DEAR Blog

• Virginia started a ministry in Huntington Beach, California at the Light Club coffee house to which she encouraged Berg to spread his message. In the summer of 1969, Berg’s new group of 50 members named themselves “Uncle Dave’s Teens for Christ,” and eventually the Children of God (COG). Berg’s immediate family and the members of COG were referred to as the Family. The group continued to grow over the years and reached over 1,400 members in over 40 satellite locations (known as colonies) throughout the country.

• Berg spread his message to members of the Family through letters called Mo Letters, after his self-adopted name of Moses David. In these publications, Berg wrote extensively about his childhood, his feelings toward his parents, his self-esteem, and his childhood sexual experiences.

• In a Mo Letter from 1978, Berg describes a time when he was six-years-old and his mother caught him masturbating. Virginia called Berg’s brother, sister, and household staff into the room to come watch him masturbate; she then threatened castration to further shame him. Berg tells another story of when he and his same-aged cousin had sexual intercourse with one another at the age of seven. Berg write about his consternation upon realizing that his uncle (his cousin’s father) along with three household staff members had witnessed the act and kept it a secret. In a 1977 letter, Berg also explains how his father used to physically abuse him if he acted out. Due to such experiences, Berg used COG to reiterate his childhood experiences onto his followers while also freeing himself of sexual guilt.

• Upon his mother’s death in spring of 1968, Berg used COG to unload all of his childhood guilt and shame that he carried into adulthood. He called a public meeting of members and “came out with his big proclamation against the system.” He declared his hatred for the church system, the war in Vietnam, the political system, parenting skills and vicariously, his own upbringing. Throughout his Mo Letters, Berg promoted masturbation, incest, sex with children, and the sexualization of women. Berg had sexual relationships with his underage daughters, made sexual advances to his daughter-in-law, and perpetual sexual abuse to two of his granddaughters when they were not yet 12. He enforced regulations that allowed him to grope women freely and maintain a personal harem of rotating women.

• The recruitment practice of “Flirty fishing” was established in 1976. Female members would frequent bars and clubs and sleep with men in order to recruit them to COG.

• Berg died in 1994 but TFI carries on COG’s legacy. Over the span of 30 years, Berg wrote nearly 3,000 Mo Letters. TFI no longer engages in the more controversial practices such as group sexual intercourse, but there are still allegations that child sexual abuse is taking place.
   

Psychological Impact

 

• Denial and Rationalization of Abuse

• Members made great efforts to redefine their concepts of religious behavior. Ex: When interviewed, most women in the organization claimed that they did not regard Flirty Fishing as prostitution, but as an outreach method that was sanctioned by God. Their denial acted to preserve their self-respect and identities as devout followers. 

• The idea of communal living and sharing of material possessions spilled over to the bodily domain.

• Followers were told to embrace a new sexual ethos that included sexual experimentation and the elimination of sexual boundaries. Women in particular were admonished for not offering their bodies for sex and were often labeled as “elfish or jealous.

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• Social Isolation as a Means of Control

• Children were often separated from their biological parents and given over to the community. The deliberate fragmentation of intimate bonds between children and their primary caregivers furthered the acceptance of child sexual abuse. Childhood exploration of sexuality was strongly encouraged in the group and justified as a form of Jesus’ love.

• Children were also discouraged from obtaining a secular education. They were placed in the group’s own educational programs that heavily incorporated the ideological teachings of Berg.

• Members were required to renounce all material possessions and contribute their resources to the group. This left many members in a state of total reliance on the community.

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• Complex PTSD, and Suicidality

• There is no official data on the long-term effects of the cult’s impact. However, testimonials from ex-members indicate that suicidality and symptoms of complex PTSD are common amongst survivors.

• In a 2018 A&E interview, survivor Amy Bril stated that there are “a hundred suicides that I know of.”

• Ricky Rodriguez, stepson of Berg, was made to be a model for the organization’s standard for child-rearing practices. Rodriguez was sexually abused at a young age by his nanny as well as other adult caretakers. In 2005, he stabbed his former nanny to death and then shot himself.

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• Challenges Re-entering Society

• Disciples were to embrace anti-materialism. Lacking relevant skills and education, ex-members found it psychologically challenging to re-enter secular society. This compounded the existing feelings of anxiety and fear.