I don't know how your Kingdom Halls work but many Catholic and Episcopal parishes are open all day for people to come and pray in the sanctuary or try to speak with clergy. They usually have signs out front saying "all are welcome" or something similar, not "all are welcome unless you don't fit our standards of dress".
Jehovah's Witnesses are very different to the churches of Christendom. You cannot "join" our church like you would a club....or wander in and out at will. Membership in our congregations is made up of those who are dedicated to God and Christ in a relationship that is contracted by baptism...it involves study and heartfelt appreciation for what the Bible teaches. Until the day that you are baptized, you are not one of Jehovah's Witnesses, not even if you were born to JW parents. When you are of age, you must choose of your own free will to become a Witness of Jehovah. It means that you are ordained for the ministry of preaching the good news about God's Kingdom, which all JW's do. It also means that you are under obligation to follow through on your vow of dedication to God to uphold all the teachings of the Christ.....not just the convenient ones. There are obligations and responsibilities but they are undertaken freely and unreservedly.
So just as a person is bound in a marriage to a mate, we are bound in a relationship to God through his Christ to uphold what he taught for the rest of our lives....to put God's things first in our lives. We see baptism as a symbolic "death" to self and a rising up to do the will of God in all things. To us it is like a legally binding contract.
Our dress code is for us....we do not impose it on others. All are welcome at our meetings. But when interested people come and see that all in the congregation are well dressed, they soon see the need to also respect God by the way they dress. It is not forced, but is something that comes from the heart because we love God and never want to disrespect him.
At the Episcopal parish I attend, there might be a couple homeless people sitting or sleeping in the pews during and around the liturgy. No one cares and they don't bother anyone. Yes, they are dressed in shabby clothing, too. But they are still God's children and it's better they be in a church then on the street, even if it's just for a few hours.
Our aim is not to leave them sleeping on the streets or anywhere else. We would first ascertain if they are interested in coming to know God, or just needing assistance to cope with their circumstances.
You see, we firmly believe that those who want to come to God....that God will come to them....and he will lift them out of their sad circumstances.
If they are only "rice christians" then we are not under obligation to help them in any ongoing way, unless they want to get to know God and are willing to help themselves. I know many who are regular visitors to church run groups in my area just show up for the free food. They are not interested in improving their lot, just sponging off those silly enough to keep feeding them. What positive thing does that accomplish? There are way too many 'users' in this world.
The story of the good Samaritan is not only about the religion of the main characters....but the fact that a man saw a fellow human in need, and it didn't matter what religion he was, (Jews hated Samaritans) the help was offered on humanitarian grounds. It was a 'hand-up' though, not an ongoing 'hand-out'. Once the man recovered and was able to resume his activities, he was not in need of help anymore.
In the first century Christian widows were cared for by the brotherhood, but they had to be needy Christians to qualify. Jesus made no recommendations for the poor in the population generally speaking. The Christians took care of their own, which in this world is hardly what we see the churches doing. Even in ancient Israel, the perimeters of the fields were left for the poor to work and collect their own food. It gave them dignity to acquire food with their own hands.
We don't teach dependency, we teach self-sufficiency. Even as the disciples in the first century did. The poor were sometimes forced to sell themselves into slavery to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. Their Jewish brothers could offer them a job and even some small remuneration for their services. It usually involved basic accommodation and food and a man could bring his wife and children into service with him. All would work to support their family in the service of a hopefully kind master. I think it was a good system.
