Children of God/The Family Web site is located at www.thefamily.org
- December 4, 2007 Young man's suicide blamed on mother's cult, By Randi Kaye, CNN (Photos & Video Included)
The suicide of a young man and the murder he committed before he killed himself are being blamed on a cult led by his mother...
...Karen Zerby, the leader of the sect now known as "The Family International."
The sect's activities and history are detailed in a newly released book, "Jesus Freaks." The sect was founded in California in the 1960s by David Berg...
- November 1, 2007 The Tragic Legacy of the Children of God, Nightline, ABC News
- September 5, 2007 Former cult member assesses damage in 'Children of God' - By Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times
Noah Thomson, raised on a commune in Brazil, takes an emotional ride in his Cinemax documentary.
If Ricky Rodriguez had not committed a murder-suicide two years ago, "Children of God: Lost and Found" would probably not have wound up on Cinemax. Rodriguez was the stepson of the late Children of God cult leader David Berg, and his murder of another former "Family member" and subsequent suicide brought renewed media attention to the 40-year-old California-based religious group that had been accused in the past of abusing its children...
- July 13, 2007 Enslaved by the cult of sex...for 25 years - By CELESTE JONES, Daily Mail, United Kingdom
Born into an evil cult, called the Children of God, sisters Celeste, Kristina and Juliana Jones were abused from the age of three. Torn from their parents, their childhood was dominated by the warped cult leader David Berg.
The cult - first exposed by the Daily Mail in 1994 - still exists...
- EXTRACTED from Not Without My Sister by Kristina Jones, Celeste Jones and Juliana Buhring...
- On TV April 27, 2007 Former Members Of Children Of God Speak Out, Michelle Krish, 10News.com Managing Editor, KGTV News, San Diego, California (Video included.)
SAN DIEGO ...The child custody case involves one parent who belongs to a religious organization formally known as Children Of God, where sexual abuse allegations are central to the litigation...
...Rodriguez and Irwin were among the former members of the cult who expressed concern for children currently within the organization, known today as The Family...
...former member Amy Brill...
...And at 13, she said she was married to Berg in a mock wedding.
"I had been molested before, but this was like a 60-year-old man doing whatever he wanted," said Brill.
Years later, Brill said her own father committed suicide as a result of his own guilt.
Read a statement from The Family.
For more information regarding this story...
- February 2, 2007 Revenge Against Religious Sect, 20/20, ABC News
Two decades after a Christian religious sect officially renounced adult-child sex in response to allegations of sexual misconduct, a new British documentary "Cult Killer" is reviving questions.
The sect, known as The Family, was founded in the late 1960s...
...In January 2005, Ricky Rodriguez, the one-time heir apparent to The Family, fatally stabbed his former nanny and then shot himself dead...
...It's hard to refute that Rodriguez grew up in a sexually charged atmosphere. The group, founded under the name Children of God, promoted a strange brew of biblical prophecy and sexual freedom...
- October 17, 2006 Judge Denies Motion To Ban Media From Sex Cult Case, News 8 Investigation (Video included.)
A custody battle over a four-year-old boy whose mother is a member of a free-love religious sect exploded in a San Diego courtroom today. At issue, whether the group named The Family is a religion, or a cult...
...The father, Paul Staughton, left the group because he disagrees with its philosophy of open sexuality to show love for Jesus. Current members of The Family call it a Christian missionary group, but many ex-members say it�s a cult...
...Formerly known as the Children of God, The Family is a Christian sect whose members live in communes like the one in Escondido...
- On TV August 30, 2006
Free Love Religious Sect, ABC News Primetime
Child Sex Allegations Haunt Group Known For Biblical Prophecy, Sexual Freedom.
This story first aired on January 27, 2005
Nearly two decades after it officially renounced adult-child sex in response to allegations of sexual misconduct, there are still questions about a Christian sect founded in the late 1960s with thousands of members around the world...
...Last year, Ricky Rodriguez, the one-time heir apparent to The Family, stabbed to death his former nanny and then shot himself dead. He left a chilling videotape alleging the sexual abuse he had suffered as a child at the hands of members of the group was too much to bear...
...Others from Rodriguez's generation in the group say they have suffered too...
...The Family spokeswoman Claire Borowik says while she is deeply saddened by the murder/suicide, the group was not responsible for Rodriguez's death. She says she does not believe that he was a victim of sexual abuse: "It wasn't really an issue of sex. There was a liberal � liberality that existed in some homes, not most homes."...
...However, it's hard to refute that Rodriguez grew up in a sexually charged atmosphere. The group founded as Children of God promoted a strange brew of Biblical prophecy and sexual freedom...
..."The Story of Davidito."...
...Some of the pictures show Rodriguez with Angela Smith, the woman he killed...
- August 21, 2006 Family business of abuse and murder, Iain Heggie, TV & Radio, The Scotsman, UK
Cutting Edge: Cult Killer, Channel 4
...RICK Rodriguez's voice on his video diary sounded drug and drink damaged. As he geed himself up to a revenge killing for the sexual abuse he suffered as a child...last night's documentary, Cult Killer...
...David Berg was the founder of a cult called The Family...
...Cult Killer lacked the rigour to show how abuse made a killer and a wider perspective on the relationship between cults, sex abuse and personality damage...
- August 21, 2006 Viewing guide, David Chater, TV and Radio, The Times, UK
...CUTTING EDGE: CULT KILLER, Channel 4, 9pm
Tonight's mind-blowing Cutting Edge begins with a videotaped suicide note, in which a young man called Rick Rodriguez proposes to murder his mother and end his own life. He was brought up in a cult that was known as the Children of God, and is now known simply as "The Family". Their practice of free love allegedly extended to institutionalised paedophilia, and the children were brainwashed into believing that this was an expression of love and pleasing to God. Rodriguez's mother runs the cult...
..."The Story of Davidito."...
- On TV August 21, 2006 Cult Killer, Cutting Edge, UK - 21:00
Cult Killer is a powerful and dramatic Cutting Edge film, which goes to the heart of one of world's most shocking religious sects.
- A link to the Video Cult Killer, Cutting Edge, Channel 4, UK
- August 2006 Channel 4 Helplines - Cutting Edge: Cult Killer, UK
The following script contains details of organisations offering information and support to anyone affected by child abuse or suicide, now or in the past. The phone lines to some of these organisations are very busy, but please keep trying...
- August 17, 2006 Bizzare lifestyle in the Children of God cult, by Victoria Moore, Daily Mail, UK (Photo of Tally Spencer included.)
Most children of rock stars grow up studiously indifferent to their parents' music, but Nat Spencer remembers in glorious detail the first time he heard his dad, Jeremy Spencer, play guitar for Fleetwood Mac...
...The children's story began in 1971 when their father, the blues guitarist Jeremy Spencer, was reported missing while on a tour of the United States with Fleetwood Mac...
...Jeremy turned up with a shorn head and announced he had joined a religious cult called the Children of God...
...All eight children grew up under the strict regime of the communes in which the Children of God � or The Family, as the cult now calls itself - live.
All have now left the sect, although their parents are still going strong: Jeremy lives in Ireland...
...Koa, Nat and Tally have now got together to form a band, Jynxt...
- On TV October 24, 2005 SEX ABUSE AND MIND CONTROL: RAISED IN A CULT - Montel Williams
Today we'll meet 2 survivors of a controversial religious cult who risked their lives to tell their story publicly for the first time. Caryn was born into the cult and raised under their doctrines for seventeen years. She claims that this organization formerly known as "The Children of God," now identified as "The Family,"...
...Today's Guests ...Steve Hassan, LMHC, NCC A licensed mental health counselor who has been working with cult survivors for 27 years. He started an organization called "The Freedom Of Mind Center" and has authored numerous books about cult mind control and abuse, including: Releasing The Bonds: Empowering People To Think For Themselves...
- October 16, 2005
Transcript: Sinful acts, Reporter: Liz Hayes, 60 Minutes, Australia
INTRODUCTION
LIZ HAYES: Of all the great social experiments of the last 100 years, there's never been anything like this. A religion preaching free love � the Children of God they call themselves. Recruiting was called "flirty fishing" and thousands, many here in Australia, were hooked on the promise of a sexual nirvana. The cult's American guru, David Moses, even declared sex between adults and children was natural and healthy. Well, it's no surprise that it all went terribly wrong. Those children are now adults...
...LIZ HAYES: Thousands of children who grew up in the sect have now left. For this lost generation, it has not been an easy road....
...RICHARD: I want to talk to any kids out there that are of my age group that are thinking, you know, the way Ricky thought, you know. And there is help. Don't let what happened to Ricky happen to any more of us, you know...
- October 3, 2005 The Family Cult, Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil goes inside a shocking cult where 9-year-olds were known to have sex with 25-year-olds � on dates set up by their parents. What began as a typical 60s commune became a den of alleged sexual molestation, prostitution and extreme physical abuse ... all in the name of God...
- September 16, 2005 The accidental activist, By Bonnie Azab Powell, UC Berkeley NewsCenter, University of California, Berkeley
Last spring, Daniel Roselle bought a UC Berkeley baseball cap. Despite teasing from his friends, he superstitiously refused to wear it until he knew he'd been accepted as a transfer student from Santa Monica Junior College...
...But his biggest challenge was leaving not just his immediate family, but The Family International....Its detractors call it a cult, one that has irreparably damaged the lives of many children who never chose to join it.
Children of the Children of God
The Family was founded in 1968 in Huntington Beach, Ca., by David Berg...
...Ultimately, he plans to go to law school. To pursue the Family in court? He says no. "Look, I'm an accidental activist. My real interest is Asia � I hope to do something with business in China," he says. "But I will always be attached to this kind of work pro bono. I am not going to just walk away."...
(Photo of Daniel Roselle included.)
- August 19, 2005 A message from beyond the grave, By Keith Morrison, Correspondent, Dateline NBC
You'd think a religious group would protect and defend its children, especially one called "Children of God." That was the name of a controversial group founded in the 1960s, that preached a gospel of "free love." But many who grew up in the group say "free love," meant sexual abuse of young children...
...It was David Berg, "Moses David," who founded the "Children of God" in the late 1960s...
...the church has apologized and says it has moved on, too. It has a new name: "The Family." And as of the late 1980s, there was no more flirty fishing, and a theology renouncing child sex, threatening to excommunicate any member who has sex with a child...
- April 4, 2005 FBI Launches Investigation Into Sex Cult, LOCAL 8 KFMB TV, San Diego, California
The FBI has launched a criminal investigation into a religious sex cult with close ties to San Diego. Many people who were raised in the group say they were sexually abused as children � all in the name of God. Federal agents are now taking a closer look.
What was it like growing up in the Children of God religious sect? A rare home video of a teen training camp in Mexico from 1986 gives an inside look at the group that currently goes by the name The Family International...
- March 29, 2005 People Raised In Sex Cult Gather For Memorial, LOCAL 8 KFMB TV, San Diego, California (Video included.)
More than 100 people who were raised in a controversial religious cult that once advocated sex with children gathered in San Diego March 26 to remember one of their own after a brutal murder-suicide that brought back painful memories of child abuse inside the cult.
By all accounts, 29-year-old Ricky Rodriguez was a gentle, kind young man. He was remembered at an emotional memorial service on Mission Bay by friends, family and his widow...
...Most who attended the service do not condone the violence Rodriguez committed...
...Current leaders of The Family say they officially banned sexual contact with children in 1986, and have apologized to the victims. But they have not publicly named members who have been accused of child abuse.
- March 13, 2005 A Young 'Prophet' Cannot Defeat the Demons of His Past, By Nita Lelyveld, Paul Pringle and Larry B. Stammer, Times Staff Writers, Los Angeles Times, California
(Photos included.)
Raised in a sex-driven yet tightly controlled group, Ricky Rodriguez found one way out: murder and suicide...
- February 12, 2005 Hewlett grant went to cult-linked charity
Foundation says it was unaware of ties to infamous sect, Todd Wallack, Don Lattin, Chronicle Staff Writers, San Francisco Chronicle, California (The Flora Family Foundation, an heir to the HP fortune, gave a Southern California charity with ties to an infamous evangelical sex cult $61, 500 during the past three years, but a top foundation official said it never would have made the grants had it known about the connection.
The donations were made to the Family Care Foundation, which has extensive links to the Family International, formerly known as the Children of God...
...Family Care Foundation Executive Director Larry Corley flatly denies any ties to the Family sect...
...Yet, The Chronicle investigation showed that all six of the foundation's officers have links to the Family International...)
- February 12, 2005 Newspaper: Flora Family Foundation donated money to charity with ties to infamous cult, Associated Press via sfgate.com (Menlo Park, Calif. (AP) --
The Flora Family Foundation, an heir to the HP fortune, gave $61,500 over the past three years to a Southern California charity with ties to an infamous evangelical sex cult, a newspaper reported Saturday.
The Menlo Park-based Flora Family Foundation made the donations to the Family Care Foundation, which has extensive links to the Family International, formerly known as the Children of God, according to the San Francisco Chronicle...)
- February 10, 2005 Cult Member Responds To Abuse Allegations: LOCAL 8 Investigation KFMB TV, San Diego, California (A local member of a religious cult called The Family is speaking out about allegations of child abuse. The cult has come under fire recently after a murder-suicide in Arizona. Beth Shelburne has the exclusive interview in this LOCAL 8 Investigation.
Ricky Rodriguez left a home video as a suicide note before shooting himself in the head last month. On the tape, Rodriguez, lays out his plan to murder a leader of a religious sex cult called the Children of God, also known as The Family...
...Then there's Phillip Slown. San Diego court documents say Slown repeatedly molested his stepdaughters while in the cult. Yet the Family Care Foundation in Dulzura gave Slown more than $100,000 worth of donations to help finance his work with at-risk teenagers...)
(Video and photos included.)
- February 9, 2005 Dulzura Charity Funded Accused Child Molester: LOCAL 8 Investigation KFMB TV, San Diego, California (...The Family Care Foundation in Dulzura is a nonprofit missionary group run by former members of a religious cult called the Children of God. This cult, which now goes by the name "The Family" is notorious for preaching open sexuality � a policy that lead to widespread sexual abuse of children in the 1970s and '80s � according to former members.
Kristi La Mattery grew up in the Children of God cult...
...In 1998, Kristi and her sister were interviewed by social workers about the cult's sexual abuse as part of a custody case in San Diego Juvenile Court.
The investigation concluded that "the Children of God advocated sexual activity with minors," and that Phillip Slown had abused his stepdaughter. For reasons that are still unclear, criminal charges were never filed against Slown. But Kristi says the leaders of the cult knew about Slown's abuse...)
(Video and photo included.)
- February 6, 2005 IRS documents show ties between charity, sex cult
Tax-exempt foundation that raised money for projects around world denies links to sect - Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer, San Francisco Chronicle, California (Dulzura, San Diego County -- Internal Revenue Service documents filed by the Family Care Foundation, a not-for-profit charity in Southern California, show deep, ongoing ties between the organization and the Family, the evangelical sex cult rocked by a recent murder-suicide.
But officials with the Family Care Foundation deny any connection to the controversial cult.
The religious sect, formerly known as the Children of God, was started in the late 1960s by Oakland native David "Moses" Berg, who attracted tens of thousands of devotees in the 1970s with his strange brew of evangelical Christianity and sexual license...)
- On TV January 28, 2005 Religious Sect Has Ties To Two Local Charities, Local 8 KFMB TV, San Diego, California (A religious sect that some say promoted sexual contact with children is coming under intense scrutiny after a murder-suicide in the Arizona desert. Some members of that group � called "The Family" � are on the board of directors of two local charities.
Angela Smith was a longtime member of The Family who sat on the board of The Family Care Foundation in Dulzura. She was murdered three weeks ago by a former member of the religious sect who said he was sexually abused as a child...
...Twenty-nine-year-old Ricky Rodriguez grew up in The Family. His father founded the group in the late 1960s. Formerly known as the Children of God, leaders advocated communal living and open sexuality � even among children...
...Former members have called on The Family to turn over the names of all the people who were involved in sexual abuse of children.
So far, The Family has not made any names public.) (Video included.)
- January 27, 2005 Deaths in the Family/Common thread of sexual, spiritual abuse among cult defectors who killed themselves - San Francisco Chronicle, California (...Leaders of the sect founded in the late 1960s by Oakland native David "Moses" Berg and now known as the Family International acknowledge that there have been at least 10 suicides over the past 13 years by those in that group who have left the Family, but defectors say the number is much higher...
...Adjusting to life in the outside world after years of isolation and religious indoctrination, former members say, can be just as traumatic as dealing with sexual abuse...
...Ricky Dupuy, who was 17 when he joined the Children of God...
...Claire Borowik, a spokeswoman for the Family International's office in Washington, D.C...
...In a written statement, Borowik said the Family was aware of only 10 suicides among former members over the past 13 years. She said that 32,000 people had been in the Family over the past 35 years and that its current full- time membership stood at around 8,000...) (Photos included.)
- On TV January 27, 2005 ABC News: Primetime Live - New Focus on Fringe Religious Sect - Child Sex Allegations Haunt Group Known For Biblical Prophecy, Sexual Freedom (Earlier this month, Ricky Rodriguez, the one-time heir apparent to The Family, stabbed to death his former nanny and then shot himself dead. He left a chilling videotape alleging the sexual abuse he had suffered as a child at the hands of members of the group was too much to bear...
...Others from Rodriguez's generation in the group say they have suffered too...
The Family spokeswoman Claire Borowik says while she is deeply saddened by the murder/suicide, the group was not responsible for Rodriguez's death. She says she does not believe that he was a victim of sexual abuse: "It wasn't really an issue of sex. There was a liberal � liberality that existed in some homes, not most homes."...
...The group founded as Children of God promoted a strange brew of Biblical prophecy and sexual freedom...
Its charismatic leader, Moses David Berg...)
NBC Dateline program on the Children of God has been postponed due to the death of Johnny Carson on January 23, 2005.
- January 23, 2005 Dateline NBC: A murder-suicide leads to questions about the former sexual practices of a worldwide religious organization. Keith Morrison reports in Dateline's, "The Hand that Rocked the Cradle."
- January 21, 2005 Suicide/murder linked to cult
Video made by victim claims Children of God religious group sexually molested and physically abused children of members
By Marty Bachman, Palo Verde Valley Times, Blythe, California (...Richard Rodriguez, 29, of Tucson, Ariz., was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his car in the vicinity of Main and 14th Ave....Blythe police contacted Tucson officials who went to the apartment and discovered the body of Angela M. Smith, 51, of Tucson. Smith had been stabbed multiple times...)
- January 20, 2005 Professor talks about nanny murder, suicide - Lupita Murillo Reports, Eyewitness News 4, KVOA, Tucson, Arizona (...On January 8th, Ricky Rodriguez murdered 51-year-old Angela Smith in a Tucson apartment, and later killed himself...
...Ricky Rodriguez grew up believing that he would play an important role in the group. He was christened "Davidito,"the young prince and future prophet of the "Children of God".
...James D. Chancellor, PhD. studied the group, wrote a book about them, and even knew Angela Smith, the victim...
...Chancellor says, "That is not to deny they young people who were raised in the 1980's and late 70's did experience sexual exploitation and difficult difficult childhoods."...)
- January 19, 2005 Rodriguez claims sister endured years of abuse, Lupita Murillo Reports, Eyewitness News 4, KVOA, Tucson, Arizona (...Ricky Rodriguez killed a woman in his Tucson apartment 10 days ago. Rodriguez then killed himself...
...Ricky Rodriguez never led a normal life. From the time of his birth, Rodriguez was a member of a religious sect known then as the "Children of God."
It's widely reported the group encouraged sex between adults and children. In this videotape, recorded the night before Rodriguez killed 51-year-old Angela Smith in his Tucson apartment, Rodriguez documented his plan...)
- January 18, 2005 Murder-Suicide Leads to Secretive Cult, Transcript, ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES, CNN
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: ...What you are watching here is a videotape made by a young man named Ricky Rodriguez, in which he talks about the murder he intends to commit, and then after the murder, his own suicide...
...This is a story about a group that once called itself the Children of God...
...But this same group, currently known as The Family, is now in the news because the young man you just saw, the young man who was at one point being groomed to be the family's leader, took violent, deadly revenge for what he claims was sexual abuse at the hands of those who raised him. And there are charges that there were many other victims as well.
We're going to look at all of this in depth tonight, a tale of God and love, sex and murder. In a moment, you'll hear from former members of the sect, who tell of routine sexual abuse of children...
Clair Borowik, a spokesman for the group, told CNN, that's not true. She says to set the record straight, Angela Smith was never Ricky Rodriguez's nanny. Borowik maintains Rodriguez was never abused by Smith, although he was raised in a sexually permissive environment, which was encouraged by parents who were leaders of The Family...
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ...The group says it has since apologized to former members for any sexual misconduct that may have taken place...
- January 18, 2005 Former cult member speaks from grave, Lupita Murillo Reports, Eyewitness News 4, KVOA, Tucson, Arizona (...Anger does not begin to describe how I feel about these people and what they done. Rage, I get livid," words Rodriguez says on a video tape he recorded the day before police say he killed Smith...
...Leaders of the sect have admitted publicly that as of 1986 the rules were changed to ban sex with minors...
...Angela Smith's body was discovered in Rodriguez's apartment on Sunday, two days after the video tape was recorded....)
- January 17, 2005 Fringe Group at Center of Deaths, Los Angeles Times, By Larry B. Stammer, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, California (...Originally known as the Children of God, the group began in the late 1960s, founded by David Berg, who preached the Gospel to the hippies of Southern California...)
- January 15, 2005 Rage turns to vengeance against 'Family'/Anguished ex-cult member decried years of abuse before killing 'molester,' himself - Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer, San Francisco Chronicle, California (Ricky Rodriguez was exhausted, scared, frantic. He'd just fled his Tucson apartment, leaving behind the body of 51-year-old Angela Smith. He'd stabbed her three times and slit her throat.
As a baby, the 29-year-old Rodriguez had been christened "Davidito," the young prince and future prophet of the Children of God -- a freewheeling religious sect founded in the late 1960s by Oakland native David "Moses" Berg...
...Rodriguez was the only son of Karen "Maria David" Zerby, the current prophetess and spiritual leader of the Family International...
...But in a written statement, Claire Borowik, a spokeswoman for the Family International, said Smith's "memory has been slandered by individuals who never met her, nor knew Ricky Rodriguez throughout his entire childhood."..
...Borowik goes on to say that "Family leadership officially addressed ... questionable past actions of individuals regarding discipline, education or sexual misconduct," adding that "apologies were published" and "Ricky Rodriguez received ample financial and emotional support to assist him in his transition."...) (Ricky Rodriguez and Angela Smith are pictured in the "Book of Davidito")
- January 15, 2005 Cult's 'prince' loses control, By LAURIE GOODSTEIN, NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE via The Sun Herald (End Times guide kills former nanny, then himself
Growing up in the 1970s in a religious cult known around the world as the Children of God, Rick Rodriguez was revered as "the prince."...
...Last Saturday, the 29-year-old Rodriguez invited one of his former nannies, Angela Smith, to meet him at his apartment in Tucson, Ariz., for dinner. He stabbed Smith to death...Then with one shot from a semiautomatic handgun, police said, he ended his life...
...The group lives on...now called The Family International...)
- January 11, 2005 Murder-suicide case in desert evangelical sex cult/Sect heir apparent, woman who reared him are found dead - Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer, San Francisco Chronicle, California (Police in Arizona and California said they are investigating an apparent murder-suicide involving the son of Maria David, the prophet and spiritual leader of the Family, an international evangelical sex cult previously known as the Children of God.
Early Sunday morning, the body of Richard P. Rodriguez, 29, was found behind the wheel of a car in an industrial area in Blythe, a Riverside County town in the Mojave Desert on the Arizona border.
Rodriguez, known as "Davidito" when he was growing up in the Children of God, had been groomed as a child to be the heir apparent of the sect, founded in the late 1960s by the late David "Moses" Berg...
...In a statement released yesterday, the Family International confirmed that Rodriguez was the son of Maria David, and that Smith was a member of the sect for more than 30 years...
...Berg died in 1994, but his movement lives on today as "The Family."...
...Steve Kent, a professor of sociology at the University of Alberta, said the highly sexual climate at Children of God communes "did real damage to that second generation."...
... "While no one can justify what he (Rodriguez) did, you can understand his frustration and rage," said Kent, who has spent years studying the movement...)
2001
- February 14, 2001 Escaping a Free Love Legacy/Children of God sect hopes it can overcome sexy image, San Francisco Chronicle, California (News on Children of God, The Family and David "Moses" Berg.) (Photos included.)
- February 11, 2001 Children of a Lesser God THE PATH: Coming of new age for alternative religions, San Francisco Chronicle, California (News on the Children of God, Church of Scientology and Hare Krishnas.)
2000
- March 24, 2000 Eyewitness: Why people join cults,
BBC News (...Kristina Jones, who grew up in a cult, offers her impressions to BBC News Online...
...Groups who actively recruit are devious. They sell themselves well and appear highly attractive...
...David Berg, the founder of the Children of God - the group my parents joined - started out by feeding and helping the dropouts of society...
...The key lesson to draw from all of this is that it is vital for families of the cult recruits or potential recruits to provide them with love and support.) (Photo of Kristina Jones included.)
- Children of God: Lost and Found - HBO
After a highly unconventional childhood in Children of God, a cult that mixed religion with sex, filmmaker Noah Thomson escaped to begin a normal life...
...In CHILDREN OF GOD: LOST AND FOUND, Noah Thomson sets out to interview other ex-Children of God...
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