Reflections on the Gloriavale DocuSeries Escaping Utopia
Opinion piece: Liz Gregory.
(Thoughts, opinions and views expressed here belong to Liz Gregory and may or may not represent the views of all leavers, current members or the Trust).
As predicted the 3 part docuseries Escaping Utopia brought the Gloriavale issue front and centre into the living rooms of kiwis all over New Zealand three weeks ago.
It set off an avalanche of emotion across the NZ public that quite frankly surprised us. Surely everyone in NZ already knew about the history and present issues with Gloriavale? Surely they had watched the glossy docos from 2014 – 2016 showing a perfect life, and known it was a publicity stunt? Surely they had seen Gloriavale on leading news bulletins regularly over the past few years? (We have 707 news articles about Gloriavale loaded up on our website – and that isn’t all of them!) If you haven’t heard of Gloriavale, then you may have been living under a rock for the past decade?!
So why the gear change with this series? For whatever reason, this collection of reasonably common Gloriavale experiences struck a chord this time. Something changed in the atmosphere.
Perhaps it was because the doco series was aired on prime time TV across three consecutive nights and then immediately become available for on demand screenings on TV One?
Perhaps this intense focus built up emotion that grew and grew over the three nights?
Perhaps it was the sincerity with which the former members told their stories – calmly, truthfully, without a hint of “bitterness” (Gloriavale’s favourite word!)
Perhaps it was the bigger concept that there has been wrong, and people are standing up against injustice? Was it the Goliath v David concept?
Or perhaps it really was just the content matter that shocked.
I guess it’s a combination. But I have another idea.
I think the people of New Zealand finally decided to concentrate on the issues at hand. Over the three episodes it was clearly explained how power and control have been misused, how indoctrination works, how leavers of this group are left impacted by their life in there. It was laid out plainly that there has been a history of wrong-doing, and an inability for the group to even recognise it. I think people took the time to listen and really understand this time.
But I think it was more than that. I think the India episode did it. Part Three. I think it totally tipped NZ over the edge.
How do I know it was the India episode? Because that’s when the avalanche of emails starting arriving in our inbox. That sparked the most comments on our Facebook thread. We are still receiving emails and phone calls about what can be done about the women in India.
I had emails from men who said they were moved to tears. I had leaders of churches admitting to their shame they didn’t really realist the extent of what had happened at Gloriavale. We attended an A&P Show the weekend after, and there were men and women openly teary as they discussed the programme. But it always came back to India. They said it was the third episode that tipped them over the edge.
It was the thought that Gloriavale has already begun to spread it’s empire and ideology to another country. The way these women look and appear to be trapped. They way their children are most certainly trapped. The pale, worn-out look of the mothers. The living conditions that don’t reflect the amount of money Gloriavale NZ has sent to India over the past 15 years. Or was it the conversation with the leader, Faithful Stronghold where there was an “admission” of unsafe attitudes and behaviours towards women?
How can you not be concerned when you heard that? “What is rape?” he says. And then he follows it up with his own definition that, “rape is one-sided”. Why did he say that? It’s a Gloriavale doctrine that was taught for decades. If anything sexually inappropriate goes on, it must be the girl’s fault – she must have wanted it. She must have flirted with the man. Faithful is just repeating the true-blue beliefs of Hopeful himself. He then goes on to make this comment, “There are times these ladies have struggled because of India, culture, India men…” I don’t think doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work this out. He, like the leaders at Gloriavale in NZ, have known about abuse (whether in whole or in part), and have not acted on it. This makes them enablers and partially responsible for the whole crisis.
So how did Gloriavale respond when the rest of the country was outraged by what they saw and heard…
Senior Gloriavale leader Peter Righteous said the West Coast commune was in,
“Constant contact with our brethren in India and have heard no complaints from them on these issues. Our New Zealand women who went to India and married there did so of their own free will and with the convictions they had in their own hearts,” he said.”
That statement doesn’t even need any commentary from me… It says it all.
An unbelievable response.
What can we do?
People of faith are praying that those women and children from India can come home. Legal teams are working on solutions. Police are investigating trafficking claims. And Gloriavale… well I’m pretty sure they must be trying to get these women and children and families home too. This might be the end of the Indian experiment. But what will that look like for these families? They will need special care, but can they get the real help they need inside the problematic Gloriavale community? And do they want to come back under the tight regulations and control of the NZ Gloriavale leadership? And is it a mentally healthy environment for them to return to? And can these men get into New Zealand with their unique challenges? And are they all safe men? These are complex questions. I don’t have the answers.
Public Outpouring
We have received a deluge of emails. Over a thousand emails and messages. We would like to profusely thank the public of New Zealand for their outpouring of love and support. There have been beautiful emails of encouragement, messages for courageous leavers who spoke so articulately about their lives, offers of friendship, furniture (we have more than enough at present thanks!) and financial support – which enables us to employ staff, resettle leavers and run an office. These were urgently needed funds. We have a Give-a-Little page that is over $14,000 and climbing. We can’t thank you enough for partnering with us in this work.
We were moved to see some members from The Road to Healing Aotearoa head onto the Gloriavale road to lay flags. It’s a poignant visual representation to raise awareness of the victims who have suffered within the Gloriavale Community. Each flag represents one victim identified by Police as having suffered abuse. Watch this You Tube Clip.
Abuse of any kind needs to be exposed and stopped. And that is done by having private and public conversations, and being courageous enough to call it out when you see it.
My co-hosts on Cult Chat have done a 3-part series dissecting the Documentary and we chat with the film makers and a cast member. Look for Episodes 28, 29 & 30.
What did the Media think?
Every major TV Station, Radio station and news outlet covered the series and there are more than 26 articles loaded on our website for you to read. One of our favourites is, “Have you forgotten Gloriavale already?” written by Dennis Gates one of the lawyers on the team.
Most extraordinary was the poll conducted on Friday 12 April, 3 weeks after the series. When in NZ history has a reputable polling company decided to poll NZ’s view on a cult?? Check it out here. Here were the questions put to them:
74% said Gloriavale is essentially a cult. Time and time again the leadership there have shown that they can’t be trusted. The most recent reports of widespread sexual abuse and exploitation of women and child labour mean the Government should shut down Gloriavale down to protect the people living there.
12% said Gloriavale is just a religious community wanting to live separately from the rest of the New Zealand and the Government should respect their right to religion. If there are concerns about what goes on there authorities should let the leaders know and give them time to fix the problems rather than interfere with their religious views.
15% said they were Unsure.
Older members were more likely to see it as a cult, and more men than women.
What did leavers think of the DocuSeries?
It’s been amazing to listen to leavers talk about the doco over the past few weeks. I will do a blogpost on some of their reflections following this one. In short the vast majority said it was true, credible and accurate (in fact many said “It was too good”). All the cast members got to watch the doco prior to its release to agree their stories had been represented accurately (within the restraints of film-making!).
What did Gloriavale Members think of the DocuSeries?
We know many, many people have watched it on various devices (that’s a positive that’s come from the court and school action – students and others have more ability to get their hands on devices and the wifi passwords!). We know many have been impacted. They know in their hearts what was shown was true. Many of them had watched and experienced similar things. That’s hard to deny. For those who don’t want to believe it, they will find ways to diminish it, but the truth remains. There was no need to exaggerate or sensationalise these stories. They occurred. To multiple people. They were kind of normal actually. That adds a sober layer to these discussions.
What did Overseeing Shepherd Howard Temple think?
Howard Temple, the leader of Gloriavale watched it and sent out an email to all his followers. He wrote,
“Dear Everyone, I did not find the Utopia films very edifying and some negative thoughts came to my mind. I went to bed and opened the bible as usual to read a bit. I had been reading through the book of Luke and opened to Chapter 6 and came to verse 20. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and, said, Blessed be ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God Blessed are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled Blessed are ye that weep now; for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you ,and when they shall separate you from their company, as evil, for the son of mans sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for Joy; for, behold, your reward is great in heaven…“
He continued on with the verses in Luke, finishing up in verse 38. He then continued with this…
“Then my wife and I, as usual each night, prayed that God would bless the people involved in this film and lead them into truth and forgive them.“
He finished up with a passage in Romans 8 to encourage them that everything will work out for those who love Christ.
The passages he shared are wonderful pieces of encouragement from the Bible – but it’s good to understand the context of them. Howard is sharing them through his lens of “the world against us” and that we are being persecuted for being Christians, rather than the humble position that we have done wrong and this is deserved exposure).
At no time did he tell the people not to watch the documentary. So in a strange way he kind of gave them permission. Neither did he deny the content – just that it wasn’t edifying.
We will be praying for Howard and the other people at Gloriavale, that the horror of what they have put people though may strike a chord deep in their hearts. And that they might repent and acknowledge their wrong, and genuinely be humbled and crushed by the weight of their sin against others. And then we will pray for the mercy of God to be on them. For there is great healing that can come from genuine sorrow. And I know many leavers would love to see a contrite spirit.
We do understand there has been a mood change inside Gloriavale recently and there is talk that they might not be able to continue their way of life that they have shared for 50 years – but they are being encouraged to ensure they hold to “the faith” regardless. We think it’s important they start to prepare people for a life outside of the institution of Gloriavale. And for those who want to continue their faith journey, we know it will be essential that they get good support to work through all their beliefs, and come to a healthy understanding of the Christian faith.
What’s next?
We don’t know. There are still multiple court cases to be completed – criminal, employment, civil and other. Gloriavale is struggling with people who continue to leave, impacting their workforce. The School is still under scrutiny. Meanwhile, children continue to be born into a world their forefathers created and it’s still not fit for purpose. It’s complex. Who will have courage?
Leavers have courage.