Children of God

The Children of God (COG), later known as the Family of Love, the Family and now the Family International, is a new religious movement that started in 1968 in Huntington Beach, California, USA. It was part of the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s, with many of its early converts drawn from the hippie movement. Due to its unusual emphasis on total commitment it triggered the first organized anticult group (FREECOG) and was among the movements prompting the cult controversy of the 1970s and 1980s in the United States and Europe.

Related Topics:
New religious movement - 1968 - Huntington Beach - California - USA - Jesus Movement - 1960s - Converts - Hippie movement - Anticult - FREECOG - Cult - 1970s - 1980s

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As it grew and expanded around the world, so did its message—salvation, Millenarianism, spiritual revolution against the outside world that they called "the System"—and resultant controversy. In 1974, it began to experiment with a method of evangelism called Flirty Fishing—using sex to show God's love and win converts and/or donations. The practice was discontinued in 1987. Their founder and prophetic leader, David Berg, communicated with his followers via Mo Letters—letters of instruction and counsel on a myriad of spiritual and practical subjects—until his death in late 1994. After his death, his widow Karen Zerby became the leader of the Family.

Related Topics:
Salvation - Millenarianism - Spiritual revolution - 1974 - Evangelism - Flirty Fishing - 1987 - David Berg - Karen Zerby

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The group?s liberal sexuality, as well as some of their former disciplinary practices, have led to allegations of child abuse by some former members. Although a number of judicial and academic investigations in the 1990s found the Family to be a safe environment for children, such investigations have also highlighted troubles in its past. Family leadership, admitting that some children were abused as a result of some of Berg's writings during the liberal period of the group's early history, created strict policies in the mid-1980s prohibiting excessive discipline or any sexual contact between adults and minors. Those found to have abused children after December 1988 are excommunicated from Family membership. The Family requires individuals who decide to report child abuse to a law enforcement agency or pursue any other legal action against an alleged abuser to leave the group entirely or, if the alleged abuser has been excommunicated for child abuse, to move to a lower committment membership status until the matter is resolved.

Related Topics:
1990s - 1988 - Excommunicated

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The January 2005 murder of a former member by the leader's son Ricky Rodriguez (who had also left the group several years earlier), and his subsequent suicide shocked both members and former members, and led to considerable media attention.

Related Topics:
2005 - Ricky Rodriguez

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