Take it on the chin, Exclusive Brethren told

A Parliamentary committee has rejected a petition from Exclusive Brethren members calling for MPs to stop “denigrating” them for their participation in the “2005 election debate”.

The petition of Wellington church member Graeme Turley and 26 others requested “the House instruct its members to desist from denigrating a minority group known as the Exclusive Brethren because some of its members independently chose to lawfully participate in the 2005 election debate”.

Exclusive Brethren

Many of the Exclusive Brethren movement’s teachings and practices are abusive to such an extent that this movement can rightly be labeled as an abusive church, and possibly even as a cult of Christianity

As its political smear campaigns demonstrate, hypocrisy is a hallmark of the Exclusive Brethren – members of which are not allowed to vote

It followed Labour MPs attacking National’s links with the Brethren, who ran an initially covert $1.2 million campaign attacking Labour and the Greens in the leadup to the election.

Government ministers also trained their guns directly on the Brethren at times. Defence Minister Phil Goff labelled the Brethren a “clandestine” and “extremist” group guilty of “lies and dishonesty”, and list MP Jill Pettis said the secretive sect “were just concerned about power, influence and money”.

Parliament’s standing orders select committee yesterday rejected Mr Turley’s petition, saying members had freedom of speech within the debating chamber.

The committee said MPs should be mindful that people could not immediately respond, but “members are not prevented from commenting in severe terms on the conduct of people outside Parliament if they consider it necessary to do so. The House is a forum for robust debate, not least when members are referring to political activity.”

Source

(Listed if other than Religion News Blog, or if not shown above)
, NZPA, via the New Zealand Herald, May 12, 2007, http://www.nzherald.co.nz

Religion News Blog posted this on Saturday May 12, 2007.
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