Social Relationships

How you acted and how you behaved, inside and outside of the church, was monitored extremely closely. You were constantly held to a higher level – you were expected to conform to a disciplined standard of being set apart from those who were “not called by God”. This meant many do's and don't type policies in the social infrastructure of your daily life.
Acquaintances
We can start with acquaintances. Acquaintances – people you are polite to, and talk to, but are by no means close to – were acceptable in most “worldly” scenarios – that is, who you work with, who you encounter at the store, your next door neighbors, et cetera. These kind of relationships for anyone outside of the church were seen as acceptable. It was, however, not acceptable in the church to become exceedingly close to these people as genuine friends. First, they were seen as a bad influence – they were the world, after all. They were not called out to be different, they had no knowledge of the truth. They had no undertanding of scripture, or of the church. Worst of all, they might make you “think” if you get into a discussion about religion, and it was not your place to attempt to explain the way you believe or to convert them. In fact, it that kind of a discussion was to come up, you were to refer them to the minister, and you were to change the subject.

Being a close friend with someone in the world also meant you were probably going to be invited to worldly places, like bars and night clubs – which would lead to awkward moments. You would also almost invariably be invited to holiday events and gatherings – which were absolutely not acceptable. Therefore, it was seen that making a friend with a “worldly” person could draw you out of the church. Non-church members, then, were strictly seen as acquaintances, and you were not to go any farther then acquaintances with most people.
Friends

Friends were seen as acceptable, if they were church members. After all, you and they were of “like mind”. However, you had to be very careful – make good friends with the same gender – or you would be eyed with great suspicion by the nosy nellies of the church – especially if you were a married individual. The church had a strong and sustaining gossip grapevine who were constantly looking to find fault with your actions and run to the ministry for your correction and even condemnation. However, in the church, making friends in itself was difficult to do, for it was common for individual people to be wary of individuals simply because of the kind of people that the church bred AND attracted. Even though this was really your only option (besides breaking the code of conduct and making friends in the world anyway), the question really was, do you really have any options regardless. Some settled, and took what they could get anyway. Many did make descent and long-lasting friendships in the church, young and old. Many, on the other hand, did not. Regardless of your personal choices – the minister always knew who was and was not your friend and always monitored who was close to who – ready to step in at a moment's notice if in his opinion things were not going the way he expected them to.
School Activities and Acceptance
For children, school was a daily and common part of life – except those who chose to home-school their children. For school children, being a part of life in school while in Armstrongism was a constant struggle – unless you somehow were important enough to be exempt from most school restrictions – for instance, if you were a preachers' child, or the like (in some cases).

As a school child, you were already restricted from holiday activities, movies and parties. Some restricted their children from rock music. And then there were the sports restrictions – such as Friday Night Basketball or some other sporting event (Friday nights were the beginning of the Sabbath, so these events were out.) This made it difficult to associate with other school children apart from daily classes and the lunch break.

Regardless of the ever-present restrictions, the other school children were – if the child followed Armstrongism instead of peer pressure!) - just acquaintances. Unless the child put the school ahead of Armstrongism – which did happen a lot, regardless of what they were told to do – school could have ended up to be very difficult for the school kid with just these issues alone, not withstanding their social differences that they were taught in church (dietary preferences, who to and who not to hang out with, etc.).

This is one of the reasons why the youth program was born, to make making friends easier and activities easier to do in the umbrella of the church. Did this help? For many, yes. For those who struggled more with social activities, the kids certainly didn't change just because they were “church members”. The same issues and pressures often presented themselves – just more hidden then they were in the school environment.
Military Service and Voting

A large part of the social separation of church members from the world had to do with the aspect

of military service and of voting. Both were forbidden by the church, as they were considered involvement in the world, and you as an individual were set apart from the world. You did not participate in either.

It was okay for you to register at age 18 for the selective service, if you were a male. It was a different story if you were called up to the Draft (when this was in force and active.). If you were called in to the Draft, you were to register as a Concsiencious Objector. The Church would help you with that paperwork, and in lieu of military service, in many cases, the church accepted these Concsiencious Objectors in their Ambassador College work program so they would not have to go to jail for draft avoidance. This wasn't exactly the best option for them, however, because it has been told that in the college, these people were extremely low on the “pecking order”, and it is rumored that these individuals were constantly the subject of much ridicule.

As far as voting goes, it was forbidden. No church member was to go to the polls for any election – local or national – as this was seen as participating with the world. You just did not do it. In truth, whole booklets were made on this subject and as to why you should not be a part of it. You simply were not to participate in the world's election systems. You were a spectator, you were not a participant – and this was the same in church as well – there were no elections.