The article cited here really doesn't make any valid points. Witnesses do not take it upon themselves to issue relief supplies unless their own kind are the primary recipients. The only time they are immersed in humanity is when they are trying to recruit them to join the religion. Otherwise, they are directed not to have friends who are not JWs. They may not be isolated from humanity in a literal way, but psychologically, it's a prison with walls existent in the mind, which can be just as hard to bypass.
The other factor is in the doctrine itself, which places the leadership in a sacred position--the soon-to-be future kings over the entire earth, on the same level as Jesus, the ones to whom the very New Testament was actually written! The fulfillment of 2,000-year-old Bible prophecies! I mean, seriously? That doesn't count as a consideration? They're considered as 'declared righteous', yet the other 99.9% of people in the religion have to wait 1,000 years + Armageddon in order to be the same?
I mean, the only way you could consider that lightly is if you just don't bother to ponder the implications of the full range of teachings and what is printed in the literature, either to the public or to their own.
"Dangerous mind-control cult" is a really generous way to describe it, if you ask me. It flows from the top down, so the regular folks end up practicing the same abusive tactics on each other that the leadership practices on them.
There's no confusion about it. It's a cult. Hands down.
--sd-7
