publication Verified

The Watchtower, “Questions From Readers”

1 January 1968 · p.32 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“A mature Christian would also avoid even imitating false religious rituals.”

Answering ‘Is it proper for Christians to “drink a toast” when they get together?’, the magazine quotes The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Ed., Volume 13, page 121, on libations to pagan gods, then closes by saying that ‘no one else can serve as the conscience for a particular Christian’ and that each one can think the matter over and make a decision.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Document opened on the Watchtower Online Library and re-opened for audit on 19 September 2026; both the quoted sentence and the closing conscience paragraph were read in full. The column runs pp. 31-32, and the quoted words fall after the page 32 marker, so the page is 32.

Corroborated by. src-chg-p-w-2007-0215-qfr-toasting

Notes. This is the article the 2007 answer cites when it repeats the Britannica quotation.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-p-w-1968-0101-qfr-toasting

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