In Your Estimation What Percentage Of Witnesses Actually Believe They Have The "Truth"?

minimus

I think 60% think or hope it's all what it's cracked up to be and the others are just there for different reasons.

What do you think?

LostGeneration

Gotta be in the 95-97% range.

I just can't see how you can stay in there indefinitely one you know its just a big scam

RubaDub

75% - 80%

There is a significant percentage that are in because of family, especially young ones.

If the shunning of ones that simply leave was ended, you would see an immediate 10% reduction. Another 10% - 15% that really don't believe would still stay in due to family pressure and not wanting to rock the boat.

Rub a Dub

slimboyfat

There are so many shades of belief. I know I went through the whole spectrum, and it would be difficult to say whether I believed or didn't believe for a couple of years. I was somewhere in between perhaps from 1999 to 2001. Even beyond 2001 my disbelief took some time to harden.

Theocratic Sedition

I wonder if it's more complicated than assuming 90% believe they have the truth? I was thinking more along the lines of.........

60-70% believe they're part of a religion that has a monopoly on truth.

30-40% are largely on autopilot and too intellectually lazy to explore questions about their faith in which the answers could in turn damage their belief system.

15-20% recognize flaws in the organization and maybe even went so far as to research and confirm some of those very flaws, but out of fear of ostracism or fear that the WT just might be right, they only flirt with crossing that line

10% are absolutely certain that this religion is a scam but stick with it to maintain familial ties, employment, even shelter.

5% have serious psychological problems and JWs provide a social outlet for them.

I'm just guessing. Is there really a legitimate way to ascertain just how mentally loyal the flock is?

00DAD

99.9% PRETEND to believe it is the truth.

But even the True Believer TM has doubts.

sir82

It also depends on age and background.

Youngsters (say 30 & under) raised in "the truth"? Maybe 20-30% really believe it.

Old-timers who have 30-40-50 years baptized? Maybe 99% really believe.

Internet-savvy western Europeans? Maybe 60-70%.

Semi-starving subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa? Again close to 99%.

DesirousOfChange

75% - 80% There is a significant percentage that are in because of family, especially young ones.

These are all just "pick-a-number-outta-your-butt" guesses, as there is no way to really know. Plus depending on your location or congregation, your mileage may vary. But that 80% seems a fair estimate to me from the diverse group of active/inactive JWs that I know. Can't imagine it being any lower than that as there as so many just blindly following what comes forth from the WTS, regardless of how ape-shit crazy it gets.

There are obviously lots of JWs posting here that are "IN" but no longer actually believe, yet they are seen by all the others in the KHall as "believers".

I've heard of several older ones who are for the first time in their lives expressing doubts as to the reliability of what they have believed for decades. They are not just seeing, they have lived the failed prophecies personally. They were never to get old or die. But in fact, they ARE OLD, and many have lost their mates or loved ones. Still they are afraid to NOT BELIEVE, just because they always have believed and the fear of what if it IS still the Truth. My elderly parents say it doesn't matter what the GB/WTS has gotten wrong in the past, they ARE THE TRUTH -- they are who Jehovah is using! (WTF?)

Congnative dissonance? Isn't that the term for this? Yet, they have gone from being convinced they would live right on into Paradise, to accepting the idea that they might have to be resurrected to get there, but they will still meet up with their dead faithful family members -- moms dads brothers sisters etc. I cannot bear destroying their dream or fantasy. It is what they have lived for for decades. They have no more life in them to give to any new cause. This thinking, no matter if it is erroneous, gives them peace of mind and hope.

Count me and my family as being among the 20% - 25%. Still "IN" but no longer believers.

Doc

James Brown

95%.

We see the world not as it is, but as we are.