What would you do if your upbringing inside a fundamentalist Christian community left you scarred and confused — and estranged from family members still inside the sect?
For Tim Twinam, a software developer living in Williston, Vermont, the answer was: Launch a website dedicated to re-connecting lost members driven apart from family and friends by the religion’s “doctrine of separation.”
Twinam was raised inside The Exclusive Brethren in 1960s England. He couldn’t eat or socialize with anyone outside the sect, and TV, radio and university education were strictly forbidden. Internet is also banned.
Today he is the webmaster of Peebs.net, an online community made up of former members of The Exclusive Brethren, which is the subject of this week’s Seven Days cover story.
Twinam, and his wife Sallie (pictured), have devoted the last four years to exposing the secrets of the reclusive Brethren and creating a network of “helpers” to assist those who want to leave the religion but don’t know how.
Now the Brethren are suing the Twinams in Vermont federal court for copyright infringement, claiming Peebs.net downloaded Brethren-owned sermons and letters that are property of the Brethren.
Lawyers for the sect say they’re just protecting their legal property. The Twinams say it’s a lawsuit meant to silence their criticism by bleeding them dry financially.
Two attempts to settle the suit have failed and a third attempt is slated for later this month. Meantime, the Twinams told their story in the hope it would raise awareness about a relatively unknown religion with 43,000 worldwide followers, one they say wields outsize influence in the worlds of business and politics.
We’ve linked to the story here to allow readers to comment.
Photo by Andy Duback.
This article appears in Nov 4-10, 2009.
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In the Might v. Site article, the Exclusive Brethren led by Bruce D Hales are described as a “vindictive sect” and their leaders as “vindictive individuals”. The use of that particular adjective to describe a purportedly Christian group and its leaders has shocked me, even though three years ago I was warned by a member of this fellowship that “Brethren have taken persons to court for making serious inaccurate allegations against them or our leaders”. In truth, I don’t know whether this Exclusive Brethren group is revengeful or not, but there is plenty of documented evidence that they are merciless as they evict people permanently from their birth families in pursuit of their own ecclesiastical ends. The great sadness behind all this is that only about fifty years ago it would have been possible to write positively about members of this group – they would have been described then as generally reserved, but kind and educated Christian people; but in the 1960s the then leader, James Taylor Jnr from New York, drew up the drawbridge and instructed his followers to treat other people – including close family members and other Christian believers – as “unclean associations” or “spiritual fornicators”. Since then the cruelty of this group has been so intense that some ejected members have been driven to suicide, and in one case murder. A terrible cost is still exacted from both members and former members, so it’s vital that Sallie and Tim Twinam should be allowed to continue their work of providing an online refuge for those whom Bruce D Hales and his Exclusive Brethren have rejected. The world needs to know exactly what goes on behind the “Bible and Gospel Trust” facade.
The EB exist on cover ups and lies. Covering up evil in the form of one of their so-called great leaders Jim Taylor of New York caught in bed with a naked married EB woman and passed off as being an “ambush” to sort out opposers from the true line!!!. The man was an alcoholic as was his follow on Universal Leader the North Dakota Tax Evading Pig Farmer Jim Symington.The present day leader is a slithery rat from Sydney Australia who is worth billions of dollars extorted from poor brain washed ordinary EB…make no mistakes about it this guy is totally behind the push to discredit two ordinary citizens of the USA Tim and Sal Twinam and shut up free speech.Get behind this America..This is the land of the free!
Peebs.net is a useful website for many reasons. It is a source of information for those who want to learn more about the people they are employed by or who they deal with in business. It is a vital website for those exBrethren who have been out in the ‘wilderness’ thinking they were the only ones. It is heartening to see people make connections, have a common bond with others, and understand the ordeal others went through. It is also a place that new leavers and intending leavers can seek nonjudgemental support and friendship.I have been delighted to see people grow and develop as they work their way through the pain and hurt of having been separated from family. Peebs.net has given them this emotional life line.Why do the Exclusive Brethren think they have a right to quieten anyone if the accounts are not favourable. Criticism is part of life. Ask a politician about it; ask the Catholic church. If the criticism is not correct, prove it. Do they shut down every psychologist who treats an exmember and hears criticism in their regular consultations?Will all other social networking and support websites be threatened with legal action if they show any opposition or disagreement towards someone or something? Will alcohol companies try to shut down websites which support those who have had bad experiences with alcohol?What do Exclusive Brethren fear? If they have the courage of their convictions then they have nothing to fear. Peebs.net website must not be allowed to be beaten by the stick of a minority group who continue to believe that they are the ‘only true church’ This website is too valuable for the information and friendships it provides.
I know how the Exclusive Brethren operate as I used to be a member.They want the site closed down so that the public and the authorities are not made aware of what they do. Their normal approach when dealing with such things is to prolong litigation until the poorest party (never them) collapses. In this case they will hope that peebs.net falls over from lack of funds. Then if this fails they will offer cash for the site (even though they say they don’t want to close it down) at the very last minute. The Exclusive Brethren have often settled on the steps of the court when they have failed to bleed their opponent dry and are about to lose a case designed to break their opponents.I hope that this judge has done his homework and can see through these people, they have a lot to answer for.
When my ‘still in’ EB mother died (as an ex-eb I had not seen her or spoken with her for almost 25 years) I was notified 10 minutes after she had passed away, not having been told she was even ill.When a couple of years later my elderly father was ill I was thankfully notified and was able to visit. Initially the visit was to be supervised but I refused to do this. This was during a brief mellowing of separation following adverse publicity. When he died I was notified but then a few days later told that the funeral had already taken place at 6.30 in the morning.To have been able to share this with people who both understood and even believed my story (my non ex EB friends sometimes think I am making it all up) was a lifeline offered only by the peebs.net website so couragously managed by Tim and Sally.
When we were contemplating leaving the Exclusive Brethren we knew that we would be ostracised, which means: no contact of any description, dis-inheritance, no news of the deaths of family members. In our minds we faced this; but the reality of experiencing this separation has been harder than we thought.The Hales brethren never relent in the determined separation they enforce. My friends and my sister have not contacted us for 35 years. It is like a bereavement but the people are still alive.The site Peebs net with its over 60000 contributions has helped many, helping exBrethren deal with their loss by separation.
This is written under a pseudonym due to fear of being pursued and sent broke by the litigious Exclusive Brethren hierarchy.Tim and Sal Twinam are before the court for only one reason……The Top Dog in the Exclusive Brethren has authorised the expenditure of huge amounts of “church” money to silence legitimate criticism of his inhumane pseudo-religious money machine. No-one, repeat NO-ONE, inside the Exclusive Brethren, including the Bible and Gospel Trust(BGT) would dare to initiate, let alone continue, legal action of this nature without the specific command of the so-called Man of God (MOG). To do so would mean they would risk expulsion, which in turn would mean they would be completely severed from, and rejected by, their spouse, siblings, parents, children and friends – for life. Additionally they would lose their home and occupation. Yet some individuals choose to leave the Exclusive Brethren and pay that cruel price rather than suffer the mental torture of trying to reconcile the constant clash of doing business in the name of “religion” under the minute control of an enforcer. By airing this story, Seven Days has done a favour to taxpayers in many countries. The Exclusive Brethren is a profit-making business in disguise and must be investigated to ensure that many millions of dollars in taxpayer funds are not immorally directed to the bottom line of an extensive international web of trust companies directly or indirectly controlled by the MOG, a Sydney accountant.The Twinam/BGT court case is driven by the need of the Exclusive Brethren hierarchy to protect their profit-making concerns – to enable it to continue to fly under the radar. It has nothing to do with legitimate copyright, nor religion. It is about free speach.
The USA have led the world in championing the cause of free speech…the malicious attempts to squash by money, bullying and contempt of all democratically elected governments around the world by the E.B. to shut up and shut down peebs.net is a huge violation of free speech. These proven liars who have damaged countless lives through malicious motivation are doing all they can to hurt as many ex EB for two reasons…to scare “wobblers”, (still locked inside the EB) into staying through fear, and out of vindictiveness to bankrupt anyone who criticises Bruce D Hales Inc.. They have not been hurt one whim by peebs.net and the benefit to the wider community and especially ex members trying to find a way through life outside the fettered rules of being inside the EB are enormous.Picking like vultures on the flimiest of flimsy at Tim & Sallie Twinam is despicable and only shows up further the wretchedness and rottenness of who these people really are.
Thank you for posting this article. The general public has a right to know what is happening to their tax dollars, and if our taxes go to a religious group who are happy to take the money but not willing to treat the rest of the world in a Christian manner (love thy neighbour as thy self), then they need to be publicly scrutinised.I applaud the Twinam’s for their fight for what is right, and ‘just’ for the ex members of the Exclusive Brethren. Peebs.Net is a community, and clearly, the only support structure in existence for those who have been excommunicated or who have left the EB. It is also one of the only websites dedicated to collecting the entire history of this religious group (warts and all).As an ordinary member of the public, and having never been a member of the EB, what the EB do in the name of “Christianity” NEVER ceases to amaze me. Peebs.Net must stay in place as an emergency refuge for those who can no longer follow the personality cult of Bruce Hales and his minions.
After my husband left the Exclusive Brethren, he fought and gained access through the courts, to his 6 children. He settled for visitation rights every Saturday at their house, but this caused more grief for both him and the children.Always there were barriers placed in the way of these meetings with his children. There were always “OVERSEERS” EB elders… standing like guards at the home of the ex-wife and children. They were very much like Bruce Hales. They didn’t speak, they just stared and stood like little tin soldiers with arms folded – as each of my husband’s children entered the room as a solo act. Stood looking their Dad in the eye and stated – “We don’t want to see you… until you GET RIGHT with the Lord… You have the devil in you…” (exit stage right) This child was then replaced by the next youngest, entrance – statement – exit the same as the one before. Etc etc etc – until the littlest one of all who was only 5 yrs of age… quoted the exact same words as her older brothers and sisters and also ran from the room. My husband – the birth father of these children was left standing in an empty room with several EB ELDERS – standing like dummies – arms folded – staring at him, until he decided to turn and walk away. My husband tried to converse with them, but he may as well have been talking to the wall. How many times is a birth father expected to accept this kind of mental abuse? No matter the number. There comes a time when the father decides his actions are not helpful to his children, to himself, or his future…. THEN IT STOPS! The umbilical cord is cut. The pain is obvious. Where does this father go for support? He has until now, confided in one or two only, outside the Exclusive Brethren. His past in the Exclusive Brethren is all too difficult to explain and attempting to do so opens the wounds that are trying so hard to heal.This is the danger time for an exExclusive Brethren member and in the past some have committed suicide. Others close the door on their past, refuse to discuss it, attempt to rebuild their lives and create a new family for themselves. Often this approach doesn’t work either, because the damage done to the individual has never been addressed. At this time their new non-EB husband or wife and maybe children of the new relationship are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Often they are unable to understand the problems that arise, and the exEB partner is unable and sometimes incapable of explaining.This is where the importance of Peebs.Net comes to the fore.As a wife of an exEB, my contact with others in my position on Peebs.Net has helped me understand many things about my husband. Sharing information on Peebs.Net has assisted me greatly in understanding what the young Exclusive Brethren go through when they are ousted by the Brethren, so that I now feel more confident in offering my assistance to any Exclusive Brethren person who is either being ousted or has chosen of their own free will to leave.Peebs.Net members do NOT stand outside the Gospel Halls, tempting the members to leave, BUT we would like it to be known that there IS support for those locked inside, when and if they need it. Hopefully this will assist in saving a life here and there.Why do we do it? Because we have lived the need.I am using my Peebs.Net name, as the EB hierarchy in Australia (led by Bruce Hales) has already unmasked me and sent me a threatening legal letter. He will also know the above story as it has previously been posted on Peebs.Net