FRANCE: A religious group known as "Twelve Tribes" is under scrutiny by French parliamentarians for not sending its children to state schools

A French parliamentary team is investigating a religious group known as "Twelve Tribes" which lives in a chateau in the small village of Sus in southwestern France. French parliamentarians and school inspectors carried out a surprise visit of the chateau last November to see how the children live and how they are taught. The "Twelve Tribes" community in Sus has around 100 members and around 18 of them are children. The group says its religious teachings are based on Christians from the 1st century and that means the children have to be taught by their own members and not in the French state school system because it does not share the same values as them. "Our lifestyle is very close to what the early Christians lived 2000 years ago. If you read the Bible you can see they were also called a sect", said the Twelve Tribes spokesman Guillaume Joga. Joga said their children are not allowed to watch television but they are not cut off from the outside world. He said their community could be called a sect but the term has been deformed to mean negatives things like brain washing and secretive practices which they condemn. "Today when people mean a sect it has negative connotations. Behind that you mean mental manipulation, gurus, all kinds of bad things going on that are hidden secretly. So, usually when we are called like that, that's what people have in mind and of course course we don't agree with that", said Joga. Reuters Television filmed the Twelve Tribes' children on Wednesday (December 6) being taught grammar lessons in French. "Its our responsibility and it's a responsibility we cannot delegate to somebody outside of us who will not teach our children according to our convictions.", said the leader of the community Guillaume Joga. The French MPs say the children are too cut off from mainstream society and they will unveil a report in mid-December on whether they think the children should be forced to go to school. The Twelve Tribes members live together on the chateau compound and share daily chores including the cooking, washing, farming and carpentry work. They sell their produce at markets and make roofs for clients who are not members of their community. They have been living in the chateau for 23 years and the children who were raised in the compound are now adults and run the business. Guillaume Joga said they have no problem to integrate. They work like anybody else and are like normal people in a sense. The Twelve Tribes movement was created in the United States and there are similar chapters in Britain and Spain. RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES

ITN Source | December 9, 2006

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