The Family International

The Family International, known earlier as the Children of God and then as The Family, is a new religious movement that arose around 1968 out of the evangelical "Jesus movement" among American youth, founded by David Berg (known to members as "Moses David" or "Mo"). It grew into an international, communal, missionary movement organized around Berg's prolific written teachings ("Mo Letters"). The group became, over the following decades, one of the most extensively studied and litigated new religious movements, above all because of its teachings and practices concerning sexuality.

In the 1970s and 1980s Berg promoted a controversial evangelism-through-sex practice known as "Flirty Fishing," and the group's permissive internal sexual culture during that period drew intense criticism and, most seriously, allegations of the sexual abuse of children raised by former members, including some who had grown up in the movement. These allegations prompted investigations and custody and civil proceedings in several countries; the group has stated that it later prohibited such conduct and reformed its practices, while the harms described by former "second-generation" members remain a significant part of the record. The movement restructured substantially in the 2000s into a more decentralized form. It is a central case in the academic study of new religious movements, of the "anti-cult" controversies, and of the long-term experience of children raised within high-commitment groups.

Very few new religious movements have been examined at length in open court by a judge with full access to their internal literature. This one has, and the resulting document is the single most useful source about it.

The case came before the English High Court as a wardship dispute over a child whose mother belonged to the group, and it was heard by Lord Justice Alan Ward, who delivered judgment in 1995 after months of evidence. The judgment runs to several hundred pages. Ward read the movement's own publications from the 1970s and 1980s, took evidence from former members and from scholars, and found that the sexual teaching promulgated in that period had in fact resulted in the abuse of children, notwithstanding the leadership's later position that the practices had been discontinued.

His disposal is what makes the judgment unusual. Rather than simply removing the child, he made the outcome conditional: the group's leadership was required to acknowledge the abuse and to disavow the teaching that had permitted it, in terms he specified. The movement complied.

The other document that defines its later history is not a judgment at all. In January 2005 Ricky Rodriguez, who had been raised inside the group and presented in its literature as a model of how its children should be brought up, killed a former member and then himself, leaving a recorded statement. The two together are why the group has been studied more closely than almost any comparable movement of its size.

This record documents two distinct court proceedings concerning allegations of child sexual abuse inside The Family International, formerly the Children of God, heard in different countries and reaching opposite conclusions.

The first is the 1995 English High Court wardship case. Lord Justice Alan Ward reviewed the movement's own internal publications from the 1970s and 1980s alongside testimony from former members and scholars, and found that the sexual teaching the group had promulgated in that period had in fact resulted in the abuse of children. Rather than simply removing the child at the center of the case, Ward made his ruling conditional: the group's leadership was required to acknowledge the abuse and formally disavow the teaching that had permitted it, in terms he specified, and the movement complied.

The second is a set of Argentine criminal proceedings that reached the opposite finding. On 1 September 1993 federal police raided five Family communities in Buenos Aires; twenty one adult members were imprisoned for 103 days and 130 minors were placed in state custody, on charges including promoting the corruption and prostitution of minors and involuntary servitude. Argentina's Federal Appeals Court dismissed every charge that December, stating there was not the slightest shred of evidence that the alleged acts had occurred; medical examinations of the young women involved supported the finding. Argentina's Supreme Court upheld the dismissal in June 1995 and the children were returned to their parents.