Secretive religious sect The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church has ordered its members to purge their homes of animals, leaving some Australian families heartbroken as they feel pressured to kill or abandon their pets.
Members inside the group, formerly known as Exclusive Brethren, say some animals, including a kitten, have already been put down since this month’s edict from the sect’s upper echelons, which has controversial ties to conservative politics and substantial financial holdings.
The directive, obtained by this masthead, that “every household should be freshly” cleansed of “dirty” animals follows a dog attack on a young relative of Brethren leader Bruce Hales last month, and has conjured memories of a widely reported purge of pets by the sect in the 1960s that horrified the public.
The Brethren instructs its 50,000 members in Australia and around the world to live separated from society. But it has drawn scrutiny for its involvement in recent elections, campaigning for the Liberal Party, and was raided by the Australian Tax Office in 2024.
The church tells adherents that loving animals distracts from devotion to God, but members say they view this latest command as “another test to make us prove our loyalty” in a sect where much of daily life, from money to family, is strictly controlled by leadership.
Ex-member Cheryl Bawtinheimer, who has accused a Brethren member of sexual abuse and is being sued by the church for copyright infringement over her podcast’s use of a logo, said she had been flooded with messages from people inside the church “panicking” about the new crackdown.
Bawtinheimer and more than a dozen sources connected to the church estimate that thousands of animals around the world have been killed over the decades because of the Brethren’s ban, and others mistreated or abandoned.