Religious sect admit to leaflet drops

The group behind a leaflet drop discrediting Labour and the Greens has revealed itself at a news conference in South Auckland.

The seven businessmen are members of the fundamentalist Exclusive Brethren Church, but say they are only acting in their capacity as concerned New Zealanders.

“We’re fundamentalist Christians, we seek to live our lifes by the Bible,” Neville Simmons said.

The leaders of a sect don’t vote but they are accused of waging a smear campaign against Labour and the Greens.

“The campaign we’ve put out is not a smear campaign, it is not designed as a smear campaign, it’s designed to inform the people of New Zealand the real situation in this country,” Simmons said.

Up to 50 Exclusive Brethren have donated as much as $1 million towards the campaign, however, the sect says they are acting as individuals.

“We follow and we are influenced by our Christian beliefs, but it is not an Exclusive Brethren initiative,” Simmons said.

In May TVNZ’s Sunday programme filmed National’s finance spokesman John Key meeting Exclusive Brethren. The church says it has met will all politicians from all parties except the Prime Minister.

This isn’t the church’s first foray into politics. Newspaper adverts that appeared in papers in April, labelled “a wake up call”, were authorised by the group.

There’s nothing illegal about the Exclusive Brethren’s funding the anti-Green and Labour pamphlets, but the Chief Electoral Office is investigating claims that some of the addresses on the pamphlets are false, which is a breach of the Electorate Act.

The leaflet drops are not over with more expected over the next 10 days.

Read Another Article

Former member says Brethren backs Nats
Florida appeals court upholds ban of Muslim veil in driver’s license photo

Related News Articles Topic(s): Exclusive Brethren Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Exclusive Brethren Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog