Russell and "Organized Religion"

By Ronald R. Day, Sr.

Walter Martin and Norman Klann make the claim that, as a result of Charles Taze Russell's alleged rejection of the doctrine of eternal punishment, Russell "entered upon a long and varied career of denunciation aimed at 'organized religion.'" Russell, of course, never rejected the Biblical doctrine of "eternal punishment." We have discussed this elsewhere.

On one site, we find the following: "Watchtower founder, Charles Taze Russell despised organized religion, and preached that all one needed to serve God was the Bible and Jesus Christ."

Evidently, it is thought that "organized religion" is a good thing, and that to oppose "organized religion" would be a bad thing.  Actually, it depends on what is meant by such a denunciation. Russell did not believe in sectarianism nor did he believe in setting men here on the earth with authority to govern God's people.

While it is true that Russell denounced sectarian religious organizations since such organizations divide God's people and often seek to subjugate them to men here on the earth, So far we have found instance where Russell himself ever used the phrase "organized religion". Indeed, we did a digital search of Russell's works, and we find that phrase only once in his Watch Tower, and this is from the Watch Tower of September 1, 1906, under the article "Views From the Watch Tower". Here Brother Russell himself did not use the phrase "organized religion," but he quotes a periodical by the name of The Christian Work and Evangelist. Possibly what he quoted was written by its editor, Joseph Newton Hallock. 

Another instance where we find the phrase "organized religion" is in the periodical entitled, Old Theology Quarterly, Volume 4, Number 5, in the "Miscellaneous Column" under the subtopic, "Waning Church Life". Again, we find that the phrase is not used by Brother Russell himself. It is contained in a quote from Rev. Dr. Waddy Moss, of Didsbury College, Manchester, England, which appeared in the Manchester Dispatch.

Other than these instances, we found no more instances where the phrase "organized religion" is used in Russell's works.

Russell, being a non-sectarian, believed that the true church consists of all who actually belong to Christ, regardless of denominational or sectarian ties. Many protestant ministers have stated the same thing, although many -- if not most -- of them would exclude any who do not believe in adding the trinity doctrine to the fatih once delivered to the saints.

We suspect, however, that Martin and Klann may have confused Rutherford's later campaign against organized religion with the ministry of Russell. Rutherford's denunciation of "organized religion" included the promotion of his new "organization" as "Jehovah's organization." Part of Russell's dogma was that all other religions and/or religious groups are part of "Satan's organization". Rutherford began to promote the idea that anyone not of his organization would be eternally destroyed in the second death during the battle of Armageddon. In other words, Rutherford was promoting the very kind of sectarianism that Russell had preached against; indeed, Rutherford created an "organized religion" himself. Russell also preached against the kind of "Armageddon" message that Rutherford presented.

Of course, Russell did believe that the various sects and denominations professing to be Christian must be destroyed; God is not going to allow such divisions in His kingdom. Russell, however, was NOT teaching the eternal destruction of individuals within these sects. 

For links to what Russell taught on the true church, CLICK HERE.

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