Reproduced with permission from:
Breakout: How I escaped from the Exclusive Brethren
by David Tchappat (2009)
The following chapter was written by a former Exclusive Brethren member who wishes to remain anonymous.
A Short History of the Exclusive Brethren
There are many Christians known as “brethren” who trace the origins of their movement to John Nelson Darby who lived just over 200 years ago in Dublin. Schism and division has been a consistent feature of the movement almost from the start. The following summary relates to the Taylor-Symington-Hales Branch of the Exclusive Brethren (signified by the more recent leaders of this group); arguably the most radical and perhaps controversial of all the groups in the Brethren movement.
The Brethren trace the origins of the movement to John Nelson Darby who was born in London in 1800 into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family. Lord Nelson, a friend of his uncle, Admiral Sir Henry Darby, was a sponsor at young Darby’s christening.
Darby’s mother died when he was five years old and at the age of 15 his family moved to the ancestral estate in Ireland. He took an honours degree at Dublin University and studied law for three years at the Dublin Chancery Bar. But he never practiced law. To the annoyance of his family, he abandoned his legal career and became a priest in the Irish Church of England in 1826, serving in the parish of Calary in the mountains of County Wicklow.
Almost immediately John Darby fell out with church leaders over matters of doctrine and by 1827-28 he was meeting to “break bread” in the home of one of four other dissenting young men in Dublin. The group believed that the existence of an established church and ordained clergy was contrary to scripture. “I can find no such thing as a national church in Scripture”, Darby wrote at the time. In 1832, he had a major disagreement with Archbishop Magee about a requirement for converted Catholics to swear allegiance to King George IV and, in the same year, disagreed with Archbishop Whately about matters of church doctrine.
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We have been contacted by several media and other interested parties who are a little confused by the current row in Australia over a Christian Brethren decision not to allow a self-help gay/lesbian group to use a church-run summer camp facility.
A gay youth support group trying to meet to talk about homophobia has had its booking at a Phillip Island camp ground blocked because the resort owners, the Christian Brethren church, deplore their lifestyle.
The confusion stems from a perceived relationship between the Christian Brethren and the Exclusive Brethren.
The Christian Brethren church is historically linked to the infamous Exclusive Brethren, but broke away in the mid-1800s.
That is quite a statement! The quotation refers directly to ex-Plymouth Brother Aleister Crowley. Much has been written about this man, who was brought up in a strict Plymouth Brethren home full of rules and enforced piety. It is a psychologist’s dream – the study of what could turn a member of a Plymouth Brethren home into one of the most influential Paganists of the 20th century.
Most professional opinion seems centered upon a simple rebellion against a restrictive childhood. It is a topic that strikes home with any person who was born into the Exclusive (Plymouth) Brethren and who decided one day that they were not sheep, not to be forced into submission and gradually begin to summon the courage and energy to break free …
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May 26, 2008
David Tchappat is already a winner.
For those mentally and physically trapped within the Exclusive Brethren, leaving is not a rational option. From the moment you are taken as a child a few days old and immersed in a tub of luke warm water under the watchful eyes of your family members and a few local Exclusive Brethren representatives, you are given no choices. Your future is mapped and your ambitions will become sublimated to become part of ‘supporting the Assembly’.
The concept of ‘Household Baptism’ is just one example of where the Exclusive Brethren take choices out of the hands of an individual. To most Christians, Baptism is quite simply a personal decision and an outward expression of a life ‘reborn’. Although Christening is a common practice in many denominations, this is simpler to view as a dedication by the parents to bring up a child in the Christian tradition.
There is no ‘Believers Baptism’ in the Exclusive Brethren. This is the most common form of Baptism in the Christian community where a new believer will decide voluntarily to ‘be baptized’ as a public expression of their new faith and that they have left their old life behind them. It is this form of Baptism that many feel has the greatest meaning and significance – because they made the decision.
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Concerns regarding the ability of Kevin Rudd to ‘walk the walk’ following his undoubted ability to ‘talk the talk’ increased earlier today as the news broke of his rejection of a letter written to him by members of this site. The letter was sent based on Rudd’s oft repeated and clearly-defined statement regarding the Exclusive Brethren a few months ago when he called them an “extremist sect and cult”. Kevin Rudd then went on to say that he “believed they break up families”.
That is all we needed to hear. It is all that we have been saying for years. So the community of ex-Exclusive Brethren wrote to him.
Here is the Submission and the covering letter by Australian Peter Flinn:
25th February 2008
The Hon. Kevin Rudd MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600Dear Prime Minister,
Exclusive Brethren
I am writing on behalf of a group of ex-members of the religious sect known as the Exclusive Brethren, and many others concerned about their activities. Our ages range from 30 to 80 years, and many of us have suffered traumatic experiences as a result of the doctrines and practices of this sect, whether having “escaped” recently or as long ago as 50 years.
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