2 Corinthians 6:17
2 Corinthians 6:1717“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
"'Therefore, get out from among them, and separate yourselves,' says Jehovah, 'and quit touching the unclean thing'" is a cornerstone text for JW separation from "the world" — Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Mother's Day, patriotic symbols, other religious traditions, and politically engaged activity. The verse is treated as authorising the Governing Body's sweeping list of forbidden associations: anything with a pagan-origin trail, anything with Christendom, anything that could compromise the Witness's distinctive identity.
Paul's principle — quoting — is genuine, and rightly applied it is important. What Paul calls "unclean" is idolatry and the moral corruption that goes with it (see verses 14-16: darkness, Belial, idols). The question is what counts as "touching the unclean thing." — by the same author, to the same church — gives the answer: "we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one." Pagan association does not transfer spiritual power; an idol is literally nothing.
The Watchtower's application of runs through a genetic fallacy the organisation itself abandons whenever convenient. Every day of the week is named after a pagan god (Sunday = sun-god, Wednesday = Woden, Thursday = Thor). The Gregorian calendar comes from Julius Caesar, Pontifex Maximus of Roman state religion. Wedding rings have pre-Christian pagan origins — a point the Awake! itself defended in the year 2000 ("the custom has become so widespread that it is no longer associated with pagan worship"). Once the rule is exempted for wedding rings, it has been exempted. then becomes the governing principle: "let each one be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day observes it to Jehovah." A Christian remembering the Incarnation on December 25 is not worshipping Sol Invictus — especially since Sol Invictus has had no worshippers for sixteen centuries.