JWs would opt to call these churces either "pagan" or "worldy" or something else derogatory but not apostate.

Well, since you wanted to start a controversy (because that is what you felt like), let me throw another log or two on the fire.

*** w00 1/1 p. 8 par. 10 Serving With the Watchman ***

Those truly devoted to pure worship had to “put up a hard fight for the faith that was once for all time delivered to the holy ones.” (Jude 3) Would the witness to pure worship and to Jehovah vanish from the earth? No. As the time approached for the destruction of the rebel Satan and all his works, it became evident that not everyone had surrendered to the apostate worship practiced in Christendom.




*** w01 7/15 p. 11 par. 7 Be Joyful Harvest Workers! ***

Then came centuries of dominance by Christendom’s clergy, the apostate “man of lawlessness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) Toward the end of the 19th century, however, those who sought to pattern their lives on primitive Christianity took up the message of hope, heralding the Kingdom. In fact, since its first issue (July 1879), the title of this journal has included the words “Herald of Christ’s Presence,” “Herald of Christ’s Kingdom,” or “Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.”

Well, I guess we'll end it here.  In finding something positive about the first article, we could say that we found a new and improved phrase:  apostate worship.