▲ 1 r/cultpodcasts
This Christian sect wants you to purge your pets!! - Plymouth Brethren Christian Church
youtube.comu/camelusmoreli — 2 days ago
u/camelusmoreli
▲ 3 r/cults
“WE HAVE A LIFE OF OUR OWN” - Plymouth Brethren Christian Church affidavit regarding application to exempt their children from AIDS education, 1989.
Exhibit A fairly and accurately describes the religiousand ethical principles which guide our fellowship, and themanner in which members of Plymouth Brethren No. 4 guide the lives of our children in accordance with the tenets of our faith.
“WE HAVE A LIFE OF OUR OWN”
The following is a brief outline of what we regard as normal Christian life. Our week starts with the celebration of the Lord’s supper at which every member participates in hymns and praise. Everyone present must have morally clean hands and a pure heart (Psalm 24:3,4; 1 Corinthians 11:28,29). This service is held at 6:00 a.m. on Lord’s day (Sunday) (John 20:1) in every assembly universally in small local gatherings of approximately 40 members each. The rest of the Lord’s day is filled out with a reading of the scriptures and preachings of the Word of God (Philippians 1:14). Brethren dining at other brethren’s homes as a practical part of the fellowship. Moral and practical teaching is communicated throughout the services.
Our weekdays normally begin with a “family reading” at which some verses of scripture are read, a hymn is sung and the family prays together asking to be preserved from evil and kept out of temptation (Matthew 6:6,7,13). This custom of reading and “giving thanks” is carried out at mealtimes (1 Timothy 4:5) as an example of the pattern of the life of Jesus. The Gospels are normally read in the morning, the moral parental teachings of the Proverbs at noonday, and the moral experiences of pious men in the Psalms in the evening.
A meeting or assembly is held every night of the week at which generally the whole family is present. At these meetings, prayer is made for all men, especially those in authority (1 Timothy 2:2) and the scriptures are read and spoken over in a humble and prayerful way to obtain the Lord’s mind as to our current needs (Matthew 4:4; Revelation 2:11). After the meeting, the young and old mingle together in mutual sympathy and enjoyment of each other’s daily experiences.
On Saturday a meeting is held in the morning and the rest of the day is spent by families being together in observance of the Sabbath and sometimes visiting or entertaining other whole families, giving the children a chance to mingle and to “let off some steam.”
Foundational to the salvation of our households is that the mother stays at home as directed by the Epistle to Titus 2:4,5: “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
‘To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.’”
The mothers therefore become a source of love, watchfulness and care for the moral and practical welfare of the children on a daily basis. Problems at school are discussed freely and, generally, because of her undistracted devotion to the children, a mother can sense immediately when something is wrong. The father provides support and protection for the family, both morally and practically. He controls his workday so as to be home, to spend time with the family and get them to the assembly in the evening. Parents do not strike their children but seek to bring them up in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
School is regarded as a place to learn the “three R’s” and to learn to work with others. The children are exhorted to do their schoolwork and homework diligently and to complete twelve grades of schooling. They are taught to respect authority at every level and to conduct themselves in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1) and to respect the rights of others. They do not socialize, even to the point of not eating with others who are not separate from evil (2 Timothy 2:19-26).
Our family life is free from the influence of the media such as TV, radio, video, movies and magazines. These are kept out of the house, being regarded as a “pipeline of filth”. Computers are also shunned because these and other scientific advancements are regarded as paving the way for the anti-Christ (Revelation 13:14). Our lives are filled with warmth and happiness of family life and the enjoyment of the fellowship universally both in our homes and together in assembly, “with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22).
Our simple desire is to have our whole life bound up with the testimony of Jesus, the One Whom we love, and to serve Him and bring others to Him. To this end, open air preachings are held at various street corners in which our young men participate and gospel tracts are available for interested persons.
As to the issues addressed in the AIDS curriculum, our children are taught to keep themselves personally pure (Proverbs 2:12-18; Proverbs 6:24-29) and to postpone the forming of affinities in view of marriage until they have won the confidence of their parents and local brethren in their moral and financial qualifications (1 Thessalonians 4:3,5). There is no private dating prior to marriage. Marriage is regarded as a provision from God to be held “honorable in all and the bed undefiled” (Hebrews 13:4). As one of our leaders once taught us, anything that we need to know as to marriage, both morally and physically, is contained in scripture and indeed scripture says “does not nature itself teach you” (1 Corinthians 11:14). Sodomites, fornicators, and adulterers are “withdrawn from” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 2 Corinthians 6:13-18). The details of evil are regarded as being subversive. The following quote from the teachings of Mr. John S. Hales, one of our leaders, (Romans 16:19) clearly shows the need to remain “simple as to evil” and within the bounds of scriptural teaching.
“So it’s something for the young ones to learn to stand alone. I don’t mean they should go around picking trouble when they go to school, but they should learn to stand alone. I’m sure we’d have been saved from a lot of things if we’d been kept to that from early life. You won’t hear the things or see the things or know the things that’ll leave a scar. You’re better off without the knowledge of evil. It says, simple as to evil. You’re better off never to have known about it. A worldly man has to be trained in evil so as he knows when to avoid it. Otherwise, he gets overwhelmed. But a Christian doesn’t need to know. All they need to know is they’re subject to the will of Another.”
Thus, to expose our children to the detail of evil amplified in the entire sex, drug and AIDS curriculum would undermine the foundations of our faith and scar the moral values which have been instilled into our children from their very earliest days and could even jeopardize their place in the holy fellowship of God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, if they were diverted from a path of righteousness.”
u/camelusmoreli — 2 days ago
▲ 1 r/cults
"We have a Life of our Own" - sworn Plymouth Brethren Christian Church affidavit regarding their practices.
u/camelusmoreli — 2 days ago
▲ 7 r/cults
Dump your pets, orders secretive religious sect - Plymouth Brethren Christian Church decree after dog bite
Dump your pets, orders secretive religious sect
Plymouth Brethren decree after dog bite
By Cameron Charters
A SECRETIVE Christian sect has allegedly ordered its members to purge their homes of pets.
Members of the Plymouth Brethren were reportedly told to cull their ‘dogs, cats, birds and mice’ after a relative of the group’s leader, Bruce Hales, was bitten by a dog.
The order was issued by the Australian branch on May 2 and, in a letter delivered at services held in the UK, parishioners were told it was ‘clearly wrong’ to keep a dog in their house.
It continued: ‘There are reports of some Brethren having reverted to owning pets, including dogs and other animals, which practice has been clearly spoken against in ministry. Every household should be freshly exercised [concerned] to ensure the standard... is carried forward and maintained.’
But the Plymouth Brethren has denied claims the letter is a call for pets to be culled and argue it is an affirmation of a long-standing outlawing of pet ownership for members.
The allegations are similar to reports in the 1960s that the Plymouth Brethren ordered a pet culling. The claims were denied at the time and are still rejected today.
The sect was established in the 19th century in England by former members of the Anglican Church who believed it was too closely linked to worldly matters. In an effort to stay close to the teachings of Jesus, members distance themselves from distractions. This includes only marrying fellow members and not eating or drinking with anyone outside of the faith.
According to the movement’s website, there are 55,000 members worldwide.
A spokesman said the Australian letter had been misconstrued as members ‘being told to euthanise their pets’. He added: ‘The church would never condone cruelty to any living creature.’
u/camelusmoreli — 2 days ago
Secretive Christian Sect Faces Global Outrage Following Drastic Order to Cull Pets (Plymouth Brethren Christian Church)
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, a globally recognized and intensely secretive religious sect, has ignited a firestorm of international condemnation following a leadership mandate requiring members to eradicate all household pets. The sweeping edict, issued by the Sydney-based global leader Bruce Hales, was reportedly triggered after a child relative of the sect's upper echelon was attacked by a dog in Australia.
The directive demands that the homes of the church's 50,000 members across the United Kingdom, Australia, Europe, and the Americas be immediately cleansed of animals. Former members and animal rights organizations warn that the order has already resulted in the forced euthanasia and abandonment of thousands of healthy companion animals. The crisis exposes the terrifying psychological leverage exerted by high-demand religious organizations, where absolute obedience overrides fundamental human empathy.
The Anatomy of Cultic Control
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren, operates on a doctrine of extreme separatism. Members are strictly forbidden from socializing with individuals outside the sect, consuming secular media, or attending mainstream universities. The demand to purge domestic pets represents a dramatic escalation in the leadership's control over the private, domestic spheres of its congregation.
Leaked correspondence read to congregations worldwide explicitly categorized pet ownership as inherently sinful, claiming that animals divert affection and dedication away from divine worship. Sociologists and cult recovery experts assert that forcing individuals to destroy beloved companions is a recognized tactic of psychological subjugation. It serves as a brutal loyalty test, severing emotional attachments to anything outside the structural hierarchy of the church and reinforcing the absolute authority of Bruce Hales.
The Backlash and Corporate Denial
The global fallout from the directive has been swift and severe. Whistleblowers have flooded social media and cult-awareness networks with harrowing accounts of families surrendering golden retrievers and domestic cats to veterinary clinics for immediate euthanasia. In response to mounting legal threats and public outrage, the church's corporate communications arm issued a carefully worded denial, rejecting claims that members were explicitly instructed to kill their animals.
However, the official statement verified the core of the controversy: the church confirmed it had restated its strict anti-pet principles to parishioners in May 2026 following the traumatic dog attack. Ex-members dismiss the denial as a semantic evasion, noting that the insular nature of the sect means that members cannot simply hand pets over to worldly animal shelters without facing severe disciplinary action, including the devastating threat of total excommunication and familial shunning.
- The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church commands an estimated 50,000 members globally.
- The organization holds substantial financial assets, deeply intertwined with conservative political lobbying networks.
- Historical records indicate a similar pet purge was ordered by the sect's leadership in the 1960s.
- Animal welfare charities, including the SPCA, have reported a suspicious spike in surrendered and euthanized animals linked to known Brethren enclaves.
Parallels of Extremism in East Africa
The secretive Plymouth Brethren Christian Church mandates its 50,000 global members to eradicate household pets, sparking outcry from welfare advocates.
The devastating consequences of unchecked religious extremism resonate tragically in Kenya. The horrific events of the Shakahola forest massacre, where a rogue pastor manipulated hundreds of followers into starving themselves to death to meet Jesus, serve as the ultimate cautionary tale of cultic obedience. While the PBCC directive targets animals rather than human lives, the underlying architecture of psychological coercion is identical.
In both scenarios, charismatic leaders leverage the fear of eternal damnation to isolate followers from societal norms and common sense. East African sociologists emphasize that whether a sect demands the surrender of wealth, the denial of medical care, or the execution of household pets, the state must rigorously monitor insular religious communities to prevent the systemic abuse of vulnerable adherents.
The Human Toll of Enforced Cruelty
The emotional devastation inflicted upon the children and families within the sect is immeasurable. Psychologists warn that forcing a child to witness the mandated destruction of a pet inflicts profound, long-lasting emotional trauma. The edict effectively weaponizes grief, transforming a source of unconditional comfort into a traumatic lesson in unyielding religious conformity.
As international animal rights organizations mobilize to offer sanctuary to the threatened pets, the legal avenues for intervention remain frustratingly limited. Because the animals are technically considered private property, authorities cannot intervene unless direct, illegal animal cruelty is proven. The tragedy continues to unfold behind closed doors, a stark reminder of the enduring power of ideological extremism to extinguish compassion.
u/camelusmoreli — 2 days ago
▲ 1 r/cultpodcasts
Peter Lineham: Massey University Emeritus Professor of religion on the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church ordering a pet cull Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive
Heather
Apparently the Exclusive Brethren leadership have told their members in Australia and New Zealand to get rid of their pets. The directive has gone out recently because a family member of the leader, Bruce Hales, was the victim of a dog attack. Peter Lineham is a religious expert in Massey University whose researched the Exclusive Brethren and is with us. Hello Peter.
Peter
Hello. How are you, Heather?
Heather
Absolutely weirded out. Is this as weird as I think it is?
Peter
Um, it's pretty strange, but actually the Exclusive Brethren first had these injunctions way back in 1962, and on a discussion forum that I'm on, um, people have talked about having to give up pet parrots back in the 1960s. It then got completely forgotten about until Bruce Hales' grandson suffered this rather nasty incident.
Heather
Now, so if it okay. What what's the problem with the pets?
Peter
So, the pets are seen as unclean. That's to say, I mean, reading a bit between the lines, but there are there's some literature that would suggest that in Exclusive Brethren eyes, the Old Testament regulations about filth and dogs, um, has somehow got caught up in an interpretation that says these are vile creatures, and they're taking people away from their devotion to God, and so they need to go.
Heather
And so there are reports in The Age in Melbourne, the newspaper, that people are already starting to put their pets down. Is this really happening?
Peter
Yes, it is, and I'm sure it's happening in New Zealand as well, um, because the edict was announced at the beginning of May, and, um, they are to confess their ownership of pets and to declare what they've done with them in their local assemblies, um, this month. So we can expect possibly some people who love their dogs more than God will leave the Exclusive Brethren over this. Um, but I mean, let's face it, Exclusive Brethren have to put up with a mighty lot of interference in their lives, so perhaps this will not be the breaking point.
Heather
No. Do you imagine that I mean because I, uh, the Exclusive Brethren tend to keep to themselves a fair bit, so I can't imagine that these pets are going to be rehomed, are they? They're just going to be snuffed out.
Peter
Um, yes, they're going to the pets are going to be put down. Um, and I would think, well, I mean in New Zealand, as you know, we we love our pets, and so I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of pets in Exclusive Brethren homes, and, um, so I think there is going to be a bit of trauma going on.
Heather
Geez, it's wild. Peter, thank you for talking me through it. Professor Peter Lineham, Massey University religious expert.
u/camelusmoreli — 3 days ago
Heather du Plessis and Prof. Peter Lineham discuss the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church pet cull.
Heather
Apparently the Exclusive Brethren leadership have told their members in Australia and New Zealand to get rid of their pets. The directive has gone out recently because a family member of the leader, Bruce Hales, was the victim of a dog attack. Peter Lineham is a religious expert in Massey University whose researched the Exclusive Brethren and is with us. Hello Peter.
Peter
Hello. How are you, Heather?
https://reddit.com/link/1thfij7/video/mrpcfahhs12h1/player
Heather
Absolutely weirded out. Is this as weird as I think it is?
Peter
Um, it's pretty strange, but actually the Exclusive Brethren first had these injunctions way back in 1962, and on a discussion forum that I'm on, um, people have talked about having to give up pet parrots back in the 1960s. It then got completely forgotten about until Bruce Hales' grandson suffered this rather nasty incident.
Heather
Now, so if it okay. What what's the problem with the pets?
Peter
So, the pets are seen as unclean. That's to say, I mean, reading a bit between the lines, but there are there's some literature that would suggest that in Exclusive Brethren eyes, the Old Testament regulations about filth and dogs, um, has somehow got caught up in an interpretation that says these are vile creatures, and they're taking people away from their devotion to God, and so they need to go.
Heather
And so there are reports in The Age in Melbourne, the newspaper, that people are already starting to put their pets down. Is this really happening?
Peter
Yes, it is, and I'm sure it's happening in New Zealand as well, um, because the edict was announced at the beginning of May, and, um, they are to confess their ownership of pets and to declare what they've done with them in their local assemblies, um, this month. So we can expect possibly some people who love their dogs more than God will leave the Exclusive Brethren over this. Um, but I mean, let's face it, Exclusive Brethren have to put up with a mighty lot of interference in their lives, so perhaps this will not be the breaking point.
Heather
No. Do you imagine that I mean because I, uh, the Exclusive Brethren tend to keep to themselves a fair bit, so I can't imagine that these pets are going to be rehomed, are they? They're just going to be snuffed out.
Peter
Um, yes, they're going to the pets are going to be put down. Um, and I would think, well, I mean in New Zealand, as you know, we we love our pets, and so I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of pets in Exclusive Brethren homes, and, um, so I think there is going to be a bit of trauma going on.
Heather
Geez, it's wild. Peter, thank you for talking me through it. Professor Peter Lineham, Massey University religious expert.
Heather
Apparently the Exclusive Brethren leadership have told their members in Australia and New Zealand to get rid of their pets. The directive has gone out recently because a family member of the leader, Bruce Hales, was the victim of a dog attack. Peter Lineham is a religious expert in Massey University whose researched the Exclusive Brethren and is with us. Hello Peter.
Peter
Hello. How are you, Heather?
Heather
Absolutely weirded out. Is this as weird as I think it is?
Peter
Um, it's pretty strange, but actually the Exclusive Brethren first had these injunctions way back in 1962, and on a discussion forum that I'm on, um, people have talked about having to give up pet parrots back in the 1960s. It then got completely forgotten about until Bruce Hales' grandson suffered this rather nasty incident.
Heather
Now, so if it okay. What what's the problem with the pets?
Peter
So, the pets are seen as unclean. That's to say, I mean, reading a bit between the lines, but there are there's some literature that would suggest that in Exclusive Brethren eyes, the Old Testament regulations about filth and dogs, um, has somehow got caught up in an interpretation that says these are vile creatures, and they're taking people away from their devotion to God, and so they need to go.
Heather
And so there are reports in The Age in Melbourne, the newspaper, that people are already starting to put their pets down. Is this really happening?
Peter
Yes, it is, and I'm sure it's happening in New Zealand as well, um, because the edict was announced at the beginning of May, and, um, they are to confess their ownership of pets and to declare what they've done with them in their local assemblies, um, this month. So we can expect possibly some people who love their dogs more than God will leave the Exclusive Brethren over this. Um, but I mean, let's face it, Exclusive Brethren have to put up with a mighty lot of interference in their lives, so perhaps this will not be the breaking point.
Heather
No. Do you imagine that I mean because I, uh, the Exclusive Brethren tend to keep to themselves a fair bit, so I can't imagine that these pets are going to be rehomed, are they? They're just going to be snuffed out.
Peter
Um, yes, they're going to the pets are going to be put down. Um, and I would think, well, I mean in New Zealand, as you know, we we love our pets, and so I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of pets in Exclusive Brethren homes, and, um, so I think there is going to be a bit of trauma going on.
Heather
Geez, it's wild. Peter, thank you for talking me through it. Professor Peter Lineham, Massey University religious expert.
u/camelusmoreli — 3 days ago
Secretive sect the Plymouth Brethren Christian church 'orders members in Australia to purge their pets'
Secretive sect the Plymouth Brethren 'orders members in Australia to purge their pets'
See more Daily Mail on Google – save us as a Preferred Source
By CAMERON CHARTERS
Published: 12:24 EDT, 18 May 2026 | Updated: 16:26 EDT, 18 May 2026
A secretive Christian coven has issued an edict to its members to purge their pets after a relative of the sect's leader was bitten by a dog.
Members of the Plymouth Brethren were reportedly told to cull their 'dogs, cats, birds and mice' in response to Bruce Hales' four-year-old family member requiring stitches.
The order was reportedly issued by the Australian branch of the conservative Christian movement on 2 May, and also applies to the thousands of members in Britain.
In a letter delivered at services held in the UK, New Zealand and Australia parishioners were told it is: 'clearly wrong' to keep a dog in their house.
The missive continued: 'There are reports of some Brethren having reverted to owning pets, including dogs and other animals, which practice has been clearly spoken against in ministry.
'Every household should be freshly exercised [concerned] to ensure the standard … is carried forward and maintained.'
The Plymouth Brethren deny that this letter amounts to a call for pets to be killed and argue it is an affirmation of a long-standing outlawing of pet ownership for members.
The allegations bear resemblance to reports in the 1960s that the Plymouth Brethren ordered a similar pet culling.
A spokeswoman on behalf of the group said: 'We are aware of untrue and distressing online commentary which has misconstrued this as members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church being told to euthanise their pets.
'The church would never condone cruelty to any living creature, and this position is being strongly reinforced to our congregation. We have the utmost respect for all of God's creations.'
The Plymouth Brethren was established in the 19th century in England.
It was formed by former members of the Anglican Church who believed it was too closely linked to worldly matters.
They argued the church had abandoned the fundamental teachings of the New Testament and had become embroiled in politics.
John Nelson Derby, a protestant theologian, established many of the core beliefs of the group- including stressing the importance of an individual relationship with God.
In an effort to stay close to the teachings of Jesus, members of the Plymouth Brethren distance themselves from distractions and focus on their faith.
This includes only marrying fellow members, and not eating or drinking with anyone outside of the faith.
The founding members quickly moved to North and South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand and used the name 'Plymouth' as many of them came from the town.
According to the movement's website there are 55,000 members worldwide.
u/camelusmoreli — 3 days ago
▲ 1 r/cults
PLYMOUTH BRETHREN CHRISTIAN CHURCH boy stomps on duck.
PLYMOUTH BRETHREN CHRISTIAN CHURCH boy stomps on duck.
Cruelty at Wentwoth Falls Lake, Katoomba - 2 weeks ago. The post below has since been deleted.
Today at wentworth falls lake there were a group of around 50 Brethren's, adults and children having a picnic, one of their children a boy of about 12 told his friends he could catch a duck, he threw some bread and deliberately stomped on the duck, the duck could not move and when picked up by one of the adults (who sat there and watched everything and didn't say a word) the duck had broken legs.
To the lovely lady that was near me thank you for speaking up about this and holding them accountable.
The duck was thn picked up and taken behind a tree, where 3 other men joined the man, Thankyou to the amazing locals who came up to myself and my family as we were shocked and disgusted by this boys actions. This should be a red flag for his parents 25% of children who deliberately hurt animals become serial killers. Shame on you all.
u/camelusmoreli — 3 days ago
▲ 6 r/cults
Copycat cults - Warren Jeffs and Bruce D Hales - The 2001 FLDS Dog Purge and the 2026 Plymouth Brethren Christian Church Dog Purge.
Warren Jeffs seized complete control of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - the FLDS - in the late 1990s as his father’s health failed, officially becoming the prophet in 2002. He ruled his followers through absolute isolation and fear. He stripped members of basic freedoms by banning public schools, organized sports, internet access, and even television. He also targeted family pets through a systematic purge.
The total ban on pets happened in 2001 after a dog bit a child in the church stronghold of Short Creek - the border community of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. Jeffs used this single incident to declare all dogs evil. In a CBS News article detailing the history of the cult, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff explained the sudden decree by stating, "He came in one day and decided that dogs were evil... And every single dog in town was eliminated."
A federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against the towns documented exactly how this decree was carried out. The lawsuit noted that the local government and the Colorado City Marshal's Office functioned directly to enforce the dictates of FLDS leadership. According to a historical report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Jeffs "prohibited families from owning household pets and ordered the marshal's office to enforce his whims." Local deputies went door-to-door to demand that residents turn over their animals, and the federal complaint stated that all the dogs were taken to a "slaughter pit" just outside of town and killed.
Federal authorities eventually stepped in to strip the church from local government operations, placing the towns under court supervision. Jeffs went on the run and landed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list before his capture in 2006. A Texas court convicted Jeffs in 2011 on two felony counts of child sexual assault for marrying girls aged 12 and 15. He is currently serving a life sentence plus twenty years at the Louis C. Powledge Unit in Palestine, Texas. He remains in maximum security but still attempts to control his remaining followers from behind bars.
This exact pattern just repeated itself in the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church - the PBCC. In May 2026, church leader Bruce Hales issued a strict pet ban following a dog bite incident. The justification matches the 2001 FLDS decree - Hales claimed pet ownership creates a distraction from faith and God. The church issued an official statement telling members to get rid of their animals. This directive has led to widespread reports of family pets being killed across the community.
Verifiable Source Materials:
- CBS News Article: Warren Jeffs: The Godfather
- Sydeny Morning Herald ‘My church or the dog?’ Brethren orders members to purge pets, sparking fears of global cull
- Southern Poverty Law Center Investigative Report: Lawless: A History of Problems in Short Creek
- CTV News / Associated Press Legal Update: Towns once run by Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect emerge from court supervision transformed
u/camelusmoreli — 4 days ago
Exclusive Brethren pet ban order sparks fears of global cull in sect, The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church
‘My church or the dog?’ Brethren orders members to purge pets, sparking fears of global cull
Secretive sect the Exclusive Brethren has ordered members to get rid of pets, leaving Australian families “heartbroken” and facing a devastating choice.”
By Sherryn Groch
Secretive religious sect The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church has ordered its members to purge their homes of animals, leaving some Australian families heartbroken as they feel pressured to kill or abandon their pets.
Members inside the group, formerly known as Exclusive Brethren, say some animals, including a kitten, have already been put down since this month’s edict from the sect’s upper echelons, which has controversial ties to conservative politics and substantial financial holdings.
The directive, obtained by this masthead, that “every household should be freshly” cleansed of “dirty” animals follows a dog attack on a young relative of Brethren leader Bruce Hales last month, and has conjured memories of a widely reported purge of pets by the sect in the 1960s that horrified the public.
As one Melbourne family made plans to dump their cat four hours out of town so it “could never find its way back home”, others told this masthead they would defy the order. In New Zealand, a member shared pictures mourning her kitten, which multiple people in the church said she had been pressured into euthanising this month.
The Brethren instructs its 50,000 members in Australia and around the world to live separated from society. But it has drawn scrutiny for its involvement in recent elections, campaigning for the Liberal Party, and was raided by the Australian Tax Office in 2024.
The kitten euthanised this month in New Zealand, according to Brethren members, because of the new global edict against pets.
On May 2, at closed Brethren meetings across Australia, Canada, NZ, the UK and elsewhere, a letter from leadership was read out detailing a dog attack on a four-year-old relative of the Hales family at a member’s home. The boy survived but required stitches on his face.
“The ownership of such an animal, let alone it being kept at a brother’s home, is clearly wrong,” the letter read. “There are reports of some Brethren having reverted to owning pets, including dogs and other animals, which practice has been clearly spoken against in ministry.
“Every household should be freshly exercised [concerned] to ensure the standard … is carried forward and maintained.”
The directive referenced several Brethren teachings, including that “disposing of dogs” was not enough: birds, “mice out, cats too” and that pet owners should then confess to the sect’s “assembly”.
Following recent scandals, the Brethren now commonly orders its instructions be “destroyed after reading”, but multiple recordings of the meetings were shared with this masthead, along with sect texts detailing past “disposals” of “unclean” pets.
More than a dozen current and former Brethren members told this masthead they worried another major purge of animals was imminent. Many spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing repercussions.
One Victorian member said her heart sank as the directive was read out, a rare explicit order from leadership. “Normally, we only get them for elections and things.”
Her service dog had helped her through “many tough times”, even as he drew disapproving comments within the sect, she said.
“Times when I was so suicidal, without thinking, I’d go to step in front of traffic, and he’d pull me back,” she said. “If I’m asked to choose between my church and the dog, it’s going to be the dog.”
A drawing ex-member Andrew Hart made of his cat as a child. His cat was soon after put down in the UK, in 1964, under the Brethren pet ban.Andrew Hart
Another family said their elderly aunt had also come under repeated “priestly” pressure to get rid of her beloved companion dog. “We’re worried they’ll finally make her [do it] now, and she’ll be totally alone,” they said.
The church tells adherents that loving animals distracts from devotion to God, but members say they view this latest command as “another test to make us prove our loyalty” in a sect where much of daily life, from money to family, is strictly controlled by leadership.
“There could be another walkout,” said one member. “Some aren’t happy. We’ve got [leadership] living in mansions while lots of us are struggling.”
The church dismissed concerns of a pet cull as a conspiracy led by “anti-Brethren activists”, claiming no one in the sect would hurt an animal.
“The recent message from church elders read out at meetings was … simply a reminder of a principle that was established some time ago,” a spokesman said.
“The church would never condone cruelty to any living creature,” he said, adding some members still kept livestock.
The church also denied the 1960s pet purge, calling it “completely untrue … to the best of our knowledge”. The ban and associated cull was well-documented in newspapers, academic papers and books around the world, as well as the Brethren’s own ministries.
When asked why members being made to “dispose of” pets is so often referenced in Brethren texts, which also say “the best dog is a dead dog”, the church did not answer.
Joy Nason pictured with her beloved cat Tiddles in the 1960s.Joy Nason
Joy Nason, who grew up in the Brethren in Sydney, recalls being ordered as a teenager to take her family cat to the vet to be euthanised when the ban first came in about 1963.
“I was told to say he had a sore foot, that’s why he had to be put down, and, of course, to tell no one it was Brethren business,” she said.
“I was terrified if I didn’t, I’d go to hell. Even giving animals away, they said, was a sin. I was so upset, I couldn’t stay to watch and, in my heart, I always hoped that vet saw through me, and had Tiddles rehomed instead.”
Back then, newspapers in Australia and overseas reported Brethren bought the gas ether to put their animals to sleep at home, when vets discovered the trend and refused to euthanise.
Some members told this masthead that other pets were killed by more brutal means – drowned, shot or clubbed – at times in front of children. At least three blind Brethren were “ordered to destroy” their guide dogs, though some refused and were instead ex-communicated.
Since then, members said pets had crept back into the lives of Brethren, especially after the pandemic. Some would hide their animals or send them away when hosting Brethren events, even as others openly owned cats, birds and smaller animals, believing the old edict applied only to dogs, or excused working animals.
“But you never know which of the thousands of rules they’ll suddenly enforce so you’re forever on eggshells,” said one member. “A lot of us have pets now.”
Coverage of the first pet purge by the Exclusive Brethren included this article on the RSPCA investigating, published in The Daily Mail February 7, 1964.
Reports of animal cruelty connected to the sect have continued in the years since the first purge, and more recent “reminders” of the ban from leadership have frequently seen animals killed or dumped again.
A Melbourne woman put down her cats three years ago when the edict was mentioned in passing at a meeting, according to three members. In NSW in the 2000s, an ex-member said Brethren asked farmers to shoot their dogs for them.
“Fear of getting caught flouting the rule means it’s kept secret,” said one member. “Though my father has always enjoyed shooting cats.”
Another woman recalled coming home from holidays as a child in the 1990s to find their litter of puppies missing. “We found out years later, they’d come and drowned them,” she said.
Ex-member Cheryl Bawtinheimer, who has accused a Brethren member of sexual abuse and is being sued by the church for copyright infringement over her podcast’s use of a logo, said she had been flooded with messages from people inside the church “panicking” about the new crackdown.
“One’s cat’s just had kittens. They’re refusing to get rid of them,” she said. “People are still scarred from the first ban.”
Bawtinheimer and more than a dozen sources connected to the church estimate that thousands of animals around the world have been killed over the decades because of the Brethren’s ban, and others mistreated or abandoned.
Late on Friday, after further questions from this masthead, the Brethren said it had decided to hold a service over the weekend, it claimed to “reinforce” the message that cruelty was not acceptable, and members should explore options to rehome their pets.
Ex-member Neville McCallum, who vividly recalls Brethren killing their animals during the 1960s, said the sect frequently enforced “bizarre” rules such as the pet ban as “a test of loyalty”. He managed to get around it where he lives in New Zealand by calling his pet a guard dog for his vineyard.
“But I wasn’t ever able to take him home properly, poor thing,” he said. “Now, I’m going around to local vets here to warn them about this latest pet cull.”
Publicly, the Brethren claims it has “no specific rules” and that members instead “choose” to forgo things such as pets and television to focus on the church. High-ranking Brethren appear on its “Not-So-Exclusive” podcast claiming to live normal lives, speaking of pets or of their children loving animals.
“It’s all a lie, PR,” said ex-member Richard Marsh, who said his parents had “been forced to put down their cat, Drusilla” during the first purge.
“The cruelty to animals just day-to-day is disgusting, it’s encouraged,” said an Australian member. “I’ve had my kids in tears because of it.”
Another Victorian woman said she sent her dog away when hosting Brethren members “because I know they’ll hurt him”. “I remember one [member] tried to kick our cat, who’s been a huge emotional support for my daughter since she was little, right in front of her,” she said.
The RSPCA, which investigated the 1960s pet cull, said it had not been alerted to any recent concerns about the church, but noted it could only act on reports made by eyewitnesses to animal cruelty.
Lawyer Tom Grace, who grew up in the Brethren, said the latest pet crackdown stirred up painful memories of the 1960s purge.
“We had a cockatoo then who’d been in our family for 60 years, my grandfather gave him to us,” Grace said, through tears. “I never even considered the ban would mean Cocky. He was part of the family.”
Unable to bear the idea of killing the bird, Grace’s parents instead opened his cage, but Cocky refused to fly away. He stayed around the family home, talking to them, for more than a day.
“Then we found him dead on the ground,” said Grace. “The shock of it, must have been too much.
“It always struck me, him in that cage, as being similar to my family leaving the church. The cage is all we’d known.”
With Michael Bachelard
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u/Ardeet — 5 days ago
Ruthless Habits – How Cult Mentality Breeds Animal Cruelty in the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church
A shocking record of animal abuse follows the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church - and first-hand accounts show the violence starts at the very top of the sect. Former members are exposing a culture where torturing living creatures is treated as sport, entertainment, or a religious necessity.
The Culture of Roo-Bashing
Sect members in Australia routinely participate in a practice known as "roo-bashing" - using heavy vehicles to hunt down and run over kangaroos for fun. Former member Ben Woodbury witnessed this firsthand during a church gathering in Condobolin.
"We had Bruce Hales in the house for dinner Thursday night, and Friday night we were all in the cars, you know, out bashing roos," Woodbury said. "They turn into a field and just hunt down roos and chase them with their bull bars and run them over or bash them, literally. I just remember this poor roo with its baby in the pouch just screeching - it was just so horrific."
This violence is not an isolated occurrence, but a regular fixture for visitors traveling to see global sect leader Bruce D. Hales. Podcaster Richard Marsh noted that overseas visitors from England routinely returned from Australia with identical stories.
Another former member, Lane, recalled being taken on a similar excursion in 2004 when he was only 14 years old.
"We started driving through the field with the high beams on," Lane said. "He would hit them with a car and then back up over them... Then he pulls back onto the road, sees another one, hits it, then gets out and grabs it by the tail. It’s like half dead and swings it by the tail around to kill it... a baby fell out of its pouch and he stepped on it and killed it."
Violence in the Hierarchy
The cruelty extends across the globe and implicates the highest-ranking business and spiritual leaders within the church. Former member Mark Ghinn recalled an event from the late 1970s involving Bruce Hazel - now one of the top financial figures in the UK brethren hierarchy - in the garden of prominent priest Oliver Woodcock.
"He killed this rabbit, I don’t think very humanely in my opinion," Ghinn stated. "He first tried to break its neck by pulling the body... It didn’t work, the rabbit was still moving. He then swung it against the side of the shed a few times and it was still moving. And the blood coming out the rabbit’s eyes... it wasn’t very quick."
Ghinn also witnessed Hazel mutilating a crow in a garden a year prior.
"He got some scissors and he hacked quite a lot of length of the wing and there's white pus coming out of the wing," Ghinn said. "He was cutting them really close to the roots."
Sect leaders actively promote a severe lack of empathy in daily life. Research coordinator Richard Marsh explained how these actions tie directly into the core business philosophies handed down by church leadership.
"What W.B. Hales ministered is being ruthless in business... And now Bruce Hales has come back and restated that principle that the brethren should be ruthless in business," Marsh said. "The word ruthless means without compassion or consideration for the suffering of others. And so whether it comes down to how you conduct your business or how you kill a rabbit, it's the same thing. It's a ruthless lack of empathy."
The 1960s Pet Massacre
The roots of this systemic cruelty began with a specific decree issued by the group's former leader, James Taylor Jr., in the 1960s. Taylor declared that pets were "unclean" and took human affection away from God - a mandate that triggered a swift mass extermination of family pets across the global community.
Former member Beverly Richardson recounted how church priests targeted vulnerable members to enforce the rule, describing how a priest walked out of her bedridden grandmother's room with her beloved pet budgie after a 90-minute confrontation. Richardson’s mother was also pressured to euthanize a healthy two-year-old dog.
Another anonymous leaver described the horrific scenes that unfolded inside members' homes as local leaders arrived to enforce the edict.
"The leading brothers came and killed the other animals," the former member recalled. "They did it right there at the home. That traumatized the older kids as they watched in horror as their pets were destroyed. I remember my fish getting flushed down the toilet. I remember a cat getting drowned in the kitchen sink."
The same individual witnessed a leading brother clear baby squirrels from an attic space with absolute malice.
"I watched as one of the leading brothers of our locality came and took each one of the babies out of our attic space and with exclamations of great joy broke their necks in front of me... This was after he had taken great satisfaction and causing them pain by yanking on their limbs and tails."
The long-term psychological impact of growing up without domestic animals has shaped generations of children inside the sect. By stripping away the opportunity to care for a living creature, the leadership normalizes coldness.
Classroom Torture and Institutional Denials
This detached view of animals carries directly into the sect's private school system, OneSchool Global. Outside teachers hired to staff these schools have documented deeply disturbing behavioral patterns among the students. One former teacher detailed these interactions in a published account.
"Due to the fact that they considered animals other than humans... had no souls, they abused them on a regular basis," the teacher wrote. "Brethren do not keep pets, but were very willing to share their experiences of torturing various different animals, from birds to rodents to chickens and cats, to the degree that I decided to invite the Scottish animal welfare charity, SPCA, into the school to give a talk on the penalties involved in animal cruelty."
The teacher went on to describe how students were left completely "puzzled as to why they felt bonded so much with beings that were soulless" after interacting with a science lab gerbilarium.
When these systemic issues leak into the public sphere, the sect's public relations machinery immediately issues total denials. A prominent example occurred when Australian news outlets exposed a widespread rumor that members were being instructed to slaughter their animals. Church leadership quickly went on the defensive, explicitly denying that the sect tells its members to kill their pets.
This response aligns perfectly with the church's public-facing branding strategy. Organizations like the Rapid Relief Team (RRT) heavily promote slogans centered around care and compassion, yet former members emphasize that this public charity work functions primarily as a corporate sanitizing initiative to mask the harsh realities enforced behind closed doors.
Commercial Exploitation and Political Ties
The intersection of animal exploitation, corporate subsidies, and political leverage is perfectly illustrated by the operation of Scottsdale Pork in Tasmania. Owned by confirmed church member Roger Unwin, the commercial piggery has repeatedly secured heavy financial backing from the government.
Tasmanian Government Grants to Scottsdale Pork:
2009: $181,000 for the Piggery Expansion Project
2020: $2,000,000 for Abattoir Construction (Northeast State)
While Unwin's brand markets itself as an ethical consumer choice, an undercover investigation by the Dominion Movement exposed severe animal abuse inside the facility, capturing clear footage of workers abusing pigs and animals showing distinct signs of consciousness after botched stunning attempts.
Unwin’s political history reveals the deeper transactional nature of the sect's operations. In 2006, Unwin was one of two Exclusive Brethren members who secretly authorized and financed aggressive advertisement campaigns attacking the Tasmanian Green Party's policies on same-sex marriage and transgender rights. The covert leafleting campaign directly benefited the mainstream political parties, and millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded grants later flowed directly into Unwin’s commercial abattoir operations.
2026 - pet ban renewed
Kitten euthanised by PBCC member in response to 2026 pet ban
In May 2026, the church issued a fresh statement to parishioners regarding pet ownership following an incident where a dog allegedly attacked a child at a member's home. While the leadership claims this is merely a restatement of existing principles rather than a "new directive," the updated guidance explicitly reminds members that they should avoid pet ownership entirely to prevent distractions from family, faith, and God. While the official statement strongly rejects online reports that members are being ordered to euthanize their animals, former members view this coordinated reminder as a continuation of the same structural pressure that has restricted empathy and isolated families since the 1960s. Accounts and photos from insiders show that the slaughter has already begun.
The pattern remains entirely consistent across all levels of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. From individual teenagers shooting neighborhood cats with crossbows to multi-million dollar commercial slaughterhouses, the foundational doctrine remains the same - a complete, calculated elimination of empathy toward living things.
u/camelusmoreli — 5 days ago
▲ 4 r/cults
Considering a OneSchool Global teaching job? Read this first!
Considering a OneSchool Global teaching job? Read this first!
These are some extracts from the Focus Schools (Now OneSchool Global) banned book list. OneSchool Global is the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church's vaunted school system. Anyone considering working at OneSchool Global should read this and run for the hills. The full list is here;
http://www.wikipeebia.online/.../130130-Copy-of-Focus...
Here is a list of some of the reasons that these books have been banned:
Pets
Feeling proud
Boy/girl friendship
A pregnant dog
Critical of USA presidents
Superstars
Hair
Football
But there are deeper mysteries here. I have a prurient itch to read the "unsuitable chapter" in the soup recipe book. Perhaps its the recipe for Cock-a-leekie that crossed the line into rank indecency?
And as for "Black people of the Americas" - There were so many pages that would need cutting out or pictures/script covering up it wouldn't be worth it.
Well that thoroughly covers Black History then...
On the positive side "God is for the Alcoholic" is good for children of parents that have a problem
That would be pretty much all of them...
u/camelusmoreli — 10 days ago
▲ 3 r/cults
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church website's plaintive protest against the ABC Four Corners program says:
“Our church meets no definition of cult. We don’t recruit people and while every religion has norms and traditions, this can’t be fairly characterised as control."
Compare this claim with Saturday's high-handed demand for compliance from the PBCC's Sydney cult command centre:
>There are reports of some brethren having reverted to owning pets, including dogs and other animals, which practice has been clearly spoken against in ministry. The following references are examples, and there are many others in the ministry indexes which all brethren are encouraged to look up.
>JT Jr., New Series, Volume 64, page 334
Your house is a clean place, though, but then it becomes a holy place if you have an assembly in it. That's why you don't have any dogs around.
>JHS, volume 66, page 145.
Rats and mice out, cats too! Well, they disposed of their dogs. And now what? Well, you acknowledge in the assembly that you were wrong to have such a creature hanging around.
>JSH, new series, volume 127. Page 116. Regarding pets:
Thought they were finished with 30 years ago. Your house has got a pet in it. We couldn't have a supper there, that's all. See, the fellow raised it with Mr. Taylor about a pet, about a dog. Mr. Taylor says they're dogs. Unclean. Get them out. But what that brother didn't realize was it applied to cats.
B.D.H. May even apply to birds, mightn’t it? Might even apply to birds, yes. These things have all been laid down in the statute. They're all on record.
>Every household should be freshly exercised to ensure the standard represented in the great men and their ministries is carried forward and maintained.
>From the Universal Elderhood
If that's not control, what is?
u/camelusmoreli — 16 days ago
▲ 3 r/cults
It took ‘Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination’ just nine hours to start plastering my face with the label “bigot” across social media, writes Eilidh Sproul-Mellis.
3 min read
November 11, 2025 - 1:02AM
Jason Horvatic attended the Athena School in the 90s and has since left Scientology. Picture Ross Swanborough
Hello. My name is Bigot.
I wasn’t aware that I had changed my name overnight. Perhaps I did so in some sleep-deprived stupor? I’m not sure how I would’ve penned my signature in that case.
No, it turns out my name hasn’t changed – not legally – but that’s certainly the name the Church of Scientology and its devotees know me by now.
Honesty, fairness and independence are among the core tenets of the Australian journalistic code of ethics, and doing your utmost to give a fair right of reply chief among the standards we’re all expected to abide by.
I take it quite seriously.
Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination (STAND League) targeted education reporter Eilidh Sproul-Mellis on X after The Daily Telegraph published an article about the church’s education affiliates, including Sydney’s Athena School.
If you’re a follower of Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination (STAND) on X, however, you’d be shocked by that admission, because across their accounts on Monday I was branded a “bigot” who “thinks nothing of targeting members of a global religion” and a propagator of “hate”.
Scientology is a recognised religion in Australia, a fact which hasn’t been seriously challenged since the 1983 High Court ruling in Church of the New Faith v. Commissioner of Payroll Tax which cemented its status.
2014: Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige reopens the Church’s refurbished building on Castlereagh St in Sydney.
But whether you think Scientology is a bona fide religion, a cult or something else entirely, religious institutions and the power they wield cannot go unchecked – especially when it comes to the taxpayer-subsidised education they’re offering.
When a Christian school in Sydney’s northern beaches began attracting controversy over its religious bent on an Indigenous Acknowledgment of Country, we reported on that.
When the Parramatta Catholic diocese began teaching students about “recognising sexuality as an exploration in forming personal identity,” we reported on that.
And when one of my colleagues at The Daily Telegraph investigated the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and found its OneSchool Global campuses do not offer students the opportunity to study biology or performing arts in Year 12, we reported on that.
OneSchool Global campus (Plymouth Brethren Christian Church)
The Daily Telegraph recently published an investigation into the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church aka the Exclusive Brethren, including its OneSchool Global campus.
After researching L. Ron Hubbard’s Study Technology and Scientology’s Applied Scholastics schools, including by speaking to multiple former students and church members on and off the record, I put all relevant claims (as well as some of my own questions) to The Athena School.
I offered the principal a sit-down interview, and when that was declined, sent her detailed questions in writing.
She diligently responded to each point.
I also reached out to the Sydney Church of Scientology – once a source provided me an email address that would actually be answered.
So imagine my surprise when an email from the Los Angeles-based head of “media relations” for the international Church of Scientology landed in my inbox overnight on Saturday claiming I had “failed to contact the Church about this matter”.
David Bloomberg demanded I “do not go forward with your story before contacting me” and so I called him back.
Again, for fair right of reply.
STAND’s ‘code of conduct’ includes a rule that journalists can’t describe Scientology as “controversial” or report on “anti-Scientology hate” as opinion or news.
He had set the gears of the PR machine in motion to dig up a dirt file on my key source, Jason Horvatic, claiming he was “mentally deranged” and had “terrorised staff” at the Sydney church by breaking glass bottles.
He insisted the conversation we were having was “off the record” but when I asked him to respond in writing with a response on the record, he never replied. At time of writing, I haven’t heard from him since.
When I called Jason to ask him about the story he laughed, and explained that his ‘bottle breaking’ incident came near the end of his final stint in the Church, when he was undertaking an “auditing” session called “book and bottle” which encouraged him to exercise his frustrations while moving up the “tone-scale”.
Not once did he threaten anyone with the broken bottles, he said.
It took the STAND League’s Hate Monitor just nine hours from the time the article went live to spread graphics labelling me a bigot across the internet. For what it’s worth, none of the schools, individuals, organisations or interest groups I’ve ever reported on have done that.
I doubt STAND will be thrilled with Tuesday’s edition either.
u/camelusmoreli — 16 days ago
▲ 14 r/Christianity
The American Christian Right's Growing Influence in Canada: A Threat to Rights and Democracy
Author/ Executive Coach (Ret.)
October 2, 2025
Something concerning is occurring in Canada. While we've long taken pride in being more progressive than our southern neighbors, American-style Christian fundamentalism has been quietly taking root here for years. And it's beginning to show results that should alarm anyone who cares about equality, human rights, and Canadian democracy itself.
The Alliance Defending Freedom: A Hate Group Operating in Canada
At the heart of this movement is the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization so extremist that the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified it as a hate group. The ADF has played a major role in efforts to roll back LGBTQ rights and abortion access across the United States since the 1990s. They were key in the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision that overturned abortion rights, and they have openly expressed their plans to overturn same-sex marriage and completely dismantle trans rights.
But here's what most Canadians don't realize: the ADF has been working in this country for years.
Their most notable victory in Canada occurred in 2012 when an Alberta court ruled to uphold religious-based hatred under the banner of free speech. The case involved pastor Stephen Boissoin, who had written a letter to a newspaper stating that "where homosexuality flourishes, all manner of wickedness abounds" and comparing LGBTQ activists to pedophiles and drug dealers. After a decade-long legal battle, the court dismissed the human rights complaint against him. The ADF openly celebrated the work of Calgary lawyer Gerald Chipeur, who argued the case.
Recently, the ADF partnered with Canadian Physicians for Life to publish a paper opposing Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying laws.
The organization operates internationally through ADF International, which claims to have more than 2,500 private attorneys aligned with its mission worldwide. Data shows the ADF spent over $3.2 million in North America outside the United States between 2007 and 2018, but specific figures for Canada remain unclear due to lax disclosure laws.
The Man Behind the Curtain: Gerald Chipeur's Political Connections
If you want to understand how American Christian fundamentalism established a foothold in Canadian politics, you need to learn about Gerald Chipeur. This dual citizen, born in the United States, has deep ties to Canada's conservative political scene.
Chipeur was the former general counsel for the Conservative Party of Canada and a founding member of the "unite the right" movement that formed the modern CPC by merging the Reform Party and the Progressive Conservatives. He advised and represented former Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a lawyer. His connections to current influential figures remain strong. He has ties to Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and served as a director of Poilievre's previous polling company until 2013. He traveled to Korea with then-Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and currently serves on Alberta's mental health review board, where his political ties have led to accusations of bias.
But Chipeur's work goes well beyond mainstream conservative politics. He has represented the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, a controversial sect that some former members describe as a cult. The group, led by Australian millionaire Bruce Hales, requires women to wear headscarves and severely restricts contact with non-members. Former members say leaders have cut them off from friends and family. The RCMP is currently investigating Brethren members in Saskatchewan for alleged sexual abuse.
Internal emails obtained by Canadaland show Chipeur coordinating a manhunt for a former Brethren member turned whistleblower. The same reporting revealed that Brethren-owned businesses have received millions in procurement contracts from Conservative provincial governments, including for PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chipeur also serves on the advisory board of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a registered charity that has become a key player in Canada's culture wars.
The Justice Centre and the War on Trans Rights
The JCCF portrays itself as a defender of constitutional freedoms, but its recent actions tell a different story. The organization has supported cases against trans rights and healthcare in British Columbia. It defended the well-known activist Bill Whatcott, who distributed 1,500 flyers during an election campaign claiming that a trans candidate was dangerous and sinful simply because of her identity. The JCCF claimed this was protected speech in the "marketplace of ideas."
The numbers reveal a troubling story about the organization's growth and influence. The JCCF's revenue has increased sevenfold since 2017, reaching $7 million last year according to tax records. Such a large sum doesn't come out of nowhere. Social justice lawyer Adrienne Smith points to a disturbing pattern: "I think a lot of these organizations have undisclosed donors that are church groups or very wealthy individuals, sometimes American interest groups, that fund these legal efforts."
More recently, the JCCF filed a lawsuit in April 2025 on behalf of Canadian Women's Sex-Based Rights, seeking to end the practice of housing trans women in federal women's prisons. They have also been involved in cases challenging Alberta's restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors.
The organization also played a leading role in supporting the 2022 Freedom Convoy by providing legal aid to protesters. Its founder, John Carpay, took a seven-week leave of absence in 2021 after hiring a private investigator to monitor a Manitoba judge presiding over one of the group's cases.
The Broader Movement: Liberty Coalition and Christian Reconstructionism
The JCCF does not operate in isolation. A CBC investigation in 2023 uncovered a network of fundamentalist Christian groups in Canada that are influenced by Christian reconstructionism, an ideology that aims to transform society based on strict biblical interpretations.
The Liberty Coalition Canada has received support from several elected officials nationwide. The group's founding documents state that religious freedom can only truly exist in countries founded on Christian principles. Their events have drawn attention from controversial American media personalities and groups linked to white nationalist ideology.
The Ezra Institute represents another branch of this movement, maintaining connections with American religious figures who hold extreme views on reproductive rights and other social issues. One affiliated American pastor has publicly stated that abortion should be considered homicide, potentially resulting in capital punishment.
The real-world impact has been substantial. Members of these groups actively participated in the 2022 trucker convoy protests. Anti-drag events and Pride celebrations have encountered organized opposition in cities like Hamilton, where clashes have occasionally turned physical.
The 2023 Protests: American Tactics Come to Canada
September 20, 2023, marked a turning point. Across Canada, protests erupted under the banner "1 Million March 4 Children," targeting LGBTQ-inclusive school policies. These weren't spontaneous grassroots movements; they were coordinated efforts modeled after American strategies, with trained organizers and U.S. political operatives supporting anti-trans candidates in school board elections.
The protests specifically opposed policies in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick that protected trans students' rights to use their chosen names and pronouns at school without parental notification. Counter-protests attracted even larger crowds in many cities, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stating: "Transphobia, homophobia, and biphobia have no place in this country."
But the damage was done. The protests encouraged politicians. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced plans in early 2024 to ban gender-affirming surgeries for minors under 18 and restrict access to hormones and puberty blockers for those under 16. Although a judge temporarily blocked Alberta's ban in June 2025, calling it likely to cause "irreparable harm," Smith has vowed to appeal.
Saskatchewan enacted a law requiring parental consent for students to use their affirmed names or pronouns. The province even invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect the law from judicial review.
The Money Trail: Where American Influence Becomes Clearest
Tracing the money in these movements is almost impossible, and that's intentional. Canadian charity laws offer less transparency than American ones. Organizations can hide their donor lists from the public, and even when tax authorities have concerns about a charity's actions, they can't publicly discuss those concerns unless they move to revoke the charity's status entirely. That process can take over a decade.
This regulatory gap has created an environment where foreign funding can flow into domestic causes with minimal oversight. When the Freedom Convoy raised millions in 2022, leaked donor data revealed that American contributors accounted for more than half of the total raised through one major crowdfunding platform.
Legal scholars who study trans rights have observed a significant funding disparity. International funds from well-established American conservative groups greatly exceed the resources available to organizations fighting for LGBTQ equality. This gap becomes even wider for trans-specific issues, which sometimes struggle to garner support even from progressive movements.
Far-right news outlets operating in Canada have blurred the line between journalism and activism. These platforms don't just report on court cases involving abortion or LGBTQ rights; they actively fundraise for the legal defense of people facing charges related to these issues, sometimes publishing direct banking details for supporters to send money.
The Threat to Canadian Democracy
This isn't just about individual rights, though that would be serious enough. Christian nationalism presents a fundamental threat to Canadian democracy itself.
The ideology aims to combine religious and national identities, promoting the idea that Christian beliefs should influence government policies and that being truly Canadian means being Christian. This opposes Canada's constitutional principles, which safeguard both religious freedom and equality regardless of faith.
The Anglican Church of Canada took a rare step at its 2025 General Synod by formally condemning Christian nationalism as both a betrayal of Christian teachings and a threat to democratic governance. The church's resolution emphasized how this ideology shields discrimination and raises the risk of violence against vulnerable communities.
Academic researchers studying this movement have documented increasingly dehumanizing rhetoric directed at LGBTQ people, especially trans individuals. Scholars observe that when people define their identity narrowly and exclusionarily, those outside those boundaries can become targets. What begins as ideological opposition can escalate into calls for elimination.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has acknowledged the serious nature of these threats, issuing public warnings about the forces driving anti-trans activism in Canada.
The American Connection: Project 2025 and Beyond
To understand the direction this movement aims to take Canada, look at what they're doing in the United States. The Alliance Defending Freedom has a seat on the advisory board for Project 2025, a comprehensive plan to reshape American government around conservative Christian principles. This nearly thousand-page document outlines specific policy goals, including restrictions on sexual content, the elimination of workplace diversity initiatives, and broad limitations on trans rights.
This isn't just theory. The ADF has taken part in nearly 75 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and has directly represented winning parties in 15 of those rulings. They have shown they can turn their agenda into binding law.
American success has driven international expansion. Through its global operations, the ADF now operates in over 100 countries. They've supported efforts to limit abortion access in several European and Latin American countries. In Britain, they've campaigned against buffer zones around reproductive health clinics.
The same strategies, talking points, and increasingly, funding networks are now active in Canada. The infrastructure is in place. The political connections are established. The legal expertise has been imported. What happens next depends on whether Canadians recognize what is happening and choose to push back.
Real-World Consequences
The effects of this movement are already evident in Canadian communities. Trans youth are increasingly reporting feeling unsafe in school environments. Statistics Canada data shows hate crimes targeting people based on sexual orientation have jumped nearly 60 percent in just two years, reaching levels not seen in five years.
The mental health toll has been severe. Research consistently demonstrates that trans young people face dramatically elevated risks of suicidal thoughts and attempts compared to their peers. Studies from the United States have established direct links between anti-trans legislation and increased suicide attempts, suggesting that the political climate itself creates danger.
Healthcare workers serving trans patients have faced harassment campaigns. Educators find themselves caught in impossible situations when provincial laws require them to disclose students' gender identities to parents who may not be supportive. Meanwhile, civil society organizations working to protect LGBTQ rights struggle to compete with the financial resources flowing to groups opposing those same rights.
The scope of this movement goes beyond LGBTQ issues. The same networks challenge access to reproductive healthcare, dispute Indigenous sovereignty claims, and seek to introduce religious teachings in public schools. Together, these efforts form a coordinated attempt to reshape Canadian society according to a restricted vision that leaves out many of the people who actually live here.
What Can Be Done?
Legal experts and civil society groups have called for regulatory reform. Proposals include amending federal tax law to require charities to disclose more information about their funding sources and activities. The aim is to enable tax authorities to publicly identify serious violations of charitable rules, instead of keeping investigations secret for years while problematic groups continue operating.
But transparency alone won't resolve the issue. This is a coordinated campaign with significant resources, seasoned organizers, and political allies across various levels of government. Combating it needs an equally coordinated response.
Investigative journalism must continue to follow the links between American funding sources and Canadian political activities. Politicians should resist pressure from well-funded lobby groups, even when those groups come with teams of lawyers and sophisticated messaging. Courts need to recognize that protections for religious freedom were never intended to give anyone the right to discriminate or impose their beliefs on others.
Perhaps most importantly, Canadians need to understand what is really happening. These are not isolated cases or spontaneous grassroots movements. These are a coordinated effort, supported by foreign money and expertise, mostly from the United States, aimed at reversing decades of progress on human rights.
The question for Canada isn't if American-style Christian fundamentalism will try to reshape us. That's already underway. The real question is whether enough Canadians will see the threat early enough to stop it.
Sources
Alliance Defending Freedom. (2024). About Us. https://adflegal.org/
ADF International. (2024). Our Work. https://adfinternational.org/
Alliance Defending Freedom - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Defending_Freedom
Anglican Church of Canada. (2025). Opposition to Christian Nationalism - General Synod 2025. https://gs2025.anglican.ca/resolutions/c008/
Canadian Anti-Hate Network. (2023). Online Listing Suggestions Anti-2SLGBTQ+, Anti-Abortion Legal Alliance Holding Private Summit at One of Canada's Most Prestigious Hotels. https://www.antihate.ca/online_listing_anti_2slgbtq_anti_abortionl_alliance_defending_freedom_private_summit_canada
Canadian Anti-Hate Network. (2020). We Need To Talk About The Christian Anti-LGBTQ Movement In Canada. https://www.antihate.ca/christian_anti_lgbtq_movement_in_canada
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2023). Inside the fundamentalist Christian movement that wants to remake Canadian politics. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fundamentalist-christian-movement-1.6793677
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2023). Arrests, heated exchanges mark rallies over LGBTQ school policies. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rallies-gender-schools-1.6972606
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2024). U.S. conservatives are using Canadian research to justify anti-trans laws. https://cbc.ca/amp/1.6979356
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2022). Scores of anti-trans candidates running in Ontario school board elections. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ontario-school-board-trustee-investigation-1.6622705
Celeste Trianon. (2025). January 2025 Canadian Anti-Trans Risk Assessment Map. https://celeste.lgbt/en/2025/01/january-2025-canadian-anti-trans-risk-assessment-map/
Community-Based Research Centre. (2024). The Rise of Anti-Trans Laws: How Allies Can Support Canadian Trans and Gender-Expansive Youth. https://www.cbrc.net/anti_trans_laws_youth_support
Corporate Europe Observatory. (2024). Who are the Alliance Defending Freedom and why are they lobbying Brussels? https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/05/who-are-alliance-defending-freedom-and-why-are-they-lobbying-brussels
Egale Canada. (2025). Egale Canada v. Alberta - Health Statutes Amendment Act (Bill 26). https://egale.ca/awareness/egale-v-alberta/
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. (2025). Cases. https://www.jccf.ca/cases/
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Centre_for_Constitutional_Freedoms
Kettering Foundation. (2025). How Christian Nationalism Weakens Democracy and What Can Be Done about It. https://kettering.org/how-christian-nationalism-weakens-democracy-and-what-can-be-done-about-it/
OpenDemocracy. (2020). Revealed: $280m 'dark money' spent by US Christian Right groups globally. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/trump-us-christian-spending-global-revealed/
PBS NewsHour. (2024). What is Christian nationalism and why it raises concerns about threats to democracy. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/what-is-christian-nationalism-and-why-it-raises-concerns-about-threats-to-democracy
Public Religion Research Institute. (2025). A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture. https://prri.org/research/a-christian-nation-understanding-the-threat-of-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-and-culture/
Rolling Stone. (2023). Inside the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Anti-LGBTQ Org Where Mike Johnson Spent Almost a Decade. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/mike-johnson-alliance-defending-freedom-anti-lgbtq-1234865340/
Transgender rights in Canada - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_rights_in_Canada
Washington Blade. (2023). Canada's conservatives take hard turn against transgender people. https://www.washingtonblade.com/2023/09/16/canadas-conservatives-take-hard-turn-against-transgender-people/
Xtra Magazine. (2024). Christian nationalists fuelling anti-LGBTQ2S+ agenda across Canada. https://xtramagazine.com/power/politics/christian-nationalist-groups-canada-253130
u/camelusmoreli — 16 days ago
▲ 11 r/cults
The American Christian Right's Growing Influence in Canada: A Threat to Rights and Democracy
Author/ Executive Coach (Ret.)
October 2, 2025
Something concerning is occurring in Canada. While we've long taken pride in being more progressive than our southern neighbors, American-style Christian fundamentalism has been quietly taking root here for years. And it's beginning to show results that should alarm anyone who cares about equality, human rights, and Canadian democracy itself.
The Alliance Defending Freedom: A Hate Group Operating in Canada
At the heart of this movement is the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization so extremist that the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified it as a hate group. The ADF has played a major role in efforts to roll back LGBTQ rights and abortion access across the United States since the 1990s. They were key in the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision that overturned abortion rights, and they have openly expressed their plans to overturn same-sex marriage and completely dismantle trans rights.
But here's what most Canadians don't realize: the ADF has been working in this country for years.
Their most notable victory in Canada occurred in 2012 when an Alberta court ruled to uphold religious-based hatred under the banner of free speech. The case involved pastor Stephen Boissoin, who had written a letter to a newspaper stating that "where homosexuality flourishes, all manner of wickedness abounds" and comparing LGBTQ activists to pedophiles and drug dealers. After a decade-long legal battle, the court dismissed the human rights complaint against him. The ADF openly celebrated the work of Calgary lawyer Gerald Chipeur, who argued the case.
Recently, the ADF partnered with Canadian Physicians for Life to publish a paper opposing Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying laws.
The organization operates internationally through ADF International, which claims to have more than 2,500 private attorneys aligned with its mission worldwide. Data shows the ADF spent over $3.2 million in North America outside the United States between 2007 and 2018, but specific figures for Canada remain unclear due to lax disclosure laws.
The Man Behind the Curtain: Gerald Chipeur's Political Connections
If you want to understand how American Christian fundamentalism established a foothold in Canadian politics, you need to learn about Gerald Chipeur. This dual citizen, born in the United States, has deep ties to Canada's conservative political scene.
Chipeur was the former general counsel for the Conservative Party of Canada and a founding member of the "unite the right" movement that formed the modern CPC by merging the Reform Party and the Progressive Conservatives. He advised and represented former Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a lawyer. His connections to current influential figures remain strong. He has ties to Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre and served as a director of Poilievre's previous polling company until 2013. He traveled to Korea with then-Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and currently serves on Alberta's mental health review board, where his political ties have led to accusations of bias.
But Chipeur's work goes well beyond mainstream conservative politics. He has represented the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, a controversial sect that some former members describe as a cult. The group, led by Australian millionaire Bruce Hales, requires women to wear headscarves and severely restricts contact with non-members. Former members say leaders have cut them off from friends and family. The RCMP is currently investigating Brethren members in Saskatchewan for alleged sexual abuse.
Internal emails obtained by Canadaland show Chipeur coordinating a manhunt for a former Brethren member turned whistleblower. The same reporting revealed that Brethren-owned businesses have received millions in procurement contracts from Conservative provincial governments, including for PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chipeur also serves on the advisory board of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a registered charity that has become a key player in Canada's culture wars.
The Justice Centre and the War on Trans Rights
The JCCF portrays itself as a defender of constitutional freedoms, but its recent actions tell a different story. The organization has supported cases against trans rights and healthcare in British Columbia. It defended the well-known activist Bill Whatcott, who distributed 1,500 flyers during an election campaign claiming that a trans candidate was dangerous and sinful simply because of her identity. The JCCF claimed this was protected speech in the "marketplace of ideas."
The numbers reveal a troubling story about the organization's growth and influence. The JCCF's revenue has increased sevenfold since 2017, reaching $7 million last year according to tax records. Such a large sum doesn't come out of nowhere. Social justice lawyer Adrienne Smith points to a disturbing pattern: "I think a lot of these organizations have undisclosed donors that are church groups or very wealthy individuals, sometimes American interest groups, that fund these legal efforts."
More recently, the JCCF filed a lawsuit in April 2025 on behalf of Canadian Women's Sex-Based Rights, seeking to end the practice of housing trans women in federal women's prisons. They have also been involved in cases challenging Alberta's restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors.
The organization also played a leading role in supporting the 2022 Freedom Convoy by providing legal aid to protesters. Its founder, John Carpay, took a seven-week leave of absence in 2021 after hiring a private investigator to monitor a Manitoba judge presiding over one of the group's cases.
The Broader Movement: Liberty Coalition and Christian Reconstructionism
The JCCF does not operate in isolation. A CBC investigation in 2023 uncovered a network of fundamentalist Christian groups in Canada that are influenced by Christian reconstructionism, an ideology that aims to transform society based on strict biblical interpretations.
The Liberty Coalition Canada has received support from several elected officials nationwide. The group's founding documents state that religious freedom can only truly exist in countries founded on Christian principles. Their events have drawn attention from controversial American media personalities and groups linked to white nationalist ideology.
The Ezra Institute represents another branch of this movement, maintaining connections with American religious figures who hold extreme views on reproductive rights and other social issues. One affiliated American pastor has publicly stated that abortion should be considered homicide, potentially resulting in capital punishment.
The real-world impact has been substantial. Members of these groups actively participated in the 2022 trucker convoy protests. Anti-drag events and Pride celebrations have encountered organized opposition in cities like Hamilton, where clashes have occasionally turned physical.
The 2023 Protests: American Tactics Come to Canada
September 20, 2023, marked a turning point. Across Canada, protests erupted under the banner "1 Million March 4 Children," targeting LGBTQ-inclusive school policies. These weren't spontaneous grassroots movements; they were coordinated efforts modeled after American strategies, with trained organizers and U.S. political operatives supporting anti-trans candidates in school board elections.
The protests specifically opposed policies in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick that protected trans students' rights to use their chosen names and pronouns at school without parental notification. Counter-protests attracted even larger crowds in many cities, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stating: "Transphobia, homophobia, and biphobia have no place in this country."
But the damage was done. The protests encouraged politicians. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced plans in early 2024 to ban gender-affirming surgeries for minors under 18 and restrict access to hormones and puberty blockers for those under 16. Although a judge temporarily blocked Alberta's ban in June 2025, calling it likely to cause "irreparable harm," Smith has vowed to appeal.
Saskatchewan enacted a law requiring parental consent for students to use their affirmed names or pronouns. The province even invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect the law from judicial review.
The Money Trail: Where American Influence Becomes Clearest
Tracing the money in these movements is almost impossible, and that's intentional. Canadian charity laws offer less transparency than American ones. Organizations can hide their donor lists from the public, and even when tax authorities have concerns about a charity's actions, they can't publicly discuss those concerns unless they move to revoke the charity's status entirely. That process can take over a decade.
This regulatory gap has created an environment where foreign funding can flow into domestic causes with minimal oversight. When the Freedom Convoy raised millions in 2022, leaked donor data revealed that American contributors accounted for more than half of the total raised through one major crowdfunding platform.
Legal scholars who study trans rights have observed a significant funding disparity. International funds from well-established American conservative groups greatly exceed the resources available to organizations fighting for LGBTQ equality. This gap becomes even wider for trans-specific issues, which sometimes struggle to garner support even from progressive movements.
Far-right news outlets operating in Canada have blurred the line between journalism and activism. These platforms don't just report on court cases involving abortion or LGBTQ rights; they actively fundraise for the legal defense of people facing charges related to these issues, sometimes publishing direct banking details for supporters to send money.
The Threat to Canadian Democracy
This isn't just about individual rights, though that would be serious enough. Christian nationalism presents a fundamental threat to Canadian democracy itself.
The ideology aims to combine religious and national identities, promoting the idea that Christian beliefs should influence government policies and that being truly Canadian means being Christian. This opposes Canada's constitutional principles, which safeguard both religious freedom and equality regardless of faith.
The Anglican Church of Canada took a rare step at its 2025 General Synod by formally condemning Christian nationalism as both a betrayal of Christian teachings and a threat to democratic governance. The church's resolution emphasized how this ideology shields discrimination and raises the risk of violence against vulnerable communities.
Academic researchers studying this movement have documented increasingly dehumanizing rhetoric directed at LGBTQ people, especially trans individuals. Scholars observe that when people define their identity narrowly and exclusionarily, those outside those boundaries can become targets. What begins as ideological opposition can escalate into calls for elimination.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has acknowledged the serious nature of these threats, issuing public warnings about the forces driving anti-trans activism in Canada.
The American Connection: Project 2025 and Beyond
To understand the direction this movement aims to take Canada, look at what they're doing in the United States. The Alliance Defending Freedom has a seat on the advisory board for Project 2025, a comprehensive plan to reshape American government around conservative Christian principles. This nearly thousand-page document outlines specific policy goals, including restrictions on sexual content, the elimination of workplace diversity initiatives, and broad limitations on trans rights.
This isn't just theory. The ADF has taken part in nearly 75 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and has directly represented winning parties in 15 of those rulings. They have shown they can turn their agenda into binding law.
American success has driven international expansion. Through its global operations, the ADF now operates in over 100 countries. They've supported efforts to limit abortion access in several European and Latin American countries. In Britain, they've campaigned against buffer zones around reproductive health clinics.
The same strategies, talking points, and increasingly, funding networks are now active in Canada. The infrastructure is in place. The political connections are established. The legal expertise has been imported. What happens next depends on whether Canadians recognize what is happening and choose to push back.
Real-World Consequences
The effects of this movement are already evident in Canadian communities. Trans youth are increasingly reporting feeling unsafe in school environments. Statistics Canada data shows hate crimes targeting people based on sexual orientation have jumped nearly 60 percent in just two years, reaching levels not seen in five years.
The mental health toll has been severe. Research consistently demonstrates that trans young people face dramatically elevated risks of suicidal thoughts and attempts compared to their peers. Studies from the United States have established direct links between anti-trans legislation and increased suicide attempts, suggesting that the political climate itself creates danger.
Healthcare workers serving trans patients have faced harassment campaigns. Educators find themselves caught in impossible situations when provincial laws require them to disclose students' gender identities to parents who may not be supportive. Meanwhile, civil society organizations working to protect LGBTQ rights struggle to compete with the financial resources flowing to groups opposing those same rights.
The scope of this movement goes beyond LGBTQ issues. The same networks challenge access to reproductive healthcare, dispute Indigenous sovereignty claims, and seek to introduce religious teachings in public schools. Together, these efforts form a coordinated attempt to reshape Canadian society according to a restricted vision that leaves out many of the people who actually live here.
What Can Be Done?
Legal experts and civil society groups have called for regulatory reform. Proposals include amending federal tax law to require charities to disclose more information about their funding sources and activities. The aim is to enable tax authorities to publicly identify serious violations of charitable rules, instead of keeping investigations secret for years while problematic groups continue operating.
But transparency alone won't resolve the issue. This is a coordinated campaign with significant resources, seasoned organizers, and political allies across various levels of government. Combating it needs an equally coordinated response.
Investigative journalism must continue to follow the links between American funding sources and Canadian political activities. Politicians should resist pressure from well-funded lobby groups, even when those groups come with teams of lawyers and sophisticated messaging. Courts need to recognize that protections for religious freedom were never intended to give anyone the right to discriminate or impose their beliefs on others.
Perhaps most importantly, Canadians need to understand what is really happening. These are not isolated cases or spontaneous grassroots movements. These are a coordinated effort, supported by foreign money and expertise, mostly from the United States, aimed at reversing decades of progress on human rights.
The question for Canada isn't if American-style Christian fundamentalism will try to reshape us. That's already underway. The real question is whether enough Canadians will see the threat early enough to stop it.
Sources
Alliance Defending Freedom. (2024). About Us. https://adflegal.org/
ADF International. (2024). Our Work. https://adfinternational.org/
Alliance Defending Freedom - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Defending_Freedom
Anglican Church of Canada. (2025). Opposition to Christian Nationalism - General Synod 2025. https://gs2025.anglican.ca/resolutions/c008/
Canadian Anti-Hate Network. (2023). Online Listing Suggestions Anti-2SLGBTQ+, Anti-Abortion Legal Alliance Holding Private Summit at One of Canada's Most Prestigious Hotels. https://www.antihate.ca/online_listing_anti_2slgbtq_anti_abortionl_alliance_defending_freedom_private_summit_canada
Canadian Anti-Hate Network. (2020). We Need To Talk About The Christian Anti-LGBTQ Movement In Canada. https://www.antihate.ca/christian_anti_lgbtq_movement_in_canada
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2023). Inside the fundamentalist Christian movement that wants to remake Canadian politics. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fundamentalist-christian-movement-1.6793677
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2023). Arrests, heated exchanges mark rallies over LGBTQ school policies. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/rallies-gender-schools-1.6972606
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2024). U.S. conservatives are using Canadian research to justify anti-trans laws. https://cbc.ca/amp/1.6979356
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2022). Scores of anti-trans candidates running in Ontario school board elections. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ontario-school-board-trustee-investigation-1.6622705
Celeste Trianon. (2025). January 2025 Canadian Anti-Trans Risk Assessment Map. https://celeste.lgbt/en/2025/01/january-2025-canadian-anti-trans-risk-assessment-map/
Community-Based Research Centre. (2024). The Rise of Anti-Trans Laws: How Allies Can Support Canadian Trans and Gender-Expansive Youth. https://www.cbrc.net/anti_trans_laws_youth_support
Corporate Europe Observatory. (2024). Who are the Alliance Defending Freedom and why are they lobbying Brussels? https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/05/who-are-alliance-defending-freedom-and-why-are-they-lobbying-brussels
Egale Canada. (2025). Egale Canada v. Alberta - Health Statutes Amendment Act (Bill 26). https://egale.ca/awareness/egale-v-alberta/
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. (2025). Cases. https://www.jccf.ca/cases/
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_Centre_for_Constitutional_Freedoms
Kettering Foundation. (2025). How Christian Nationalism Weakens Democracy and What Can Be Done about It. https://kettering.org/how-christian-nationalism-weakens-democracy-and-what-can-be-done-about-it/
OpenDemocracy. (2020). Revealed: $280m 'dark money' spent by US Christian Right groups globally. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/trump-us-christian-spending-global-revealed/
PBS NewsHour. (2024). What is Christian nationalism and why it raises concerns about threats to democracy. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/what-is-christian-nationalism-and-why-it-raises-concerns-about-threats-to-democracy
Public Religion Research Institute. (2025). A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture. https://prri.org/research/a-christian-nation-understanding-the-threat-of-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-and-culture/
Rolling Stone. (2023). Inside the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Anti-LGBTQ Org Where Mike Johnson Spent Almost a Decade. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/mike-johnson-alliance-defending-freedom-anti-lgbtq-1234865340/
Transgender rights in Canada - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_rights_in_Canada
Washington Blade. (2023). Canada's conservatives take hard turn against transgender people. https://www.washingtonblade.com/2023/09/16/canadas-conservatives-take-hard-turn-against-transgender-people/
Xtra Magazine. (2024). Christian nationalists fuelling anti-LGBTQ2S+ agenda across Canada. https://xtramagazine.com/power/politics/christian-nationalist-groups-canada-253130
u/camelusmoreli — 16 days ago
Breaking news – Exclusive Brethren boss orders 50,000 members to dispose of their pets! An edict from the Brethren’s Sydney HQ was read out in all 300+ Plymouth Brethren Christian Church congregations globally on Saturday (May 2nd 2026), banning pet ownership by members. Cats, dogs, birds, rats and mice were all mentioned as being spiritually ‘unclean’ animals, and members were ordered to “uphold the words of the great leaders” who originally instigated the ‘pet ban’ in 1964.
The PBCC is the cult depicted so effectively in Netflix’s Unchosen drama – and the truth is just as strange and horrific as the movie.
History shows this will end very badly for thousands of cats, dogs, hamsters and guinea pigs globally. We expose harrowing stories of the mass slaughter of pets after the original 1964 edict, from both contemporary newspapers and from former members who witnessed their pets being killed – some by euthanasia, and some by cruel and amateurish brutality. We point out the dark hypocrisy of the PBCC’s PR podcasts that depict members as happy pet-owning animal lovers while secretly ordering a cull of cats and dogs.
Next time you see the cheerful red tents and uniformed “volunteers” of the PBCC’s Rapid Relief Team charity, with their slogan of ‘Care and Compassion’ – just remember what dirty secrets hide behind that lie.
Here is the letter read out on saturday morning in every PBCC congregation globally:
>Beloved brethren,
>Four-year-old child attacked by a dog, belonging to a brother while at the brother's house for the evening meal, on Lord's Day, 12th April.
>He sustained significant facial injuries requiring surgery. The ownership of such an animal, let alone it being kept at a brother's home, is clearly wrong. There are reports of some brethren having reverted to owning pets, including dogs and other animals, which practice has been clearly spoken against in ministry. The following references are examples, and there are many others in the ministry indexes which all brethren are encouraged to look up.
>JT Jr., New Series, Volume 64, page 334
Your house is a clean place, though, but then it becomes a holy place if you have an assembly in it. That's why you don't have any dogs around.
>JHS, volume 66, page 145.
Rats and mice out, cats too!
Well, they disposed of their dogs. And now what? Well, you acknowledge in the assembly that you were wrong to have such a creature hanging around.
> JSH, new series, volume 127. Page 116. Regarding pets:
Thought they were finished with 30 years ago. Your house has got a pet in it. We couldn't have a supper there, that's all. See, the fellow raised it with Mr. Taylor about a pet, about a dog. Mr. Taylor says they're dogs. Unclean. Get them out. But what that brother didn't realize was it applied to cats. B.D.H. May even apply to birds, mightn’t it? Might even apply to birds, yes. These things have all been laid down in the statute. They're all on record.
>Every household should be freshly exercised to ensure the standard represented in the great men and their ministries is carried forward and maintained.
> From the Universal Elderhood
Seriously? Can you think of anything more cult-like than imposing a global directive for all the cult members to get rid of their dogs, cats rats, mice and birds!
Here is a another quote from the published Ministry of John S Hales. John Hales was the previous PBCC great leader and is the father of the present PBCC leader Bruce D Hales.
This makes the situation very clear**.** It’s not just a technical difficulty about owning dogs – the Hales family hates dogs and cats, and wants them all dead.
The PBCC tries very hard to look normal in public. They even have their own podcast called "The Not So Exclusive Podcast". They use it to tell stories about their "very good family life". They talk about goats and puppies and how much their children love animals. They want the world to think they are just like any other family. They recorded these interviews to trick the public into believing that they are animal lovers and have pets just like anyone else. Compare these extracts from the PBCC’s PR videos with what their leaders actually say in their privately distributed ministry books.
Look at these screenshots from the PBCC's own podcast;
>2.38 - "In our house at Beecroft we even had goats at one stage cuz we had such a big yard and I had some puppies and yeah it was very much a very good family life there. Um we went on many um uh roadie holidays where we drove around New South Wales and Queensland..."
>14.59 - "Um, our oldest boy, who's nearly four, he's a little bit more outgoing and social than our younger boy. He enjoys entertaining, enjoys having people come to the house, enjoys going out. His um main interests currently revolve around anything to do with animals. He just loves animals..."
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sAC132bfo8
What dark hypocrisy this is! To put actual PBCC members on a video talking about their pets, while privately circulating a cult order for them to be destroyed.
The PBCC officially denies having any specific rules. They claim on their own website that they are simply guided by "Christian values" and the Bible. The letter read out today proves that this is a total fabrication. This letter very clearly states and enforces the PBCC’s “No Pets” rule that dates back to 1964. There is nothing "biblical" or Christian about a despotic and oppressive leader ordering families to destroy their pets based on irrational and unjustifiable rules.
If you read the PBCC’s own websites and PR publications, you would think they were the most blameless and kind-hearted people on the planet – but it’s all lies. Behind the screen of propaganda and the high-visibility antics of the Rapid Relief Team charity is the dystopian cult world that is depicted so accurately on Netflix’s Unchosen TV series. Family affections, the links between husbands and wives, parents and children, people and their pets are all subjugated and broken by the overwhelming demand for blind loyalty to the cult and to its leader, Bruce D Hales.
Let’s take a look at the terrible history of the PBCC’s “No Pets” rule. This is a recurring nightmare for the Brethren. The group has a sick history of killing pets that goes back over sixty years. The story starts in 1964. Apparently, the PBCC’s Man of God at that time, James Taylor Jr., was irritated by a small dog belonging to his daughter. He vented his offended feelings by instigating an apocalyptic slaughter of dogs, cats, budgies, hamsters and guinea pigs that extended all around the globe. James Taylor Jr. told his followers that pets were idols. He said animals took love away from God. Families were heartbroken. They were forced to kill their companions to stay in the "Fellowship".
You don’t believe it? You don’t have to take my word for it – here are some newspaper articles that reported on this terrible time. Note that back in the 60s the PBCC were known as Exclusive Brethren or Close Brethren. There are even a couple of references to W. Bruce Hales, who was the Australian Brethren leader at the time, and is the uncle of the present Bruce Hales.
>DAILY MAIL 7TH FEBRUARY 1964
SECT'S ORDER: GET RID OF PETS
>THE Exclusive Brethren religious sect was reported in Sydney today to have ordered all its members in Australia to get rid of their pets.
>The Sydney secretary of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Mr. R. H. Wilson, said that two former sect members had informed him that its leaders claimed animals "took love of members away from divine things" and members had been treating pets as "idols."
>Mr. Wilson said the two former members telephoned him and then sent him a letter, at his request, giving names of members who had obeyed the Brethren's "edict," which they said was passed at a meeting two weeks ago.
>The letter said one member had dumped his pet cat on a busy Sydney highway.
>CLOSE INVESTIGATION
>Other members were reported to have bought ether to put their pet dogs and cats to sleep.
>Mr. Wilson said the RSPCA would investigate all the cases mentioned in the letter, and the society had full powers to prosecute where necessary.
>The Australian leader of the Exclusive Brethren, Mr. W. B. Hales, was "not available" today when reporters tried to contact him by telephone, but the Sydney Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying he knew nothing of the reported edict.
>HERALD EXPRESS 5TH MARCH 1964
RELIGION NOW BARS THEM FROM KEEPING PETS
>Families in Devon who belong to the Exclusive Brethren religious sect have been told they must not keep pets.
>The rule, said to have been made by the unofficial head of the sect, a New York draper, Mr Jim Taylor, decrees that members must get rid of their pets because of the time taken to look after them and the danger of people "making idols" out of them.
>A former member of the sect who was excommunicated for failing to comply with other edicts of Mr. Taylor, said yesterday:
>'Disgraceful'
>"It now appears that to keep pets is sinful and that anybody who refuses to part with a dog or cat is in danger of being put out of the Fellowship. Previous rules have been bad enough, but this is the limit."
>One elderly man in Exmouth has been told he should get rid of a pet dog he has had for ten years. So far he has refused to part with it.
>A relative who has left the Exclusives said: "I think this rule is utterly disgraceful. They used to be a nice bunch of people, but they are now doing things which are absolutely ridiculous."
>'Time waster'
>At Crediton, townspeople are talking about pets which have vanished in recent weeks from the homes of some of the Exclusives.
> One member, Mrs. May Moulden, a widow, of Waresfoot-drive, agreed she had recently had her daughter's six-year-old poodle, Snowy, put to sleep, but she said it had nothing to do with any ruling in the church. The dog was sick and suffering from dysentery.
>But Mrs. Moulden said she believed that time taken in looking after pets could be more profitably spent, and also that it was wrong for people to go out for lengthy periods leaving pets alone.
>Another of the Exclusives, Mrs. Keith Markham, of Buller-road, Crediton, when asked if it were true that she and her husband had given away their pet labrador and pet corgi dogs because of the ruling said: "I did have two dogs, but I also had two of the children sick at the time."
>'The Outs'
>Several families in Crediton have been split by differences over rulings in the Exclusives. Several members, who were "put out" or excommunicated for failing to comply, have now formed their own group for worship which they call "The Outs." They referred to the members still in fellowship as "The Ins."
>The Exclusives are said to have some 500 chapels or "rooms" throughout Britain, and about 10,000 members. Most of their meetings are private, but they usually hold a service for the general public each Sunday afternoon at three o'clock.
>DAILY RECORD 22ND NOVEMBER 1965
VETS ACT TO SAVE THE PETS
> AN Exclusive Brethren family gave away their dog despite the pleas of their children to keep it.
>For almost a year they had held out against the order of Archangel Jim Taylor, of New York, that all pets must be got rid of.
>Then pressure from other members of the sect proved too great.
>But at least the family gave the pet away to people who would give it a good home. Other pets - including hamsters, cats, white mice and puppies - were not so lucky.They were taken to vets and destroyed.
> STOPPED
>A leading North-East vet said last night: "It wasn't until quite a few pets had been put away that vets realised what was going on and we put a stop to the whole thing.
>"When we refused to put away the pets, the Brethren people started looking for homes for them.
>A former sect member said in Peterhead: "There are few Brethren homes in this area now where there is a pet of any kind.
>"The order bears most heavily on the children. Already they are denied comics, TV, cinema, radio and in many cases the opportunity to mix with non-believers' children and to play games."
>THE PRESS AND JOURNAL 22ND NOVEMBER 1965
BRETHREN HOMES CLEARED OF PETS—BY ORDER
>SCORES of Close Brethren families throughout the North-east have had their pets "put down" since Big Jim Taylor, leader of Britain's strictest religious sect, issued the edict: "Save all your love for your religion."
>Puppies, kittens, hamsters and white mice have been victims of the order.
>But at Peterhead, for years a Brethren stronghold, a vet has now refused to make any more killings.
>"I have had many requests to do away with pets. All sorts of excuses were given why they had to die," he said.
>"These people were heartbroken at losing their pets, but seemed compelled to carry out the order. Some admitted they were Close Brethren. Others would not. Now I have refused to kill any more."
>'REFUSE UNLESS...'
>The New York-based leader of the Brethren issued the edict because he thought members might give the animals too much devotion. They were ordered either to kill or get rid of them.
>But at Fraserburgh, where the sect has a number of members, the order seems to have been ignored.
>One veterinary surgeon said yesterday: "As far as I know there has been nothing like that here. If it did happen, I would certainly refuse on professional grounds unless there was another very good reason.
>"In any case, we always try to find other homes for the animals."
>TWO YEARS AGO
>The order went out about two years ago, according to Brethren sources.
>And this was confirmed by a Banffshire vet, who said: "From memory I would say it was two years ago I heard about Brethren having to get rid of their pets. It was not a great problem in this area and I can recall only one request.
>"If there had been many I think possibly the RSPCA would have been asked."
The trauma from the 1960s still haunts the people who escaped. We have gathered accounts from former members who watched this happen. These aren't just dry reports. These are stories of "priests" walking out of homes with birdcages. These are memories of children watching their parents drown cats in kitchen sinks. The leaders told them that animals were created evil. They taught that showing affection to a creature was a sin. Here’s a transcript of former members talking about their experiences:
>Beverly Richardson:
>"My parents and grandmother who lived with us were out when the 'no pets' rule came in. My grandmother had a pet budgie named Pell which talked and she loved that bird. When she was restored, she had a very long priestly and a priest walked out after about 90 minutes with the bird in the cage. She would have known he was either going to let it out or kill it. She was a bedridden old lady with heart failure. She died not long after."
>"My pup I had, which I know was against their rules, but someone gave it to me after my father died. Two years later, when I ran from home, I couldn't take my pup with me. If only I had. I knew mom loved that dog as much as me and with her a widow with no other children, I felt it would be company for her. I believe she was made, encouraged to have the pup euthanized. No doubt they used the fact I had this pup as a reason for me running away. It still haunts me. A two-year-old healthy dog deserved more. My dad was a country boy and early in life we had pets and I was taught to love animals. They were God's creation. I always think how people treat animals gives a good judgment of their character."
>Anonymous:
"My mother, who was completely brainwashed, took our lovely little whippet to the vet to be put down in 1963, 1964, or whenever that awful rule came in. I had just started work and remembered being so upset and crying. My brother and I were only talking about it this week. That makes me ashamed that someone could do such a thing and makes me feel sick in my stomach when I think about it still. How dreadful it was."
>Mark Elliott
"We once lived next door to two OneSchool Global teachers. They told us children were so cruel to hamsters, rabbits, etc., trying to poke their eyes out with pencils, etc. That they organized a visit from the SPCA to try and teach pupils to treat them more kindly." And I actually have an article pulled up and I'm going to refer to in a bit.
>Anonymous:
"My family had a dog named Chippy. My sister and the older kids also had a house full of pets. Rabbits that my dad had made a pen for in the basement of where I grew up. Rats, guinea pigs, mice, hamsters, a cat, budgie, snake, fish, etc. When the ruling came in that we could no longer have pets, my dad had to get Chippy put down at the vet and he wasn't old. They weren't allowed to re-home the pets as that was considered taking part in committing evil."
>"The leading brothers came and killed the other animals. They did it right there at the home. That traumatized the older kids as they watched in horror as their pets were destroyed. I remember my fish getting flushed down the toilet. I remember a cat getting drowned in the kitchen sink. I was little. The teaching that animals were evil and to be treated with disrespect and coldness, that still sickens me to today."
>"When I was young, around the grade one age, we had a family of squirrels living in an attic space in our home. I watched as one of the leading brothers of our locality came and took each one of the babies out of our attic space and with exclamations of great joy broke their necks in front of me, right in one of the bedrooms where the attic access was, dropping each of the dead babies into a paper bag to be disposed of. This was after he had taken great satisfaction and causing them pain by yanking on their limbs and tails. My mom wanted them to just be outside so they'd live, but I remember how this brother reminded my mom that animals were all created evil as they take our time and affection away from God. I remember my mom throwing up after this experience. She loved all animals."
>"A second instance I clearly remember was when we were visiting the Bryan's house in London, Ontario. Our family was good friends with the Bryan family. Again, I was young. A cat had a litter of kittens under their porch. When I discovered them, I was overjoyed and I was enjoying cuddling them as I loved animals. But Mr. Bryan was horrified that such evil was on his property. He took them and with one of his tools that he used for car repairs, he made sure they were dead. I don't know if I should share the gruesome details. He then asked us to get the hose so we could wash away the blood and stuff. That made me sick. I hated visiting there after that. Seeing kitten's head smashed in as a young kid is extremely traumatizing."
>Helen:
"So there was a woman who, a blind sister who had a guide dog and she was made to give up the guide dog because it was a pet. And of course brethren can't have pets so you can't have a guide dog because is a pet. So what they did was in one fell swoop they took away her independence. She then had to rely on everybody else, her husband, to walk anywhere to do anything, she had no independence they just stripped it off. They didn't care, oh it's a pet well you can't have it, can't possibly have that. It's cruel."
The danger to animals today is real. The PBCC culture breeds a specific kind of contempt for creatures. We saw this in 2017 when a member named Oliver Selby shot his neighbor’s cat with a crossbow. He kept a cache of illegal weapons in his bedroom. In typical PBCC gaslighting fshion, the church and his lawyer tried to paint him as a "loyal and trustworthy" Christian volunteer. This is the reality of the group. They devalue animal life as a matter of policy. With the new rule in place today, many more pets will likely face the same fate as that neighbor's cat
>Man escapes illegal weapon conviction after three crossbows found during animal cruelty investigation
>THE owner of a cat shot with a crossbow is angry her neighbour has escaped conviction despite his cache of illegal weaponry being discovered during an animal cruelty investigation.
>Andrew Hough
>THE owner of a cat shot with a crossbow is angry her neighbour has escaped conviction, despite his cache of illegal weaponry being discovered during an animal cruelty investigation.
>The black and white moggy, Max, cheated death following emergency surgery last month, which successfully removed the arrow from between his eyes.
>But his devastated owners Renny and Andy Goodwin, both 48, are not happy after Adelaide Hills hunter Oliver Lyndon Selby, 20, walked from a court on Wednesday with a fine that was just a fraction of their costs.
>Despite hiding three illegal crossbows and 20 bolts in his bedroom, he escaped conviction in the Mt Barker Magistrates Court for a crime described as serious.
>Mr Selby faced a maximum fine of $20,000 or a two-year jail term.
>The court heard the Christian — understood to be a Plymouth Brethren Christian Church chapter member — worked as a salesman for his father’s air compression system company.
>Stephen Ey, defending, told the court how his hard working, loyal, and trustworthy client, who also volunteers for charity, required special security clearances for Federal Government clients such as the air force.
>While the court did not hear why detectives raided Selby’s Mt Barker family property — located on the same street as the Goodwin’s — on May 2.
>Police have said it was part of an animal cruelty investigation.
>That investigation remains ongoing as police await crucial DNA tests for a crime the RSPCA describe as “sickening”.
You might argue that Selby is just one bad apple in the barrel, and that one sadistic moron doesn’t actiually prove that there is a systemic problem with animal cruelty in the cult.
But there’s more…
Read this account from a OneSchool Global teacher about her experiences with a class of PBCC pupils:
https://faithschoolersanonymous.uk/2016/06/exclusive-brethren/
>The attitude of pupils was what I found most shocking after some time. It became obvious that they (due to their confined living arrangements) were outwardly extremely racist, and homophobic, and due to the fact that they considered animals (other than humans – although to a Brethren pupil a human is not a member of the Animal Kingdom) had no souls, they abused them on a regular basis.
Brethren do not keep pets, but were very willing to share their experiences of torturing various different animals from birds to rodents, to chickens and cats, to the degree that I decided to invite the Scottish animal welfare charity SPCA into school to give a talk on the penalties involved in animal cruelty.
I introduced a gerbilarium into the science lab, which helped some students to eventually realise that other species were not useless, as they enjoyed handling these animals at any given opportunity, and were left puzzled at why they felt they bonded so much with beings that were soul-less.
It was a very confusing experience for them, but one which I hoped would help to teach them respect for other species at least. I also learned from discussions with them about animals or people different to themselves, that they had very little knowledge of the terms “ethics and morals”, and were even suspicious of them! I found this astounding especially from 17 / 18yr old pupils.
The "Universal Elderhood" (Which is just a proxy name for the Hales family) says your house must be a "holy place". They call animals "unclean". This is the same old poison from 1964. Thousands of families are now trapped in a state of panic. They have to decide if they will obey the "Great Leader" or protect the animals they love. The PBCC is showing its true face today. It is the face of a group that demands the death of a family pet as a proof of loyalty.
Given that there are over 50,000 PBCC members around the globe, think how many pets there must be that are now under the sentence of death.
You can be sure that the slaughter has already begun.
Veterinary clinics may soon face a pattern that cannot be ignored. Healthy animals may be brought in for euthanasia, and the reasons given may not hold up under simple questions. Owners may show distress, but they may not speak freely about why they are there. Pressure can drive these visits, and that pressure can come from outside the room.
Veterinarians and clinic staff stand at the last point before these animals die. That position gives them a clear responsibility. They can slow the process, ask direct questions, and check who is making the decision. Some cases will pass a basic check. Others will not. Staff can look at the facts in front of them and decide whether the request makes sense.
Patterns matter more than single cases. One healthy animal brought in for euthanasia may not raise alarm, but a string of similar cases in the same area should. Five, ten, or twenty animals presented within a short time frame points to something organised. Clinics will see this first because the cases come through their doors one by one. Each visit may look separate, but the repetition tells the real story.
Animal welfare organisations need to track these cases and act early. The RSPCA, PETA, local humane societies, and animal control services all have the ability to connect reports across regions. They can compare numbers, identify clusters, and step in when the pattern becomes clear. Waiting too long allows the harm to continue.
Once an animal is euthanised, the decision cannot be undone. That fact sits at the centre of every case. Clinics, welfare groups, and members of the public all have a role in stopping harm before it reaches that point. Anyone who sees signs of this pattern should report it and push for attention. Silence allows it to spread.
All this despicable cruelty has been unleashed by an anonymous letter from a despotic cult leader, ordering all 10k or so Exclusive Brethren households to destroy their pets – because they might take their affections away from God. The letter is signed by “The Universal Elderhood” – which is a phrase straight out of a cult horror movie – but in fact, the Universal Elderhood doesn’t exist. There is no democracy at the top – no consultation with Brethren members around the world. It’s just you, Bruce D. Hales, having a bad day or a bad hangover and lashing out at innocent people and innocent animals – just like your predecessor did 62 years ago.
Look at what the PBCC members are actually engaged in under your leadership. Do they have any time for God, when the men are working 16 hours a day in their billion-dollar “fellowship” businesses, and the women are worn to the bone trying to keep up with your ridiculous “entertaining” expectations of fine dining and immaculate McMansion showhomes?
The PBCC are obsessed with expensive, overpowered cars, a luxurious “keeping up with the Joneses” lifestyle, and a feverish pace of international travel and business meetings – but a Brethren child must give up their pet hamster because it will take his affections away from God?
It’s time this cult was stopped. A cult that orders its members to destroy pets has no place in modern society, and certainly should not be receiving charitable status and government funding for its cruel practices.
We are calling on the PBCC spokesman Lloyd Grimshaw to show his ugly face and explain to the public exactly how they can justify killing cats in the name of God and the Bible.
The PBCC has crossed a line. Animal lovers everywhere need to speak out and tell their MPs to take action to have this cult stripped of its charitable status. Money is the only argument that Bruce Hales can understand.
u/camelusmoreli — 17 days ago
To former members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church watching Netflix’s Unchosen, there are a few lines that prove beyond any doubt that the show is based on the cult they were raised in. In this article, I will give some examples of how the terminology, governance structure, disciplinary practices, and other details of the PBCC and Fellowship of the Divine are perfectly matched.
In Episode 2 at 04:40, Mr Phillips and Adam are talking:
“The Great Leader? How the secular authorities dare to question his tax affairs…”
Suddenly the Fellowship of the Divine expands – it is not a single community with Mr Phillips at the head – there is a higher level of administration – the “Great Leader” – presumably a figure of some notoriety, as Mr Phillips is reading about him from the newspaper.
Later in the episode, we find that the Fellowship of the Divine is an international cult. Mr Crane, an elder in Adam’s congregation, is sent to a congregation in Canada:
Ep. 2 – 04:46
“Mr. Crane's financial expertise, much needed in Canada. So… an opportunity, Adam.
Sorry, I don't follow.
A leadership role. Probationary period.
Goodness. I… I, uh… Thank you.”
Ep. 2 – 27:32
And as we welcome Adam into his new role, we bid farewell to Mr Crane.
Wish him well with his relocation. Canada's gain is our loss.
Later in the series, we find the names of two other Fellowship communities in the UK – Northampton and Norwich.
Ep. 5 – 31:56
Hey, uh… This is for a brother. Northampton community, he owns a Fellowship business, so—it's building supplies.
Ep. 6 – 19:27
Grace? You need to be quick.
We have to go.
I'll drive you to Norwich. My father's cousin, Martin, he's the elder there. It's building supplies.
These scattered lines give us the big picture of the Fellowship of the Divine – and we find that it is an exact match to the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.
- The Fellowship is an international cult, led by a single “Great Leader” – notorious enough that an investigation into his tax affairs is public news. The PBCC is also an international cult, led by a single all-powerful “Great Leader” – Bruce D. Hales – and it is currently in the news due to multiple Australian Tax Office investigations into its leadership’s tax affairs - see https://www.reddit.com/r/cults/comments/1s3r8do/the_ubt_scandal_millionaires_stealing_from_charity/
- The Fellowship’s individual congregations are led by “elders” and are named after the cities where they are located. The PBCC’s 300 or so congregations are also named for their cities and led by elders. The city names are retained even though, in practice, PBCC members usually live in the rural commuter belt, avoiding urban areas. Unchosen’s rural setting reflects this PBCC practice.
- The senior elder in a Fellowship congregation appoints junior elders to work under his direction. There is no seminary, ordination, or theological or pastoral training for the role – Adam is simply appointed on Mr Phillips’ whim. Exactly the same process operates in PBCC congregations. There is no formal appointment process or documentation of leadership roles – but each congregation unquestionably has a leader. In PBCC terminology, this man is described as “the local lead” and is said to be “giving the lead” in his congregation. His authority is confirmed by annual invitations to the “Universal Meetings,” where the “Great Leader” instructs and admonishes local leaders on how to run their congregations.
- From the wider plot of Unchosen, we see that if local Fellowship leaders transgress, they are swiftly “confined” and replaced by another elder from the congregation. This is a recurring theme in every PBCC congregation globally. A PBCC local leader who lasts a decade counts himself lucky, and leadership succession always involves the disgrace of the incumbent, who is then publicly humiliated by his successor. If the deposed leader avoids actually being “confined” as Mr Phillips was, he usually has to “sit back,” i.e. he is no longer allowed to sit on the front row of brothers in the Meeting Room.
- We also see that Fellowship elders from one congregation are directed to relocate to other congregations around the world where their “financial expertise” is needed – evidence of a powerful global organisation that overrides local control. This is a direct reference to the PBCC. Since 1990, thousands of PBCC members have been sent to congregations in different countries, not just to add numbers to small congregations, but specifically to bring business expertise and finance to congregations that lack these skills. Specifically, numerous PBCC members from the UK have moved to Canadian congregations for this reason.
Let’s take a look at some of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church’s internal Ministry that mirrors the language and governance structure we see in Unchosen. These quotes are from the Subject Index to the Ministry of B. D. Hales.
The references below to the Great Leader are from Bruce D. Hales, described on the PBCC’s website as “our most senior leader.” In the first quote, he is talking about his father and predecessor, John S. Hales, and in the second he is invoking the whole succession of PBCC “Great Leaders” back to the 1820s – J. N. Darby, F. E. Raven, James Taylor Sr., James Taylor Jr., James H. Symington, and John S. Hales.
>our beloved brother recently, last great leader, was
very much under reproach. You think of those years
when he was standing idle, you might say, but he never
quit, he never gave up ................. 39:117
Hamilton, Australia, Reading, Tuesday, 17 May 2005
>These six great leaders that we've had have gone,
They were very distinctive, special, in a certain sense,
something ... immediately you're in touch with the food
supply .. 26:18:
Hamburg, Reading, Wednesday, 17 March 2004
There is another, even more striking reference to the PBCC’s Great Leaders in Unchosen – and it is a visual reference, not a spoken one. In Mr Phillips’s office, there is a very prominent row of large portraits of successive cult leaders on the wall. This is a direct copy of PBCC practice. The PBCC’s business wing sells a large canvas depicting the seven Great Leaders of the PBCC – the six mentioned in the quotes above, plus Bruce Hales, the seventh. Every PBCC household globally is expected to have this canvas on display.
The seven successive leaders’ portraits in Mr Phillips’s office from Unchosen.
The mandatory “Canvas of the Seven Great Leaders” from a PBCC home.
The next reference is to the “local leads.” The scripture reference is to St Paul, whom the PBCC regard as the prototype for their own “Great Leaders.” Bruce Hales is giving this as a metaphor, to say that local leaders are qualified to lead by studying him personally, not by training or certificates. This quote encapsulates the whole PBCC hierarchy of control.
>Have you ever thought of that, you guys who are trying
to give leads or whatever, whatever you call them, take
the leadership roles, leadership roles? Did you do any
training for it? Have you got any certificates to prove to
me that you can give a lead? Timothy was an understudy
to Paul, that’s how he learnt to lead; he was qualified, he
was complete as to qualifications .............. 70:56
Oamaru, Reading, Monday, 3 December 2007
The next quote brings in the specific terminology “confinement” – a disciplinary practice characteristic of both the PBCC and the Fellowship of the Divine.
>the procedure of persons being confined ... normally
would be to see how they get on, whether they make a
turn, whether they're accepting their obligations to get
right, and get into the clear. But if time is given, and
they're identifying themselves with what's worldly, what's
evil, what's against the principles of the truth, then you'd
have to look at what Scripture applies. It wouldn’t be
intended that the position be left indefinitely .. 34:224
Christchurch, Reading 3, Saturday, 21 August 2004
The same term occurs in Episode 6 of Unchosen when Mr Phillips is confined:
Ep. 6 - 05:28
You are to be silenced. Stripped of your leadership. You are to remain in your home, forbidden to attend meetings, communicate in any way with any brother or sister… or set foot in any Fellowship business premises.
Ep.6 - 05:51
Hello. Adam, I'm at the Phillipses’. Bit of a situation here. Yeah, I need your help. Okay. Understood. Mr Phillips is out. He's broken his confinement.
The next quote is chilling and confirms the severity of the “confinement” punishment. Here, B.D.H. is asked about the permitted level of contact between the parties when a husband is “withdrawn from” (i.e. finally excommunicated) and the wife is in the intermediate position of being “confined.” The terms "Fellowship" and "Separation" come into this quote too - PBCC members often refer to their sect as "The Fellowship" or more formally as "the Holy Fellowship of God's Son". In Episode 1. Mrs. Phillips says:
Ep.1 - 21:41
"Separation is our sole principle. We must live our beliefs. I'm sure you'll find a way to demonstrate your repentance."
Here is the quote from Bruce Hales:
>The husband is withdrawn from, and the wife is con-
fined. How much contact would there be between the
wife and her husband, and the wife and the brethren?
B.D.H. Well, separation must be recognised, clearly.
If someone is under assembly discipline, then every
contact must be on a priestly basis, otherwise we're likely
to exclude ourselves from fellowship, even if accepting
the confined position. Should be care, there should be
care rendered to persons in that situation, where they're
under restriction because of the defection of someone
else. . . . . . 38:29:
Coventry, Reading 2, Friday, 22 April 2005
The next quote is a question to B.D.H. (Bruce D. Hales) about how to correct matters if someone has been “confined” in error. It also uses the term “elder,” which is the standard term for a PBCC brother with administrative responsibility in a congregation.
>Where we've gone too far administratively, maybe in
confining or withdrawing from somebody, how would the
assembly meet that type of transgression? B.D.H. Well,
it would be that the assembly would ask forgiveness ...
It would be through prayer in assembly by the elders
taking the matter on in a responsible way and seeking
forgiveness, getting the matter settled ........ 13:228
Sydney, Reading 4, Saturday, 25 January 2003
Are you feeeling the Unchosen vibe yet?
The term “relocation,” as used for Mr Crane in the Fellowship, is standard PBCC terminology – there is a whole section in the Subject Index to the Ministry of B. D. Hales headed “Relocation.”
Here are some quotes:
>RELOCATION—the Lord’s mind cont.
>It would raise with us what our mind is, what our
disposition is in making a move. Are we, are we equal for
it? Are our families together with us? Is the Lord going to
prosper it? Will it strengthen, will there be a strengthening
through the proposed move? Will that strengthen the
locality to which we’re moving? .............. 75:289
Redbridge, Reading, Tuesday, 20 May 2008
>RELOCATION—to another nation
>These new assemblies that are being established, it's
very fine that persons are exercised to—it’s really on the
principle of self-denial really, it's the principle of sacrifice
... These brethren that are going overseas, you know,
once they get into a North American winter, up there in
that area where beloved Mr. Symington was, see the
hardship of winter—we wouldn't be able to take it 10:7
Sydney, Reading, Lord’s day, 6 October 2002
>I think it’s very fine that you'll get persons prepared
to move from one nation to another, I think it’s meant to
deliver us from national pride ................. 15:387
Lyon, Reading, Monday, 31 March 2003
These are just some of the most striking references that link Unchosen’s Fellowship of the Divine to the PBCC. Some of these, such as the “confinement” practice, are major plot themes in Unchosen. Others, such as the “Great Leader’s tax affairs” comment, appear to the public at large to be just a throwaway line – but it is not. It’s a deliberate signal that unequivocally identifies the Fellowship of the Divine as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.
Here is a summary of the specific commonalities identified in this article between the fictious cult in Unchosen and the very real cult of the PBCC. The article only covers a few of these shared characteristics - there are at least 70 in total.
- Single central “Great Leader” with absolute authority over the entire organisation
- Operate as international networks, not isolated local churches
- Congregations are city-based and run by “elders” within a strict hierarchy
- No formal training or ordination — leaders are appointed internally
- Top-down control — leadership roles assigned and directed from above
- Local leaders are regularly removed, disgraced, and replaced
- Use of “confinement” — isolating members from community and communication
- Strong doctrine of separation from outsiders
- Members are relocated internationally to serve organisational and financial needs
- Business and religion are tightly linked across congregations
- Shared internal language — terms like “Fellowship,” "great leader" “elder,” “relocation,” “confinement”
- Leader veneration through lineage and imagery (e.g. portraits of successive leaders)
u/camelusmoreli — 18 days ago
When the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) and its charitable arm, the Rapid Relief Team (RRT), set their sights on Canadian podcaster Cheryl Bawtinheimer, they didn’t sue her for her harrowing allegations of institutional abuse—they sued her over a cartoon bird. By leveraging the DMCA and the high-powered "mercenaries" at Brown Rudnick, this Australian-based sect attempted to use American copyright law as a surgical tool for global censorship. What follows is a curated transcript of the legal firestorm, where the "eagle scream" of the First Amendment meets the "kookaburra of censorship" in a proxy war that could redefine the boundaries of Fair Use for every creator on the internet.
https://www.youtube.com/live/imW7jMKZoDU
As this is a long podcast with a lot of other stuff discussed, I have extracted the most relevant sections from the transcript:
5:02 Host: Get a Life podcast is here. Hello. How's it going? Get a Life Podcast, we are actually going to be chatting about your case today. So, welcome in.
16:10 Host: You're here to talk about something that is current and that is a case that involves an Australian religious sect and a Canadian lady and she's in chat right now. Would you like to give us the download first before we look at this? Mark Randazza: Sure. So look, my client was a member of this as you say religious sect... and she left. Generally speaking, when you're part of this organization, all your friends are in it, your relatives are in it, your job is in it. And if you get kicked out or you leave, you know, all of a sudden it's like—look, if I got excommunicated from being Catholic, not much would change tomorrow. But if you get kicked out of being in the Exclusive Brethren... you've got a problem. There’s a lot of allegations that they control most aspects of your life.
18:16 Mark Randazza: My client has this podcast called Get a Life where she interviews people who have left. She provides essentially a network and a global support group for people who have left. I had these people writing in saying when they left, they were alone and this was the light that they had. My client actually is saying wonderful things and doing great things for people and is actually a genuinely good person.
19:30 Mark Randazza: In five videos that she did, she was talking about this organization and it has this charitable arm called the Rapid Relief Team (RRT). Now, let’s presume it’s legit because it doesn’t matter if they’re bad; it matters that what they did here is bad. They have this logo that looks like this clip art kookaburra. This symbol is on their website. And in these five videos, people are talking—it's either her or a guest—criticizing the organization. Mark Randazza: Now they have this adorable theory that if you show their logo, that's infringing on the copyright on their logo. It literally shows in their complaint that this is part of a commentary. It shows the title to the damn video talking about someone criticizing them.
22:44 Mark Randazza: They're saying to her and they're saying to YouTube that this is copyright infringement and it just isn't. A [person] in a hurry would know better than to say that this is copyright infringement. That actually comes from a series of British and Canadian decisions where they say not even a [person] in a hurry could have trouble distinguishing these two things.
23:44 Mark Randazza: I didn't want to get sued for copyright infringement by them, so I made my own kookaburra graphic. I thought this was more demonstrative of my theory for the case: the eagle of freedom [confronting] the kookaburra of censorship. It's got a broken cricket bat because that's what you people play, right?
25:01 Mark Randazza: They used a law called the DMCA. Piracy online could happen wicked fast, so YouTube has an infringement policy that if you send a DMCA notice, boom, down comes the content. YouTube doesn't have an adjudication process. They just take it down. Now you can say, "Hey, wait a minute, that's fair use," because people will abuse this.
28:08 Mark Randazza: The person who signed most of these DMCA notices is not just a person who should have known better. It was a lawyer—a copyright lawyer. If you're not just a copyright lawyer, but you are like the swinging dick copyright lawyer at one of these big mega firms, I think you ought to know better. Mark Randazza: What I did is I used that law to counter claim against them. We've counter claimed against RRT. We've counter claimed against the law firm and the lawyers, which I understand they are wicked upset about. They got a whole footnote in their briefing about my discipline in the past... great, talk about that for a second.
29:28 Host: This is Brown Rudnick, right? Mark Randazza: [Them]. Seriously, man. The Exclusive Brethren have hired Brown Rudnick in the US. Why not? It sounds like they can afford it. And honestly, if we win and we get damages and all of our attorneys' fees, you know what that is? That's like [dirt] off the shoe of the RRTs. It isn't going to be a big thing for them.
30:17 Host: Brown Rudnick took them on to sue a small YouTuber in Canada for copyright infringement for what is essentially fair use of a logo to shut down her speech... her channel because she was speaking about child sexual abuse by a religious sect. Mark Randazza: Their position is it's because she's using the kookaburra logo. They say, "Well, you can just re-edit the videos taking out the bird." Well, the answer to that is: go [yourself]. You don't get to edit my client's podcast. Did Nixon get to edit the Washington Post after Watergate? No. They also said, "Well, we only took down five out of 100 videos." It's like, ah, yeah, we only [abused] five of the kids in the preschool. They have this complete lack of self-awareness. It's quite obviously hurt feelings.
48:54 Host: Let's go back to the Get a Life podcast and the situation with that. [Plays News Segment]
>News Clip: The Australian arm of a controversial church is back in the spotlight following its decision to sue a former parishioner who claims she was sexually abused... The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, also known for its charity, the Rapid Relief Team, is taking Cheryl Bawtinheimer to court in California. They've hit her with a copyright infringement for using one of their logos. Host: Why do you think they didn't take Channel 10 to court over using the kookaburra? Mark Randazza: Channel 10 has very expensive lawyers as well. Bullies and muggers don't pick big targets. You never see the big kid in class getting bullied.
50:41 Reporter (in clip): Cheryl, this seems like a lot more than a copyright case. Cheryl Bawtinheimer (in clip): It is. It’s very much more. I think the biggest thing is that the sexual abuse victims are starting to find a voice in there. I do think that this is their main way to stop the onslaught... to come up with just a copyright infringement on a cartoon bird goes to show that they don't have much to come after us with.
53:06 Host: Cheryl says in chat, "My hubby got that video in September. Copyright strike came in December." I read something about them getting something registered in September of 2025. Mark Randazza: They registered the copyright to the bird in the United States just before they filed the suit. They filed the lawsuit almost immediately after they registered the copyright. Cheryl says that's around the time her husband confronted the person from the church. Registering the copyright on the kookaburra is very much a distraction or another mechanism in order to be quiet.
1:00:12 Mark Randazza: We're trying to get an injunction to stop them from sending strikes to her. Brown Rudnick’s own website has the Alaska Airlines logo on it and the NCAA logo on it in stories about those organizations... you can't tell me I have to make this argument in front of a federal court. They're arguing it's all Cheryl's fault for not doing what we told her to do. If a mugger tries to take your wallet, and you don't give it to them, it's your fault he had to rough you up? No.
1:01:17 Host (reading Randazza’s brief): "If RRT theory prevails, then this district should be a destination for all future censorship campaigns. Imagine if RRT's theory were in place when reporters wrote about Jeffrey Epstein. News reports about Enron would have required a license from Enron's logo designer." Mark Randazza: If you ever get arrested for a notorious crime and you don't want your picture in the paper, just make sure you have a design of your own making on a t-shirt when you show up to court. Then they can't take a picture of you.
1:10:22 Mark Randazza (reading his filing): "RRT is a foreign entity which wants to silence a foreign critic. But RRT chose to do that on American soil. We now have the privilege of showing RRT our profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide open. RRT gets to learn about the First Amendment. I love the fact that this is a proxy fight between two foreigners on our turf."
1:12:21 Mark Randazza: Why does the court not dismiss this for jurisdictional issues? Because the DMCA notice and the DMCA counter-notice that she filed both say they agree to have disputes adjudicated in the district where YouTube is. Host: Why did RRT choose to settle its score in the United States? Mark Randazza: Clearly, they felt there was some advantage. Statutory damages, or the perception that the party with the most money is at an advantage. This was a miscalculation. Section 107 of our copyright act is a full-throated eagle scream that the First Amendment does not abandon anyone. If you hire mercenaries to abuse someone on our soil, that victim will have the full protection of our laws.
1:35:13 Host: All the best with your lawsuit, Cheryl. I cannot believe that they got Brown Rudnick to represent them over this. They've been their lawyers for years. Host: I need to be really careful what I say about the religious c-word... because they might come after me because I'm here in Australia and they're just nearby. Brown Rudnick has been their lawyers.
Host: "Well, I I believe they're a c word and I believe our prime minister has even called them that. So, I might as well call them a cult. Yeah, they can come after the prime minister as well."
1:41:40 Host: Another example of a company just completely blatantly ignoring what fair use is. You can't stop someone from using your identifier, which is your logo, to identify you. Putting a video tutorial up showing a logo is fair use. I just feel like the DMCA takedown system is abused so much, especially when companies use scripts to just send out the notices. They don't even need a person to do it. It's really [terrible].
u/camelusmoreli — 20 days ago