Court lets sect kids see dad, but not TV

[Shithappens]

AN excommunicated member of the Exclusive Brethren sect has been ordered by the Family Court not to expose his children to television, radio or non-members of the church in a landmark decision granting him access rights.

 

Despite finding Exclusive Brethren members and the mother had been "abusive" in denying the father access visits after the Tasmanian couple's 2003 separation, his bid for full custody was denied because it would be too traumatic for the children to be removed from the secretive Christian sect.

 

The ruling, which took effect yesterday with the children's first visit to the father, followed revelations about the sect's attempts to lobby the Family Court and federal Government to bend legislation so that former members were kept away from their children who remained in the Exclusive Brethren.

 

In the decision, both parents were banned from discussing or denigrating each other's faith in front of the children, with similar orders put on extended family within the sect who were accused, along with Exclusive Brethren elders, of trying to turn the children away from their father and his "worldly" influences.

 

Family Court judge Robert Benjamin said the case reflected a "conflict between the principles of church and the laws of government".

 

Justice Benjamin said it was time for the Exclusive Brethren to give up their fight, through a series of well-funded custody battles over the past 30 years, to stop defecting members getting access to their children.

 

"It must surely not be beyond your intellect and wit to find a dimension in your beliefs so that they may reconcile with the law of this country and the need for children to know both of their parents," he said.

 

The father, 49, who cannot be named, told the court he wanted custody so he could show the three children, aged between six and 16, "another side of life" to that in which they were raised by their mother, 48, a fourth-generation church member.

 

The Exclusive Brethren, estimated to have an Australian congregation of 20,000, forbids mixing with non-members.

 

Television, radio, cinema, mobile phones, life insurance and university education are banned. The father, a member from the age of five, described the Brethren as an intolerant cult. He told the court that the three children, the youngest of eight he had with his former wife, needed to be released "from the clutches and powers of the Brethren".

 

He joined the "Open Brethren", a fundamentalist Christian religion with fewer restrictions.

 

After separating from his wife and leaving the sect, he was excommunicated, and the childrens' visits were reduced then terminated last year, the court heard. The mother said the children should not have a relationship with their father, with whom she conceded they were close before the separation, as "their obligations to God are greater than their obligations to family".

 

Asked what she would do if the children were ordered to live with their father, the mother said she would want a relationship with them, but only if they were faithful to the Exclusive Brethren.

 

Justice Benjamin refused to rule on the father's claims that the Exclusive Brethren was harmful to society.

 

But he ruled it would not be "conducive" to remove the children from the religion.

 

In dismissing the mother's claim for exclusive custody, he said the Family Law Act enshrined the presumption that a relationship with both parents was best for children. "It is in the best interests of these children to spend time with the father on a regular basis, and that such time should be free of influence with regard to the underlying beliefs of the children or either of their parents," he said.

 

Justice Benjamin said the father had an "epiphany" in 2003 about the Exclusive Brethren. "This court will make orders enabling the children to continue to have the benefit of a meaningful relationship with you, but will not allow that time to be used to meet your broader emotional or political objectives," he said.

 

"The orders I will make are intended to restrain you from taking the children to your church and from exposing them to television, radio, computers and other things and events which are in breach of the very tenets that you imposed upon them up to 2003."

 

The mother was told to comply with bi-monthly visits and that her "abusive behaviour in terms of these children cease immediately". "These children are not a thing or a possession of the mother or the church," he said.

 

Justice Benjamin said he took the unusual step of calling the children to court after they expressed a wish not to see their father. "You may have received mixed messages from others close to you about whether it is OK to see your father and spend good times with him. Let me make it clear: it is OK," he said.

[DownUnderDoper]

I normally don't have a problem with these cults as such, except for cases like this where someone is trying to leave.

 

But this "Bretheren" are throwing waaay too much money at political parties for my liking

[stonedstump]

These fucking idiots need to be locked away in an asylum.

 

Remove their frontal lobes and put them in straight jackets I say.

 

 

..Seriously though something needs to be done about this shit, fuck.

[Stoney]

this is just crazy what ever happened to the freedom to live your life

 

i could not imagine anything worse than being born into a society such as this and have there beliefs forced on you from berth so that all you know is what your parents have forced you to believe

 

good on the farther i say and cant get my head around the fact that the court has banned him from showing his children the other side of life so that when they reach muturity they can make there own decision

 

bloody stupid i recon

 

cheerz :Dj:

[stonedstump]

Only after the last tree has been cut down. Only after the last river has been poisoned. Only after the last fish has been caught will we realize that money cant be eaten

 

DAMN RIGHT!

[mull]

Well it's good to hear that these kids can at least see their dad.

 

I worked with a couple of exclusive brethren a long while back and got to know one of them.. ok ish.

 

Real cunny funts. If you got into one of their trucks, no fuse for the radios! They never ate lunch or smoko with us and it was pretty funny to see them avoid tv screens. They only read the paper.

 

The story we were told was brethren X had a biological brother who was thrown out of the church for wanting to marry an outsider. Because of this when his father was dying of cancer, he wasn't allowed to visit him at all. Not even allow to funeral.

 

We call them ellusive brethren or hankyheads or just hankys - because of the scarves their women wear.

The women never cut their hair and I was told are arranged marriages.

 

Mostly they are very nice people tho. Very straight down the line in business, and reasonably honest.

Very devout to their church. (oh they can drink! but not with us )

[dev0]

as long as they keep that shit to themselves and not come near me with it, there will be no genocide of BRETHREN members.

 

any religion, society, cult that is "ELLUSIVE" or hands out money to political parties is no good if you ask me. just like the fucking saddle club.

 

but then i think of the amount of members that have fallen for that shit, they clearly never smoked weed in their life. Either that or they probably got some pretty good pamphlets goin round.

 

i mean honestly, this sort of shit tap dances all over my nerves, how can they call this type of fucking tree house club a religion.

 

when are people gonna realize that they themselves are a piece of God, it doesn't matter what religion, what faith, what color or even what political party you're with. "All roads lead to Rome" You do NOT have to take EXTREME measures to hear the voice of God, you just have to shut up and fucking listen for a bit.

 

 

now tell me, how many people here think these cunts are using their new found "religion" for a couple hundred hidden agendas.

you're probably fuckin right.

 

*spits*

[Jess Stone]

The Bretheren are an extremist cult of fuckwits ,no wait a second I've insulted fuckwits everywhere as these Bretheren TRASH are worse than fuckwits ,cunts like these filth are a compelling reason to ban religion,these filthy sleaze bag paedophiles put out during the last federal election sleazy anti-green propaganda that was printed up to look like official gGreens literature without saying who authorized them who paid for them who printed them and what they represented a crime under Australias electoral laws,I'm pretty sure I kept them I'll look for them and scan them to show you. Cults like this lot and Jehovah's Witlesses have been assisted by the disgusting foul joke called the Family Law Court in perpetrating these access custody CRIMES.

[Shithappens]

The Bretheren are an extremist cult of fuckwits ,no wait a second I've insulted fuckwits everywhere

 

Dont worry we forgive you!!

 

hey i wonder if we sneaked in radios to the kids if they would listen hahaha

[Jess Stone]

Sect man jailed for sex abuse of girl-only 3 years old- a FUCKING JOKE!

THE sentencing of Lindsay Ronald Jensen yesterday for abusing a young girl in Albury brings almost to an end a saga of squalor and betrayal that has embroiled the religious sect the Exclusive Brethren and its leadership for four years.

 

Jensen, 49, an imposing man nearly two metres tall, was sentenced to five years' jail on four counts of indecent assault and one of sexual intercourse without consent. Judge Gay Murrell found the offences occurred when Jensen was in a position of trust and responsible for the girl's welfare. She set a non-parole period of three years.

 

The girl was nine when the assaults took place in 2002. Her parents were estranged, and according to the iron rules of the Brethren she had little contact with her father. But she was often in close contact that year with Jensen, a leading member of the Brethren in the city.

 

Judge Murrell found the relationship between the child and her abuser "was brought about because of membership of the church". But the sect did nothing effective when the child complained about Jensen in early 2003. Some months later the child was quizzed by two senior women in the Albury congregation, but still no action was taken.

 

The Brethren's new spokesman, Tony McCorkell, told the Herald that although the women were not "overly convinced" by the accusations, local sect leaders tried to dissuade Jensen from attending board meetings at the Brethren school because they thought him "loose-moralled" and feared "maybe this could be true".

 

Decisive action was finally taken by non-Brethren teachers at the sect's school when Jensen's presence there one day in mid-August 2003 provoked another young girl to storm out calling: "You touched me up. I'm not going to be here at the school while you're here." Mr McCorkell said teachers reported the incident to the NSW Department of Community Services.

 

Mr McCorkell said it was only at this point that the world leader of the church, Bruce Hales - a Sydney businessman known to the faithful as the Elect Vessel and the Man of God - learnt what was happening in Albury. "I can confirm - and I believe without a shadow of a doubt - Bruce Hales didn't even know about the situation, according to him, until it had already been reported to DOCS."

 

Jensen was excluded from the day-to-day life of the church, but his exile lasted only four months. "There is a whole heap of bitching and moaning and fighting and carrying on in Albury church," Mr McCorkell said. "Jensen's wife is running around saying to people 'he's been excommunicated and he hasn't even been arrested yet. This is outrageous. This is slanderous' … So there's a lot of pressure on the church to restore him back into the church. So that's what happens."

 

The young girl went to Albury police the next day. Jensen was expelled from the cult after his arrest.

 

The Brethren are in the process of expelling his wife, Jenny, and all his children. Mrs Jensen told the District Court yesterday that she had been shunned by the sect.

 

In a statement issued yesterday, the Brethren extended their sympathy to the victim and her family. "The church shares the community's revulsion of sexual abuse and seeks to do whatever it can to prevent it from occurring and to ensure if further instances occur they are reported to the authorities without delay."

 

article SMH online

WHAT A FUCKING JOKE- this cunt (sorry to insult cunts) fuck-rapes a 9 year old girl child and only gets 3 years -these scum christian perverts try and protect the cunt-these filth clearly have influence to get such a light sentence no more than a slap on the wrist. BAN THEM !