At first read of this thread I was more supportive of cedars position and opposed to scotoma's until I took the time to actually LOOK at the JW.org website news section. As you would expect, it's not a "News Website" like MSN, CNN, BBC, etc. You would only go to JW.org if you've got an interest in JWs. So they have a "News" section where ALL the stories have some JW connection. Is that really so bad or unusual?
Having only been faded for a couple years now, I'm still trying to calibrate my own sense of "normal". So, just out of curiosity, I randomly picked a generic, mainstream, American branch of a Christian church and googled it. My first pick was the Lutherans and here's what I found front and center:
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Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief
The NALC has a disaster recovery coordinator, Mary Woodward. Mary is in daily contact with FEMA by telephone, as the assessment of needs progresses. Mary has also contacted our church offices, and is working to identify impacted Lutheran families and congregations.
Most importantly, please keep these families in your prayers. If you are able to volunteer for response, please contact Mary by email...
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The extra connection that fellow church members have for each other is not too surprising.
So Church X's website's "News" section only features news items if they have a connection to Church X. The JWs aren't that strange in this regard, IMO. I think that portion of the WT criticism found in this thead is a bit over the top and I'm certainly no fanboy of the WT.
I totally agree that the comfort and support being offered by the JWs ultimately is offered with the goal of converting new recruits.
My $.02.
om