FACTS ABOUT JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES


AS AN ENERGETIC TEENAGER MATTHEW ENJOYS SPORT, BUT IS DISCOURAGED FROM BECOMING ACTIVELY INVOLVED AS IT:
  1. TAKES TIME AWAY FROM CHRISTIAN ACTIVITIES
  2. FOSTERS A COMPETITIVE SPIRIT
  3. WILL BRING HIM IN TOUCH WITH UNNECESSARY WORLDLY ASSOCIATION
"In keeping with this advice, Jehovah's Witnesses appreciate the value of physical education courses that are conducted during school hours. At the same time, however, Witness parents feel that schools often overemphasize sports. Therefore in training their children, they try to moderate the emphasis on athletic achievement. They hope their young ones will want to pursue careers, not as athletes, but as ministers of God. So Witness parents encourage their children to use after-school hours principally to pursue spiritual interests, rather than to excel in some sport. Participation in organized sports, we believe, would expose Witness youths to unwholesome associations. We also feel that the competitive spirit in modern sports-'the winning isn't everything, it's the ONLY thing' ideology-has harmful effects." School and Jehovah's Witnesses p.23