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Saturday Nation
May 8, 1999, Sunday Edition
Hunte: Ban Closed Brethren
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ENVIRONMENTALIST Julian Hunte thinks the Closed Brethren religious group is doing more harm
than good and should be outlawed.
The former member made a peaceful protest yesterday against the group in Country Road, St.
Michael, less than 60 metres from where it was holding an international convention.
In between the occasional blow of the conch shell, Hunte, with the Barbados flag draped
around him, and his dog, Midnight, keeping vigil, defied sweltering morning heat to make his
point.
He said a huge chunk of his life had been ripped away because he had not been allowed to contact
his two sisters who are members of the Closed Brethren.
"It has become a cult. I cannot go and listen to the Gospel. It is a shut-up situation,"
remarked Hunte, who said he was kicked out 17 years ago.
"I haven't spoken to my two sisters for 15 years because I was expelled from the church in 1982
for having a computer in my business."
Hunte said one of his nieces was recently expelled from the Closed Brethren.
"My niece was expelled because she fell in love with a black man. In this church, it is against
the rules for White and Black to marry."
May 1, 1999, Thursday Edition, Letters to the Editor
Well done, Julian Hunte
I would like to congratulate and support Julian Hunte for having the courage to demonstrate
against the wrongs perpetuated by the Closed Brethren against innocent people and their families
for the last 30 years.
I too was expelled from the church in 1980 for having committed the horrible sin of winning a
Barbados Scholarship and wishing to continue my university education.
In fact, the English founder of the religion, J.N. Darby, was a highly educated man and a Greek
scholar who had translated the Bible from the original manuscripts.
When I left, they then did everything in their power to destroy our family. My parents were
asked to kick me out of the house and my sisters were asked to go and live with relatives and
never speak to me again.
Thankfully, I was one of the lucky ones and we stuck together as a family through thick and
thin and we have never regretted that decision.
My dad was fired from his job with his relatives, and when he died in 1997 there was not one
call or letter of condolence from any member of his family in the Closed Brethren.
I also understand that today they will bury a deceased member as quickly as possible, usually
the same day they die, to reduce the chance of any outside family members or loved ones finding
out and showing up to pay their last respects to the deceased.
I could go on for many more pages about the bizarre things that were introduced into that
religion since the 1960's, but I would like to note that it was not always that way.
When I was a child it was a healthy, open religion. I remember the time when chairs and benches
were laid out at the back of the church and the public were invited from the surrounding villages
to come and hear the gospel preached.
Then literally overnight, due to the unquestioning acceptance of the ideas of one evil man,
everything was destroyed.
The church doors were locked, the windows shuttered and barred, and the public locked Out.
It was time to purify the assembly from the unclean world. I am surprised that they
think it is still okay to accept money from and conduct business with all thses unclean
people.
I am all for freedom of religion but I would implore anyone in the Closed Brethen today to stop
and think about what is going on.
This wanton destruction of people's families is un-Christian and downright inhuman and has no
place in a civilized society.
--Bradley Corbin
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