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.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Justice will not be served by allowing the cashed up Exclusive Brethren (EB) to use their largely ill-gotten financial resources to overwhelm a socially responsible and responsive Peebs.Net in an upcoming “David and Goliath” court decision.The EB are known in many legal cases that have involved them, to attempt to win their case by attrition. Perhaps Vermont’s new anti- SLAPP legislation will put a stop to this immorality.
When I was in the Exclusive Brethren scotch whisky was pushed around like water and as a result I got accustomed to drinking a bottle of scotch a day..it helped numb the pain of endless rhetoric.I got kicked out and after terrible times found the peebs net site and have since got myself sort of sorted but still am angry that after all the EB have done, they are doing all they can to further rub us into the gutter. Don’t let them win and close the site.
WHAT A BUSINESS!! A manipilative, deceptive, psychologically damaging, demeaning, sexist, self-serving, tax avoiding, dictator run, very profitable, international business!!!! They receive significant government subsudies and funding allocations from many countries.The Exclusive Brethren claim to be a church, and under that guise pretend to be entitled to freedonm to practice their “religion”. They are at least an extremely anti social cult. However, they are probably better described as a dirty business entangling captive employees, and engaged in extensive cash transactions to avoid detection of the scale of their operation. An investigation is not persecution.When will government authorities responsible for the regulation of corporate conduct properly investigate the administration of the Exclusive Brethren business?
WHAT A BUSINESS!! A manipilative, deceptive, psychologically damaging, demeaning, sexist, self-serving, tax avoiding, dictator run, very profitable, international business!!!! They receive significant government subsudies and funding allocations from many countries.The Exclusive Brethren claim to be a church, and under that guise pretend to be entitled to freedonm to practice their “religion”. They are at least an extremely anti social cult. However, they are probably better described as a dirty business entangling captive employees, and engaged in extensive cash transactions to avoid detection of the scale of their operation. An investigation is not persecution.When will government authorities responsible for the regulation of corporate conduct properly investigate the administration of the Exclusive Brethren business?
WHAT A BUSINESS!! A manipilative, deceptive, psychologically damaging, demeaning, sexist, self-serving, tax avoiding, dictator run, very profitable, international business!!!! They receive significant government subsudies and funding allocations from many countries.The Exclusive Brethren claim to be a church, and under that guise pretend to be entitled to freedonm to practice their “religion”. They are at least an extremely anti social cult. However, they are probably better described as a dirty business entangling captive employees, and engaged in extensive cash transactions to avoid detection of the scale of their operation. An investigation is not persecution.When will government authorities responsible for the regulation of corporate conduct properly investigate the administration of the Exclusive Brethren business?
Sorry for the type oh in my previous comment – it was should have begun Bronwen.
Browden,Your question exemplifies the service that Tim and Sallie have afforded the numerous expeebs who have found comfort, understanding and validation on the site. It appears to be a ‘kook conservative christian sect’ – unfortunately it is so much more; and unless you have lived it… it often sounds unbelievable! For those of us who have survived the experience of leaving the EB know, we understand, and we can support. It is for this reason that the cowardly attack on free speech needs to be stopped. We have the right to share our thoughts and concerns. As do the members of my family who may one day find the courage to ‘leave’. The work Twinams are doing needs to be supported and not hindered – I hope the judge is wise and able to rule in the interests of righteousness.
What can we do to help Tim and Sally? Is there a fund we can contribute to?
What Peebs.net is doing for people around the world, should never be silenced! This cult needs to be exposed for what they truly are, and those of us who have once been a part of their crulty should be able to have the freedom to share with others. I believe there is healing for us in our sharing…especially when those we share with understand what we are saying. I too, am an ex-EB, and am cut off from my parents and siblings in the EB. This EB organization has left many horrible scars emotionally that take years to overcome. After 24 years out of this cult, I wonder if there will ever be freedom from the horrible memories, and healing from all the abuse I was subject to growing up. Do the nightmares ever end? This cult should be responsible for the devastation they have pronounced on so many peoples lives. It affects not only us, but our children and our spouses as well as our friendships with others. They should not be allowed to silence the good that Peebs.net is doing!
Members dont join Bronwen – members are mostly born into it. I was born into the group as were my parents and as were their parents. So it goes back generations – back to the 1820s or so. My family left in 1960 because they felt the rules were becoming too strict and unscriptural. When we left we left the only world and pretty much the only people we knew. It was very traumatic for me – some scars remain after all this time.In the early 1990s I carried out research on the mental health of former members of this group and it did not surprise me to find that as a group we experience higher levels of psychological distress than the general population. I am intending to repeat this study soon – anyone interested who is a fomer member of the exclusive brethren, please do contact me on brethrenresearch at googlemail.com (an email address created just for this purpose. Please replace the “at” with the usual @)Jill