no more of a cult than Christianity, Judism, Scientology, Islam, or the peoples temple... but no less of one either..
I think Jehovah witness are definitely a cult. although i agree with Losttoughts. most are cults in one way ore another..
I dont think they are forced to stay with the church as some cults do. They are fun to get mad when they come to my door and I point out the inconcencyies in the Bible and some of there belives. ( I am glade they dont grade me on spelling) As to brain warshing all religions do that . desert rat
Used to be a lot of JWs in my area but they seem to be dying out, mostly due to all the false predictions about the end of the world that they have made. I guy I spoke to a few days ago said that he used to work with 15 JWs. Now they are down to 7 since half of them have quit.
Last Saturday morning, a Jehovah's Witness boy came to my door. His father stood behind him and did not say a word. This little boy, who should have been out playing on Saturday, came in dress shoes, pants, shirt, and tie. I estimate he was about 10 years old. He said his whole rehearsed spiel, inviting me to some big event. He was perfect - like a little robot. It through him off when I spoke to him several times during his spiel. He wasn't prepared to converse naturally. I felt so sorry for him. I did feel like he was in a cult - being dragged from house to house in the heat - saying his long spiel over and over again all day. I felt like the little boy was enslaved...by his own father. I felt a lot of pity for his little life.
I even did a bible study with them once. That was quite a few years ago when they thought that the end of the world was coming very soon and got their members to empty their bank accounts to print books and other literature. I heard that many of their members quit when it did not happen as they predicted I was very impressed that they found my cabin in the woods and came to talk to me. Now it is rare to see them knock on my door, even in the city. Most of the ones I have seen lately are older so they seem to not have many younger people joining.