Showing posts with label Brethren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brethren. Show all posts

5 Apr 2011

Totalitarian control of Exclusive Brethren members means children have no true intellectual or religious freedom



Banyule and Nillumbik Weekly    -  Victoria, Australia         April 5, 2011

No class for excluded Brethren students

BY ALANA SCHETZER



CONTROVERSIAL sect Exclusive Brethren bans members from attending university on campus, despite its students being high academic achievers.

According to the federal government’s My School website, students at the sect-run Glenvale School achieved above average scores across all five areas of the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy tests last year – writing, spelling, reading, numeracy, and grammar and punctuation.

Diamond Valley is home to one of the biggest Brethren communities in Australia.

Despite the high scores, students cannot attend university on-campus as, according to the sect, it would ‘‘…put them in conflict with their church fellowship’’.

Brethren spokesman Bob Lawrence, from PR firm Jackson Wells, told BNW, students who wish to continue their education can only do so via online courses or off-campus ‘‘delivery mechanisms’’.

Fifty per cent of the class of 2010 went on to tertiary education, and the other 50 per cent found jobs.

The school spends $19,965 per student, almost double what the average state school spends. My School revealed more than

$7 million of the school’s $11.7 million annual budget came from private donations.

Despite its private wealth, the school’s Community Socio-Education Advantage index is below the average.

Mr Lawrence said the school relies on a ‘‘high level of support from the community’’.

‘‘That support includes capital infrastructure which in all independent schools is mainly privately funded. Glenvale School has had an increased capital expenditure program to provide necessary education facilities for the students,’’ he said.

Last year, the sect won a controversial VCAT battle with residents to build its Melbourne headquarters, a 2000-seat ‘‘mega-church’’ in Diamond Creek. The sect also operates five smaller churches in the area.

Detractors, including former members, have labelled the religion a cult, saying it controls member’s lives and forbids them from engaging in society.

The school, which has 611 students across 13 campuses in Victoria, teaches grades three to year 12.

The sect also runs six other schools throughout Australia.


This article was found at:



RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG:

Exclusive Brethren schools funded by Australian government allow parents to evade taxes when paying school fees

Intellectual abuse in Exclusive Brethren's government funded schools prevents kids from thinking too much

Posted by Perry Bulwer at 14:13
82 comments Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

25 Mar 2011

Exclusive Brethren demands apology for discrimination, survivor says cult should apologize for breaking up families


Goulburn Post  -  Australia     March 23, 2011

Former Brethren wants national apology

BY DAVID COLE


MEMBERS of the Exclusive Brethren in Goulburn have demanded an apology from Cr Geoff Peterson for offensive comments he allegedly made to them in a council building on September 23 last year.

It has prompted a former member of the Brethren, also living in Goulburn, to ask for a national apology from them for “ex-communicating” him and separating him from his family.

David Lidgard, of Goulburn, said last week he felt a national apology from the Brethren to him and others was overdue.

“I, along with all others who have been excommunicated from the Brethren should get a national apology from them for how we have been discriminated against,” Mr Lidgard said.

“I want an apology from them on behalf of all who have suffered from their ‘doctrine of separation’, whereby in the past they have excommunicated a person and separated them from their family.

“We talk of the Stolen Generation, who Kevin Rudd apologised to - we ex-Brethren also lost our families.”

Mr Lidgard said he was ex-communicated from the Brethren in 1961 for owning a transistor radio. “I have not had any contact with my parents since I was kicked out in 1961,” he said.

“I was ex-communicated from the Brethren on April 9, 1961 by the late Bruce Hales senior, who was then their Elect Vessel of God, and he instructed my parents that I had to leave the family home - because I had the transistor radio.

“Then three of my other brothers were treated the same. My eldest brother Arthur Lidgard was married with five children and he was excommunicated in 1962. He came home from work to find his wife and children had been removed by Brethren members from the family home.”

Mr Lidgard said his brother’s family was later reunited. He said the current issue with Cr Peterson had brought up personal “stuff” for him.

“I have been out of the Brethren for 50 years, but this opportunity has come up for me to express my opinion of the Brethren to the general public and about what the Brethren do to former members and what they are now doing to our councillor (Peterson),” he said.

“They are making a mountain out of a molehill,” he said.

“As far back as I can remember Brethren women have worn the ribbons in their hair - so what I am getting at is - why are the Brethren making such an issue of it?

“The Brethren should follow the teachings in the bible - such as Matthew 5-39 and Luke 6-29 - that is when someone strikes you on the right cheek you should turn the other cheek and not fight back.” Mr Lidgard said over the years he had written to various MPs, the NSW Anti- Discrimination Board and the Human Rights Commission in relation to his complaints against the Brethren.

This article was found at:



RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG:



















Exclusive Brethren schools funded by Australian government allow parents to evade taxes when paying school fees









Posted by Perry Bulwer at 15:33
0 comments Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Exclusive Brethren schools funded by Australian government allow parents to evade taxes when paying school fees



The Age - Australia March 25, 2011

Exclusive Brethren parents claim 'tax lurk of biblical proportions'

by Michael Bachelard


Parents in the Exclusive Brethren avoid paying tax on the bulk of their children's school fees in an arrangement that would be illegal if sought by other Australian parents.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon has called for a tax office investigation into the arrangement which he said looked ''at first blush like a tax lurk of biblical proportions''.

When most parents pay school fees, they are paying it from income which has already been taxed. If they sought to avoid tax by paying it via tax-deductable donations, or through a family trust, they could be prosecuted for tax evasion.

But figures released on the MySchool website show the Exclusive Brethren, a radically separatist Christian sect with about 15,000 members in Australia, gets around this law.

The website reveals that, at their Victorian school, Glenvale, 54 per cent of the income is tax-free because it is paid by parents through distributions from family trusts as well as donations. Because a school is a tax-free entity, Brethren families who arrange their business in this way do not need to pay tax on that money.

This tax-free money makes up the majority of the Brethren schools' income, with another 28 per cent at Glenvale coming from government hand-outs, and the rest from modest fees paid from Brethren families' post-tax income.

At the Meadowbank Education Trust, the Exclusive Brethren school in Sydney, government funding (state and federal) totals almost $9000 per student, fees paid by parents from post-tax income are just $2700, and the rest, $14,300 per student, comes from tax-free donations and distributions.

This means that, though the government funding is on par with the most disadvantaged schools, the controversial Christian sect has $26,000 per student to spend — more than some top flight private schools such as Xavier College, Scotch College and Wesley College.

The pattern is replicated at the six Exclusive Brethren schools around Australia. In 2009, the sect raised $32.4 million in tax-free money to send its 2537 students to school.

This dwarfs the tax-free component of any other private school in Australia, and acts as a de facto second government subsidy to Exclusive Brethren schools. At other comparable small Christian schools, tax-free payments by parents make up between about 1 and 4 per cent of income.

The tax office has ruled that if parents seek a special agreement with an ordinary private school to pay their fees as a distribution from a family trust, it constitutes tax evasion. But the Exclusive Brethren obtained legal advice in about 2006 that their arrangement, which covers all their members, was legal.

Only Brethren children attend these schools, and in the theology of the sect, they are constantly warned to stay separate from the outside world. They are told that ''worldly'' people are dangerous, and will ''defile'' and ''contaminate'' them. As a result, many grow up in fear.

They are also all but barred from going to university.The sect, whose leader is Sydney-based businessman Bruce D. Hales, is adept at what it describes as ''spoiling the Egyptians'' — or taking as much money from the public purse as it can legally manage.

Exclusive Brethren spokesman Bob Lawrence, of PR firm Jackson Wells, denied the system was specifically set up to avoid tax.

''The schools and parents follow all appropriate tax, education and other guidelines and comply with Australian law,'' he said.

Senator Xenophon said the tax office ''needs to tell Australian taxpayers whether this sort of arrangement is sanctioned''.

''If what the Exclusive Brethren is doing is more broadly applied it could cause a multi-billion dollar hole in tax revenue,'' he said.


This article was found at:



RELATED ARTICLES ON THIS BLOG:




Interview with psychologist Jill Mytton about religious abuse [VIDEO]


Cult researcher reveals emotional cost of separation


Australian school with strong link to Scientology receives government money but not all is spent on students


Exclusive Brethren claim to uphold family values but completely shun any family member who disobeys cruel dogma


Exclusive Bretheren children abused


Re-zoning request reveals secretive Exclusive Brethren community in Canada intellectually abusing kids in private school


Posted by Perry Bulwer at 15:12
0 comments Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

7 Feb 2008

Ex-Brethren members speak out over rules

Stockport Express - UK

February 6, 2008

FORMER members of the religious sect that has taken over a Heaton Mersey school have spoken of their disgust at the way the group allegedly splits up families.

Last week, the Express revealed that the site of a former Catholic primary on Didsbury Road has been taken over by the highly secretive Exclusive Brethren.

As a result, Mereside Education Trust, a small independent school of 60 pupils, moved into the former site of St John Vianney primary in January.

But former members of the Brethren, which bans TV and is described by some as a "cult", say the group forcibly breaks up families by shunning anyone who leaves.

David Shorto, who left the Brethren with his wife and daughters in 1981 after being ostracised for watching the royal wedding on TV, says he has had no contact with his siblings or parents since - despite them only living round the corner.

Mr Shorto, of Abingdon Road, Bramhall, said: "I think the whole thing stinks. I don’t suppose their base philosophies have changed - they’re the church, and everything else is an error.

"They have no interest in anything other than themselves.

"I’ve got five siblings, most of whom live in this area, and they will have no contact with me at all. I wasn’t even told when my parents died."

And international website Peebs.net, a forum for ex-Brethren members, also got in touch with the Express. The website campaigns against the splitting of families - known as Separation - that can be caused by the group’s exclusivity.

They pointed out that the group’s beliefs should not be confused with evangelism, or right-wing Christian fundamentalists either, describing Separation as "sick", and adding: "They are in a self-made category of their own making and choosing."

Other people who read the story online were also vocal in their criticism of the sect, posting messages on our website.

One, calling themselves ‘Lyn Parry’, said: "The EB have a way of getting what they want and they have the money to do it with.

"No Christ in this religion. More wanting to get out that stay in, but can’t because of family ties.

"Plenty to keep people in too, security. If they leave they lose everything."

http://www.stockportexpress.co.uk/
news/s/1035366_exbrethren_
members_speak_out_over_rules
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 12:00
0 comments Labels: , , , , , , ,

25 Jun 2007

Brethren mother flouts court order

The Age - Australia

by Michael Bachelard June 25, 2007


AN EXCLUSIVE Brethren mother and two male relatives have risked jail by failing to present two children for planned access visits with their father.

In February, Family Court judge Robert Benjamin convicted the mother, who cannot be named, her son and her son-in-law and imposed a four-month suspended jail sentence on all three after they did not present the children for their first access visit.

The Age has learned that twice since that judgement the two children, aged 13 and eight, have not turned up for scheduled time with their father.

The father has filed an application with the court, arguing that the mother has contravened Justice Benjamin's orders.

But since February the case has become complicated by the fact that the mother is seriously ill and by her appeal against Justice Benjamin's February rulings and the sentence, which she argued was "manifestly excessive". The decision in that appeal has not yet been delivered.

The illness makes a prison term unlikely. The father has now also launched a bid for custody of the two children.

Justice Benjamin's judgement in February was an emphatic statement by the Family Court that it would not tolerate the Exclusive Brethren flouting court orders in pursuit of the sect's policy of strict separation of its members from those who have left the church.

The court heard then that the Brethren had funded the mother's legal case, setting up a bank account and depositing $50,000 into it. She told the court that she considered the money as a loan to be repaid.

The Age has been told that since February the father has had some access to the children, but the two most recent planned visits — on the weekend from May 19 and a week-long visit from June 2 for the school holidays — had not gone ahead.

Last month the mother's barrister, Melbourne Queen's counsel Noel Ackman, argued before the Family Court's full bench that Justice Benjamin should have disqualified himself from the case in February on the grounds that he was biased. He also argued that the judge's ruling that she had contravened his earlier orders was wrong, and that the sentence was too harsh.

The president of the Family Law Practitioners Association of Tasmania, Tony Fitzgerald, said this case was being keenly watched by family lawyers because of the clash in value systems being argued out.

"It's an extreme example of what happens in many, many cases at various levels, so from that point of view it's interesting," he said.

Senior family lawyer Michael Taussig said that sometimes extreme forms of religions — including Christian cults, and some forms of Judaism and Islam — argued against the general legal principle that spending time with both separated parents was best for the child.

"Sometimes these religious issues do blur or muddy the waters in regard to what is best for the kids, and that is what the secular court has to decide," he said. "It's of interest because there are so few of us in the family law business who have had contact with that sort of case."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/brethren-mother-flouts-court-order/2007/06/24/1182623741920.html
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 15:17
0 comments Labels: , , , , , ,

24 Jun 2007

Christian sect aims to sponsor flagship school

Telegraph, UK

By Graeme Paton 23/06/2007

An evangelical Christian sect that considers television and computers evil is in talks with the Government about sponsoring a city academy, it became clear last night.

Members of the Exclusive Brethren met Jim Knight, the schools minister, to discuss the possibility of backing one of Tony Blair's flagship schools.

The sect believes that the world is the domain of the devil and that children should be taught in "safe places".

Its educational division, the Focus Learning Trust, already runs 37 private schools - which have been highly-praised by Ofsted - even though pupils are denied access to modern technology and sex education is banned.

Responding to a parliamentary question from the Liberal Democrats, Lord Adonis, the education minister, said that the organisation had made "a number of representations to the Government concerning the establishment of an academy or a trust school" and that Mr Knight had discussed the proposals with Focus Learning Trust officials. Lord Adonis said that there were no "current" plans to open state schools linked to the group, but did not rule out the possibility in the future.

The group's 15,500 followers in Britain must abide by strict behaviour codes, and socialising outside the sect is strictly forbidden.

At home, families shun televisions, radios and computers.

In 2005, Ofsted praised the Focus Learning Trust, saying that it provided "good support to its schools" and that the quality of teaching was "generally good".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/23/nring223.xml
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 13:26
0 comments Labels: , , , , ,

22 Jun 2007

Brethren sex case awaits legal advice

By KIRAN CHUG - The Nelson Mail 21 June 2007

Police are seeking legal advice before deciding whether to charge a Nelson Exclusive Brethren member who has declined to be interviewed over sexual abuse complaints laid against him.

The elderly man was recently approached by police investigating complaints made in April by five women, all former Exclusive Brethren members.

They allege that they were sexually abused by the man in Nelson between the early 1950s and the 1980s.

Tasman police crime service manager Detective Inspector John Winter said the matter was now being reviewed by the police's legal section in Christchurch. He said police were seeking a legal opinion because of the complexity of the case, which involved a number of complainants and stretched back over many years.

Australian-based Exclusive Brethren spokesman Tony McCorkell said the man was not attending any church functions or socialising with church people while the matter was outstanding. The man had not been given advice by the church, but had hired independent legal counsel.

Mr McCorkell said he did not wish to comment on the matter any further as the police investigation was at a "delicate stage".

He said the church wanted the law to take its course without any interference.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4103460a11.html
Posted by Perry Bulwer at 15:05
0 comments Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)