How I escaped a Christian sect and an abusive husband… but the price was losing my six beloved children
Published By admin with Comments 0
The day my only daughter, Juliet, got married was always going to be emotional.
As a proud mother I’d imagined the months of excited preparations, the elation of seeing my little girl as a radiant bride, the happy tears I’d shed.
And yes, I did weep, but they were not tears of joy but of horror and sadness.
It was February 2021 and I only discovered Juliet was getting married the morning of the ceremony. I didn’t find out from her – or any member of my family. Instead, it was a friend who broke the news by phone.
By this point I’d been estranged from Juliet, 21, and my five sons for five years.
However, my despair went beyond the inevitable sorrow that I was no longer in contact with my beautiful children. What I feared was that Juliet’s marriage would see her further tied to a strict and secretive religious community – the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church – that had all but destroyed me.
For some women, marriage in this church could be like a living death. In my case, it meant 26 years of marital rape and coercive control, before I finally left, in my mid-40s, in 2013.
For those who have never heard of it, the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) is a Christian sect established in England in the early 19th century.
Sometimes known as the Exclusive Brethren, believers emphasise the importance of living according to the doctrines of the bible. There are more than 50,000 members worldwide, with around 18,000 living in the UK.
The PBCC doesn’t recruit followers, rather families are encouraged to have large numbers of children to carry it on. I was a fourth-generation member.
It’s not a closed-off community, in the sense that followers live in a compound. PBCC live in cities and villages, they may have jobs, run businesses and their children may attend mainstream schools.
In practice, however, there is little freedom.
I grew up in the north of England being told I must accept God’s will – as communicated by the Brethren rulers, respected male elders.
Content retrieved from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13769541/Christian-sect-abusive-husband-escape-children.html.
