(Aussie) PM met Brethren, defends their voice

[sabra]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/pm-met-brethren-defends-their-voice/2006/09/26/1159036543749.html

PM met Brethren, defends their voice

PRIME Minister John Howard says he has met members of the controversial Exclusive Brethren sect and has defended them having their say in politics.

Mr Howard said it was a free country and the Exclusive Brethren were not breaking the law. "Like any other group, they are entitled to put their views to the Government," he said.

He said he had met "a lot more fanatical people in my life than the Exclusive Brethren".

Treasurer Peter Costello said the church was "as entitled as the Uniting Church to exercise its political views — nobody says there's something wrong with that. The Catholic Church exercises its political views. It's just that this is a religion that is not as well known."