I found it interesting that several people at my old congregation kept getting the meaning of this one wrong, even though the Society has cited it in the proper context before. They kept thinking it was about people who left the Society, not those who helped chase us out. (Figures.) I naturally heard about this one when I first decided to stop attending meetings. You can imagine how impressed I was to hear pioneers quoting it, in the wrong context, about me to my wife.
As to your question, I would like to point out--in a way that I hope won't be misinterpreted--that this is an assumption that many people make about atheists, or nonbelievers of all stripes who used to be believers. That is, the assumption that we've all just had a bad religious experience and need to get over it. (You didn't say that, but that's how the assumption often goes.) I would like to suggest that, for some of us, it's far too simple a question to really cover all the basics. But here's something relevant that might be of interest.
When I left the KH, I still believed in God. I just wasn't so sure that the WTS was his organization anymore. I prayed about it after I left because I was hoping for divine guidance. It took about a decade for me to really see myself as an atheist. It is true that I didn't move on to another faith, however. Part of this, in the beginning, was because my problems with the WTS weren't exactly theological. They were more with the org's arrogance and attitude toward itself. Plus I wasn't ready to go the extra step of becoming an apostate, especially since my wife and in-laws were all Witnesses. By the time that didn't worry me anymore, religion held a very different place in my mind.
Ultimately, the organization didn't rob me of my faith in any direct sense; it made me wary of joining just any old group. I wanted to know where things had gone wrong and I wanted to know better next time, if there was a next time. So I spent a lot more time reading about religions and philosophy to better understand what I was getting into. I was also researching the Society's writings, which led me down paths I might not have taken.
Eventually, I came across the writings of atheists and found them far more compelling than those of apologists/believers. So while the Society made an indirect contribution to my atheism, it didn't exactly stumble me altogether. It urged me to try harder, and the result was unexpected. The harassment of JWs that followed my decision to leave the KH played a part too. I might have let the thing go if they hadn't pestered me so incessantly.
