EXTREMIST RELIGIOUS CULT PUSHED BUSH ELECTION WITH FOREIGN MONEY

DAVID MARR, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, AUSTRALIA - With an iron hand, West
Ryde businessman Bruce D. Hales rules his world church. To his 40,000
followers in the Exclusive Brethren, this prosperous supplier of office
equipment in the Sydney suburbs is known as the Elect Vessel, the Lord's
Representative on Earth, the Great Man, the Paul of Our Day, Minister of
the Lord in Recovery and Mr Bruce.

For 175 years the sect has counted among its strange proscriptions - no
public entertainment, no novels, no eating with outsiders, no
university, no membership of other organizations of any kind, no shorts
("God has no pleasure in the legs of a man"), no party walls shared with
non-Brethren, no films, no radio, no television and no mobile phones -
an absolute ban on worldly politics. . .

A fortnight after [John] Howard's re-election [as prime minister], a
group called the "Thanksgiving 2004 Committee" registered with the US
Internal Revenue Service and placed ads in Florida newspapers supporting
the Senate campaign of Cuban-American Mel Martinez, a passionate
campaigner against gay marriage. Newspapers reported the committee had
registered too late for voters to be able to determine the source of the
money. Press inquiries got nowhere.

A Knoxville map-store owner told the St Petersburg Times his committee
was "working with a larger group" but refused to identify it. "We like
to fly beneath the radar," he said. On election day, the committee
placed a hugely expensive full-page ad supporting Bush in The New York
Times under the banner headline: "America Is In Safe Hands.". . .

When the financial returns of the Thanksgiving 2004 Committee were
published by the Federal Elections Commission in January last year, they
revealed that $US377,262 of more than $US600,000 raised by the committee
came from a Londoner called Bruce Hazell. Press calls to Hazell
established little except that he was Exclusive Brethren.

That the Brethren were last-minute, large-scale backers of Bush
interested the Federal Elections Commission. A spokesman told the St
Petersburg Times that "any money contributed by a foreign national and
used to purchase advertising so close to an election violates a 1966 law
designed to limit foreign intervention in US elections". The commission
now tells the Herald it cannot comment on whether it is investigating
the sect's role.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/07/01/1151174401719.html?
page=fullpage#contentSwap2


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COLLEGE FOR RELIGIOUS CULT TOP SOURCE OF WHITE HOUSE INTERNS

JULIA BARD, CHANNEL FOUR, UK - Patrick Henry College [was] set up five
years ago in Virginia, near Washington DC. Its mission is to train young
fundamentalist Christians to become the next generation of America's
cultural and political leaders. Though the separation of church and
state is enshrined in the US Constitution, with financial backing from
the evangelical community the college aims to 'rechristianise' America;
to 'preserve the world from the sinfulness of man'.

PHC students are an isolated group who come from close-knit communities
where everyone prays together and shares moral certainties. . . Once at
the college, the students ceremonially sign a covenant which commits
them to a strict behaviour code: no alcohol, drugs or obscene
literature; sex will be reserved for marriage; personal conflicts will
be resolved biblically; the students will be above reproach, will uphold
the tenets of evangelical Christianity and lead the nation for Christ. .
.

Everyone at PHC, including the academics, also signs a statement of
faith which includes these assertions:

- The Bible in its entirety . . . is the inspired word of God, inerrant
in its original manuscripts, and the only infallible and sufficient
authority for faith and Christian living.

- Man is by nature sinful and is inherently in need of salvation, which
is exclusively found by faith alone in Jesus Christ and His shed blood.

- Satan exists as a personal, malevolent being who acts as tempter and
accuser, for whom Hell, the place of eternal punishment, was prepared,
where all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious
torment for eternity.

There are political as well as biblical imperatives. The students are
highly trained in political debating techniques for which they win
national trophies. The college is extremely well-connected in
Washington, and students are propelled towards internships working for
top politicians.

God's Next Army shows students taking their first step towards power,
canvassing for a key Republican candidate. They visit a conservative
lobbying company which is opposing the payment of compensation to people
affected by asbestos, and is trying to repeal estate tax because 'the
earth is the Lord's'.

Helped by the institution's friends-in-high-places, PHC has already
provided the current White House administration with more interns than
any other college in the USA, and more are in the pipeline - on the way
to becoming 'key players in a Christian republic'.

http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/can_you_believe_it/debates/godsarmy.html