The tendency of religious authority to seek to dominate rather than serve, and the struggle of those who wish to prevent the erosion of their God-given freedom of conscience -- these form the heart of the very personal and candid account in Crisis of Conscience. The scene of struggle is within the membership of a distinctive religion: Jehovah's Witnesses. The same fundamental issues that mark this account, however, could arise within any of the world's religions. Starting in the 1870's as an independent Bible study group composed of a handful of persons in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jehovah's Witnesses today number more than five million in some 200 lands. When their publishing agency, the Watch Tower Society, puts out a new book, the normal initial printing is one million copies, with other millions following. In countries where they are active, few people have not had contact with the Witnesses as a result of their intense door-to-door activity.