The Brethren is a small group with sites all around the world. The people are non-materialistic and have a strict set of rules. While there is no hierarchy in the group, there is a Man of God who is seen as a messiah figure. The Man of God changes periodically, the current one lives in a $5 million mansion in Australia and is listed as one of Forbes most richest men in the land down under. One of their big premises is that members are not allowed to associate in any way with non-members. Brethren men work at Brethren businesses and the women stay at home. Brethrens are not permitted to eat at non-brethren restaurants, stay in hotels, or even live in apartment buildings because of non-member neighbors. They are not allowed to swim in public pools, nor can they add one to their homes, only if the house comes with it. Members cannot use computers, aside from those created by Brethren companies with limited software and connections to the outside world. “Until 2005, Brethren banned cell phones, computers and fax machines. The Internet is regarded as a “pipeline to filth.” Now, Brethren businesses provide cell phones and computers with software called “Wordex” that permits only word processing, spreadsheets, accounting programs and email, but no Internet. Skype is also prohibited.”
Brethren people have a dress code, the women wear long skirts down to the ankle and have long hair with something to cover the head like a ribbon or handkerchief. Brethren men are clean cut and shaven, dressed in business casual, sideburns are not even allowed. The group places a clear importance on the men. In their meetings, which are held in a windowless building, women are to sit silently with the children in the back rows with their only role to pass out pamphlets. The men sit in the center rows, with the especially important male members in the center of it all. Brethren children are to live at home, with their parents, until the day they are married. Typically the women get married young, because their purpose is to be a dutiful wife and produce a lot of children.
The Brethren genuinely believe those who are outside of the cult, especially those who left, are evil and living life wrong. When someone is “withdrawn from” this can be for any plethora of reasons, it’s the group’s way of keeping members in check. Members know if they do anything or question beliefs in a way the Brethren does not like, they will be withdrawn from, or kicked out, and their life as they know it is over. Family members are conditioned to vilify the person who left. There are many accounts of people who ran into their kids, parents, or friends on the street and were completely ignored. This is a heartbreaking reality which is difficult for many to deal with. Some people will try to go back to the cult and admit they were wrong just to get back with family, of course this does not come without extreme humiliation.
I thought this cult was very interesting because of their exclusive, strict, and elitist premises. All of those qualities seem like the antithesis of what a religious movement should be.
Sources:
Redekop, Bill. “The closed-door church: Inside the secretive and strict Plymouth Brethren sect in Manitoba.” Cult Education, 10 May 2014, culteducation.com/group/1289-general-information/27227-the-closed-door-church-inside-the-secretive-and-strict-plymouth-brethren-sect-in-manitoba.html
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Kristin Reed says:
This was such an interesting cult to read about. It seems like its ideology is a mixture between typical cult-y ideas and that of Amish culture, with only being allowed to associate with members and having almost no access to the outside world. I completely agree with you when you said that the Brethren Cult is the antithesis of what a religious movement should be, and I think it’s really sad how the people involved in it don’t know any other way of life.
February 7, 2019 — 5:32 pm
Glywog says:
The Plymouth Brethren DO swim in public pools as I have seen them & they dont wear long dresses either, some of them have VERY short skirts or leggings or shorts & shoulder length hair & we treat them with kindness
January 25, 2022 — 7:32 am
tbl5235 says:
Tess, it is very clear to me that you are genuinely interested in getting to know as much information about this topic as possible. In other words, your passion blog is very passionate. It is very interesting and I am excited to continue reading about more cults! For future blog posts maybe further discuss why the cult is acting this way. (more details into their beliefs)
February 7, 2019 — 5:35 pm
Tiara says:
It is interesting that the cult is considered nonmaterlialistic yet the “messiah figure” lives in a mansion and is considered one of the richest men in Australia. Also since Brethren only interact and do business with other Brethren, that makes me wonder where the money came from to even buy a place like that. I also agree that the strict rules make the cult very interesting because while certain things are not banned there is a very specific way to get that thing.
February 7, 2019 — 5:36 pm
Austin Hepburn says:
This cult seems like one of the most interesting cults I’ve read about but also one of the most unreasonable. To be able to get rid of all technology and not use any of it is very hard in our current society and it’s very interesting to me that they are still around and running today.
February 21, 2019 — 5:18 pm
Teri says:
I think the root of this is they are a Mafia front.
October 16, 2021 — 4:51 am
Jane says:
How would u know what u are talking about Austin
I work for Brethren & they are the kindest most upright people ever.
All they do is go by the Bible it says in there to separate from evil.
They are a decent bunch
U don’t know what u are talking about
November 29, 2021 — 10:11 am
Glywog says:
Yes they are, if everyone did that there would be no broken marriages
January 25, 2022 — 7:38 am
Glywog says:
They do use technology we aren’t like the Amish
January 25, 2022 — 7:36 am
John says:
The photo that you posted isn’t them. Their men don’t wear ties and some of the women in the photo had trousers on
January 13, 2023 — 11:18 am
Jenny Lewis says:
Hi Tess,
I think you have great intentions with this post, but this isn’t a cult. This is a denomination within the Christian church that dates back to the early 1700s. Similar to the Mennonites, but not quite. There is no “Man of God” within this denomination other than God himself. It’s quite literally like any other denomination of Christianity that’s out there, the differences between the Brethren and other denominations like the Baptists, Lutheran, Methodists, etc. are so small – but no one is calling the Lutherans a cult.
Furthermore, this denomination is very service-oriented and carries out so much mission work in other countries as well as within the United States. I’d recommend looking into the Brethren Disaster Relief program, which sends out volunteers/missionaries throughout the USA whenever disaster strikes (think hurricanes, tornadoes, etc).
With all of that being said, this is a very weird light to paint on a denomination that is focused around helping others and that no one else is calling a cult (because … it isn’t?). While I like that you are running a blog dedicated to talking about cults, I think it would be helpful to do a little more fact checking on the groups that you are posting about because, simply put, this is not a cult.
When looking at the website of the image that you pulled from, look at ebenfeld.org/visit/ and scroll down and it even details what to wear to church: “You’ll fit right in in just about any clothing! Feel free to dress up or dress down– we’re just happy to see you!” So once again I say, everything that you’ve said about this group is wildly incorrect.
Furthermore, it’s not secretive – it’s just a small dwindling denomination within the United States. This denomination is extremely active in many parts of Africa and Central America.
With all of that being said, very weird that you chose the image from a small church in the middle of nowhere in Kansas. I’m certain you didn’t ask for permission to use this picture from the church because if you had then I’m nearly certain they would’ve have approved it due to everything this post says being so wildly inaccurate that I had to triple check to make sure we were even talking about the same thing.
This is a hard read, respectfully. I love what the point of your blog is but maybe double check what you’re posting about and how correct it is because this simply is not.
July 24, 2023 — 2:24 am
Theresa Park says:
I was born into the Church of the Brethren. It is not a cult. It is as described very well above by Jenny Lewis. Now , there may be a group calling themselves simply by the Brethren,..I am not aware of such. But please don’t call the Church of the Brethren a cult…its anything but. Its simply a denomination and started in Europe …its basis of belief is scriptural and agrees with the Bible. They do not belief in infant Baptism as in churches such as Catholic. A person is baptized when they want to show that there has been an inner heart change…old nature is dead and the new nature is life. Just as Jesus said.
November 14, 2023 — 6:19 pm