Why can't a Witness read other churches' magazines?

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses CAN and occasionally do read material from other religious groups. Further, there exists no policing system within their organisation to verify what literature its members are reading in their homes instead they are free to chose for themselves what they will or will not read. Jehovah's Witnesses literature often includes quotations from such journals and many of the more serious scholars amongst them refer to such biblical or linguistic authorities - some of whom publish in religious journals.

However, Jehovah's Witness on the whole chose not to regularly subscribe to religious journals for the following reasons:

i) Many Jehovah's Witnesses were former members of those churches and are fully familiar with their content;

ii) they find much of this literature to be biblically inaccurate and spiritually unsatisfying and chose to use their limited time for other pursuits they deem personally to be more satisfying.

Answer 2

First of all, Jehovah's Witnesses are discouraged from any activity that could cause them to question that which is taught to them by the Watch Tower Society. Young Witnesses are generally even discouraged from attending college or university, where they could read 'inappropriate' material, although it is also true that the longstanding belief, that the world is about to end, makes higher education somewhat pointless.
The Society condemns mainstream Christianity for idolatrous worship, false teaching and the infliction of suffering and torture of the worst imaginable kind. Countless tracts depict Satan as the guiding force of all other Christian faiths. So, it would seem inappropriate for members to be allowed to read material from other churches.