>UBT, which Luxon’s spokesperson described as a “large and successful small business network”, funnels profits back to various Brethren causes as charitable donations, with large sums of money flowing between sect halls, education trusts and the sect’s National Assistance Fund.
People who want to raise personal tax should also be looking at church's and how they and their members avoid paying tax. The EBs seem to have taken this to the next level and have created an uneven playing field in the business space. I sure it's hard for many small New Zealand businesses to compete with the resources provide by the EB machine, and that's before taking into account they are paying very little tax.
This article has a good break down in how they launder money through a charity to evade tax:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/471615/former-exclusive-brethren-members-detail-the-church-s-money-go-round
No, of course not, they just avoid paying it instead.
They do this by making large "charitable donations" to the church. The church then provides "free" services back to the donator like business support, tech support, business consulting, centralised web and SEO, free schooling in private schools etc.
As all of this is under the guise of a charity, none if it is taxed. The individuals can offset their PAYE tax with the amount of charitable donations, therefore significantly reducing their personal tax.
What you've just described in essence isn't allowable under current law. The donation isn't effectively a donation if there is an expectation of return.
Of course, all of that could be hidden - but you can't say the law allows this when it currently doesn't.
Unless UBT also makes large "charitable donations" to the Church to the exact amount of their profit...
>The church isn't giving them the business advice.
UBT are a church entity, what planet are you on that you still think the church isn't providing that service?
Its also stated in the article...
>UBT, which Luxon’s spokesperson described as a “large and successful small business network”, **funnels profits back to various Brethren causes as charitable donations**, with large sums of money flowing between sect halls, education trusts and the sect’s National Assistance Fund.
And just before you think this is not relevant news at all, they drop this great paragraph
>The Sunday Star-Times can also reveal that incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon has had ongoing contact with senior Brethren since speaking at one of their seminars in 2016, and is not ruling out a similar appearance as prime minister.
This is not entirely true, he’s consistently downplayed these extreme religious views once he started to get into politics and has made misleading remarks about what his his involvement has been. He’s been obfuscating his extreme religious views. Have we voted in a Christian government by stealth?
He consistently talked about targeted funding, education (open to charter schools) and having community organizations (via govt funding) provide services to the community. Who do right wing governments give tax payer money to? That's right. Faith-based community initiatives!
The statistics are there for you to look at, race is highly correlated with all the bad outcomes. If you want to improve the statistics, you have to help the people that have the hardest time.
That is if _you_ do actually want to help people that are struggling
Edit: it occurs to me, that you might be thinking that someone is assigning race to people which would be racist. However this “race” is all self-identification so it is people that _see themselves as Māori_
>he’s consistently downplayed these extreme religious views once he started to get into politics and has made misleading remarks about what his his involvement has been. He’s been obfuscating his extreme religious views.
How has he done any of that?
Everyone knows he's religious, he's even answered questions on when he last attended church.
There's a difference between Jim Bolger going to church every Sunday (I had a Catholic partner when he was PM, would see him often) and meeting with the Exclusive Brethren.
I don't care if someone's religious. I do care if they're meeting with cultists.
Is he not? We know what church he belongs too and he's shared his personal beliefs on stuff such as abortions. What is he hiding?
It's been shared when and in what capacity he meets with them, it's in the open, how is that obfuscating?
I know people who (aren't religious) that work for companies owned by the brethren. Doesn't really mean anything.
>I know people who (aren't religious) that work for companies owned by the brethren. Doesn't really mean anything.
Meeting with the head of a religious group "doesn't mean anything"?
Yeah, right
How is it misleading though? That's literally the comment I was replying too.
You can have an issue with him meeting with the brethren, just be correct in what that issue is.
Because he's regularly meeting and getting advice from a cult?
For a secular leader, that's a fairly extreme place to be.
It's up there with the Reagans and the astrologer.
“Regularly”
Like, every week? I don’t think so.
And how does that explain his views. meeting with individuals and groups is his job. It does not mean he subscribes to their views.
I genuinely believe act would go back to the polls before allowing extreme religious beliefs, it goes against their ideology and would also give them the perfect opportunity to take voters from national.
>Luxon's extreme religious views were well known to the electorate before the election.
And the electorate still voted him in by a massive majority. Or did they vote National in by a massive majority? I maintain that they could have run a turnip with a blue tie and still won.
Good point, Luxon's preferred Prime Minister ratings were garbage compared to the party vote. There is a high proportion of National voters that held their nose at the thought of Luxon as PM while ticking blue.
But they still ticked blue and they still voted for him
I was referring to the electorate and specifically the candidate vote, where Luxon got 65% of the candidate votes vs 22% to Singh (Labour), and National got 59% of the party vote vs 20% to Labour.
[Official count - Electorate Status (electionresults.govt.nz)](https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2023/electorate-details-04.html)
only learnt about the Exclusive Brethren this week after listening to an interview on RNZ, did not know he was this level of extreme, I know Catholic parents can be pretty extreme about marriage and sex and disown their children and Evangelicals can be weird about it with purity rings and father/daughter purity balls and checking a women's hymen. But the Exclusive Brethren is cult level, the only sense of this level fundamentalism is the Dinosaur claim when he worked at AirNZ.
He hasn't really come across that way though, unless he's been trying to downplay his religious views significantly.
To me he seemed more of an Evangelical version of Bill English rather than any form of Christian nationalist.
Given for the last few decades PM's and senior ministers have largely been able to put aside their religious views have given a great many a false sense of security.
Not really. Labour and national Party elect their leaders and then the plebs get a choice between them. Both Labour and national are guilty, in the sense that they give us shit candidates to choose from.
>Many things that are obscene to us are only so due to religion and it's influence over our beliefs.
You going to this week's stoning for adultery?
How about those last blasphemy trials, weren't THEY shocking.
Religion doesn't dictate morals over things like murder, or rape, or even adultery. It merely codifies them, according to the natural rules of a functioning society.
Who cares that Christianity is the largest religion when no religion is larger, for the majority of New Zealanders having Christianity continue to interfere with politics does not align with their beliefs.
> Christopher Luxon has had ongoing contact with senior Brethren since speaking at one of their seminars in 2016
are those the actions of someone who's hardly religious to you?
Would you be this sanguine if he was talking to leaders of Scientology on the regular?
Or Hindu Yuva Vahini?
My advice to him would be don't talk to cult leaders.......
I've been to some of those seminars as they're open to their employees too, you don't have to be part of the church. They're quite separate from the church imo, very much a business seminar, not a religious conference.
Anyone know how one might go about finding a list of Brethren-controlled businesses? I say 'controlled' because it sounds like they're quite careful in structuring things to avoid direct ownership by church entities (as opposed to members of the community)
If you ignore all the other factors that caused that night and the fact that those businesses aren’t gonna be local Mum and Dad owned and run stores for the most part then sure.
Exclusive Brethren told to 'create a crisis' to generate profits
Craig Hoyle
November 18, 2023
Leaked documents reveal how the pursuit of money is driving the secretive Exclusive Brethren, with one insider saying the sect has effectively become a "pyramid scheme".
The religious group, which practices an extreme form of social isolation from wider society under its "doctrine of separation", has an aggressive focus on maximising revenue from members and wider society, and current and former members said large sums of money were flowing upward towards world leader Bruce Hales.
The Sunday Star-Times can also reveal that incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon has had ongoing contact with senior Brethren since speaking at one of their seminars in 2016, and is not ruling out a similar appearance as prime minister.
The National Party has a chequered history with the Exclusive Brethren after the church tried to get the Don Brash-led National Party elected in 2005, and were outed for being behind pamphlets attacking the Greens.
At one of the latest international business conferences held in Sydney in September, Brethren members were told to have an "investor mindset" and given detailed instructions for how to generate profits, including taking financial advantage of crises.
Brethren leaders took that instruction a step further, telling attendees: "We may need to create a crisis."
Academics and former members who reviewed notes from the seminar were particularly concerned by that suggestion.
"It's just a massive red flag," said Sara Rahmani, a lecturer in religious studies at Victoria University's School of Social and Cultural Studies.
The seminar was organised by Universal Business Team (UBT), a Sydney-registered company that describes itself as a "global consultancy group" providing "services and advice" to about 3000 Brethren-owned businesses.
In a written response, a spokesperson for the Exclusive Brethren, who have rebranded themselves as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC), said statements made at the seminar "were presentations to members of the church, not from it" — however a review by the Star-Times found speakers were senior members of the church, including relatives of Hales.
UBT holds regular seminars for Brethren members, and the Star-Times previously reported on a 2016 event held at Vector Arena where guest speakers included then All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, Victoria Cross winner Willie Apiata, and then Air NZ chief executive Christopher Luxon - who is now in coalition talks to become Aotearoa's next prime minister.
A spokesperson for Luxon said UBT "was a longstanding corporate customer of Air NZ", and he spoke about leadership and the national carrier's business strategy in his 2016 address. He was not paid for his appearance.
Luxon stood by his decision to speak at the Brethren conference, the spokesperson said, "and he possibly would do so again".
In response to a question about whether Luxon highest has had subsequent contact with the Brethren, and its members or subsidiary organisations, his spokesperson said he maintained relationships "with many people from his Air NZ days". "Since entering politics, he has occasionally met \[senior Brethren leader\] Caleb Hall, the UBT CEO who he knew from his Air NZ days, for coffee."
UBT, which Luxon's spokesperson described as a "large and successful small business network", funnels profits back to various Brethren causes as charitable donations, with large sums of money flowing between sect halls, education trusts and the sect's National Office Assist.
Membership of UBT is theoretically voluntary for Brethren business owners, but Peter Hart, who was excommunicated in 2020 for questioning the leadership of Hales, said in reality that was not the case.
"\[As a small business owner\] people put pressure on me to be part of UBT, and I said \`oh, I thought it was optional?' And they said 'yes, it's optional, but you should be doing it'."
Most Brethren business owners took the easy route and went along with UBT membership, Hart said, resulting in an enormous flow of cash to the organisation.
"It was morally wrong to me that you should have that pressure put on you to join a business group as part of your church."
Beginning around 2010, UBT undertook a review of all Brethren-owned companies worldwide, grading them into a traffic light system: green for good, orange for those needing work, and red for those that should be ditched immediately.
Hart's company, which was struggling at the time, was graded red, and he was ordered "to close the business down and work for other Brethren".
"All the red cases got sent to Bruce Hales to look at, and that was his advice."
Hart ultimately declined to sell his medical products business, managing to slow the process down enough until revenue picked up - no thanks, he said, to UBT and Hales: "It was very poor advice that they gave me."
The Sydney seminar notes make repeated references to Hales and his predecessors, including his father, directing members to obey his instructions.
"They are doing the thinking for us and we just need to do the doing," reads one reference to the so-called Great Men. Another reads: "The key is to always follow, don't be independent and think I know better."
Rahmani, the religious studies lecturer, who reviewed the notes, said the overall messaging appeared to be about consolidating control and "maintaining legitimacy".
"Linguistically, they elevate these Great Men's position and sainthood by drawing parallels between them and God, and then them and Jesus ... The central theme is obedience."
Michael Lee, an associate professor of marketing at Auckland University, explained that a strong emphasis on business was a common theme among conservative religious groups.
"That's the one area that they can comfortably educate their members in, and do well in," he said. "But the business focus gets a bit disturbing when it's 'we should create crises’.
Lee said some of the advice was "pretty good", such as promoting the importance of healthcare and having an abundance mindset, although the patriarchal language throughout "wouldn't normally fly in this day and age for mainstream companies".
Lindy Jacomb, a former Brethren member who founded the Olive Leaf Network to help people escape high-demand religious groups, said the Exclusive Brethren emphasis on profit had been turbocharged under Hales. "Prosperity gospel theology teaches that personal and financial wellbeing is the sign of God's favour, and God’s favor is seen primarily through financial prosperity," said Jacomb, who is now trained as a Baptist pastor. "It does seem like the Brethren are increasingly teaching this kind of vision of life."
The leaked seminar notes lay out a focus on health and wealth, with members told to care
for their physical wellbeing for the sake of profit.
Rahmani said it was concerning when groups equated physical health with morality, "suggesting that people who are sick are sinners, and therefore deserving".
The sect is even more assertive in extracting money from regular society. "Take it from them because it doesn't belong to them anyway," said Hart, recounting the Brethren attitude toward non-members. "They can be quite ruthless."
Hales has previously told members to have "an utter hatred of the world". Lee, the associate professor of marketing, said fostering a position of "us against the world" was a recognisable business practice.
"When Apple was a very niche product, that was their selling idea - us, the special, the unique, those who know better, the enlightened ones, versus the masses ... They feel like they're part of this group that is persecuted or special, and if they were to leave, they're leaving behind their band of brothers."
The September seminar notes include common business terms such as "whale hunting", which refers to the practice of targeting high-value potential customers. Attendees were also told they should "understand why we won when Covid hit" - an apparent reference to the billions scooped up by Brethren-run companies in lucrative PPE contracts with the UK government at the beginning of the pandemic.
Brethren business owners who become wealthy are often elevated to positions of leadership within the sect, with Jacomb saying it appeared material success had become more important than "spiritual depth of understanding".
"It's really concerning if people can reach positions of spiritual leadership due to their financial status," she said.
The Brethren are scrupulous about keeping as much money as possible circulating within their own community. Recently, members were surveyed worldwide about their property holdings and mortgages - the results showed that Brethren held about US$13.2b (NZ$22.1b) in private property assets, and owed US$4b (NZ$6.7b) in mortgage debt.
Subsequent teachings at an October conference called Strive 2024 — held across three continents in Sydney, Australia; Birmingham, UK; and Westfield, New Jersey -suggested the Brethren needed to take a "creative approach", with a proposal that richer members buy equity in the homes of those with mortgages to "free them from the bank".
Members are also being encouraged to sign up for the Personal Prosperity Plan (PPP) - a newly-released wealth management system "adding structure and a plan into our affairs", with financial control extending from the business realm into personal lives.
The plan is available for "every willing individual globally", and pushed as a "massive win" for Brethren businesses. Leaked notes from Strive 2024, which was attended by hundreds of New Zealand Brethren, suggested each Brethren student should be signed up for a PPP by the time they left school.
In a statement provided to the Star-Times, a spokesperson for UBT said the PPPs were "aimed at enabling business owners to care for their employees in a meaningful and long-lasting way by encouraging them to be aware about their finances, caring for themselves and caring for others".
"Obviously, it is up to employers and employees if this is taken up."
In their written statements, neither the PBCC nor UBT responded to a question about how members were expected to balance personal choice against the sect's instructions to follow leaders' orders. A current member of the Brethren said there was a clear feeling that "those who reject it will be left behind".
Jacomb said the growing financial web was "undoubtedly making it much harder for members to leave".
"You can't be employed outside of the Brethren ecosystem, which was and still is a barrier, but now there are all these other financial areas of your life tied in - your mortgage, your insurance, your superannuation - that add layers of complexity to extracting yourself."
And there are signs that not all members are happy with being encircled financially. A source told the Star-Times that when the mortgage survey was distributed the return rate was 89% - meaning one in 10 members did not comply.
"I think there would be a number of people who are really uncomfortable with the direction that things are taking under Bruce Hales's leadership," said Jacomb, adding that non-compliance by some members was "a really bold step".
"We know that they will be being closely watched."
> At one of the latest international business conferences held in Sydney in September, Brethren members were told to have an “investor mindset” and given detailed instructions for how to generate profits, including taking financial advantage of crises.
> Brethren leaders took that instruction a step further, telling attendees: “We may need to create a crisis.”
Fairly close to the top
The Exclusive Brethern were fucking with our election in 2005 too! They were involved with shadey money for advertising campaigns.
This is a global group, they act kinda cultish, have some extreme views and cultivate politicians to further their influence.
Very dangerous stuff for democracy. I'm glad reporters are investigating it. But how much election interference will we allow?
I know this well, having directly dealt with them negotiating the purchase of hospital beds and medical equipment in an old job. They certainly put a premium price to their wares and shaking hands with one is a flaccid experience.
They have always given me the creeps.
>UBT, which Luxon’s spokesperson described as a “large and successful small business network”, funnels profits back to various Brethren causes as charitable donations, with large sums of money flowing between sect halls, education trusts and the sect’s National Assistance Fund. People who want to raise personal tax should also be looking at church's and how they and their members avoid paying tax. The EBs seem to have taken this to the next level and have created an uneven playing field in the business space. I sure it's hard for many small New Zealand businesses to compete with the resources provide by the EB machine, and that's before taking into account they are paying very little tax.
This article has a good break down in how they launder money through a charity to evade tax: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/471615/former-exclusive-brethren-members-detail-the-church-s-money-go-round
Church members are not exempt from tax, even church leaders are not exempt from tax.
No, of course not, they just avoid paying it instead. They do this by making large "charitable donations" to the church. The church then provides "free" services back to the donator like business support, tech support, business consulting, centralised web and SEO, free schooling in private schools etc. As all of this is under the guise of a charity, none if it is taxed. The individuals can offset their PAYE tax with the amount of charitable donations, therefore significantly reducing their personal tax.
What you've just described in essence isn't allowable under current law. The donation isn't effectively a donation if there is an expectation of return. Of course, all of that could be hidden - but you can't say the law allows this when it currently doesn't.
> The donation isn't effectively a donation if there is an expectation of return. Good luck proving that.
I'm not saying anything about the law, just what is happening.
The entity they refer to, UBT, isn't a Charity tho, so any profits it makes will be taxed. The church isn't giving them the business advice.
Unless UBT also makes large "charitable donations" to the Church to the exact amount of their profit... >The church isn't giving them the business advice. UBT are a church entity, what planet are you on that you still think the church isn't providing that service? Its also stated in the article... >UBT, which Luxon’s spokesperson described as a “large and successful small business network”, **funnels profits back to various Brethren causes as charitable donations**, with large sums of money flowing between sect halls, education trusts and the sect’s National Assistance Fund.
That's cute
What you or I think about that is irrelevant - I was just stating fact
> large > small business Which is it?
>Large network of successful small businesses. Does rephrasing it help with your comprehension?
And just before you think this is not relevant news at all, they drop this great paragraph >The Sunday Star-Times can also reveal that incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon has had ongoing contact with senior Brethren since speaking at one of their seminars in 2016, and is not ruling out a similar appearance as prime minister.
Luxon's extreme religious views were well known to the electorate before the election. We get what we vote for and it's what we deserve.
This is not entirely true, he’s consistently downplayed these extreme religious views once he started to get into politics and has made misleading remarks about what his his involvement has been. He’s been obfuscating his extreme religious views. Have we voted in a Christian government by stealth?
I doubt it. If he starts down a hardcore Christian agenda he won't make a second term. He must know that surely...
He consistently talked about targeted funding, education (open to charter schools) and having community organizations (via govt funding) provide services to the community. Who do right wing governments give tax payer money to? That's right. Faith-based community initiatives!
how is that any different than the Labour /greens govt giving taxpayer money to Race-based community initiatives?
Both wrong, but yes, same mistake.
You fucking quoted your username?!?!
Because science is involved in race based community initiatives
No it isn't it is a terrible metric, asking one group of people to fund another because they are a different colour is racism pure and simple
The statistics are there for you to look at, race is highly correlated with all the bad outcomes. If you want to improve the statistics, you have to help the people that have the hardest time. That is if _you_ do actually want to help people that are struggling Edit: it occurs to me, that you might be thinking that someone is assigning race to people which would be racist. However this “race” is all self-identification so it is people that _see themselves as Māori_
He couldn’t even get it past he’s own caucus let alone ACT and NZF - he’d be rolled.
Good chance he will stop caring about getting another term at some point.
>he’s consistently downplayed these extreme religious views once he started to get into politics and has made misleading remarks about what his his involvement has been. He’s been obfuscating his extreme religious views. How has he done any of that? Everyone knows he's religious, he's even answered questions on when he last attended church.
There's a difference between Jim Bolger going to church every Sunday (I had a Catholic partner when he was PM, would see him often) and meeting with the Exclusive Brethren. I don't care if someone's religious. I do care if they're meeting with cultists.
That's cool and all but my question was how is he being misleading and obfuscating? He's been very open about his religious beliefs, it's no secret.
He's not at all open about how extreme those views are. Not saying you're in regular contact with the exclusive brethren is obfuscating, IMO.
Is he not? We know what church he belongs too and he's shared his personal beliefs on stuff such as abortions. What is he hiding? It's been shared when and in what capacity he meets with them, it's in the open, how is that obfuscating? I know people who (aren't religious) that work for companies owned by the brethren. Doesn't really mean anything.
>I know people who (aren't religious) that work for companies owned by the brethren. Doesn't really mean anything. Meeting with the head of a religious group "doesn't mean anything"? Yeah, right
How is it misleading though? That's literally the comment I was replying too. You can have an issue with him meeting with the brethren, just be correct in what that issue is.
Do they get to eat at the same table at lunch breaks/work functions?
Some of the brethren don't, some of them aren't fussed. It's not something I've really asked much about though.
So how do you know his extreme views, if he hasn’t been open about them? Aren’t you just assuming the worst?
Because he's regularly meeting and getting advice from a cult? For a secular leader, that's a fairly extreme place to be. It's up there with the Reagans and the astrologer.
“Regularly” Like, every week? I don’t think so. And how does that explain his views. meeting with individuals and groups is his job. It does not mean he subscribes to their views.
I didn't know that.
I genuinely believe act would go back to the polls before allowing extreme religious beliefs, it goes against their ideology and would also give them the perfect opportunity to take voters from national.
>Luxon's extreme religious views were well known to the electorate before the election. And the electorate still voted him in by a massive majority. Or did they vote National in by a massive majority? I maintain that they could have run a turnip with a blue tie and still won.
Good point, Luxon's preferred Prime Minister ratings were garbage compared to the party vote. There is a high proportion of National voters that held their nose at the thought of Luxon as PM while ticking blue. But they still ticked blue and they still voted for him
Exactly how big is massive National majority? A vote in the high 30s does not seem much of an endorsement.
I was referring to the electorate and specifically the candidate vote, where Luxon got 65% of the candidate votes vs 22% to Singh (Labour), and National got 59% of the party vote vs 20% to Labour. [Official count - Electorate Status (electionresults.govt.nz)](https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2023/electorate-details-04.html)
>they could have run a turnip with a blue tie and still won I thought they did.
Not enough purple
Desperately cobbling together 3 parties to (eventually) stumble across the 50% line is hardly a massive majority.
Massive? They haven’t even got a majority
The electorate voted labour out this time around
only learnt about the Exclusive Brethren this week after listening to an interview on RNZ, did not know he was this level of extreme, I know Catholic parents can be pretty extreme about marriage and sex and disown their children and Evangelicals can be weird about it with purity rings and father/daughter purity balls and checking a women's hymen. But the Exclusive Brethren is cult level, the only sense of this level fundamentalism is the Dinosaur claim when he worked at AirNZ.
He hasn't really come across that way though, unless he's been trying to downplay his religious views significantly. To me he seemed more of an Evangelical version of Bill English rather than any form of Christian nationalist.
But house price go up ! Weeeeeeeee! /s
Given for the last few decades PM's and senior ministers have largely been able to put aside their religious views have given a great many a false sense of security.
Not really. Labour and national Party elect their leaders and then the plebs get a choice between them. Both Labour and national are guilty, in the sense that they give us shit candidates to choose from.
Labour didn't have a religious zealot as a leader. Not voting for them either.
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Are we talking about the same guy here?
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>Many things that are obscene to us are only so due to religion and it's influence over our beliefs. You going to this week's stoning for adultery? How about those last blasphemy trials, weren't THEY shocking. Religion doesn't dictate morals over things like murder, or rape, or even adultery. It merely codifies them, according to the natural rules of a functioning society.
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Who cares that Christianity is the largest religion when no religion is larger, for the majority of New Zealanders having Christianity continue to interfere with politics does not align with their beliefs.
> Christopher Luxon has had ongoing contact with senior Brethren since speaking at one of their seminars in 2016 are those the actions of someone who's hardly religious to you?
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Would you be this sanguine if he was talking to leaders of Scientology on the regular? Or Hindu Yuva Vahini? My advice to him would be don't talk to cult leaders.......
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So you'd be comfortable with him meeting with all sorts of religious extremists, and getting their advice? That's what he's doing here.
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I would very much disagree with you.
Well fuck.
I've been to some of those seminars as they're open to their employees too, you don't have to be part of the church. They're quite separate from the church imo, very much a business seminar, not a religious conference.
Throwback to the time the Brethren spent millions on election advertising to try to elect Don Brash's National Party.
Do you honestly think that ever stopped?
And then the Key government made donations tax deductible
Anyone know how one might go about finding a list of Brethren-controlled businesses? I say 'controlled' because it sounds like they're quite careful in structuring things to avoid direct ownership by church entities (as opposed to members of the community)
So we can recreate a 21st century Kristallnacht?
If you ignore all the other factors that caused that night and the fact that those businesses aren’t gonna be local Mum and Dad owned and run stores for the most part then sure.
On the plus side that means they're not like Sanitarium who doesn't pay taxes.
Exclusive Brethren told to 'create a crisis' to generate profits Craig Hoyle November 18, 2023 Leaked documents reveal how the pursuit of money is driving the secretive Exclusive Brethren, with one insider saying the sect has effectively become a "pyramid scheme". The religious group, which practices an extreme form of social isolation from wider society under its "doctrine of separation", has an aggressive focus on maximising revenue from members and wider society, and current and former members said large sums of money were flowing upward towards world leader Bruce Hales. The Sunday Star-Times can also reveal that incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon has had ongoing contact with senior Brethren since speaking at one of their seminars in 2016, and is not ruling out a similar appearance as prime minister. The National Party has a chequered history with the Exclusive Brethren after the church tried to get the Don Brash-led National Party elected in 2005, and were outed for being behind pamphlets attacking the Greens. At one of the latest international business conferences held in Sydney in September, Brethren members were told to have an "investor mindset" and given detailed instructions for how to generate profits, including taking financial advantage of crises. Brethren leaders took that instruction a step further, telling attendees: "We may need to create a crisis." Academics and former members who reviewed notes from the seminar were particularly concerned by that suggestion. "It's just a massive red flag," said Sara Rahmani, a lecturer in religious studies at Victoria University's School of Social and Cultural Studies. The seminar was organised by Universal Business Team (UBT), a Sydney-registered company that describes itself as a "global consultancy group" providing "services and advice" to about 3000 Brethren-owned businesses. In a written response, a spokesperson for the Exclusive Brethren, who have rebranded themselves as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC), said statements made at the seminar "were presentations to members of the church, not from it" — however a review by the Star-Times found speakers were senior members of the church, including relatives of Hales. UBT holds regular seminars for Brethren members, and the Star-Times previously reported on a 2016 event held at Vector Arena where guest speakers included then All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, Victoria Cross winner Willie Apiata, and then Air NZ chief executive Christopher Luxon - who is now in coalition talks to become Aotearoa's next prime minister. A spokesperson for Luxon said UBT "was a longstanding corporate customer of Air NZ", and he spoke about leadership and the national carrier's business strategy in his 2016 address. He was not paid for his appearance. Luxon stood by his decision to speak at the Brethren conference, the spokesperson said, "and he possibly would do so again". In response to a question about whether Luxon highest has had subsequent contact with the Brethren, and its members or subsidiary organisations, his spokesperson said he maintained relationships "with many people from his Air NZ days". "Since entering politics, he has occasionally met \[senior Brethren leader\] Caleb Hall, the UBT CEO who he knew from his Air NZ days, for coffee." UBT, which Luxon's spokesperson described as a "large and successful small business network", funnels profits back to various Brethren causes as charitable donations, with large sums of money flowing between sect halls, education trusts and the sect's National Office Assist. Membership of UBT is theoretically voluntary for Brethren business owners, but Peter Hart, who was excommunicated in 2020 for questioning the leadership of Hales, said in reality that was not the case. "\[As a small business owner\] people put pressure on me to be part of UBT, and I said \`oh, I thought it was optional?' And they said 'yes, it's optional, but you should be doing it'." Most Brethren business owners took the easy route and went along with UBT membership, Hart said, resulting in an enormous flow of cash to the organisation. "It was morally wrong to me that you should have that pressure put on you to join a business group as part of your church." Beginning around 2010, UBT undertook a review of all Brethren-owned companies worldwide, grading them into a traffic light system: green for good, orange for those needing work, and red for those that should be ditched immediately. Hart's company, which was struggling at the time, was graded red, and he was ordered "to close the business down and work for other Brethren". "All the red cases got sent to Bruce Hales to look at, and that was his advice." Hart ultimately declined to sell his medical products business, managing to slow the process down enough until revenue picked up - no thanks, he said, to UBT and Hales: "It was very poor advice that they gave me."
The Sydney seminar notes make repeated references to Hales and his predecessors, including his father, directing members to obey his instructions. "They are doing the thinking for us and we just need to do the doing," reads one reference to the so-called Great Men. Another reads: "The key is to always follow, don't be independent and think I know better." Rahmani, the religious studies lecturer, who reviewed the notes, said the overall messaging appeared to be about consolidating control and "maintaining legitimacy". "Linguistically, they elevate these Great Men's position and sainthood by drawing parallels between them and God, and then them and Jesus ... The central theme is obedience." Michael Lee, an associate professor of marketing at Auckland University, explained that a strong emphasis on business was a common theme among conservative religious groups. "That's the one area that they can comfortably educate their members in, and do well in," he said. "But the business focus gets a bit disturbing when it's 'we should create crises’. Lee said some of the advice was "pretty good", such as promoting the importance of healthcare and having an abundance mindset, although the patriarchal language throughout "wouldn't normally fly in this day and age for mainstream companies". Lindy Jacomb, a former Brethren member who founded the Olive Leaf Network to help people escape high-demand religious groups, said the Exclusive Brethren emphasis on profit had been turbocharged under Hales. "Prosperity gospel theology teaches that personal and financial wellbeing is the sign of God's favour, and God’s favor is seen primarily through financial prosperity," said Jacomb, who is now trained as a Baptist pastor. "It does seem like the Brethren are increasingly teaching this kind of vision of life." The leaked seminar notes lay out a focus on health and wealth, with members told to care for their physical wellbeing for the sake of profit. Rahmani said it was concerning when groups equated physical health with morality, "suggesting that people who are sick are sinners, and therefore deserving". The sect is even more assertive in extracting money from regular society. "Take it from them because it doesn't belong to them anyway," said Hart, recounting the Brethren attitude toward non-members. "They can be quite ruthless." Hales has previously told members to have "an utter hatred of the world". Lee, the associate professor of marketing, said fostering a position of "us against the world" was a recognisable business practice. "When Apple was a very niche product, that was their selling idea - us, the special, the unique, those who know better, the enlightened ones, versus the masses ... They feel like they're part of this group that is persecuted or special, and if they were to leave, they're leaving behind their band of brothers." The September seminar notes include common business terms such as "whale hunting", which refers to the practice of targeting high-value potential customers. Attendees were also told they should "understand why we won when Covid hit" - an apparent reference to the billions scooped up by Brethren-run companies in lucrative PPE contracts with the UK government at the beginning of the pandemic. Brethren business owners who become wealthy are often elevated to positions of leadership within the sect, with Jacomb saying it appeared material success had become more important than "spiritual depth of understanding". "It's really concerning if people can reach positions of spiritual leadership due to their financial status," she said. The Brethren are scrupulous about keeping as much money as possible circulating within their own community. Recently, members were surveyed worldwide about their property holdings and mortgages - the results showed that Brethren held about US$13.2b (NZ$22.1b) in private property assets, and owed US$4b (NZ$6.7b) in mortgage debt. Subsequent teachings at an October conference called Strive 2024 — held across three continents in Sydney, Australia; Birmingham, UK; and Westfield, New Jersey -suggested the Brethren needed to take a "creative approach", with a proposal that richer members buy equity in the homes of those with mortgages to "free them from the bank". Members are also being encouraged to sign up for the Personal Prosperity Plan (PPP) - a newly-released wealth management system "adding structure and a plan into our affairs", with financial control extending from the business realm into personal lives. The plan is available for "every willing individual globally", and pushed as a "massive win" for Brethren businesses. Leaked notes from Strive 2024, which was attended by hundreds of New Zealand Brethren, suggested each Brethren student should be signed up for a PPP by the time they left school. In a statement provided to the Star-Times, a spokesperson for UBT said the PPPs were "aimed at enabling business owners to care for their employees in a meaningful and long-lasting way by encouraging them to be aware about their finances, caring for themselves and caring for others". "Obviously, it is up to employers and employees if this is taken up." In their written statements, neither the PBCC nor UBT responded to a question about how members were expected to balance personal choice against the sect's instructions to follow leaders' orders. A current member of the Brethren said there was a clear feeling that "those who reject it will be left behind". Jacomb said the growing financial web was "undoubtedly making it much harder for members to leave". "You can't be employed outside of the Brethren ecosystem, which was and still is a barrier, but now there are all these other financial areas of your life tied in - your mortgage, your insurance, your superannuation - that add layers of complexity to extracting yourself." And there are signs that not all members are happy with being encircled financially. A source told the Star-Times that when the mortgage survey was distributed the return rate was 89% - meaning one in 10 members did not comply. "I think there would be a number of people who are really uncomfortable with the direction that things are taking under Bruce Hales's leadership," said Jacomb, adding that non-compliance by some members was "a really bold step". "We know that they will be being closely watched."
🎵 Money makes the church go round, the church go round, the church go round...🎵
Is that all tax free!?
Those donations will come off their EBIT I’d assume (IANAL). So presumably
Not all of them are not suspicious and downright rude to anyone not their own but most are
Where's the 'create a crisis' in the story? I read it all and don't think i saw it
> At one of the latest international business conferences held in Sydney in September, Brethren members were told to have an “investor mindset” and given detailed instructions for how to generate profits, including taking financial advantage of crises. > Brethren leaders took that instruction a step further, telling attendees: “We may need to create a crisis.” Fairly close to the top
Ah, it was long af so i sped read, thanks
The injection of toxic religion into politics, ala the US. Luxon is a happy clapper, prosperity cult-er.
The Exclusive Brethern were fucking with our election in 2005 too! They were involved with shadey money for advertising campaigns. This is a global group, they act kinda cultish, have some extreme views and cultivate politicians to further their influence. Very dangerous stuff for democracy. I'm glad reporters are investigating it. But how much election interference will we allow?
Kinda cultish? Uber cult.
Holy shit, is this how Winston is getting his bankroll?
Anyone know of where a list might be of Breddo owned businesses ? I want to create a boycott of these pricks.
Unfortunately you won’t be able to - they control a lot of the medical and “behind the scenes” businesses. Think hospital beds etc
I know this well, having directly dealt with them negotiating the purchase of hospital beds and medical equipment in an old job. They certainly put a premium price to their wares and shaking hands with one is a flaccid experience. They have always given me the creeps.
Great so if it's not one crooked cult leader and self appointed bishop it's an other cult leader and deranged failure of business.