At first glance, Jehovah's Witnesses seem to be the model of religious democracy.
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However, in reality the Watchtower Society is an absolute autocracy. All authority is vested in the Governing Body, including the authority to understand and teach the Bible.
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Dissent is not permitted and, if discovered, is punished swiftly and completely. Jehovah's Witnesses are excluded from membership or disfellowshipped not merely for gross, unrepentant immorality or heresy but also for questioning the teaching and authority of the Society. Should a Witness be disfellowshipped, he learns firsthand what it means to be shunned by the very people he once considered his friends, family, and brother and sisters in Christ.
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Witnesses are not only to isolate themselves from those who were once Witnesses and have been disfellowshipped or disassociated but also from anyone who is not a Witness and who attempts to present a view contrary to the Watchtower. No Witness is allowed to read dissenting materialm whether it is written by a disgruntled Jehovah's Witness, a disfellowshipped or disassociated Witness, or someone who has never been a Witness.
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Surprisingly, prospective Jehovah's Witnesses are told that it is right to question what one believes and to search out God's will for themselves. In what used to be their standard introductory study for new prospective members, The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, they taught,

We need to examine not only what we personally believe but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated. Are its teachingsg in full harmony with God's Word, or are they based on the traditions of men? If we are lovers of truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination. It should be the sincere desire over every one of us to learn what God's will is for us, and then to do it.

However, the Society means by this exhortation that one is supposed to test his own non-Witness religion, not the teachings of the Watchtower Society. Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to study the Bible on their own, to interpret what they read in the Bible for themselves, or to teach directly from the Bible. Rather, they must teach from approved Watchtower publications about the Bible.
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The Watchtower and Tract Society has weathered the storms of its inconsistent and turbulent history by enforcing absolute control over its members and by excluding anyone who dares to question anything. It should not surprise us, then, that most Witnesses have memorized the basic doctrinal teachings of the Society and will defend them adamantly, even when their defense is irrational, unbiblical, and nonhistorical.

Can there be false religion? It is not a form of religious persecution for anyone to say and to show that another religion is false. It is not religious persecution for an informed person to expose publicly a certain religion as being false, thus allowing persons to see the difference between false religion and true religion.