The head of Gloriavale is worried commune members will leave if they have too much to do with the outside world.
Overseeing shepherd Howard Temple today told the Employment Court that the isolation of the West Coast community makes it easier to surrender to Christ and His way of life according to the Bible.
"Not through ignorance, no. I want to impose it on them but not through ignorance," Temple said.
"But they're totally ignorant of the world and worldliness aren't they?" Gloriavale leavers' lawyer Brian Henry asked.
"No, they're not," Temple responded.
He conceded residents might enjoy mainstream society if they weren't kept separated from it, saying, "I do not want them to leave the community and go outside".
Six former residents claim they were made to work in slave-like conditions, unable to challenge the leadership. They say they should've been treated as employees.
"Now they are deliberately not educated to be able to take a place in the world, are they?" Henry asked.
"Probably not to your standards, no," Temple replied.
Overseeing shepherd Howard Temple said the commune's isolation makes it easier for members to surrender to Christ. (Source: 1News)
"Well the question is they're not being educated to a standard that gives them any real chance at a place in the world are they?" Henry pressed.
"OK, I won't argue with that," Temple replied.
The court heard the commune bans music "with a beat" from the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Offensive language and sex scenes are also removed from films, but that residents can still watch people being killed because it's "just normal life".
Henry argued it was teaching children there's a "big bad world out there" and they're safer at Gloriavale.
"If you want to put it that way… and again I say so are people out in society, they would do the same for their children," Temple said.
Members are told to completely surrender any critical thinking other than what the church teaches.
The court heard some residents have been threatened with eternal damnation if they do decide to walk out.
The hearing continues.
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