January 11th, 2006 (EB news)

A police investigation continues into the Exclusive Brethren tactics and involvement in a politically-motivated campaign against the then existing Labour government during the recent general elections. It is alleged that misleading information was incorporated into their publications in an attempt to obfuscate the source of the material. These allegations and the comparatively major investment (in excess of NZ$500,000) caused an uproar that shows no sign of diminishing.

Although attempts by the Exclusive Brethren to influence public opinion in USA, Canada, Australia and now New Zealand have for the most part failed, it has had the effect of pulling back curtains on this secretive group and enabling a wider society to reach an informed opinion on the history, activities and implications of the Exclusive Brethren.

As the sole EB-endorsed website proclaims: "Fathers are the breadwinners. Mothers stay at home to care for the household". This attitude does not endear the ultra-conservative Exclusive Brethren to a post-emancipation society.

• Nats go for Don Juan approach
- "... Brash said the involvement of the Exclusive Brethren church - which supports "traditional" roles for women -might have played a part in National's lower support among women..."

The Exclusive Brethren have drawn hard battle-lines against the homosexual community both in Canada and now in New Zealand. While most western cultures search for a common ground when dealing with the gay community, the EB merely condemn. This enabled the New Zealand gay press to include the Exclusive Brethren in their list of Ten Tawdry Transgressors for the year 2005.

Gay politician Chris Finlayson has found himself in a difficult position. As an elected member of the National party, he has benefited from the huge Exclusive Brethren investment in support of his party over the past few months and yet, the EB are sternly anti-gay. His ill-informed comments reported recently on this site (Peebs.Net News - December 10th, 2005) have now resulted in a level of backtracking:

• Gay MP defends Exclusive Brethren
- "Openly gay National MP Chris Finlayson admits that likening public criticism of the Exclusive Brethren to anti-Semitism in a speech he made in November defending the Exclusive Brethren was a bit hyperbolic."

The vast amounts of money spent on politically-motivated objectives by the Exclusive Brethren is likely the reason for the original Finlayson defence, but it is also now the focus of various investigations. This is one story that will simply not go away.

• National Pushes Limits Of Campaign Spending In 2005
- "Not included in National's campaign spending was of course the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by the religious sect the Exclusive Brethren - aimed at 'changing the Government' presumably to one led by the major opposition party, ie National.

After a complaint from the Green Party last year regarding the Exclusive Brethren's pamphlet campaign the Chief Electoral Officer was of the opinion that "the [Exclusive Brethren's] leaflet does appear to promote the party vote for National. I have decided to refer the matter to police for investigation as to whether an person has breached section 221 of the Electoral Act 1993, and if so, whether any prosecution in terms of section 221(4) is appropriate."

• Big money backed up National's campaign
- "It also emerged that members of the Exclusive Brethren Church were running a covert $500,000 campaign supporting National and discrediting Labour's preferred coalition partner, the Greens."

Brisbane City Council and the Exclusive Brethren have been battling each other for some time for what many regard as a landmark decision regarding the classification of Exclusive Brethren Meeting rooms as 'public places of worship'. A modern EB Meeting room is unmistakable: there will be no windows into the main auditorium, there will be a high security fence or wall surrounding the property, there will be a strong steel gate with a padlock to match ... and even, as this photograph shows, security guards and traffic defenses.

Once an Exclusive Brethren gathering starts, the doors are locked. Even if someone wished to gain admittance to an EB meeting and could navigate through the external defenses and make it to the front door, there still remains the final barrier once the bell-push is pressed ... an interrogation and the prerequisite to be known by an existing member of the assembly.This attitude and process may seem ludicrous in conjunction with the position that the Exclusive Brethren maintain - that their meeting rooms are venues for 'public worship'. At stake are millions of dollars in rate and local tax subsidies.

A judge held for the EB in the earlier Brisbane City Council action featuring a single Exclusive Brethren Meeting room located in a suburb of Brisbane - 91, Lytton Road, Bulimba.

As hoped, Brisbane City Council appealed this decision and the case was presented to Brisbane Supreme Court on November 8th this year (see Peebs.Net News - November 8th, 2005).

The following judgment was delivered December 14th, 2005 by three Supreme Court judges in the Brisbane Supreme Court. It is a triumph of objective argument and represents a clear definition of what constitutes an environment conducive to encouraging 'public worship'.

First indications are that the Exclusive Brethren will appeal the Supreme Court decision. This would come as no surprise. At stake are millions of dollars and if there is one topic that the Exclusive Brethren are guaranteed to show corporate emotion over, it is money.

December 10th, 2005 (EB news)

• God is on our side?

"The Exclusive Brethren exploded into applause after his speech and Lianne Dalziel called out "They must have put a lot of effort in your seat Eric" in reference to the Exclusive Brethren push polling in particular provincial seats. I must say it was very odd that they didn't clap for any other MP (even those against) except Eric Roy, a seat where there is strong evidence of the Exclusive Brethren push polling for a 'change of government'."

Let it not be said that Peebs.Net never present the other side to a debate! Several members of New Zealands' National Party have been vocal supporters of the Exclusive Brethren. Whether they speak from a position of knowledge is perhaps not for us to openly assess. In the below speech, is Mr Finlayson truly referring to the 'Taylorite / Hales' branch of the Exclusive Brethren?

• Speech to the North Shore Electorate of the National Party - Chris Finlayson

"I think the Human Rights Commission should be very interested in this most recent form of religious discrimination against a small minority which is not very well understood. I also think that the Exclusive Brethren should not put up with this kind of abuse any more and should lay a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against those who have been making these kinds of statements in the media.

"I ask myself why other members of the broader Christian Church have not given greater support to the Exclusive Brethren. The Churches correctly speak out on issues of social justice, but have been strangely quiet as these attacks have been mounted. Why are they not defending their Brethren brothers and sisters?

"And at the end of the day, what did the Brethren do that was wrong? Was it in advocating a more competitive economy? Was it because they were prepared to stand up and be counted? Was it because they do not vote? Many people, however, in this country do not vote even if they are enrolled as electors. No, I think the primary reason for attacking them is that they are a small, friendless group within the Christian community ...

It is a valid question Mr. Finlayson poses: " why other members of the broader Christian Church have not given greater support to the Exclusive Brethren?". We suggest it might possibly have something to do with how they treat families ... how they consider the words of their leaders to have more import than those of Jesus Christ ... how they separate themselves from all other Christian groups and consider themselves the only true church.

A great deal of the answers to the question that Mr. Finlayson asks lie within the reach of any barely competent researcher. Of course, if generous electoral funding was removed from the picture as a possible influencing factor, maybe Mr. Finlayson might be able to answer some of his own questions.

We agree with Mr. Finlayson that the topic of the Exclusive Brethren should be placed in front of the Human Rights Commission. Many thousands of ex-Exclusive Brethren would indeed "... watch with interest the progression of the complaint through the system".

However, we very much doubt that the Exclusive Brethren would be the ones raising the complaint.

December 8th, 2005 (EB Commentary)

This cruel and often manipulative control technique has resulted in children growing up without adequate access to a natural parent. In most cases, the estranged parent seeking access is male.

Of course, many other broken families exist outside of the vicious and unforgiving environment of the Exclusive Brethren 'Separation' edicts. Legislation is being introduced in Australia that may well assist many fathers who have traditionally been denied access.

This type of legislation constitutes a ray of hope to fathers who have had to suffer the anguish of being unable to contact their children. It remains to be seen whether the 'political engine' of the Exclusive Brethren will lobby against legislation that will start to prevent this unChristian and inhuman practice.

Their stance may well demonstrate their true colors.

• Custody law hands victory to fathers

"A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, said: "The Government has recognised you can't divide a child 50/50. But we wanted to make sure parents could spend substantial and significant time with their children and they weren't just Disneyland dads or Movieworld mums."

Fathers' groups have fought a three-year campaign to obtain a presumption that children should divide their time equally between two households. The Government rejected making such a radical shift but has moved further in this direction than was indicated in the early draft of the bill released for comment in June.

This change is expected to generate a flood of litigation, family law experts say, with some non-resident parents expecting to get equal time or significantly more time with children than the usual orders for weekend access and half the school holidays under the current law."

For a heart-breaking example of the way the Exclusive Brethren can manipulate familes, read Exclusive Brethren - Breaking Asunder - available in the Peebs.Net 'Peeling the Onion' series accessible from the Peebs.Net Main Page.

December 8th, 2005 (EB news)

• Russell Norman: Green Post Election Wrap-Up

"The fourth major challenge to the Greens from the political environment was the distribution of millions of pamphlets attacking the Greens funded by the Exclusive Brethren. These pamphlets, which Brash admitted he had been told were on their way in his numerous meetings with the Brethren, told various lies about Green Party policy and generally presented us as scary. What I could never understand was that if our election was likely to bring on the Apocalypse then surely they should be encouraging us, but sadly not."

• Exclusive Brethren Strike Again

"Yesterday, on the day the Marriage Amendment Bill was read in parliament, a flyer appeared in all MPs mailboxes from the same group of Exclusive Brethren who were involved in smear campaigns before this years election.

The Marriage Amendment Bill, which sought to prevent same-sex marriage, was thrown out of parliament yesterday."

The Exclusive Brethren have invested well over US$1 Million over the past 12 months in their politically-motivated activism in a number of countries - with no apparent success. It will be interesting to see if there is a change in tactic for the forthcoming Canadian general elections, scheduled for early 2006.

December 7th, 2005 (EB news)

• Teachers' warning over extremists - BBC News
-
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, told MPs the plans could open the door to extremists.

"Say you have got an Exclusive Brethren set of parents who apply to set up a school. That sect says that their children don't need to learn with other pupils. Where are the checks and balances?

"What would the setting up of an extreme faith school within a trust do to the curriculum?"

The Exclusive Brethren are an evangelical Protestant Christian church whose members keep themselves separate from other people (including other Christians), because they believe the world is a place of wickedness.

December 7th, 2005 (EB news)

• Marriage (Straightness Clarification) Bill - New Flyer
- "Whats interesting is the names at the bottom - Andrew Simmons (Auckland), Phil Win (Auckland), Tim Lough (Wellington) and Doug Watt (Christchurch). Any of those ring any bells?"
• The secret seven strike again
- "I can't think of a better way to undermine any public support for the bill than for the Brethren to speak up for it - except possibly for another Nuremberg rally by Brian Tamaki and friends. (As for the substance of their argument, I think the Brethren need to get it through their head that we are not a theocracy - and if they want to live in that sort of country, they should move to Iran or Saudi Arabia)."

Which all sheds an interesting light on the denials quoted in a slightly older Australian news item which has just reached us:

• Brethren linked to Howard campaign
- "The sect's MET school at Meadowbank was the address used to authorise political advertisements by Stephen Hales, the brother of Bruce Hales, a Sydney businessman ... Since Bruce Hales was made world leader in 2002 the traditionally apolitical Brethren have become involved in the re-election of conservative governments...

In a statement to the Herald, a Brethren spokesman, Warwick John, said the trustees of MET School, which is in the Bennelong electorate, "were concerned that neither the ALP nor the Greens win the seat of Bennelong " because Labor's schools policy would cut funding to some private schools. "No Brethren assemblies in Australia or any other country, nor MET School, have made financial contributions to the production of advertisements or leaflets referred to by Senator Bob Brown," he said.

They had been financed by "several individual Sydney businessmen", he said. "Charges that the Brethren church has not told the truth are completely false and unfounded. The Brethren church has had no involvement whatsoever with the advertisements in New Zealand or any other country."

December 4th, 2005 (Site news)

December 1st, 2005 (EB Community news)

Shackles Broken Bound by Love by Hannah Hales Shackles Broken Bound By Love by Hannah Hales is launched today, December 1st, 2005 and represents the latest personal testimony of life within the Exclusive Brethren.