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The group has gone under a number of different names since its inception, including Teens for Christ, The Children of God (COG), The Family of Love, or simply The Family. A British court case found the group was an authoritarian cult which engaged in the systematic physical and sexual abuse of children, [ 2 ] resulting in lasting trauma among ...
David Brandt Berg (February 18, 1919 – October 1, 1994), also known as King David, Mo, Moses David, Father David, Dad, or Grandpa to followers, was the founder and leader of the cult generally known as the Children of God [1] and subsequently as The Family International.
Richard P. Rodriguez [2] was born on January 25, 1975, in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, as David Moses Zerby.His mother was Karen Zerby, the spiritual leader of the religious cult Children of God (COG), and his father was a Spanish hotel waiter named Carlos whom Zerby had "Flirty Fished", a practice in which female cult members would have sex with men to draw in potential converts. [3]
The Children of God practised flirty fishing and escort servicing from 1974 until 1987, when it was officially abandoned, in part because of the AIDS epidemic.. Researcher Bill Bainbridge obtained data from TFI suggesting that, from 1974 until 1987, members had sexual contact with 223,989 people while practicing Flirty Fishing. [7]
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The Family taught an eclectic mixture of Christianity and Hinduism with other Eastern and Western religions, on the principle that spiritual truths are universal. [5] [page needed] Children raised in the group studied the major scriptures of these religions as well as the works of gurus including Sri Chinmoy, Meher Baba, and Rajneesh.
Karen Elva Zerby (born July 31, 1946) is the leader of The Family International, founded by her former husband David Berg as the “Children of God”, proven in court to have promoted and enacted sexual abuse of adults and children, including prostitution as a means of proselytizing.
A pastor was arrested over allegations of his lewd, forceful sexual behavior from several workers at his cleaning company — just a day after he preached at his Oklahoma church about forgiveness.