Children of God
From Wikinfo
The Children of God, later known as the Family of Love, and then just The Family, were a fringe movement or cult of the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The leader was David Berg, who called himself Moses David or "Mo". Members of the Children of God founded communes, which they called "colonies", in various cities around the world. They would witness in the streets, and distribute literature. New converts who joined the movement had to memorize scripture verses, and there was a manual called Revolution for Jesus -- how to do it, which rejected church buildings.
As time passed Moses David became a more authoritarian leader, and the literature distributed began to be characterised by sexual innuendo, and a technique of proselytizing called "flirty fishing" was developed, in which women were encouraged to prostitute themselves in order to win male converts (see Religious prostitution). These and other questionable practices caused many to leave the movement. In the 1990s numerous allegations of pedophilia and sexual abuse were laid against the Family in different locations worldwide. There have also been proved allegations of pedophilia and other Sexual Abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. See Magdalene laundry and Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal
After the death of David Berg in the mid 1990s, Karen Zerby, known as Maria or Queen Maria in the organization took over leadership of The Family. She promptly married her longtime lover Steven Kelly (also known as King Peter or Peter Amsterdam) and he became her traveling representative due to her own hermetic separation from her followers.
Karen Zerby's practices and teachings have alienated many of the second generation followers of the group, who have left in large numbers to pursue secular careers. There is a great deal of anti-Family sentiment among those who have left, including threats to legally pursue alleged physical and sexual abusers who it is thought may have been shielded by Family leadership from secular prosecution.
Of the more unusual teachings propagated by Karen Zerby her encouragement to followers to practice regular spiritual sexual relationships with Jesus Christ stands out as the most unusual. Male members of the group are encouraged to visualize themselves as women "in spirit" in order to accommodate this practice.
While David Berg clearly drew many teachings from external secular and religious references and sources, although usually without attribution, Karen Zerby has preferred to call on spiritual beings to speak through herself and followers to give them instructions and advice regarding decisions. It is possible this has been prompted in part by clinical blindness developed during the 1990s.
Actors River Phoenix and Rose McGowan were both members of the cult during their childhood.
External link
- Stephen A. Kent, Ph.D.; Deana Hall, M.A.: Brainwashing and Re-Indoctrination Programs in the Children of God/The Family. University of Alberta, published in Cultic Studies Journal Volume 17 (2000): 56-78. Reproduced on an anti-spanking website.
- Children of God Bibliography by Amy Barron Grove City College, Contempoary American Religion, Dr. P.C. Kemneny, Spring 2003. Compiled by a student in a religion course, this is a relatively complete list of primary and secondary sources of information regarding The Children of God/The Family.
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Children_of_God" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_God, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
