Plymouth Brethren Christian Church
(Exclusive Brethren)

• Former members allege the sect breaks up families, puts members in isolation, and attacks their livelihoods to maintain control​ (source)

• The church reportedly spies on its members, intercepting phone records and monitoring internet usage, resulting in a sense of paranoia and fear (source)

• Former members emphasize that the church's priorities supersede familial bonds. If adhering to church rules means letting go of close family members, members are expected to do so (source)

• Leader Bruce Hales said that a mentally unstable member should "drink rat poison" (source)

• Interrogation and psychological pressure are part of the disciplinary process, where members might be asked to repent without being told specifically what they are repenting for. This process is described as terrifying, with implications that being expelled from the Brethren could end one's life in a social sense​ (source)

• In the 1960s, housewives were reportedly forced to maintain diaries for church leaders, documenting their activities and expenditures every hour (source)

• After one of the former leaders was caught engaging in unethical behavior, the church refused to investigate and instead demanded all members commit themselves, without reservation, to the leader (source)

• Former members have reported that they have been excommunicated from the group without explanation (source)

• Following a division in the church, there was a "dramatic" increase in suicides, nervous breakdowns, and cases of sexual abuse (see "Sexual Allegations" and "Suicide" sections below) (source)

• The first academic study of abuse within the church had to be shut down after the church made legal threats (source)

• One study found that Brethren who left the sect showed higher levels of psychological distress than the general population including depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress symptoms, and interpersonal problems (source)

• The church has a history of covering up their abuse and paying victims to stay silent (see "Child Abuse Lawsuits" section below)

• The church rejects democracy (source)

• Members don't vote and oppose a government by the people, believing instead that the government should belong to God (source)

• While voting is forbidden, the church has taken political stances, believing that God's law rules out homosexuality, single parenthood, hate speech legislation, "big government," taxes, and welfare (source)

• Despite their opposition to politics, the church has been caught getting involved in, and donating large sums of money to, political campaigns (source, source)

• Former leader James Symington forbid children from attending school after they were 10-years-old (source)

• Members are not allowed to go to university or attend non-brethren schools (source)

• Forbids sex education (source)

• All marriages need to be approved by the leader (source, source)

• The church has covered up child sexual abuse for decades by bullying and paying victims to keep silent (source, source)

• Over 40% of members who responded to a New Zealand survey looking at traumatic experiences in the church said they were sexually abused as children (source)

• One former member testified that former leader Jim Taylor Jr raped him when he was a child, resulting in PTSD (source)

• Children were reportedly punished by physically separating them from their families and preventing them from talking with family members, including parents, for weeks or months at a time (source)

• The church's strict separatist rules have reportedly resulted in children as young as 13 being forced into homelessness (source)

• One academic researcher reported that the prevalence of child sexual abuse within the church is far higher than that of the general population (source)

• After a story about the church covering up child sexual abuse broke, church members launched two different lawsuits against the reporter. Church leaders had also previously discussed paying the reporter to stay silent on three separate occasions (source)

• One church leader who came forward about his role in covering up child sexual abuse in the church was offered almost $1 million to stay silent (source)

• The church has been accused of engaging in unethical business practices (source)

• Members who have left the church have been forced to transfer their businesses to family members who remain in the church (source)

• The church controls the businesses owned by members (source)

• Leaders have ordered members to shut down their businesses (source)

• Members are told to create a crisis to generate profits (source)

• Forbids interracial relationships (source)

• Former leader Jim Taylor Sr. taught that "ministry" from the leader was equally as important as the Bible (source)

• The leader is known as the "Elect Vessel of God" (source, source)

• The leader is authorized to give new religious teachings from God, which critics say usurps the authority of scripture (source)

• Former leader James Taylor Sr. insisted that discussions of the members in formal assembly were equivalent in importance to Scripture (source)

• Former leader Jim Taylor taught that Jesus was a human when he was born and did not become fully divine until later (source)

• The church believes that the outside world is evil and strongly emphasizes separation from all people and institutions outside the church, including family members. Members are required to follow hundreds of strict rules to maintain this separation (source, source, source)

• Practices the doctrine of "separation from iniquity," which says that members must avoid anything sinful and that they must stay from anyone who does not follow the teachings of the church (source)

• Leader Bruce Hales told members to have "an utter hatred of the world" (source)

• While the strict set of rules has changed over time, the following have been forbidden for members:

  • Talking to non-members (source)

  • Attending university (source, source)

  • Living somewhere that shares a wall with a non-member (source, source)

  • Movies (source)

  • Radio (source, source, source)

  • Television (source, source, source)

  • Books (source, source, source)

  • Magazines (source, source)

  • Newspapers (source, source, source)

  • Cinemas (source, source)

  • Recorded music or music performed by non-members (source, source)

  • Dancing (source)

  • Bars (source)

  • Sleeping under the same roof as non-members. This includes a ban on hotels, apartments, and living with ex-communicated spouses or children (source, source, source)

  • Restaurants (source)

  • Parties (source, source)

  • Holidays (source, source)

  • Public swimming (source)

  • Life insurance (source, source)

  • Organized sports (source, source)

  • Sharing sewer lines with non-members (source, source)

  • Non-approved mobile phones (source, source, source)

  • Fax machines (source)

  • Attending school beyond year 10 (source)

  • Sex Education (source)

  • Contraceptives (source)

  • Piercings (source)

  • Tattoos (source)

  • Mixed-race relationships (source)

  • Voting (source, source, source)

  • Political activism (source)

  • Joining outside clubs and groups (source)

  • Eating or drinking with non-members (source, source, source)

  • Working in non-Brethren businesses, employing non-members, or doing business with non-members (source, source, source)

  • Marrying non-members (source, source, source)

  • Pets (source, source, source)

  • School outings (source)

  • Plays (source)

  • Dating (source)

  • Holding a political office (source)

  • Visiting other churches (source)

  • Joining a trade union, professional organization, or any other group that includes non-members (source)

  • Sharing a driveway with a non-member (source)

  • Staying married to a spouse that does not keep "the Lords commandments" (source)

  • Spending money in the outside world (as much as possible) (source)

  • Looking in a mirror (source)

• Women are forbidden from:

  • Working (source, source)

  • Wearing slacks (source, source)

  • Wearing makeup (source, source, source)

  • Cutting their hair (source, source)

  • Dying their hair (source)

  • Preaching (source)

  • Praying out loud (source)

• Men are forbidden from:

  • Wearing ties (source)

  • Having facial hair (source)

  • Having long hair (source)

  • Wearing a wedding ring (source)

• Rules restricting contact with non-members were slightly relaxed in 2003 (source, source)

• One witness reported that former leader Jim Taylor Jr engaged in sexually inappropriate comments and actions towards female members, including asking them to take off their bras, telling them to sit on his knee, and kissing a woman for minutes on end while caressing her body and making her husband look away (source p. 4)

• One married woman reported being required to stay in Jim Taylor Jr's bedroom until "released." It was later discovered that Taylor had sexual relations with her. (source)

• In 2006, the church was accused of covering up the sexual abuse of two members (source)

• Following a division in the church, there was a "dramatic" increase in suicides, nervous breakdowns, and cases of sexual abuse (see "Abusive" and "Suicide" sections) (source)

• In 2022, Canadian police announced an investigation into the church for allegations of sexual abuse and human trafficking (source)

• A potential witness in an Exclusive Brethren sex abuse case was paid to remain silent (source)

• See also the "Child Abuse Lawsuits" section above

• Critics have alleged that former leader Jim Taylor Jr's teachings have resulted in four suicides (source)

• Following a division in the church, there was a "dramatic" increase in suicides, nervous breakdowns, and cases of sexual abuse (see "Abusive" and "Sexual Allegations" sections above) (source)

• Leader Bruce Hales reportedly said that defectors may as well commit suicide (source)

• Several members have reportedly committed suicide as a result of their involvement in the church (source)

"It was a known thing ever since you were a child that if you ever left you'd go to hell - you'd burn in hell for ever; and that you'd never be able to speak to any of your family or anyone that you'd ever known through childhood in the Brethren ever again. That you'd just be ignored...like you didn't exist" -ex-Brethren woman (source)

• Teaches that non-members go to Hell (source, source)

• Since the Brethren practice shunning, members who leave the church also have to leave their friends, family, and jobs (source)

• The consequences of leaving the church are so severe that people capitulate to the church requirements to try to get back in (source)

• Financial transactions between Brethren create further binding obligations that deter “waverers” from leaving the fold (source)

• Families often put great pressure on leavers to return to the Brethren (source)

• Members who leave lose their jobs and are forced to leave their family home (source)

• The church hires private investigators to spy on people who left the church (source)