Religious Right Groups
Exclusive Brethren
For a more detailed treatment of this organisation, see Ngaire Thomas and the Exclusive Brethren
| Leadership: | Bruce Hales, a Sydney businessman, known within the sect as the ‘Elect Vessel’, ‘the Man of God’ and other honorific titles. |
| Date formed: | Descendants of a Protestant denomination formed in the UK during the 1820s. (Rowland Ward and Robert Humphreys [1995] Religious Bodies in Australia, 127ff) |
| Area of operation: | Mainly British Commonwealth nations; also the USA and Europe. |
| Estimated membership: | About 40,000 worldwide, about half of whom live in Australia and New Zealand. (Separate Lives, ABC Four Corners, 25 Sep 2006) |
| Finances: | This is basically a middle-class organisation run by wealthy businessmen. |
| Main objectives: | As an operating church, the Exclusive Brethren (EB) would say that their principal concern is with the salvation of their adherents’ souls. Political goals include the election of socially conservative governments and the implementation of policies such as the restriction of abortion and the curtailment of homosexual rights. |
| Main activities: | Since 2000, the sect has received extensive international publicity over its financing of advertising campaigns in favour of conservative politicians such as US President George Bush and against political parties such as the Australian Greens. The EB claim that these activities are undertaken by members acting as individuals rather than officially. |
| Links with other groups: | As the name ‘Exclusive Brethren’ implies, the sect keeps its distance from other organisations, making a virtual fetish of secrecy. In recent years leaders have met with politicians and the occasional journalist, but it has no known formal links with Christian Right pressure groups. However, informal links and covert financial assistance may be another matter. |
| Publications: | www.theexclusivebrethren.com |
| Sample quotes: | You are the aristocracy of heaven. (“Priest’s” address to an EB meeting in NSW, c.1960) |
| Universities are dens of iniquity and the Man of God has seen fit to prohibit our young people from entering them. You will be leaving school at the end of the week. (Ngaire Thomas’s EB father to his daughter, quoted in Behind Closed Doors, 76) | |
| Of course, the (Brethren) assembly is the highest court, so that’s a matter that we can take comfort in. It’s a very great matter, I think, to know that this place, the assembly, is the highest court. It’s the area of God’s direct dealings … (Bruce Hales, quoted in Melbourne Age, 23 Sept. 2006, the implication being that EB assembly decisions override those of secular courts.) | |
| God has no pleasure in the legs of a man. (EB pronouncement against men wearing shorts, quoted in David Marr, ‘Hidden prophets’, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 July 2006) | |
| Poor cunts. (Young member of the sect, addressing ABC interviewer, Separate Lives, ABC Four Corners, 25 Sep 2006) | |
| Assessment: | A normally introspective sect that is currently operating as a Christian Right pressure group, and a wealthy and influential one at that. In Australia, a number of conservative politicians have sprung to its defence, notably the Federal Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, Sen. Eric Abetz. (Marr op. cit.) |
| Further Reading: | Separate Lives, ABC Four Corners, 25 Sept. 2006 |
| Bachelard, Michael et al., series of articles in Melbourne Age commencing 19 Sept. 2006 |
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| Marr, David Hidden prophets, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 Jul. 2006 | |
| peebs.net | |
| Thomas, Ngaire (2004) Behind Closed Doors | |
| Wikipedia – Exclusive Brethren | |
| Contact Details: | www.theexclusivebrethren.com |
