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==History==
==History==
The origins of the Twelve Tribes movement can be traced to a ministry for teenagers called the "Light Brigade"<ref name='Glance'>{{cite news | first=Gary | last=Warth | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=The 12 Tribes at a glance | date=2009-10-3 | publisher=Lee Enterprise | url =http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/valley-center/article_a68bc3cf-981d-5250-9525-e064a002bf1d.html | work =North County Times | pages = | accessdate = 2009-11-11 | language = }}</ref> in 1972.<ref name="Livingasone"/> The ministry operated out of a small [[Coffeehouse|coffee shop]] called "The Lighthouse"<ref name="palmerraising"/> within the home of Gene Spriggs and his wife Marsha. The Light Brigade began living communally <ref name='Hunt'>{{cite book | last = Hunt | first = Stephen | authorlink = [[Stephen J. Hunt]] | coauthors = | title = Christian Millennialism | publisher = Indiana University Press | year = 2001 | location = Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana | pages = 209–223 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0253214911 }}</ref> and opened a restaurant called "The Yellow Deli" while attending several churches, before deciding on [[First Presbyterian Church (Chattanooga, Tennessee)|First Presbyterian Church]].<ref name="hosts"/> The Light Brigade, while at First Presbyterian, experienced friction with the establishment by bringing anyone who was willing to come with them, including different [[social classes]] and [[Race (classification of human beings)|racial groups]] than the church normally experienced.<ref name="palmerraising"/> On January 12, 1975, the group arrived at First Presbyterian to find the service had been cancelled for the [[Super Bowl]];<ref name="palmerraising"/> for the group, this was an intolerable act and led them to form The Vine Christian Community Church.<ref name="Hunt"/> During this time, the church planted churches, each with their own Yellow Delis, in [[Dalton, Georgia|Dalton]] and [[Trenton, Georgia]], [[Mentone, Alabama]], and [[Dayton, Tennessee]].<ref name="Vine Church"/>
The origins of the Twelve Tribes movement can be traced to a ministry for teenagers called the "Light Brigade"<ref name='Glance'>{{cite news | first=Gary | last=Warth | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=The 12 Tribes at a glance | date=2009-10-3 | publisher=Lee Enterprise | url =http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/valley-center/article_a68bc3cf-981d-5250-9525-e064a002bf1d.html | work =North County Times | pages = | accessdate = 2009-11-11 | language = }}</ref> in 1972.<ref name="Livingasone"/> The ministry operated out of a small [[Coffeehouse|coffee shop]] called "The Lighthouse"<ref name="palmerraising"/> within the home of Gene Spriggs and his wife Marsha. The Light Brigade began living communally <ref name='Hunt'>{{cite book | last = Hunt | first = Stephen | authorlink = Stephen J. Hunt | coauthors = | title = Christian Millennialism | publisher = Indiana University Press | year = 2001 | location = Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana | pages = 209–223 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0253214911 }}</ref> and opened a restaurant called "The Yellow Deli" while attending several churches, before deciding on [[First Presbyterian Church (Chattanooga, Tennessee)|First Presbyterian Church]].<ref name="hosts"/> The Light Brigade, while at First Presbyterian, experienced friction with the establishment by bringing anyone who was willing to come with them, including different [[social classes]] and [[Race (classification of human beings)|racial groups]] than the church normally experienced.<ref name="palmerraising"/> On January 12, 1975, the group arrived at First Presbyterian to find the service had been cancelled for the [[Super Bowl]];<ref name="palmerraising"/> for the group, this was an intolerable act and led them to form The Vine Christian Community Church.<ref name="Hunt"/> During this time, the church planted churches, each with their own Yellow Delis, in [[Dalton, Georgia|Dalton]] and [[Trenton, Georgia]], [[Mentone, Alabama]], and [[Dayton, Tennessee]].<ref name="Vine Church"/>


Their withdrawal from the borders of the religious mainstream turned what had been a friction-filled relationship into an outcry against them.<ref name="Palmer1998"/> They began holding their own services in [[Warner Park (Chattanooga)|Warner Park]] calling it "Critical Mass",<ref name='Palmer2010'>{{cite journal|title=The Twelve Tribes: Preparing a Bride for Yahshua's Return |journal=Nova Religio|date=2010-02|first=Susan J.|last=Palmer|coauthors=|volume=13|issue=3|pages=59–80|doi= 10.1525/nr.2010.13.3.59|url=|format=|accessdate=2010-02-21 }}</ref> appointing elders<ref name='elder1'>{{cite news | first=Alan | last=Murray | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Vine elders concede church has authoritarian character | date=1978-1-19 | publisher=Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. | url = | work =Chattanooga Times | pages = | accessdate = 2009-11-09 | language = }}</ref><ref name='Bankrupt'>{{cite news | first=Bill | last=Castel | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Elder: "We have no money" | date=1980-12-1 | publisher=Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. | url = | work =Chattanooga Times | pages = | accessdate = 2009-11-09 | language = }}</ref> and baptizing people outside of any denominational authority. The deteriorating relationship between the group and the religious and secular Chattanooga community attracted the attention of [[FREECOG|The Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God]] and the [[Citizen's Freedom Foundation]] who labeled the church a "[[cult]]" and heavily attacked Spriggs as a [[Cult leader]].<ref name="Palmer1998"/> This led to what the group refers to today as the "Cult Scare"<ref name='Scare'>{{cite news | first=Eddie | last=Wiseman | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Cult Scare in Chattanooga | date=2009-Q3 | publisher=Parchment Press | url =http://www.twelvetribes.com/pdf/freepapers/vine-house-days.pdf | work =In the Vine House Days | pages =10 | accessdate = 2009-11-06 | language = }}</ref> in the late seventies. A series of [[deprogrammings]] starting in the summer of 1976 that were carried out by [[Ted Patrick]].<ref name='hosts'>{{cite news | first=Joan | last=Garret | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Chattanooga: Yellow Deli hosts reunion, betrothal | date=2008-05-03 | publisher=Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. | url =http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/may/17/chattanooga-yellow-deli-hosts-reunion-betrothal/ | work =Chattanooga Times Free Press | pages = | accessdate = 2009-11-07 | language = }}</ref> The group nevertheless largely ignored the negative press, the wider world in general, and continued their businesses<ref name="Palmer1998"/> opening the [[Areopagus]] and a second local Yellow Deli in downtown Chattanooga.<ref name="hosts" /><ref name='Return'>{{cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Yellow Deli In Comeback Popular Christian Eatery From 1970s To Be Revived | date=2006-4-5 | publisher=John Wilson | url =http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_83232.asp | work =Chattanoogan | pages = | accessdate = 2009-11-08 | language = }}</ref> In 1978 an invitation was received from a small church in [[Island Pond, Vermont|Island Pond]], [[Vermont]] for Spriggs to minister there; the offer was declined but the group began moving in stages to the small rural town, naming the church there The Northeast Kingdom Community Church.<ref name="Palmer2010"/> One of Patrick's last deprogramming cases in Chattanooga occurred in 1980; it involved a police detective who, according to Swantko, had his 27-year-old daughter arrested on a falsified warrant in order to facilitate her deprogramming, with the support of local judges.<ref name='amc'>{{cite journal|doi=10.1023/A:1022021125576|title=The Twelve Tribes' Communities, the Anti-Cult Movement, and Government's Response|journal=Social Justice Research|year=2000|first=Jean|last=Swantko|coauthors=|volume=12|issue=4|pages=341–364|id= |url=http://www.twelvetribes.com/pdf/appendixes/social-justice.pdf|format=|accessdate=2009-11-09 }}</ref> The group continued moving, closing down all the Yellow Delis and associated churches except for the one in Dalton.<ref name="Vine Church"/> At one point, a leader conceded the group was deeply in debt<ref name="Bankrupt"/> before closing the Dalton church down and moving the last members to Vermont.<ref name="palmerraising"/>
Their withdrawal from the borders of the religious mainstream turned what had been a friction-filled relationship into an outcry against them.<ref name="Palmer1998"/> They began holding their own services in [[Warner Park (Chattanooga)|Warner Park]] calling it "Critical Mass",<ref name='Palmer2010'>{{cite journal|title=The Twelve Tribes: Preparing a Bride for Yahshua's Return |journal=Nova Religio|date=2010-02|first=Susan J.|last=Palmer|coauthors=|volume=13|issue=3|pages=59–80|doi= 10.1525/nr.2010.13.3.59|url=|format=|accessdate=2010-02-21 }}</ref> appointing elders<ref name='elder1'>{{cite news | first=Alan | last=Murray | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Vine elders concede church has authoritarian character | date=1978-1-19 | publisher=Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. | url = | work =Chattanooga Times | pages = | accessdate = 2009-11-09 | language = }}</ref><ref name='Bankrupt'>{{cite news | first=Bill | last=Castel | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Elder: "We have no money" | date=1980-12-1 | publisher=Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. | url = | work =Chattanooga Times | pages = | accessdate = 2009-11-09 | language = }}</ref> and baptizing people outside of any denominational authority. The deteriorating relationship between the group and the religious and secular Chattanooga community attracted the attention of [[FREECOG|The Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God]] and the [[Citizen's Freedom Foundation]] who labeled the church a "[[cult]]" and heavily attacked Spriggs as a [[Cult leader]].<ref name="Palmer1998"/> This led to what the group refers to today as the "Cult Scare"<ref name='Scare'>{{cite news | first=Eddie | last=Wiseman | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Cult Scare in Chattanooga | date=2009-Q3 | publisher=Parchment Press | url =http://www.twelvetribes.com/pdf/freepapers/vine-house-days.pdf | work =In the Vine House Days | pages =10 | accessdate = 2009-11-06 | language = }}</ref> in the late seventies. A series of [[deprogrammings]] starting in the summer of 1976 that were carried out by [[Ted Patrick]].<ref name='hosts'>{{cite news | first=Joan | last=Garret | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Chattanooga: Yellow Deli hosts reunion, betrothal | date=2008-05-03 | publisher=Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. | url =http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/may/17/chattanooga-yellow-deli-hosts-reunion-betrothal/ | work =Chattanooga Times Free Press | pages = | accessdate = 2009-11-07 | language = }}</ref> The group nevertheless largely ignored the negative press, the wider world in general, and continued their businesses<ref name="Palmer1998"/> opening the [[Areopagus]] and a second local Yellow Deli in downtown Chattanooga.<ref name="hosts" /><ref name='Return'>{{cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Yellow Deli In Comeback Popular Christian Eatery From 1970s To Be Revived | date=2006-4-5 | publisher=John Wilson | url =http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_83232.asp | work =Chattanoogan | pages = | accessdate = 2009-11-08 | language = }}</ref> In 1978 an invitation was received from a small church in [[Island Pond, Vermont|Island Pond]], [[Vermont]] for Spriggs to minister there; the offer was declined but the group began moving in stages to the small rural town, naming the church there The Northeast Kingdom Community Church.<ref name="Palmer2010"/> One of Patrick's last deprogramming cases in Chattanooga occurred in 1980; it involved a police detective who, according to Swantko, had his 27-year-old daughter arrested on a falsified warrant in order to facilitate her deprogramming, with the support of local judges.<ref name='amc'>{{cite journal|doi=10.1023/A:1022021125576|title=The Twelve Tribes' Communities, the Anti-Cult Movement, and Government's Response|journal=Social Justice Research|year=2000|first=Jean|last=Swantko|coauthors=|volume=12|issue=4|pages=341–364|id= |url=http://www.twelvetribes.com/pdf/appendixes/social-justice.pdf|format=|accessdate=2009-11-09 }}</ref> The group continued moving, closing down all the Yellow Delis and associated churches except for the one in Dalton.<ref name="Vine Church"/> At one point, a leader conceded the group was deeply in debt<ref name="Bankrupt"/> before closing the Dalton church down and moving the last members to Vermont.<ref name="palmerraising"/>
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[[File:TT-literature.jpg|thumb|right|"We Need Radical Change" and example of Twelve Tribes "free paper" commonly distributed at events as a form of Evangelism<ref name="Livingasone"/><ref name="a church of their own"/><ref name="WomeninNR"/>]]
[[File:TT-literature.jpg|thumb|right|"We Need Radical Change" and example of Twelve Tribes "free paper" commonly distributed at events as a form of Evangelism<ref name="Livingasone"/><ref name="a church of their own"/><ref name="WomeninNR"/>]]
The leadership within is a structure is a series of Councils on the local, regional, and a global Apostolic Council;<ref name="Livingasone"/> the group is also overseen within these councils by a fluid number of teacher, deacons, deaconesses elders and apostles.<ref name='childNR'>{{cite book | last = Palmer | first = Susan J. | authorlink = [[Susan J. Palmer]] | coauthors = | title = Children in New Religions | publisher = Rutgers University Press | date = 1999-6-1 | location = New Brunswick, NJ | pages = 153–171 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0813526201 }}</ref> Gene Spriggs is highly regarded as the first to open up his home to brothers and sisters, but is not regarded as a spiritual figurehead.<ref name='WomeninNR'>{{cite book | last = Palmer | first = Susan J. | authorlink = [[Susan J. Palmer]] | coauthors = | title = Moon Sister, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lovers | publisher = Syracuse University Press | year = 1994 | location = Syracuse, New York | pages = 133–153 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0815603825 }}</ref>
The leadership within is a structure is a series of Councils on the local, regional, and a global Apostolic Council;<ref name="Livingasone"/> the group is also overseen within these councils by a fluid number of teacher, deacons, deaconesses elders and apostles.<ref name='childNR'>{{cite book | last = Palmer | first = Susan J. | authorlink = Susan J. Palmer | coauthors = | title = Children in New Religions | publisher = Rutgers University Press | date = 1999-6-1 | location = New Brunswick, NJ | pages = 153–171 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0813526201 }}</ref> Gene Spriggs is highly regarded as the first to open up his home to brothers and sisters, but is not regarded as a spiritual figurehead.<ref name='WomeninNR'>{{cite book | last = Palmer | first = Susan J. | authorlink = Susan J. Palmer | coauthors = | title = Moon Sisters, Krishna Mothers, Rajneesh Lovers | publisher = Syracuse University Press | year = 1994 | location = Syracuse, New York | pages = 133–153 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0815603825 }}</ref>


The Spriggs travel between the communities offering advice and inspiration but try to foster local autonomy.<ref name='Lewiscultsectsnrm'>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Palmer |first=Susan J. |author=Susan J. Palmer |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor=James R. Lewis |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects and New Religions |title=Messianic Communities/North East Community Church |url= |accessdate= |edition=1st |year=[[1998]] |publisher=Prometheus Books |volume=1 |location=Amherst, New York |id= |doi= |pages=334–335 |quote= }}</ref> The group operates as a 501 (d) – a "for-profit organizations with a religious purpose and a common treasury" the community pays taxes on property and income<ref name="Livingasone"/><ref name="hosts"/> and do not vote in elections.<ref name="a church of their own"/>
The Spriggs travel between the communities offering advice and inspiration but try to foster local autonomy.<ref name='Lewiscultsectsnrm'>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Palmer |first=Susan J. |author=Susan J. Palmer |authorlink= Susan J. Palmer |coauthors= |editor=James R. Lewis |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects and New Religions |title=Messianic Communities/North East Community Church |url= |accessdate= |edition=1st |year=[[1998]] |publisher=Prometheus Books |volume=1 |location=Amherst, New York |id= |doi= |pages=334–335 |quote= }}</ref> The group operates as a 501 (d) – a "for-profit organizations with a religious purpose and a common treasury" the community pays taxes on property and income<ref name="Livingasone"/><ref name="hosts"/> and do not vote in elections.<ref name="a church of their own"/>


Courtship within the Community involves a "waiting period"<ref name="hosts"/><ref name='Waiting'>{{cite news | first=David | last=Filipov | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=‘Forgiven and free’ | date=2009-6-28 | publisher=Globe Newspaper Company | url =http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/28/religious_group_opens_its_ship_peacemaker/?page=1 | work =Boston Globe | pages = | accessdate = 2009-12-27 | language = }}</ref> in the which the man asks the permission of the father to date his daughter.<ref name="WomeninNR"/> The couple then receives counseling while spending time together.<ref name="WomeninNR"/><ref name=Waiting/> The couple is only [[betrothed]] if the entire community approves of it;<ref name=childNR/><ref name="WomeninNR"/> the couple is then permitted to hold hands.<ref name=Waiting/> Weddings are dramatized preenactments<ref name="Lewiscultsectsnrm"/> of what the group believes will happen at the end of time when Yahshua returns to earth for his [[Bride of Christ|bride]].<ref name="hosts"/><ref name="WomeninNR"/>
Courtship within the Community involves a "waiting period"<ref name="hosts"/><ref name='Waiting'>{{cite news | first=David | last=Filipov | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=‘Forgiven and free’ | date=2009-6-28 | publisher=Globe Newspaper Company | url =http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/28/religious_group_opens_its_ship_peacemaker/?page=1 | work =Boston Globe | pages = | accessdate = 2009-12-27 | language = }}</ref> in the which the man asks the permission of the father to date his daughter.<ref name="WomeninNR"/> The couple then receives counseling while spending time together.<ref name="WomeninNR"/><ref name=Waiting/> The couple is only [[betrothed]] if the entire community approves of it;<ref name=childNR/><ref name="WomeninNR"/> the couple is then permitted to hold hands.<ref name=Waiting/> Weddings are dramatized preenactments<ref name="Lewiscultsectsnrm"/> of what the group believes will happen at the end of time when Yahshua returns to earth for his [[Bride of Christ|bride]].<ref name="hosts"/><ref name="WomeninNR"/>
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The ministry<ref name='Ministry'>{{cite web|url=http://www.neirr.org/instte.html |title=About NEIRR |accessdate=2009-12-31 |last=The New England Institute of Religious Research |work=The New England Institute of Religious Research Website |publisher=The [[New England Institute of Religious Research]] }}</ref> [[New England Institute of Religious Research]]'s Executive Director the Rev. Bob Pardon<ref name="Ministry"/> warns in his report that "Messianic Communities, under the leadership of Spriggs, has tended towards an extreme authoritarianism and a "Galatian heresy."<ref name="bobpardon">{{cite web | title=My Analysis of the Twelve Tribes | work=New England Institute of Religious Research website | url=http://www.neirr.org/conclusn.html | accessdate=2005-10-23 }}</ref> The Tribes have responded with a line-by-line response to the report and continue to contend its large "errors, distortions, misunderstandings, and misjudgments", while criticizing the heavy use of apostates in his report.<ref name="response">{{cite web | title=Our Response to the NEIRR Analysis | work=Twelve Tribes: Controversies | url=http://www.twelvetribes.com/pdf/appendixes/neirr-response.pdf | accessdate=2009-10-29 }}</ref> In [[France]], the group was listed on the 1995 Governmental Report by the [[Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France]] under the name "Ordre apostolique – Therapeutic healing environment." <ref name="assembleenational">{{cite web | title=French National Assembly: On Sects | url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/rap-enq/r3507.asp | accessdate=2008-05-09 }}</ref>
The ministry<ref name='Ministry'>{{cite web|url=http://www.neirr.org/instte.html |title=About NEIRR |accessdate=2009-12-31 |last=The New England Institute of Religious Research |work=The New England Institute of Religious Research Website |publisher=The [[New England Institute of Religious Research]] }}</ref> [[New England Institute of Religious Research]]'s Executive Director the Rev. Bob Pardon<ref name="Ministry"/> warns in his report that "Messianic Communities, under the leadership of Spriggs, has tended towards an extreme authoritarianism and a "Galatian heresy."<ref name="bobpardon">{{cite web | title=My Analysis of the Twelve Tribes | work=New England Institute of Religious Research website | url=http://www.neirr.org/conclusn.html | accessdate=2005-10-23 }}</ref> The Tribes have responded with a line-by-line response to the report and continue to contend its large "errors, distortions, misunderstandings, and misjudgments", while criticizing the heavy use of apostates in his report.<ref name="response">{{cite web | title=Our Response to the NEIRR Analysis | work=Twelve Tribes: Controversies | url=http://www.twelvetribes.com/pdf/appendixes/neirr-response.pdf | accessdate=2009-10-29 }}</ref> In [[France]], the group was listed on the 1995 Governmental Report by the [[Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France]] under the name "Ordre apostolique – Therapeutic healing environment." <ref name="assembleenational">{{cite web | title=French National Assembly: On Sects | url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/rap-enq/r3507.asp | accessdate=2008-05-09 }}</ref>


Jean Swantko and husband Eddie Wiseman have made effort to combat social control and [[anti-cult movement]] by engaging in dialogue with [[Apostasy|hostile ex-members]], the media and government authorities.<ref name='Jones'>{{cite encyclopedia | last = Palmer | first = Susan J. | author = Susan J. Palmer | authorlink = Susan J. Palmer | editor = Lindsay Jones | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Religion | title = Twelve Tribes | accessdate = 2010-12-13 | edition = 2 | year = 2005 | publisher = Macmillan Reference USA | volume = 14 | location = New York | pages = 9409}}</ref> Swantko has presented at scholarly conferences<ref name="Jones"/> including [[CESNUR]]<ref name='Swantko Cesnur'>{{Cite document | first = Jean | last = Swantko-Wiseman | contribution = State-Sanctioned Raids and Government Violations of Religious Freedom: Revealing Similarities of Constitutional Errors in Both the 1984 Island Pond Raid and the 2008 FLDS Raid | title = The 2009 CESNUR Conference | publisher = CESNUR | place = Salt Lake City, Utah | year = 2009| id = | contribution-url = http://www.cesnur.org/2009/slc_wiseman.htm | accessdate = 2010-12-13 | postscript = <!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}</ref> [[Communal Studies Association]]<ref name='CSA'>{{cite web | url = http://www.usi.edu/libarts/communal/2010CSA-Abstracts.pdf | title = Communal Studies Association, 2010 New Harmony, Indiana | accessdate = 2010-12-13 | year = 2010 | format = PDF | publisher = Communal Studies Association}}</ref> and [[Society for the Scientific Study of Religion]]<ref name='SSSR'>{{cite web | url = http://www.sssrweb.org/pdf/2010SSSRRRAprogramv3.pdf | title = Society for Scientific Study of Religion and Religious Reseach Association Annual Meeting 2010 | accessdate = 2010-12-13 | year = 2010 | format = PDF | publisher = Society for Scientific Study of Religion and Religious Research Association Annual}}</ref> as well as chapter in [[James T. Richardson]]'s [[Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe]].
Jean Swantko and husband Eddie Wiseman have made effort to combat social control and [[anti-cult movement]] by engaging in dialogue with [[Apostasy|hostile ex-members]], the media and government authorities.<ref name='Jones'>{{cite encyclopedia | last = Palmer | first = Susan J. | author = Susan J. Palmer | authorlink = Susan J. Palmer | editor = Lindsay Jones | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Religion | title = Twelve Tribes | accessdate = 2010-12-13 | edition = 2 | year = 2005 | publisher = Macmillan Reference USA | volume = 14 | location = New York | pages = 9409}}</ref> Swantko has presented at scholarly conferences<ref name="Jones"/> including [[CESNUR]]<ref name='Swantko Cesnur'>{{Cite document | first = Jean | last = Swantko-Wiseman | contribution = State-Sanctioned Raids and Government Violations of Religious Freedom: Revealing Similarities of Constitutional Errors in Both the 1984 Island Pond Raid and the 2008 FLDS Raid | title = The 2009 CESNUR Conference | publisher = CESNUR | place = Salt Lake City, Utah | year = 2009| id = | contribution-url = http://www.cesnur.org/2009/slc_wiseman.htm | accessdate = 2010-12-13 | postscript = <!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->{{inconsistent citations}}}}</ref> [[Communal Studies Association]]<ref name='CSA'>{{cite web | url = http://www.usi.edu/libarts/communal/2010CSA-Abstracts.pdf | title = Communal Studies Association, 2010 New Harmony, Indiana | accessdate = 2010-12-13 | year = 2010 | format = PDF | publisher = Communal Studies Association}}</ref> and [[Society for the Scientific Study of Religion]]<ref name='SSSR'>{{cite web | url = http://www.sssrweb.org/pdf/2010SSSRRRAprogramv3.pdf | title = Society for Scientific Study of Religion and Religious Reseach Association Annual Meeting 2010 | accessdate = 2010-12-13 | year = 2010 | format = PDF | publisher = Society for Scientific Study of Religion and Religious Research Association Annual}}</ref> as well as chapter in [[James T. Richardson]]'s ''[[Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe]]''.


===Commentary on the Island Pond Raid===
===Commentary on the Island Pond Raid===
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===Twelve Tribes and Race===
===Twelve Tribes and Race===
The Twelve Tribes religious movement has been criticized for its teachings and practices regarding race. <ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/jul/03/race.religion</ref> <ref>http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-5583-father-son-holy-toast.html</ref> The group discourages mixed-race relationships blaming mixed-race unions on among other things the corruption of Brazilian society. <ref>http://www.twelvetribes.com/controversies/re-racism.html</ref>
The Twelve Tribes religious movement has been criticized for its teachings and practices regarding race.<ref name=Guardian2000-7-3>http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/jul/03/race.religion</ref><ref name=Boulder2011-05-12>http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-5583-father-son-holy-toast.html</ref> It teaches that [[Jews]] are still cursed for the murder of Christ, and has criticized the Pope for his "request for forgiveness" asking Jews to forgive the treatment they have suffered at the hands of the Christian church throughout history.<ref name=Guardian2000-7-3 /> The movement advocates racial segregation, arguing that "multiculturalism increases murder, crime and prejudice", and discourages interracial marriages; however, non-white families are welcome, and interracial marriages have been tolerated in exceptional cases.<ref name=Guardian2000-7-3 /><ref name=Boulder2011-05-12 />
According to the groups newsletter: "Multiculturalism increases murder, crime, and prejudice. It goes against the way man is. It places impossible demands on people to love others who are culturally and racially different. This is unnatural it forces people to go against their instinctive knowledge, like trying to love sodomites." <ref>http://www.twelvetribes.com/new/node/168?page=1 </ref> Members also blame Jews for the death of Christ and in their newsletter attack the pope for reaching out to Jews and calling them murderers. <ref> http://www.twelvetribes.com/new/content/who-does-pope-think-he </ref>


===Child labor and homeschooling controversies===
===Cottage industries child labor controversy===
In 2001, ''[[The New York Post]]'' ran an article accusing the group [[child labor]] violations;<ref name='Worshippers'>{{cite news | first=Katy | last=Moeller | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Worshippers of Yahshua as savior weather storm – Cambridge farm counters criticism | date=2001-4-15 | publisher=[[John E.N. Hume III]] | url =| work =Daily Gazette | pages =A–01 | accessdate = 2010-01-03 | language = }}</ref><ref name='allegations'>{{cite news | first= | last=Associated Press | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Twelve Tribes sect opens farm to Press group Denies Charges of Child Labor, Racism | date=2001-4-14 | publisher=[[Watertown Daily Times inc.]] | url = | work =Watertown Daily Times | pages =29 | accessdate = 2010-01-03 | language = }}</ref> and later attributed itself as having prompted the Investigation.<ref name='Postresponsibility'>{{cite news | first=Jeane | last=MacIntosh | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=State probes cult in Child Labor Scandal on heels of post report | date=2001-4-9 | publisher=[[News Corporation]] | url =http://www.nypost.com/p/news/state_probes_cult_post_child_labor_ejnbb0yjhckbYDg0QWMiJK | work =New York Post | pages = | accessdate = 2010-01-03 | language = }}</ref> The Twelve Tribes responded with a [[press conference]] at the ''"Commonsense Farm"'' where the alleged child labor had taken place.<ref name="Worshippers"/><ref name="allegations"/><ref name='noapology'>{{cite news | first= | last=Staff Writer | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Tribes speak, but don't apologize | date=2001-4-13 | publisher=[[MediaNews Group]] | url =| work =Bennington Banner | pages = | accessdate = 2010-01-03 | language = }}</ref> The Twelve Tribes reported that during a random inspection by [[Estée Lauder Companies]] the company found several fourteen year olds had been found assisting their fathers in their cottage industry;<ref name="allegations"/> this report was later confirmed by Estée Lauder who terminated their contract with Common Sense products.<ref name="noapology"/> The Group's official statement at the press conference stated that they believed that it was a [[family owned business]], and children ought to be able to help their parents in the business while making "no apology" for it.<ref name="Postresponsibility"/><ref name="noapology"/> The [[New York State Department of Labor]] stated they intended to visit all five of the Twelve Tribe's businesses. State Attorney General [[Eliot Spitzer]] asserted that apprenticeships amounted to [[indentured servitude]] and were illegal. [[Robert Redford|Robert Redford's]] [[Sundance Group#Sundance Catalog|Sundance Catalog]], who had contracted with Common Wealth Woodworks (another of the group's cottage industries that made furniture), also terminated their contract as a response to the allegations.<ref name="noapology"/> The Labor Department later fined the group two thousand dollars for a fifteen-year-old pushing a [[wheelbarrow]] and another fifteen-year-old changing a [[lightbulb]].<ref name="fifteen"/>
In 2001, ''[[The New York Post]]'' ran an article accusing the group [[child labor]] violations;<ref name='Worshippers'>{{cite news | first=Katy | last=Moeller | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Worshippers of Yahshua as savior weather storm – Cambridge farm counters criticism | date=2001-4-15 | publisher=[[John E.N. Hume III]] | url =| work =Daily Gazette | pages =A–01 | accessdate = 2010-01-03 | language = }}</ref><ref name='allegations'>{{cite news | first= | last=Associated Press | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Twelve Tribes sect opens farm to Press group Denies Charges of Child Labor, Racism | date=2001-4-14 | publisher=[[Watertown Daily Times inc.]] | url = | work =Watertown Daily Times | pages =29 | accessdate = 2010-01-03 | language = }}</ref> and later attributed itself as having prompted the Investigation.<ref name='Postresponsibility'>{{cite news | first=Jeane | last=MacIntosh | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=State probes cult in Child Labor Scandal on heels of post report | date=2001-4-9 | publisher=[[News Corporation]] | url =http://www.nypost.com/p/news/state_probes_cult_post_child_labor_ejnbb0yjhckbYDg0QWMiJK | work =New York Post | pages = | accessdate = 2010-01-03 | language = }}</ref> The Twelve Tribes responded with a [[press conference]] at the ''"Commonsense Farm"'' where the alleged child labor had taken place.<ref name="Worshippers"/><ref name="allegations"/><ref name='noapology'>{{cite news | first= | last=Staff Writer | coauthors= |authorlink= | title=Tribes speak, but don't apologize | date=2001-4-13 | publisher=[[MediaNews Group]] | url =| work =Bennington Banner | pages = | accessdate = 2010-01-03 | language = }}</ref> The Twelve Tribes reported that during a random inspection by [[Estée Lauder Companies]] the company found several fourteen year olds had been found assisting their fathers in their cottage industry;<ref name="allegations"/> this report was later confirmed by Estée Lauder who terminated their contract with Common Sense products.<ref name="noapology"/> The Group's official statement at the press conference stated that they believed that it was a [[family owned business]], and children ought to be able to help their parents in the business while making "no apology" for it.<ref name="Postresponsibility"/><ref name="noapology"/> The [[New York State Department of Labor]] stated they intended to visit all five of the Twelve Tribe's businesses. State Attorney General [[Eliot Spitzer]] asserted that apprenticeships amounted to [[indentured servitude]] and were illegal. [[Robert Redford|Robert Redford's]] [[Sundance Group#Sundance Catalog|Sundance Catalog]], who had contracted with Common Wealth Woodworks (another of the group's cottage industries that made furniture), also terminated their contract as a response to the allegations.<ref name="noapology"/> The Labor Department later fined the group two thousand dollars for a fifteen-year-old pushing a [[wheelbarrow]] and another fifteen-year-old changing a [[lightbulb]].<ref name="fifteen"/>


In Europe, the controversies centered on the issues of homeschooling, health, and religious freedom. On October 18, 2004, seven fathers from the community in [[Klosterzimmern]], in the municipality of [[Deiningen]], [[Bavaria]] were arrested because they [[homeschooling|homeschooled]] their children, instead of sending them to regular school.<ref name="Arrest_Germany2004_slide">{{cite web | title=Pictures of the arrest | work=Slide show of arrested fathers in Germany | url=http://www.zwoelfstaemme.de/verhaftung_slideshow | accessdate=2005-10-23 }}</ref><ref name="Röhrs2004">{{cite web | title=Press Conference October 15, 2004 in Pfäfflingen, Germany | work=Press conference by Holger Röhrs, one of the seven arrested fathers | url=http://www.commonwealthofisrael.org/controversies/press-conf-roehrs.html | accessdate=2009-10-29 }}</ref> In Germany, homeschooling was illegal.
In Europe, the controversies centered on the issues of homeschooling, health, and religious freedom. The group has several times been in conflict with authorities in Germany and France over homeschooling their children, with a particularly long and protracted dispute between the community in [[Klosterzimmern]], in the municipality of [[Deiningen]], [[Bavaria]], and Bavarian education authorities.<ref name="Richardson2004">{{cite book|author=Jean A. Swantko|editor=James T. Richardson|title=Regulating religion: case studies from around the globe|chapter=The Twelve Tribes Communities, the Anti-Cult Movement, and Governmental Response|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=U6opyVE_IYkC&pg=PA197|accessdate=27 August 2011|year=2004|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-306-47886-4|pages=197–199}}</ref><ref name=welt /> Homeschooling is illegal in Germany.<ref name="Richardson2004" /> When fines and arrests failed to have an effect on the community, authorities granted the group the right to operate a private school on the commune's premises, under state supervision.<ref name=welt /><ref name=Spiegel /> The agreement entailed that the school would not teach [[sex education]] and [[evolution]].<ref name=welt>{{cite news | author=Alexander Görlach | title=Sieg der Sekten-Eltern | work=Die Welt | url=http://www.welt.de/print-welt/article195835/Sieg_der_Sekten_Eltern.html | accessdate = 2011-08-26 | date = 2006-02-04 }}</ref><ref name=Spiegel>{{cite news | last=cpa/jol/dpa | title=Schulboykott. "Zwölf Stämme" erhalten eigene Schule | work = Der Spiegel | date = 2006-08-29 | url = http://www.spiegel.de/schulspiegel/wissen/0,1518,434193,00.html | accessdate = 2011-08-26 }}</ref>


==Outreaches==
==Outreaches==

Revision as of 19:11, 27 August 2011

For other uses of "The Twelve Tribes", see The Twelve Tribes (disambiguation).
Twelve Tribes
ClassificationMessianic Judaism[1] Christian Fundamentalism,[2] New Religious Movement[1]
StructureApostolic Council[3]
RegionNorth America, South America, Western Europe, Australia[4]
FounderElbert "Gene" Spriggs[1]
Origin1972[2]
Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Members2,500–3,000[5]
Official websitehttp://www.twelvetribes.com

The Twelve Tribes , formerly known as The Vine Christian Community Church,[6] Northeast Kingdom Community Church,[1] The Messianic Communities,[1] and the Community Apostolic Order [7]is an international confederation of religious communities[8] founded by Gene Spriggs (now known as Yoneq) that sprang out of the Jesus Movement in 1972[3] in Chattanooga, Tennessee.[2] The group is an attempt to recreate the first century church in the Book of Acts;[3] the name "Twelve Tribes" also derives from a quote of the Apostle Paul in Acts 26:7.[9] The group has also been referred to as The Yellow Deli People[10] and informally as The Community.[11]

History

The origins of the Twelve Tribes movement can be traced to a ministry for teenagers called the "Light Brigade"[12] in 1972.[3] The ministry operated out of a small coffee shop called "The Lighthouse"[2] within the home of Gene Spriggs and his wife Marsha. The Light Brigade began living communally [13] and opened a restaurant called "The Yellow Deli" while attending several churches, before deciding on First Presbyterian Church.[14] The Light Brigade, while at First Presbyterian, experienced friction with the establishment by bringing anyone who was willing to come with them, including different social classes and racial groups than the church normally experienced.[2] On January 12, 1975, the group arrived at First Presbyterian to find the service had been cancelled for the Super Bowl;[2] for the group, this was an intolerable act and led them to form The Vine Christian Community Church.[13] During this time, the church planted churches, each with their own Yellow Delis, in Dalton and Trenton, Georgia, Mentone, Alabama, and Dayton, Tennessee.[6]

Their withdrawal from the borders of the religious mainstream turned what had been a friction-filled relationship into an outcry against them.[1] They began holding their own services in Warner Park calling it "Critical Mass",[15] appointing elders[16][17] and baptizing people outside of any denominational authority. The deteriorating relationship between the group and the religious and secular Chattanooga community attracted the attention of The Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God and the Citizen's Freedom Foundation who labeled the church a "cult" and heavily attacked Spriggs as a Cult leader.[1] This led to what the group refers to today as the "Cult Scare"[18] in the late seventies. A series of deprogrammings starting in the summer of 1976 that were carried out by Ted Patrick.[14] The group nevertheless largely ignored the negative press, the wider world in general, and continued their businesses[1] opening the Areopagus and a second local Yellow Deli in downtown Chattanooga.[14][19] In 1978 an invitation was received from a small church in Island Pond, Vermont for Spriggs to minister there; the offer was declined but the group began moving in stages to the small rural town, naming the church there The Northeast Kingdom Community Church.[15] One of Patrick's last deprogramming cases in Chattanooga occurred in 1980; it involved a police detective who, according to Swantko, had his 27-year-old daughter arrested on a falsified warrant in order to facilitate her deprogramming, with the support of local judges.[20] The group continued moving, closing down all the Yellow Delis and associated churches except for the one in Dalton.[6] At one point, a leader conceded the group was deeply in debt[17] before closing the Dalton church down and moving the last members to Vermont.[2]

The move to Vermont, combined with an initial period of economic hardship, caused some members to leave.[2] The Citizen's Freedom Foundation conducted several meetings in Barton to draw attention to the group.[20] The Citizen's Freedom Foundation had made allegations of mind control in Chattanooga, but now made accusations of child abuse.[20] In 1983, charges were brought against Charles "Eddie" Wiseman (an elder in the group) for misdemeanor simple assault; this, combined with multiple child custody cases, formed the basis of a search warrant. On June 22, 1984 Vermont State Police and Vermont Social Rehabilitation Services[21] seizing 112 children[2] all were released the same day while the raid was ruled unconstitutional.[22] Due to what the group perceived as massive misunderstanding of the events and concerns leading up to and surrounding the raid, they began formal relationships with their neighbors.[1] Two months after the raid, the case against Wiseman fell apart after the main witness recanted, saying he was under duress from the anticult movement.[1] The case was later dropped in 1985 after a judge ruled that Wiseman had been denied his right to a speedy trial. Eddie Wiseman's public defender, Jean Swantko, who had been present during the raid, later joined and married Wiseman.[23]

Northeast Kingdom Community Church Members leaving the Courthouse with their children on June 22nd, 1984

By 1989, the church had become widely accepted in Island Pond[24] and grew substantially during the 1980s and 1990s, opening branches in several different countries, including Canada, Australia, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, and the United Kingdom. During this expansion phase, the group used the name Messianic Communities, before deciding on The Twelve Tribes. Through the mid-2000s, the group remained controversial, with accusations of child labor,[25] custodial interference,[20] and illegal Homeschooling.[26] In 2006 the group held a reunion for members and friends of the Vine Christian Community Church and former Yellow Deli in Warner Park, announcing a new community in Chattanooga.[27] The movement proceeded to open a new Yellow Deli in 2008, nearly thirty years after leaving Chattanooga.[14]

Beliefs and practices

The Twelve Tribe’s beliefs resemble those of Christian fundamentalism and Messianic Judaism; however the group believes that all denominations are fallen, and so refuse to align themselves with any denomination or movement.[2] They believe that in order for the messiah to return, the Church needs to be restored to its original form seen in the Acts 2:38–42 and Acts 4:32–37. This restoration is not merely the restoration of the 1st century church, but of a new Israel consisting of Twelve Tribes in twelve geographic regions.[2][12] Part of this restoration is the return to observing the sabbath, maintaining Mosaic law[11] including dietary law, and Jewish feasts.[11][28] This interpretation of the prophesied restoration of Israel,[3] combined with the perceived immorality[29] in the world leads the group to believe the end times have arrived, though no date has been set.[30]

One noted aspect of the group is their insistence of using the hebrew name Yahshua,[1] opposed to the Jesus or even the more common hebrew transliterated form Yeshua.[2] As the name "Yahshua" represents the nature of Jesus, similarly they bestow hebrew names upon on members that are meant to reflect the personality of the individual.[28]

The group rejects the traditional Christian duality of heaven and hell; instead believe in what they term the Three Eternal Destinies.[31] They believe that after the Fall of Man every person is given a conscience;[31] and that after dying every person goes to a state of being called death[32] regardless of faith.[31] Upon the second coming, believers will be brought back for the thousand years to reign with Yahshua before the last judgment.[31] At the end of this thousand years, all the nonbelievers will be judged according to their deeds and be put into two groups: the righteous, filthy/unjust.[31] The filthy and the unjust will be sent to the Lake of Fire while the righteous will go to heaven with the Twelve Tribes.[31]

"We Need Radical Change" and example of Twelve Tribes "free paper" commonly distributed at events as a form of Evangelism[3][11][33]

The leadership within is a structure is a series of Councils on the local, regional, and a global Apostolic Council;[3] the group is also overseen within these councils by a fluid number of teacher, deacons, deaconesses elders and apostles.[7] Gene Spriggs is highly regarded as the first to open up his home to brothers and sisters, but is not regarded as a spiritual figurehead.[33]

The Spriggs travel between the communities offering advice and inspiration but try to foster local autonomy.[34] The group operates as a 501 (d) – a "for-profit organizations with a religious purpose and a common treasury" the community pays taxes on property and income[3][14] and do not vote in elections.[11]

Courtship within the Community involves a "waiting period"[14][35] in the which the man asks the permission of the father to date his daughter.[33] The couple then receives counseling while spending time together.[33][35] The couple is only betrothed if the entire community approves of it;[7][33] the couple is then permitted to hold hands.[35] Weddings are dramatized preenactments[34] of what the group believes will happen at the end of time when Yahshua returns to earth for his bride.[14][33] Children have been noted to play a central role in the group's eschatological beliefs,[7] as future generations of the group are to be the "pure and spotless bride" of Revelations.[7][33] Most children within the group are born through a home birth with a midwife, though a hospital may sometimes be used.[11][33] Children are homeschooled,[3][7][11][26][30][33] by both parents and others within the group.[33] Their curriculum includes learning to read, arithmetic, writing, history, religion and dance.[30] Commercial toys are not used in the group; however blocks, puzzles, sewing kits, and books are encouraged to promote imagination rather than fantasy.[7][33] Within the group teenagers may take on apprenticeships in the group's cottage industries to be taught trades complementing their education.[7][36][37] The group utilizes corporal punishment [1][2][7][20][33][37] with a wet reed,[11] balloon stick[38] across the child's bottom or palm[7] after which the child is forgiven.[7][11] The overall goal is to make future generations within the community less materialistic and more spiritually pure for the return of Yahshua.[7]

Controversies

Since its inception, the group has ignited controversy[34] and garnered unfavorable attention from the media,[21] the anti-cult movement and governments.[20] The Twelve Tribes has been cited by Stuart A. Wright as a group suffering from "Front-End/Back-End Disproportionality" in media coverage.[21] According to Wright, the media often focuses on unsubstantiated charges against the group, but as charges are investigated and cases fall apart, the media cover them significantly less than at the beginning.[21] Wright then asserts this leaves the public with the impression that the group was guilty of the disproven charges.[21]

The ministry[39] New England Institute of Religious Research's Executive Director the Rev. Bob Pardon[39] warns in his report that "Messianic Communities, under the leadership of Spriggs, has tended towards an extreme authoritarianism and a "Galatian heresy."[40] The Tribes have responded with a line-by-line response to the report and continue to contend its large "errors, distortions, misunderstandings, and misjudgments", while criticizing the heavy use of apostates in his report.[41] In France, the group was listed on the 1995 Governmental Report by the Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France under the name "Ordre apostolique – Therapeutic healing environment." [42]

Jean Swantko and husband Eddie Wiseman have made effort to combat social control and anti-cult movement by engaging in dialogue with hostile ex-members, the media and government authorities.[43] Swantko has presented at scholarly conferences[43] including CESNUR[44] Communal Studies Association[45] and Society for the Scientific Study of Religion[46] as well as chapter in James T. Richardson's Regulating Religion: Case Studies from Around the Globe.

Commentary on the Island Pond Raid

The Island Pond Raid has remained prominent in Vermont legal history; it was the subject of a Vermont Bar Association seminar in 2006.[47] The group held anniversary events in both 1994[48] and 2000;[49] and produced a 75-minute documentary.[50] The Vermont Chapter of the ACLU also criticized the raid, calling it "frightening" and "the greatest deprivation of civil liberties to have occurred in recent Vermont history."[51] The then-Governor of Vermont, Richard Snelling, who had authorized the raid, reportedly drew the "hottest political fire of his career" in the weeks after[52] Vermont Attorney General John J. Easton, Jr. attributed the raid to assisting his campaign for governorship.[53] In 1992, John Burchard, who had been the State Commissioner of Social and Rehabilitation Services, and Vanessa L. Malcarne, published an article in Behavioral Sciences and The Law, encouraging changes in the law that would have allowed the raid to succeed.[54]

Twelve Tribes and Race

The Twelve Tribes religious movement has been criticized for its teachings and practices regarding race.[55][56] It teaches that Jews are still cursed for the murder of Christ, and has criticized the Pope for his "request for forgiveness" asking Jews to forgive the treatment they have suffered at the hands of the Christian church throughout history.[55] The movement advocates racial segregation, arguing that "multiculturalism increases murder, crime and prejudice", and discourages interracial marriages; however, non-white families are welcome, and interracial marriages have been tolerated in exceptional cases.[55][56]

Child labor and homeschooling controversies

In 2001, The New York Post ran an article accusing the group child labor violations;[57][58] and later attributed itself as having prompted the Investigation.[59] The Twelve Tribes responded with a press conference at the "Commonsense Farm" where the alleged child labor had taken place.[57][58][60] The Twelve Tribes reported that during a random inspection by Estée Lauder Companies the company found several fourteen year olds had been found assisting their fathers in their cottage industry;[58] this report was later confirmed by Estée Lauder who terminated their contract with Common Sense products.[60] The Group's official statement at the press conference stated that they believed that it was a family owned business, and children ought to be able to help their parents in the business while making "no apology" for it.[59][60] The New York State Department of Labor stated they intended to visit all five of the Twelve Tribe's businesses. State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer asserted that apprenticeships amounted to indentured servitude and were illegal. Robert Redford's Sundance Catalog, who had contracted with Common Wealth Woodworks (another of the group's cottage industries that made furniture), also terminated their contract as a response to the allegations.[60] The Labor Department later fined the group two thousand dollars for a fifteen-year-old pushing a wheelbarrow and another fifteen-year-old changing a lightbulb.[37]

In Europe, the controversies centered on the issues of homeschooling, health, and religious freedom. The group has several times been in conflict with authorities in Germany and France over homeschooling their children, with a particularly long and protracted dispute between the community in Klosterzimmern, in the municipality of Deiningen, Bavaria, and Bavarian education authorities.[61][62] Homeschooling is illegal in Germany.[61] When fines and arrests failed to have an effect on the community, authorities granted the group the right to operate a private school on the commune's premises, under state supervision.[62][63] The agreement entailed that the school would not teach sex education and evolution.[62][63]

Outreaches

Peacemaker Bus in California

The Twelve Tribes utilizes mobile operations and as vehicles to evangelize at various events.

  • Peacemaker Marine — a Class-A Sailing Barquentine Ship bought and restored by the group sailing on the Eastern coast of the United States. The Group now gives tours and Evangelizing at ports.[64]
  • Peacemaker I&II Buses[4]
  • A First Aid Tent is set up at various events by the group.[65]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Palmer, Susan J. Apostates and Their Role in the Construction of Grievance Claims Against the Northeast Kingdom/Messianic Communities article in the book The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN 0275955087
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Palmer, Susan J. (1997-05). "The Northeast Kingdom Community Church of Island Pond, Vermont: Raising Up a People for Yahshua's Return". Journal of Contemporary Religion. 12 (2): pages 181–190. doi:10.1080/13537909708580798. Retrieved 2009-11-05. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barna, Mark (2009-7-29). "Twelve Tribes living as one". Colorado Spring Gazette. Freedom Communications. Retrieved 2009-11-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ a b Wallgren, Christine (2006-7-23). "A festival of peace Twelve Tribes opens its Plymouth home to curious neighbors". Boston Globe. Globe Newspaper Company. pp. 1–3. Retrieved 2009-11-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Legere, Christine (2009-6-4). "Sect to increase holdings Plan would link harbor, downtown". Boston Globe. Globe Newspaper Company. p. 2. Retrieved 2009-11-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ a b c "Church to sell Yellow Delis, other properties and relocate". Chattanooga Times. WEHCO Media. 1979-3-26. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Palmer, Susan J. (1999-6-1). Children in New Religions. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. pp. 153–171. ISBN 978-0813526201. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ Chiaramida, Angeljean (2009-7-29). "Tall Ships tie up in Salisbury for weekend festival". Newbury port Daily News. Eagle Tribune Publishing Company. Retrieved 2009-11-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  9. ^ Twelve Tribes (2004-Summer). "Our Twelve Tribes: a Manifesto" (PDF). The Voice: Call to Restoration. Parchment Press. p. 2. Retrieved 2009-12-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  10. ^ Shultz, Wes (2008-05-07). "Remembering the Yellow Deli People". Chattanoogan. Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. Retrieved 2009-12-06. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Stephenson, Heather (2000-9-10). "A church of their own". Rutland Herald. Herald Association. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  12. ^ a b Warth, Gary (2009-10-3). "The 12 Tribes at a glance". North County Times. Lee Enterprise. Retrieved 2009-11-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ a b Hunt, Stephen (2001). Christian Millennialism. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 209–223. ISBN 978-0253214911. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Garret, Joan (2008-05-03). "Chattanooga: Yellow Deli hosts reunion, betrothal". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. Retrieved 2009-11-07. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. ^ a b Palmer, Susan J. (2010-02). "The Twelve Tribes: Preparing a Bride for Yahshua's Return". Nova Religio. 13 (3): 59–80. doi:10.1525/nr.2010.13.3.59. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. ^ Murray, Alan (1978-1-19). "Vine elders concede church has authoritarian character". Chattanooga Times. Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  17. ^ a b Castel, Bill (1980-12-1). "Elder: "We have no money"". Chattanooga Times. Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ Wiseman, Eddie (2009-Q3). "Cult Scare in Chattanooga" (PDF). In the Vine House Days. Parchment Press. p. 10. Retrieved 2009-11-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  19. ^ "Yellow Deli In Comeback Popular Christian Eatery From 1970s To Be Revived". Chattanoogan. John Wilson. 2006-4-5. Retrieved 2009-11-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  20. ^ a b c d e f Swantko, Jean (2000). "The Twelve Tribes' Communities, the Anti-Cult Movement, and Government's Response" (PDF). Social Justice Research. 12 (4): 341–364. doi:10.1023/A:1022021125576. Retrieved 2009-11-09. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  21. ^ a b c d e Wright, Stuart A. (1997-12). "Media Coverage of Unconventional Religion: Any "Good News" for Minority Faiths?". Review of Religious Research. 39 (2): 101–115. doi:10.2307/3512176. JSTOR 3512176. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  22. ^ "Children of Sect Seized in Vermont". New York Times. The New York Times Company. 1984-6-24. Retrieved 2009-11-12. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  23. ^ Wheeler, Scott (2009). "The Raid on Island Pond 25 Years Later – A Personal Look". Northland Journal. Scott Wheeler. Retrieved 2010-02-26. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  24. ^ "Vt. Village Warms to Church". The Hartford Courant. Tribune Company. 1989-7-5. p. 17. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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