As an ex-Jehovah's Witness, I agree this article gets a lot of things wrong. But they also are a crazy cult. I suggest the book "Crisis of Conscience" from an ex-governing body member if you're interested in JW's seedy history[1]. They started as a numerology-obsessed doomsday cult and evolved from there - the last time JWs sold off their possessions in anticipation of the end of the world was 1974, but it wasn't the first time. Today things aren't quite as bad, but they're still bad:

1) I wasn't allowed to have non-Jehovah's Witness friends or participate in after-school activities

2) Higher education was discouraged (I understood that it had been prohibited in earlier years, but they liberalized with the times). The idea is that you should spend your life serving the lord and not seeking material gain.

3) Reading non-Jehovah's Witness books on religious topics is prohibited. Some of the Church Services ("meetings") consist of reading verbatim word-for-word material handed down from the central organization ("the society"). Sermons ("talks") are written by cobbling together recent material put out by the society.

4) They practice shunning of ex-members (JWs will not talk to an ex-JW. I have no friends from childhood that will speak to me)

5) They do require a huge time commitment - door-to-door ("field service") at least once a week and three meetings per week.

6) They believe all other religions are products of the devil, sent to deceive mankind. Theirs is the only correct one.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/CRISIS-OF-CONSCIENCE-Raymond-Edition/d...