The Exclusive Brethren and the rare public grilling of its ‘Man of God’
Oct 18, 2026 · 21 min · 9 segments
On Friday, Exclusive Brethren world leader Bruce Hales…
Oct 18, 2026 · 21 min · 9 segments
On Friday, Exclusive Brethren world leader Bruce Hales…
Michael BachelardGuest
Samantha Selinger-MorrisHostOkay, before we get into all the news, can you just take a step back for us just for a moment? Tell us about the exclusive Brethren, now called the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.
It was set up in the 1820s by a theologian and minister called John Nelson Darby, who had a real set against the established church.
And he wanted to kind of revolutionize the way in which religion was done.
And at each point, the church that we now call the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, but most people know as the Exclusive Brethren, At each point, they've taken the more exclusive, the more separatist, the more secretive side of that split.
So what we see now is a very secretive church that is governed by what they call the doctrine of separation.
It's based on the Derby translation of the Bible that you need to withdraw from iniquity.
And they take that to mean you can't, if you're a member of the church, eat or socialize with or have friends of anybody who's outside the brethren themselves, the people they call the saints.
In fact, Bruce Hales, the current global leader in what they call the unbroken line of leadership since Derby, he says you have to get a hatred of the world, an utter, utter hatred, he says.
You have to despise the world and everything in it because he fears that it will defile and contaminate his members.
Okay, and it's probably worth pointing out, listeners here, that you have written a book on the Exclusive Brethren, so you know a lot about this particular church.
So I guess tell us what other main criticisms or controversies there are surrounding this particular church.
And it's also very, in some ways, what we might say is traditional, but they still hold these values.
So women are not allowed to talk in church other than to what they say, give out the hymns, which is read out the numbers of the hymns.
It's frowned upon for a woman to have an opinion in a social setting in the Brethren, and women essentially can't work beyond marriage, except in the family business.
I interviewed a guy a few years ago who was gay in the church, and a church doctor had prescribed him prostate cancer medication to try and suppress his sexuality.
Okay, before we get into all the news, can you just take a step back for us just for a moment? Tell us about the exclusive Brethren, now called the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.
It was set up in the 1820s by a theologian and minister called John Nelson Darby, who had a real set against the established church.
And he wanted to kind of revolutionize the way in which religion was done.
And at each point, the church that we now call the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, but most people know as the Exclusive Brethren, At each point, they've taken the more exclusive, the more separatist, the more secretive side of that split.
So what we see now is a very secretive church that is governed by what they call the doctrine of separation.
It's based on the Derby translation of the Bible that you need to withdraw from iniquity.
And they take that to mean you can't, if you're a member of the church, eat or socialize with or have friends of anybody who's outside the brethren themselves, the people they call the saints.
In fact, Bruce Hales, the current global leader in what they call the unbroken line of leadership since Derby, he says you have to get a hatred of the world, an utter, utter hatred, he says.
You have to despise the world and everything in it because he fears that it will defile and contaminate his members.
Okay, and it's probably worth pointing out, listeners here, that you have written a book on the Exclusive Brethren, so you know a lot about this particular church.
So I guess tell us what other main criticisms or controversies there are surrounding this particular church.
And it's also very, in some ways, what we might say is traditional, but they still hold these values.
So women are not allowed to talk in church other than to what they say, give out the hymns, which is read out the numbers of the hymns.
It's frowned upon for a woman to have an opinion in a social setting in the Brethren, and women essentially can't work beyond marriage, except in the family business.
I interviewed a guy a few years ago who was gay in the church, and a church doctor had prescribed him prostate cancer medication to try and suppress his sexuality.
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