1968 жылғы діни қозғалыс: "Отбасы" ұйымының тарихы мен даулары

1968 American new religious movement
the parachurch organization

The Family International (TFI) is an American new religious movement founded in 1968 by David Brandt Berg. 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 current and former members claimed they were an authoritarian cult which engaged in the systematic physical and sexual abuse of children, The group has also been accused of targeting vulnerable people.

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, "at its height" the Family movement had "tens of thousands of members, including River and Joaquin Phoenix, Rose McGowan and Jeremy Spencer". it began a method of evangelism called Flirty Fishing that used sex to "show God's love and mercy" and win converts, resulting in controversy. TFI's founder and prophetic leader, David Berg (who adopted the name "Moses David" while in Laurentide, Canada), and was also referred to "Father David" by members), After his death, his widow Karen Zerby became the leader of TFI, taking the titles of "Queen" and "Prophetess". Zerby married Steve Kelly (also known as Peter Amsterdam), an assistant of Berg's whom Berg had handpicked as her "consort". Kelly took the title of "King Peter" and became the face of TFI, speaking in public more often than either Berg or Zerby. There have been multiple allegations of child sexual abuse made by past members. Berg preached a combination of traditional Christian evangelism, with elements popular with the Counterculture of the 1960s. There was much "end of the world imagery" found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, preaching of impending doom for America and the ineffectiveness of established churches. Berg "urged a return to the early Christian community described in the Bible's Book of Acts, in which believers lived together and shared all", Berg started in 1968 as an evangelical preacher with a following of "born again hippies" who gathered at a coffeehouse in Huntington Beach, in Orange County, California. In 1969, after having a revelation "that California would be hit by a major earthquake", he left Huntington Beach and "took his followers on the road". In a letter written in January 1972, Berg stated that he was God's prophet for the contemporary world, attempting to further solidify his spiritual authority within the group. Berg's letters also contained public acknowledgement of his own failings and weaknesses, for example, he issued a Mo Letter entitled "My confession I was an alcoholic!" (ML #1406 Summer 1982) relating his depression after some of his closest supporters quit in 1978. and by the mid 1970s, it had "colonies" in an estimated 70 countries. Berg reorganized the movement, dismissing "more than 300 leading members after hearing unspecified 'reports of serious misconduct and abuse of their positions." The Family of Love era was characterized by international expansion. After 1978 Flirty Fishing "increased drastically" and became common practice within the group. A Mo Letter from 1980 (ML #999 May 1980) for example was headlined "The Devil Hates Sex! But God Loves It!". In some areas flirty fishers used escort agencies to meet potential converts. According to TFI "over 100,000 received God's gift of salvation through Jesus, and some chose to live the life of a disciple and missionary" as a result of Flirty Fishing.

According to the Family's official history, the group had "far fewer common standards of conduct" during The Family of Love stage than it had previously. In the late 1980s the group "tightened its standards" "to ensure that all member communities provide a very wholesome environment for all, particularly the children", and changed its name to "The Family". In January 2005, Claire Borowik, a spokesperson for TFI, stated:
Due to the fact that our current zero tolerance policy regarding sexual interaction between adults and underage minors was not in our literature published before 1986, we came to the realization that during a transitional stage of our movement, from 1978 until 1986, there were cases when some minors were subject to sexually inappropriate advances  This was corrected officially in 1986, when any contact between an adult and minor (any person under 21 years of age) was declared an excommunicable offense. After a 1993 expose in the Los Angeles Times, the group broke "years of virtual silence" and began "inviting reporters and religious scholars" to visit its commune in La Habra, California, where at least a Washington Post journalist (Gustav Niebuhr) found its members to be "a clean cut bunch, friendly and courteous". At that time The Family claimed to have "about 9,000 members worldwide, with about 750 scattered across the United States". The group emphasized its mainstream Christian opposition to abortion, homosexuality, drugs and drunkenness and its respect for Rev. Billy Graham. which defined the rights and responsibilities of Charter Members and Homes. The Charter also included the Fundamental Family Rules, a summary of rules and guidelines from past TF publications which were still in effect. In the 1994–95 British court case, the Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Alan Ward ruled that the group, including some of its top leaders, had in the past engaged in abusive sexual practices involving minors and had also used severe corporal punishment and sequestration of minors. He found that by 1995 TF had abandoned these practices and concluded that they were a safe environment for children. Nevertheless, he did require that the group cease all corporal punishment of children in the United Kingdom and denounce any of Berg's writings that were "responsible for children in TF having been subjected to sexually inappropriate behaviour".

The Love Charter is The Family's set governing document that entails each member's rights, responsibilities and requirements, while the Missionary Member Statutes and Fellow Member Statutes were written for the governance of TFI's Missionary member and Fellow Member circles, respectively. FD Homes were reviewed every six months against a published set of criteria. The Love Charter increased the number of single family homes as well as homes that relied on jobs such as self employment.

TFI's recent teachings are based on beliefs which they term the "new [spiritual] weapons". TFI members believe that they are soldiers in the spiritual war of good versus evil for the souls and hearts of men.

"Spirit Helpers" include angels, other religious and mythical figures, and departed humans, including celebrities; for example the goddess Aphrodite, the Snowman, Merlin, the Sphinx, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Richard Nixon, and Winston Churchill.

TFI believes that the Biblical passage "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven", refers to an increasing amount of spiritual authority that was given to Peter and the early disciples. According to TFI beliefs, this passage refers to keys that were hidden and unused in the centuries that followed, but were again revealed through Karen Zerby as more power to pray and obtain miracles. TFI members call on the various Keys of the Kingdom for extra effect during prayer. The Keys, like most TFI beliefs, were published in magazines that looked like comic books in order to make them teachable to children.

"Loving Jesus" is a term TFI members use to describe their intimate, sexual relationship with Jesus. TFI describes its "Loving Jesus" teaching as a radical form of bridal theology. They believe the church of followers is Christ's bride, called to love and serve him with wifely fervor; however, this bridal theology is taken further, encouraging members to imagine Jesus is joining them during sexual intercourse and masturbation. Male members are cautioned to visualize themselves as women, in order to avoid a homosexual relationship with Jesus. Many TFI publications, and spirit messages claimed to be from Jesus himself, elaborate this intimate, sexual relation they believe Jesus desires and needs. TFI imagines itself as his special "bride" in graphic poetry, guided visualizations, artwork, and songs. Some TFI literature is not brought into conservative countries for fear it may be classified at customs as pornography. The literature outlining this view of Jesus and his desire for a sexual relationship with believers was edited for younger teens, then further edited for children.

The Family has been found liable in a British court, and also criticized by the press and the anti cult movement. Ex members have accused the Family's leadership of following "a policy of lying to outsiders," being "steeped in a history of sexual deviance" and even meddling "in Third World politics". The Family replies that it is a victim of "persecution." on their lives in TFI. In 1971, an organization called FREECOG was founded by concerned parents and others, including deprogrammer Ted Patrick to "free" members of the COG from their involvement in the group. At least one individual growing up in the family (Verity Carter) during the Children of God era described being sexually abused "from the age of four by members of the cult, including her own father". She blames the philosophy of David Berg, who told members that "God was love and love was sex", so that sex should not be limited by age or relationship. Carter also complains of being "repeatedly beaten and whipped for the smallest of transgressions", being denied "music or television or culture," or other "contact with the outside world," so that she had "no idea how the world worked" other than how to manipulate the "systemites" (outsiders), like social workers. Author Don Lattin interviewed numerous members of the Family for his book Jesus Freaks. In a review of his book, Paul Burgarino describes Berg as "drawing from the remnants of hippie life—people with nothing to lose, nowhere to go, and no Christian background" to alert them to deviations in Berg's preaching.

Christopher Owens: musician, of US indie band Girls, was brought up in TFI by his parents. Rose McGowan: film actress, described her TFI childhood in interviews with Howard Stern, People magazine and later in her book Brave. River Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Rain Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix and Summer Phoenix, actors, were members of the group from 1972 to 1978. River Phoenix, who died of a drug overdose in 1993, told Details magazine in November 1991 that "they're ruining people's lives." Susan Justice: American pop rock singer songwriter and guitarist, known best for her debut self recorded album, The Subway Recordings. Tina Dupuy: American journalist and syndicated columnist. Ricky Rodriguez: subject of the suppressed manual advocating adult child sexual contact, committed a murder suicide in 2005, killing one of the women who raised and allegedly sexually abused him, then himself. Juliana Buhring: first woman to bicycle around the world and co author of Not Without My Sister along with Celeste and Kristina Jones. Lauren Hough: author of Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing, brought up in TFI. Flor Edwards, author, who was raised inside the group before her parents moved out. Dawn Watson: victim of sexual abuse while living in a TFI community. raised in the group from age 12 until she left in her 20's with her two children. Bexy Cameron: British child member who left aged 15 and later wrote a book about her experiences. Faith Jones: a lawyer, was raised in the group in Macau before leaving. She wrote about her life in the book Sex Cult Nun.

Davis, Deborah (Linda Berg) (1984). THE CHILDREN OF GOD: The Inside Story. Zondervan Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Expose by the founder's eldest daughter who left the cult. Expose by a senior member who left after 20+ years. Young was born and raised in The Children of God cult. She's the eldest daughter of a second generation cult member who was 14 when she was impregnated by an older cult member. Hough was born and raised in the Children of God. Her 2021 essay collection is a New York Times Bestseller.

Chancellor, James (2000). Life in The Family: An Oral History of the Children of God. University of Syracuse Press, Syracuse, NY. Bainbridge, William Sims (2002). The Endtime Family: Children of God. State University of New York Press. Bainbridge, William Sims (1996). The Sociology of Religious Movements. Routledge. Barker, Eileen. (1989). New Religious Movements, A Practical Introduction. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Barker, Eileen. (2021). "Children of God/The Family International Armageddon" In James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart (eds.) Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements. Barrett, DV (1996). Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions. Blandford A. Cassell. Lewis, James R, and Melton, J. Gordon (eds). (1994). Sex, Slander, and Salvation: Investigating The Family/Children of God. Center for Academic Press, Stanford, CA. Lynch, Dalva, and Paul Carden (1990). "Inside the 'Heavenly Elite': The Children of God Today." Christian Research Journal, pp 16. McFarland, Robert (1994). "The Children of God." The Journal of Psychohistory 4(21). Melton, J. Gordon (2004). The Children of God, "The Family" (Studies in Contemporary Religion vol. 7). Signature Books. Melton, J. Gordon (2004). The Family International Britannica Article
Melton, J. Gordon and Robert L. Moore (1982). The Cult Experience: Responding to the New Religious Pluralism. The Pilgrim Press, New York, USA. Palmer, Susan J. (1994). "Heaven's Children: The Children of God's Second Generation" in Sex, Slander, and Salvation, op. cit. Palmer, Susan J., and Charlotte Hardman eds. (1999). Children in New Religions (3rd ed.). Rutgers University Press. Shepherd, Gary, and Lawrence Lilliston (1994). "Field Observations of Young People's Experience and Role in The Family" in Sex, Slander, and Salvation, op. cit. Shepherd, Gary, and Shepherd, Gordon (August 2005). "Accommodation and Reformation in The Family/Children of God" , Nova Religio (Journal of the University of California)
Shepherd, Gary and Shepherd, Gordon (Spring 2000). "The Moral Career of a New Religious Movement" The Oakland Journal. Wilson, Bryan and Jamie Cresswell, eds. (1999). New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response. Routledge, London, UK. Wright, Stuart (1987). Leaving Cults: The Dynamics of Defection. Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Washington, D. C., USA. (Contains interviews with ex members of three groups, among others the Children of God)
Van Zandt, David (1991). Living in the Children of God. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. Young, Shawn David, Hippies, Jesus Freaks, and Music (Ann Arbor: Xanedu/Copley Original Works, 2005). .

DavidBerg. org – Official website explaining David Brandt Berg's mission, vision and message. KarenZerby. org – Karen Zerby's official site. TFICharter. com – Official Governing Documents of The Family International. Children of God. com – Official history of the COG (pre TFI).

xFamily – Wiki detailing TFI; includes large collections of multimedia, press coverage, and internal TFI publications. xFamily PubsDB – a near complete database of all writings by David Berg and Karen Zerby. exfamily. org – information, forums, links, etc. about TFI by former first generation members.