The OP has got more than they bargained for when asking for succinct information on here lol, but 'worldlies' who do come into contact with Hales EB/PBCC members are usually quite curious, so I hope I'm not straying into AIBY territory by saying lots a bit more. It's probably now obvious why the Wikipedia article the OP consulted seemed rather "word dense" - it's kinda complicated once you start looking at this group, which appears initially to be so similar to other Brethren groups or even mainstream religion... but when one begins to get an understanding of how strict and devastating the Raven-Taylor-Hales EB separation practices are, it becomes clearer why those differences are kind of worth enumerating. Perhaps because we're human, the thought of a so-called Christian refusing to have a cuppa let alone a meal let alone open their home to someone in need (or even just to someone wanting to be a friend), is quite shocking to most people.
I wanted to respond to juliette445's comment (prev page) about EB/PBCC people not being indoctrinated, being free to choose what they want to believe in at whatever age, and that they should know how the "rules of separation" would bite when they leave...
Having been raised in that group from birth (as most EB now are - very few families have joined the group voluntarily in the past 55yrs, hmm I wonder why) let me tell you that IMO there is absolutely NO opportunity given to get to know the realities of life or other religions, outside the EB. One is not allowed to attend Christian churches, investigate other religions, or freely socialise with those outside the EB. For the past 15-20years pretty much all EB children of high-school age have had to go to EB schools at which there are as far as I know no nonEB children, and in more recent years the EB schools have been expanded to included primary-age children.
The difference in levels of freedom - social, psychological, spiritual, familial - can be so all-encompassing, it is hard to explain either to those still in the EB who have never experienced the outside world... or to those outside the EB who have never lived within the confines of a cult-like group. Even just quietly thinking inside one's own head about leaving the EB to explore another religion (or to have no religion), involves an immediate and paralysing surge of fear and sadness and horror... because one straight away has to factor in the loss of one's family, one's entire community as known to date, plus the loss of home, job, etc. It's somewhat like considering a move to another country one knows nothing about (while simultaneously dealing with the fact you've been taught you'll spend eternity in hell for emigrating)!
Any EB person operating whatever critical thinking capabilities they may have somehow inherited or scrounged along the way - the EB environment is not conducive to logical analysis! - has to do so VERY carefully and quietly. Two things I learned extremely early as an EB child: a)The church comes first, always... even before family; b)Deceit - how to keep up the correct facade no matter what, which involves a finely-tuned ability to decipher what thoughts are ok to voice and which are imperative to keep to oneself.
My heart bleeds for people stuck in the EB, especially the children. The thing is, most of them don't even know they're stuck, because they've never got to experience or even properly consider the relative freedoms of the outside world. Respect for statutory human rights to freedom of non-interference in family, freedom to change religion (or have none) without penalty, and freedom of education... just does not exist yet in the EB/PBCC. My hope is that they will soon wake up to the fact they're behaving way out of step with society (to say nothing of acting illegally, where human rights are concerned), and change their ways. But because their 'separateness' is the one thing that defines them from almost all other religions (or even from the many branches of the wider Plymouth Breth and non-Hales EB as a whole), they seem to be determined to hang onto it like grim death.
It can take years after making the break from the EB/PBCC, for the actual realities of loss of family and one's birth community etc, to start to bite. Often this really begins to impinge only when one has children and they grow old enough to start asking about absent grandparents and missing aunts, uncles & cousins (who may even live in the same town). Likewise the psychological, emotional & spiritual constraints one grows up with in the EB, are only understood and felt gradually over the years after leaving.
There is no way one can fully know how the damage and losses will impact, at the time of leaving the EB years earlier. "Take it or leave it" where EB excommunication processes are concerned juliette445, sounds to me a bit like the thoughts of someone lacking in compassion... or perhaps it was just a lack of understanding or empathy? In which case I hope this epistle has opened your eyes a little bit more! But I've barely scratched the surface of what life inside this High Demand Group (the PC term for 'cult' these days, as I understand it) is like. The very recent suicide of a young man who was under discipline by the EB in Australia, is an example of how the strong psychological pressure can affect some people. There have been many other suicides and attempted suicides related to EBism worldwide. Personally, I am affected by what I assume to be a form of PTSD after leaving the group 25+years ago, which causes me to cry any time I hear Christian music or scripture quotes... I can usually just manage to steel myself hearing Christmas carols in shops, but sometimes it's a close run thing.
