„No, we didn’t vote in the last election. We are Jehovah’s witnesses and Jesus Christ is our government!” say the two women friendly and go on eating their Chinese food under a tree. Even after two days of surveys and interviews, including answers like “I didn’t vote because I lost my polling card” and “Voting is for old people!” this sentence still is surprising.

Everybody knows something about Jehovah’s witnesses. Maybe thanks to the media, maybe thanks to smattering, or thanks to their own magazines “Awake” and “Watchtower”.

You know, they refuse blood transfusion, they calculate the end of the world twice a year and they walk from door to door, ringing doorbells and trying to sell their newspapers. Only few people know that they refuse to celebrate heathen feasts, including Carnival and even their own birthdays.

But the small sentence “Jesus Christ is our government” is something new. Because many Jehovah’s witnesses actually don’t take part in elections or any other kind of political activities. The reason is, they think any governmental institutions are brooked and authorized by God, so they accept the force of the state and respect laws and governmental allowance, but every time the state’s expectations are not comparable with their understating of the bible, it gets complicated. They refuse military service and any other things that might be adoration for the Country like singing the national anthem.

Since the late 90ies Jehovah’s witnesses are officially “allowed” to go and vote, an article from “Watchtower” says:

„Being instructed by the Bible, every witness decides himself on the basis of his conscience and understanding of his responsibility towards God and the State if he wants to go and give his vote to any candidate on the list or not.“

What is also interesting is that other religious communities, sects and associations either vote for extremist splinter parties or don’t take part in elections to protest. The only ones who refuse voting because they regard Jesus Christ as the Government are the witnesses.

We have heard of many reasons why people vote and why not. But we still find it irritating that, in the open-minded EU, who is always trying her best at separating church and politics, religion is a reason not to go and vote.