Former ‘cult’ member exposes top secret operation happening right under our noses ahead of the federal election
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An ex-member of a conservative Christian sect has exposed an alleged nationwide campaign by the church’s ‘army’ to campaign for the Liberal Party.
Ben Woodbury, 33, was at his local polling booth in Sydney last week when he saw members of Plymouth Brethren Christian Church campaigning for the Liberals.
The church, which is also referred to as the Exclusive Brethren, is a small, separatist Christian sect in which members do not vote in any elections.
Mr Woodbury told Daily Mail Australia he was excommunicated from the Church, which he calls a ‘cult’, nine years ago because he is gay.
He was understandably ‘shocked’ to see church members campaigning for a gay Liberal candidate in his area and took to his TikTok to share his thoughts.
Aussie viewers told him ‘there’s Brethren everywhere’ with Mr Woodbury admitting he personally handed out flyers for Liberal candidates before he left the church.
‘But this is an unprecedented amount of involvement, which I’ve never seen before in my life and heard of,’ he told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.
‘I thought there’s something bigger going on here, so I reached out to a couple of my insiders in the cult and they said there’s a nationwide operation happening.’
Mr Woodbury said the Church has reportedly flown members as far as Darwin to ‘swamp the booths’ at Labor marginal seats.
When asked if the campaigning is for a specific party, he said: ‘It’s always Liberal.’
The Brethren’s website states that members do not vote and the Church has never made donations to any political party.
‘Some of our individual members have donated to individual politicians, but this is to their discretion and they do not represent the Church’s view when doing so,’ it said.
But Mr Woodbury disputes that, alleging the orders come straight from the Church.
‘We used to call it ‘vol-and-tol’, so essentially you’re told what to do, but if anybody asked you’re volunteering,’ he said.
‘You weren’t allowed to ask questions because, as they quote, “You do the doing and we’ll do the thinking”. That’s the mindset.’
Mr Woodbury also alleges the Church contacted volunteers with tips on how to respond if ‘approached by an opposition candidate or their volunteers’.
Content retrieved from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14661897/brethren-church-Liberal-volunteers-election.html.
