Posted by Lone Wolf on July 26, 2006 at 19:42:06
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Cultic Studies Review Vol. 5, No. 1, 2006
The Children of God/The Family: A Discussion of Recent Research (1998–2005)
Susan Raine
[Susan Raine is a second-year Ph.D student in the sociology department at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include NRMs, ideological groups, religious-national conflict, martyrdom, and social theories of the body and of emotions.]
Abstract
The Children of God/The Family has provoked much debate and discussion among scholars over many years. These debates have centered upon numerous issues including sexual sharing, Flirty Fishing (FFing), adult-child sex, childcare, education, and discipline. The academic polarization of perspectives on these topics has been persistent and has not well served newer researchers. The purpose of this article is to provide an examination of contemporary literature on COG/The Family that scholars and ex-members have produced since 1998. I take a holistic approach to the research and attempt to bring together the findings to produce a more complete picture of COG/The Family’s history and current manifestation. As a result, I address some of the specific divisive issues that pervade approaches to this NRM. Additionally, I provide a summary of some of the concordant and discordant research findings.
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In January 2005, Ricky Rodriguez killed Angela Smith, who until recently was the executive secretary to Rodriguez's mother, Karen Zerby (Maria), the spiritual leader of The Family International. Rodriguez then drove to the California border town of Blythe, where he killed himself with a single shot from a semiautomatic handgun (Goodstein, 2005). The murder-suicide propelled the Children of God/The Family back into the spotlight and ignited a new wave of popular media attention. [i] Although popular media coverage of the group tends to appear only during periods of intense controversy, academic scholarship on this new religious movement (NRM) has been continuous over the years.
The Children of God/The Family (COG/The Family hereafter) has engendered many debates among scholars. Some of these debates have centered upon Rodriguez (known as Davidito in the group) and whether one of the group’s publications about him (The Story of Davidito) sanctioned adult-child sex. Sexual sharing, Flirty Fishing (FFing), [ii] childcare, education, and discipline have all been subject to academic scrutiny, as well. The academic polarization of perspectives on these topics has been persistent and has not well served newer researchers. Navigating the divergent perspectives sometimes leaves one frustrated because it is difficult to find an approach that fairly and fully discusses both the positive and negative aspects of this enduring movement. Hence, one faces the arduous task of trying to reconcile what at times are exceedingly disparate research findings.
With these difficulties in mind, the purpose of this article is to provide an examination of contemporary literature on COG/The Family that scholars and ex-members have produced since 1998. [iii] I take a holistic approach to the research and attempt to bring together the findings to produce a more complete picture of COG/The Family’s history and current manifestation. In this way, I address some of the specific divisive issues that pervade approaches to this NRM.
Discussing each work by its publication format, I begin with an analysis of recent books, followed by book chapters and, finally, academic journal articles. James D. Chancellor’s Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (2000) traces the development of the movement from its inception to its status into the late 1990s. Because of the book’s comparative comprehensiveness, I devote more discussion to his work than to others. Next is the autobiographical account of former member (and now sociologist) Miriam Williams (now “Williams Boeri”). Her book Heaven’s Harlots: My Fifteen Years in a Sex Cult (1998) traces her own personal history with the group from her initial years as a young idealist through her sometimes happy and at other times painful experiences as an active member of the group. Third, William Sims Bainbridge’s The Endtime Family: Children of God (2002) analyses the group using primarily survey data as a means to compare attitudes and beliefs of contemporary COG/The Family members with those of the general American population. The final book under consideration is J. Gordon Melton’s The Children of God: The Family (2004). This publication is the most recent of contemporary books on the group. In it, Melton provides a concise history of the group and includes some excellent old and more up-to-date photographs of the movement’s leaders and disciples.
Stephen Kent dedicates a subsection of one chapter of his book From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam War Era (2001) to COG/The Family. Kent explores the group’s emergence and early development in the context of the political climate of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Miriam Williams Boeri’s contribution to Christel Manning and Phil Zuckerman’s edited volume, Sex & Religion (2005), begins with a discussion of COG/The Family within the context of the historical tradition of communes and utopian communities. She then explores the sexual socialization process that produced the sexual norms of the movement. Using a linguistic analysis, Annabelle Mooney addresses the emotionally laden language and the specific structure of the Mo Letter “The Big Lie—Exposed!” Mooney provides a detailed discussion of this publication in her chapter, “The Family,” which is part of her book The Rhetoric of Religious Cults (2005). She examines the specific devices that Berg used in his effort to discredit evolutionary theory while postulating not only that Creationism reveals the truth of human life, but also that it answers those questions that evolutionary theory cannot.
Of the four journal articles under consideration, the first that this article explores is Stephen Kent and Deana Hall’s (2000) discussion of the efficacy of the “brainwashing” concept to COG/The Family’s Teen Training Programs and Victor Camps. Second is Williams Boeri’s (2002) ethnographic study of the everyday life experiences and self-perceptions of 15 women who have left COG/The Family. Third, Stephen Kent (2004) examines the conditions that produced the second generation’s discontent with, and rejection of, the movement. Fourth, Gary Shepherd and Gordon Shepherd (2005) analyse the group’s changing relationship to society. The authors observe not only how the movement has revised its organizational structure to accommodate other domains of society, but also how it has then responded to the perceived problems and tensions that have arisen as a result of this changed relationship.
Books
Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God (2000) by James D. Chancellor
James Chancellor’s book often does exactly what he designed it to do—it bridges the gap that he identified between COG/The Family literature, ex-member accounts, academic literature that is favourable to the group, and that which is critical of it. (p. xviii) Chancellor’s goal then has been to produce a more inclusive account, one that discusses the positive aspects of life in COG/The Family but that simultaneously does not shy from probing its controversial past. Having interviewed more than 200 disciples, his book affords current members (but not ex-members) a platform from which to express their perspectives on life in COG/The Family.
Whilst visiting more than 30 homes around the globe (and associating with close to 1,000 disciples total), Chancellor participated in many aspects of COG/The Family’s life, and he gained the confidence of many people, including leaders Maria (founder, David Berg’s, long-time partner) and her husband Peter. Participant observation and a close examination of the literature also contribute to Chancellor’s research endeavour. Importantly, Chancellor acknowledges the difficulty that closeness to one’s subject can bring, and he also addresses his own position as a religious historian. Furthermore, he understands that his account, although comprehensive, is still only part of the story, and “It may be that everyone’s personal history undergoes constant reconstruction” (pp. xxi–xxii). (This latter insight is vital to critically evaluating what the “truth” is in any context.) Finally, Chancellor states for the record that he received no financial remuneration from the group for his work (p. xix).
Chapter 1 presents a history of COG/The Family, tracing the group from its inception in the late 1960s through its early years, reorganization, and current manifestation. Chancellor introduces many topics that he revisits in detail in subsequent chapters. Then, in the second chapter, he explores who joined COG/The Family and why, arguing that those who initially joined this NRM came from a variety of backgrounds and thus do not comprise a homogenous group that scholars and others can define (and stereotype) easily. For example, some of the converts were single and others were married; some were college educated and others were not. Moreover, Chancellor identifies that a range of personality types joined (p. 34). He does note, however, that several themes emerged during his interviews, including a “shallowness in meaningful personal relationships” coupled with loneliness and “active search[ing]”; a personal desire to “follow Jesus”; and the attraction of the group’s communal atmosphere in tandem with its rejection of mainstream religions (pp. 35–36). Most of the converts had a religious upbringing of one type or another (including Baptist, Jewish, and Catholic); and, of course, once the movement expanded overseas, the variety of converts’ backgrounds increased considerably. Notable also is that in some cases these variables were coupled with more intense problems. Of the 10 interviews that Chancellor included in this chapter, four of the members stated that they were suicidal when they joined the group (Lydia, p. 37; Jonathon, p. 48; Priscilla, p. 51; and June, p. 58) and one other was “constantly depressed” (Faith, p. 49). Thus, from this selection at least, a pattern of emotional and psychological vulnerability emerges. Nonetheless, Chancellor provides us with enough background information (through the interviews) to challenge some of the negative cult-member stereotypes that the popular media has disseminated.
In chapter 3, Chancellor examines some of the core components of the group’s doctrines, noting how they have influenced the disciples’ beliefs and behaviours. Raising the topic of Berg’s authority, he notes, “Once Berg had clarified his status as God’s unique prophet for the End Time, all disciples were called upon to submit fully to his absolute spiritual authority. He left no room for ambiguity at all” (p. 65). Chancellor observes also that “acceptance of The Prophet’s role and status was a central component of the socialization process” (p. 70). Coupled with these insights, Chancellor explores the variable interpretations of Berg’s doctrines and the taken-for-granted assumptions disciples made of the infallibility of Berg. Moreover, he does a good job of illustrating why many members were willing to obey Berg completely and commit to his belief system. Contributing factors to members’ obedience include their genuine faith in selflessness as a means to bring people to Jesus and salvation (pp. 59–62), their conviction that Berg was God’s Prophet (p. 65), their acceptance of an imminent End Time (p. 84), and their perceptions of their own unique position in God’s plan (p. 87).
Chancellor addresses the structural abuses of power that occurred, noting the resultant change of the authority structure (through the Reorganization and Nationalization Revolution [RNR]), and the more recent implementation of The Love Charter. In his discussion of the group’s problems, he notes that the “trials, trauma, and abuse” (p. 92) originated not only from Berg and his writings, but also from various levels of leadership throughout the group, and that abuses and problems happened both before, and after, the RNR. He observes also that
...even in the face of serious abuse and profound personal loss, disciples consistently attribute [italics added] these difficulties to the character flaws of individuals. They do not find fault with the nature of the community, and especially not with the leadership of Father David.” (p. 92)
Chancellor might have explored this attribution process further; certainly, others have tackled it using theories that dissect the role of attribution to religious commitment in COG/The Family and in other religious settings (see Kent, 1994a; Spilka, Shaver, and Kirkpatrick, 1985).
Chancellor delves into the most controversial facets of COG/The Family’s life in chapter 4. Many scholars have debated the impact of Berg’s sexual ideology and his dissemination of it to his disciples through the Mo Letters (see, for example, Kent, 1994b; Lewis and Melton, 1994; and Van Zandt, 1991). Indeed, in substantial part this subject has contributed to the polemic surrounding the group. Chancellor describes his work as “neither an apology nor a tabloid expose” (p. 96)—an accurate statement in terms of his treatment of sexuality (sexual sharing, FFing, and child sexuality) and of other facets of his research. Many of the interviews are extremely revealing in terms of members’ experiences of child sexual abuse and of the expectations that Berg placed upon the women of the group. The sexual ethos of the group originated in Berg’s household, where, by the early 1970s, his “startling new conclusions on the relationship between sex and religion” (p. 97) soon became part of his dialogue in the Mo Letters. Ultimately, Chancellor concludes that sexual sharing, instead of emerging as a communally sanctioned experience, became for some members a painful period of adjustment.
With the institution of FFing, the role of women in the group came to the fore. Chancellor interviewed many female disciples on this topic and provides an overview of the extent of its practice. His discussion, however, lacks a level of critical analysis that one might expect in a comprehensive text such as this. One gets the sense that the close relationship Chancellor developed with the women whom he interviewed has prevented him from being fully analytical (he discusses methodological problems such as subject-researcher closeness early in his book). For example, he appears to fall just short of describing FFing as prostitution (pp. 120, 121). Perhaps his hesitancy is borne out of a sense of loyalty to those who revealed to him what they have discussed with no one else. Accepting the explanations of the women who describe and rationalize their experiences, Chancellor does not explore issues of power, patriarchy, authority, and control in terms of the leadership’s expectations that women FF—initially as a means to save souls and recruit—but later, also to “Make it Pay” (Berg, 1978a).
One could argue that the disciples’ denials that FFing constituted prostitution are testimony to the success of Berg’s socialization of the women’s beliefs and actions; previously, Chancellor noted the extent of Berg’s authority in the socialization process. [iv] Moreover, it may be very difficult for some of the women to accept psychologically that they did indeed engage in a form of prostitution whereby they exchanged sexual acts for money and other favours. Miriam Williams’ (1998) discussion of FFing (which I discuss later) helps to elucidate the tension between belief, behaviour, and self-perception. Despite Chancellor’s reluctance to analyse FFing critically, his account is still a valuable contribution to the literature that deals with this highly emotive subject. [v]
Even more contentious than FFing was Berg’s promotion of adult-child sexual relations. Although the full extent of this abuse is unknown, the interviewees reveal their knowledge of its existence. (Many disciples, however, appear in a state of denial or self-deception about the abuses and the fact that they existed beyond Berg’s own household—a state that Williams also experienced for a time [Williams, 1998:221].) Chancellor posits that despite the reactions of some members, “The Family has come full face to the reality that literature such as ‘Heaven’s Girl,’ ‘The Little Girl Dream,’ ‘The Devil Hates Sex,’ and ‘The Story of Davidito’ did sanction adult sexual contact with minors” (p. 138). Furthermore, later in the book, Chancellor asserts that “throughout the late 1970s and the early 1980s, sexual activity between adults and children was an accepted practice in a number of communities” (p. 223). With these and other discussions, Chancellor has tackled this thorny issue, and he appears to have put to rest the ongoing debate about whether or not relatively extensive child sexual abuse occurred. This book makes clear (within the context of a balanced discussion) that many members of the second generation suffered greatly—not only in terms of sexual abuse, but also physically and emotionally; in fact, so much so, that comparatively few of those born in the 1970s stayed with the group.
One strength of Chancellor’s study is that he brings us up to date. Chapter 5 looks at how current members live—the interviews paint a human and at times even a mundane picture of life in the movement. Daily routines and the importance of prayer (p. 152), the continued significance of the Mo Letters (p. 152), the disciples’ concepts of self and their belief in their special role in Jesus’ service (p. 153)—all contribute to our understanding of the movement’s current form. Finally, as Chancellor notes, the group still rejects mainstream values (for the most part), but disciples typically enjoy a more comfortable life than they did during the movement’s early days (p. 159).
Chapter 6 considers the consequences of giving up one’s life in the “System.” [vi] Perhaps the most contentious aspect of doing so is the ‘forsake all’ policy that stipulates that disciples must relinquish contact with friends and family (for the most part), and forsake worldly possessions and services, as well. In 1971, concerned parents organised to form FREECOG (Free our Children from the Children of God) because they believed that their children had been “brainwashed” into committing to COG/The Family. Some fearful parents employed others to kidnap and “deprogram” their children. Chancellor sides with Berg in his disdain for FREECOG’s efforts (p. 182) and the efforts of all those involved in what he terms the “anticult industry” (p. 186). No doubt many kidnapping and deprogramming efforts were misguided and harmful, but it seems only fair to acknowledge the anguish that families felt not knowing where their children were or how they were doing—something Chancellor fails to do.
The second generation is the subject of chapter 7. Chancellor reviews their current activities (including overseas’ ministry), and contemporary attitudes toward sexuality among the younger members of the second generation (which are considerably more conservative than those embraced by their parents [p. 230]). He reveals how approaches toward authority have changed: The hierarchy is less authoritative, less demanding, and seems to have accepted that the members of the second generation who chose to stay must share in the process of forging the future evolution of the movement.
Chancellor uncovers some of the sexual abuses and harsh disciplines that the second generation endured. (He conceptualizes these abuses as “cost factors” [p. 222].) His interviews reveal stories of people who lived through the abuse but ultimately chose to stay, although, as Chancellor notes, most members (both young and old) were disinclined to discuss the more serious abuses that occurred (p. 222). Other disciples affirm that they never witnessed any of the abuses first-hand, but they concede they had heard of their existence in other homes (p. 223). And as Chancellor remarks, even those who escaped abuse experienced the sexualized atmosphere that the group fostered (pp. 227–228).
Berg condoned the use of physical punishment on children. Hence, extreme discipline occurred not only within individual homes but also in the Victor Programs and Teen Training Camps (set up to keep rebellious teens in the group), where some adolescents experienced “silence restriction,” hard physical labour, humiliation, paddling, the discontinuation of their educations, and verbal abuse (pp. 236–240). Chancellor comments on the group’s past: “Family youth have certainly been consistently subjected to intense indoctrination into the ideology and norms of the group” (p. 240). The interviews, along with his discussion, expose the harsh realities that sometimes were a part of life for many children born into the group.
In summary, Chancellor’s many years of research have produced a comprehensive and valuable account of COG/The Family, one that allows the reader to integrate previous scholarship in such a way as to create a more holistic portrait of Berg, of his disciples, and of the group as a whole. His publication stands as the most balanced and accessible of academic books on this ever-evolving NRM.