I haven't found religion viable after we left the JWs some fifty years ago.
Oddly enough I will be conducting a session at the Oxford Forum which is put on once a week on a Sunday by the Presbyterian church. They invite scholars, professors, artists etc. people of interest to expose their congregation to what else is going on in this community.
While I am well known for my community volunteer work most people don't know that my wife and I were JW's for about ten years from the ages 12 to 22 to be exact.
We attended a dinner celebration recently for one of the Foundations I had volunteered at for 7 years. During diner I struck up a conversation with an acquaintance and during that conversation I mentioned that I spent some of my free time on this forum. He asked a few genuine questions but really sat up when I described the horror show that trying to exit the JW's could turn into.
The shunning, the pedophile problem, some of their exclusive beliefs like the blood ban etc. What seemed to catch him up the most was that we actually had a lot of people on this forum who were willing to help provide a place where old and new arrivals could share their stories and problems. With our varied backgrounds we have hundreds of collective years of experience. And that experience means we know what they are going through. Offering support and understanding helps the newbies to work through their leaving or shunning, loss of family and close friends.
Having never been in a cult or high control religion he thought his group needed to hear what I had to say.
I am going to be honest and factual, no anger, nothing exaggerated. I will start by telling them that I still have great memories of the JW'S I grew up around. That my wife and I faded ourselves in an era where you would not be shunned. Of course we have a different situation to deal with now. Going to shine a little light on the situation these days.