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POETRYETC  August 2007

POETRYETC August 2007

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Subject:

Re: Aussies, is this true?

From:

andrew burke <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Poetryetc: poetry and poetics

Date:

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 07:16:55 +0800

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

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Well, the Brethren sure are real, and all about them is stated correctly.
But I have no idea about Howard's connection. It would surprise me - he is
'conservative' in all his views, including, I would thing, religion. Meeting
with them would be his duty if they so requested - but I would have liked to
have seen Abbott and Costello with them! Hee hee ... there would have been a
lot of insincerity and smarminess going on.

In my state of Western Australia, they have a cluster down south somewhere
which interferes in the local school, etc, but is tolerated ... just.

Andrew



On 23/08/07, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Howard attacked for links to secret Christian sect the Brethren
> By Kathy Marks in Sydney
> Published:23 August 2007
>
> They describe themselves as "a Christian fellowship based on the Holy
> Scriptures", but others call them a sect, and they have meddled in
> elections in New Zealand and Australia.
>
> So when the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, admitted that he
> had recently met leaders of the ultra-conservative Exclusive Brethren,
> his critics smelt something unsavoury. The group, an offshoot of the
> Plymouth Brethren, with followers in Australia, New Zealand, Britain
> and the US, enforces a policy of separation, including from other
> Christians. Children are educated in Brethren-run schools; adults work
> in Brethren-owned companies. Brethren eat, drink and socialise only
> with other Brethren. Television, mobile phones and computers are
> banned.
>
> But although members are also forbidden to vote, the group tries to
> mould the political landscape. Australian Federal Police are
> investigating expenditure of A$370,000 (£150,000) on advertisements
> supporting the Howard government by a company owned by Mark Mackenzie,
> a senior Breth-ren member, before the last election in 2004.
>
> During the last election in New Zealand, in 2005, the Brethren spent an
> estimated A$100,000 on pamphlets attacking the social policies of the
> governing Labour Party and the Greens. The former leader of the
> conservative National Party, Don Brash, later admitted meeting Brethren
> leaders during the campaign, and said he knew about the pamphlets.
>
> Last year, the New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, accused the
> group of spreading rumours that her husband, Peter Davis, was
> homosexual. She said they had hired a private investigator to follow Mr
> Davis. It was later confirmed that the Brethren did recruit a private
> detective to investigate Labour politicians. Now an election is due in
> Australia before the end of the year, and polls suggest that Mr
> Howard's chances of winning a fifth term for his right-wing
> Liberal-National Party coalition are slim.
>
> But yesterday he defended his meeting two weeks ago with Brethren
> elders, including Mr Mackenzie, and the group's world leader, or "Elect
> Vessel", Bruce Hales, in his Sydney electoral office.
>
> "I do not deny for a moment that I have met with members of the
> Exclusive Brethren, and why not?" Mr Howard said. "They're Australian
> citizens. It's a lawful organisation." Asked about political funding,
> he told ABC radio: "As to matters relating to financial support,
> they're things that you should talk to the Liberal Party organisation
> about."
>
> A Brethren spokesman told local media that the elders had merely
> assured the Prime Minister that they were praying for him.
>
> Two other members of the Government, the Treasurer, Peter Costello, and
> the Health minister, Tony Abbott, said they had also met Brethren
> members. "I have no reason to think they are not people of decency and
> goodwill," said Mr Abbott, who is a conservative Roman Catholic.
>
> But the opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, described the Brethren as "an
> extremist cult and sect... [that] breaks up families". The group has
> also been accused of trying to cover up sexual abuse by a Brethren
> elder.
> Douglas Barbour
> 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
> Edmonton  Ab  T6G 0B9
> (780) 436 3320
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>
> Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
>
>
> Every time Dick Cheney smiles
> an angel in heaven
> gets waterboarded.
>
>        Jon Stewart
>



-- 
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
http://www.inblogs.net/hispirits
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/

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