The Exclusive Brethren: JW's on steroids in Oz

by HalfWayThere 10 Replies latest jw friends

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  HalfWayThere

  Heard a story on the radio (TripleJ) about a religion in Australia called the Exclusive Brethren. When the story was being introduced I thought they were talking about JW's, but then it all sounded much worse:

  Link: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/s1594232.htm

  The Exclusive Brethren are a religious group who forbids their members from voting... but are taking out ads in the Tasmanian newspapers telling non believers how to vote. 'Rob' told Steve Cannane that the exclusive brethren talking about the greens destroying the social fabric was the ultimate in hypocrisy. He claims that the Exclusive Brethren destroys people and families, have no respect for women and absolute contempt for anyone not in their religious group, and do all this while enjoying the benefit of charitable status from our government.

  MP3: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/mp3s/brethren.mp3

  ....And follow-up on the original story:

  Link: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/s1625880.htm

  Recently on Hack we heard about a group of people who'd been trying to get people to vote against the Greens in the last Tasmanian election. Now a lot of people like to have their say during political campaigns... but what was different about these guys is that they don't vote. In fact they belong to a group called The Exclusive Brethren, a religious sect which believes in living apart from the rest of the world. That means they don't mix with non-Brethren, they don't use mobiles or watch films, and they think that the internet, like the media, is filth. Since then we've received lots of emails and phone calls from people who used to be in the Exclusive Brethren, telling stories of a secretive and strict religion which punishes people if they disagree by isolating them, or even worse, separating them from their families.

  MP3: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/notes/mp3s/breathrencontinued.mp3

  Kind of made me realise that even if we managed to bring down the WTS, there will be similar, if not worse, religions like the above popping up anyway

  - Owen.
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  Dirks Retort

  It was a weird election, Exclusive Brethren found to be secretly funding anti-green (a political party) propaganda in the media....this group being supposedly non-political and anti-media.

  My wife once lived next door to their church. You can pick them from a mile away. Women always with head coverings and long hair, everyone wearing extremely conservative hair styles and clothes. They cannot eat in the company of non-believers or indulge in any media. I get the impression that they treat all non-believers as if they are "disfellowshipped".

  It would be a nightmare being an Exclusive Brethren child.
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  sass_my_frass

  Big community of them near where my sister lives in Perth; I used to think that they'd be the kids in school taking the heat off the JW kids because they somehow manage to look even more nerdy. Apparently if you met them at the door they'd just close the door without a word. Exclusive is the word; yeah there would be some screwed-up storied coming out of that one.
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  AuldSoul

  Kind of made me realise that even if we managed to bring down the WTS, there will be similar, if not worse, religions like the above popping up anyway

  Such religions pop up anyway, the point of bringing down the WTS is to hit the "Reset" button and allow people to decide again.

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul
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  misspeaches

  Where I used to live in Brisbane QLD there was a large community of them. so much so that they had their own school. Sass describes them well.
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  jwfacts

  I was talking to my broker the other day about the JWs and he said we sounded just like Brethren. He has had a lot to do with them in business and described them as very honest, but with such strict control over their lives.
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  geevee

  These poor people go to church for hours EVERY night!! They also have huge working bees and the church gets the pay for the jobs they do. A guy I know though reckons that they get huge hand out from the government, they must use the no tax on churches to the max. I think he said they run their businesses through the church, buy their houses through the church and cars too. A lot of the ones I have seen drive late model vehicles.
  They dont like answering questions about their church or beliefs. They cant watch TV or listen to the radio or have computers or even read papers. They are very male-centric.
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  geevee

  p.s. They aslo get on the streets and yell out their message of salvation. I went up to one, one day and said "Hey, do you think Jesus Christ would have stood on the street corner and yelled out like an idiot??"
  Wow did he flush, he went scarlet red and then told me jesus died for sinners like me. Mustv'e taken all his strength not to come after me and smash me....
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  Stress Free

  There is large population of them in the area where I live in. Over the years I have done business with a lot of them, they are very much into working for themselves as opposed to working for non Brethren employers.

  Geez I thought we had it hard been jdubs, it is nothing compared to what a Exclusive Brethren must do or not do. I did some research on their beliefs some time ago and also spoke to a couple of ex Brethren, here is some examples of their rules.

  The women are forbidden to ever cut or colour their hair, they are not allowed to wear any form of makeup, are not permitted to wear shorts or trousers and dresses must be worn below the knee.. They are forbidden to wear swimmers, therefore they never go swimming. The men must be clean shaven, no beards allowed (sounds familiar), men are never allowed to wear shorts or show their legs in public.

  Other items they are banned from using are, faxes, computers, mobile phones, radio, television (not even educational documentry's), videos, dvds. They will not share a meal with non Brethren, will not vote, do not celebrate Christmas, Easter or birthdays. Children will not play in sport outside school. In our area they attend meetings every single week night, two on Saturday and three on Sunday that's ten meetings a week!!

  There belief is that all loyal Brethren will have a special favoured position in heaven by christ's side.They teach that other christians may also go to heaven but will reside in a lower level under their control. When it comes to being self righteous, believe me not even the jdubs come close to this mob. What I have never been able to understand is that while they will go and stand on the street corner and preach out loud their message you can never join this mob you must be born into it, such love they show. This probably explains why they have a such a high number of children with mental and physical deformities as they have been inbreeding for such a long time.

  So would I describe them as a cult, you bet I do. In fact I believe they are even worse then the jdubs in not allowing their children to have any freedom of thought at all. I really feel pity for the kids. They have more man made rules then the jdubs and frankly most of the rules are insane and you could never prove them from the bible.
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  unclebruce

  I worked both with and for Plymouth Brethren in