A powerful high-quality and full-length 2006 Australian TV documentary about the Exclusive Brethren that explores the nature of the cult.
This Australian Broadcasting Company – Four Corners episode first aired Mon Sep 25 2006.
Further information and background interviews and details can be found on the Four Corners website:
Separate Lives explores the cult known as the Exclusive Brethren (2006)
View other videos in the peebs.net Video Gallery
by Neville and Philippa McCallum
Neville McCallum experienced the full wrath of the Exclusive Brethren in New Zealand during the notorious reign of James H Symington (cult leader through the 1970′s until his death in 1987). In Cast Outside The Camp, Neville and his wife Philippa recount how it felt to be pursued, interrogated and eventually cast-out of the Exclusive Brethren. They pull no punches in this often deep, always insightful and sinister human drama which is presented by peebs.net as a multi-part serialization.
Final Episode of: Cast Outside The Camp by Neville and Philippa McCallum (2008)
Aftermath - The Conclusion
It is worth a pause here, to note the irrational and unintelligent action of all the EB’s present this night. Some of us ‘outs’ have been trying to penetrate this thinking during the ‘review’ process. In both our case and my Mother’s case (as T. Deck states), it was Jim Symington (Neche) who gave the killer blow which was obeyed with precision by our tormentors and the local brethren, but when our cases were reviewed, both cases were overturned and we were reinstated.
You would then have to conclude that JHS is also in error, but definitely not – the world leader can not be wrong even though his judgements are overturned. This fallacy stems from a MIND-BENDING statement made by leadership in NZ:
” No matter what the world leader does, it could not be wrong”
For any sane human to believe this obvious fallacy, shows the level of mind control they are capable of, as in another statement of brain washing:
“When the brethren are wrong they are still right”
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The story of Craig Hoyle is an indictment of the Exclusive Brethren.
In the uniform and monochromatic world of the Exclusive Brethren, Craig was a splash of unacceptable color. He was gay. He was a spirited free-thinker. He refused to conform. So the self-described ‘christian’ Exclusive Brethren excommunicated him and his cult-member parents kicked their 20 year old son out of their home, telling him never to return.
There are a number of articles on this site and elsewhere that describe the often horrific events leading up to his excommunication.
Today, Craig is literally ‘Moving On’. A thoroughly modern young man, Craig has embraced the power of social media and has formed a large network of friends and fans who are encouraging the attempts by Craig to speak out, deal with his appalling treatment by the cult and to begin a new life.
Aspiring to a career in Journalism, Craig is already displaying his skills in blending words, humor and visual acuity. We will keep these video journals updated regularly. Meanwhile and in any case, visit Craig and Brucie Bear on their Facebook page.
Moving On
1. Brucie Bear makes his debut
2. Brucie Bear Moves On
3. Brucie Bear arrives in Britain
4. Brucie Bear replies to an Email
5. Brucie Bear enjoys a whisky
6. Brucie Bear is kidnapped!
7. Brucie Bear celebrates an anniversary
Other Information about Craig
Part 1 – What is it like to be gay in the Exclusive Brethren?
Part 2 – Excommunication fron the Exclusive Brethren
Part 3 - After the Exclusive Brethren: Craig looks ahead
News – Exclusive Brethren intimidation tactics caught on film
Bible & Gospel Trust - April 2010
The latest insight into the Exclusive Brethren comes from a document submitted to the UK Charity Commissioner just a few weeks ago. The Bible & Gospel Trust’s Summary Information Return (2009) has some remarkable details and a rather embarrassing typo for a printing company.
To begin with, what is the Bible & Gospel Trust?
If the Exclusive Brethren had a soul, perhaps a debatable concept, then it would reside at Chelwood House, Cox Lane, Chessington, Surrey, UK. This is the address of the printing and printed material distribution center for the Exclusive Brethren. The primary function since its birth, in the years following the 1970 death of James Taylor Jr, is to publish the words spoken by its recognized leaders, sometimes with embarrassing accuracy.
Very similar to the Watchtower relationship with Jehovah Witnesses, the Bible & Gospel Trust has an assured market within the Exclusive Brethren cult. Exclusive Brethren must purchase ‘ministry’, hymn books and bibles from this single source. As an EB teenager begins to earn money, the local EB Assembly ‘BGT Agent’ will approach the young person and let them know that they are expected to purchase the collected writings of all EB leaders, right back to J. N Darby and the mid 1800′s. It’s quite an investment – and the purchase is mandatory.
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The story behind the following Today Tonight Australian news footage is even more dramatic than the high-speed car chases, mindless intimidation and the images of squirming cult members.
The underlying facts here involve the heart-wrenching story of an Exclusive Brethren teenager who is confused as to his sexual identity. In any tolerant and modern social environment, this is a topic for discussion, understanding and above all, caring. It is an opportunity to display love and compassion.
This would be the case in almost any community, Christian or not, but here we deal with the Exclusive Brethren …
Frequently, it is what the Exclusive Brethren do not say that speaks loudest.
Many will recall the first cult smear advertising that first hit the streets in New Zealand in 2005. Later, Australia suffered the same influx of brochures, pamphlets and handouts. They all had one thing in common - the group behind the material was never mentioned.
Rather than provide any normal route to identity, the Exclusive Brethren intentionally obfuscate their publications. When you consider the way they hide their tracks, this is perhaps understandable: false addresses, misleading names, even the business premises of their unsuspecting tenants … One thing is constant, the name of the Taylorite / Symington / Hales Exclusive Brethren never appears.
9/11 and now 'Black Saturday'
And now, in perhaps their most cynical effort todate, they use their own children in an effort to extract money from a public for whom they care nothing and even seemingly entrap a Prime Minister who has publicly declared them an “extremist cult” to assist them. And their public relations lever? The killer bush fires that swept across Victoria in southern Australia during February, less than a year ago.
‘ Firestorm: Black Saturday’s Tragedy‘ is published by Dennis Jones & Associates of Byswater, Victoria, Australia and there is even a website dedicated to the PR cause: http://www.blacksaturdaysfirestorm.com.au
The Glenvale School is an Exclusive Brethren school – one of those campuses that is set to receive some of the over $70 million hand-out authorized by Kevin Rudd over the next two years:
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Who says Public Relations firms are ineffectual?
The news that Daniel Hales, brother to the Exclusive Brethren leader Bruce D. Hales, is to present a paper at the ICSA Annual Conference in New York in early July 2010 marks a new step in a carefully choreographed transformation.
Daniel Hales has lived in the shadow of his younger brother since not being selected as a suitable leader of the EB following the death of their father John S. Hales in 2002. Always heavily involved in the business and monetary aspects of the cult, he has nevertheless been carefully groomed over the past several years by Jackson Wells (http://www.jacksonwells.com.au/), the EB’s Public Relations Agency, to act as a spokesman for the group.
Several spokesmen have come and gone since Bruce Hales gained control in 2002. Due to the reluctance (some say inability) of Bruce Hales to face the media, a series of personalities have attempted to divert attention away from what many view as firm evidence of cultic behavior. Indeed, the Exclusive Brethren were recently described by current Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as “an extremist cult and sect” who went on to state that he believed “they break up families“.
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To be entirely accurate, Clive Petrie was a member of the Exclusive Brethren right up until accusations surfaced of past sexual misconduct. Petrie was then immediately shut up (shunned) by the Exclusive Brethren and was subsequently withdrawn-from (excommunicated).
The Exclusive Brethren sent their then current PR Spokesman, Anthony ‘Tony’ McCorkell to attempt to diffuse the growing scandal in New Zealand. McCorkell failed rather dismally and returned to his Australian employer, Exclusive Brethren leader, Bruce D. Hales. McCorkell’s efforts on behalf of the Exclusive Brethren attracted the attention of some investigative journalists and shortly thereafter he also faded from view.
So the Exclusive Brethren washed their hands of the man who had grown up within them, expelled him and left him to the courts. The law took its course …
Former Brethren jailed for sex crimes
The Nelson Mail
Dec 8th, 2009An elderly former Exclusive Brethren member has been jailed for 2½ years for sexual crimes against four young girls and will pay them a total of $20,000 in reparations.
Clive Allen Petrie, 74, of Enner Glynn, was sentenced in the Nelson District Court this morning.
He had been found guilty by a Nelson jury in September of nine charges of indecently assaulting girls and one charge of inducing a girl under 12 to do an indecent act on him.
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New Zealander Craig Hoyle
Part 1 of the Craig Hoyle Story
New Zealander Craig Hoyle is hilarious, intelligent, warm, loving … and gay. What is especially remarkable is that 20-year-old Craig Hoyle, like generations of his family, was brought up in the Exclusive Brethren Church – one of the most homophobic of modern-day cults.
As you read Craig’s story, you will begin to understand why his life became unbearable and why he decided he had no choice but to leave the Exclusive Brethren.
It is sad to add that Craig’s story is not unique – not by any means.
The special thing about Craig Hoyle is his courage.
We salute the man Craig Hoyle!
Notoriously isolationist and conservative, the Brethren started in the UK in the 1820s but it only arrived in Invercargill, NZ in December 1992. It now has around 160 members in NZ’s southern-most city.
The eldest in a family of seven children ranging down to nine years old, Craig until recently worked in his dad’s Invercargill tyre shop. His whole life, from his day to day work and leisure through to his lifetime prospects, were mapped out inflexibly, and enforced, by the church.
Perhaps it might have been a bearably conformist life if Craig wasn’t gay.
In his own words Craig, comfortable with being identified by his real name and background, tells his remarkable and inspirational story to GayNZ.com’s Matt Akersten.
10 things Scientology and the Exclusive Brethren have in common
Scientology
The Exclusive Brethren
1 – They are both considered by many to be bona fide cults
2 – They both have had to have the word ‘church’ added to their official names
3 – Scientology borrows the Christian cross, the Exclusive Brethren have to insert the word ‘Christian’
4 – Both have extraordinarily wealthy leaders who are obsessed with security – David Miscavige (Scientology) and Bruce Hales (Exclusive Brethren).
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