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The Children of God was founded was started in Orange County California in 1968 by Evangelical preacher David Brandt Berg.

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David Berg, the founder of the Children of God.

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Berg started as a traveling preacher, largely focused on appealing to hippies and young teens, especially ones without support, families, and/or homes. Eventually, he moved to Huntington, California, and opened a coffee shop, where he would preach to his customers. He gathered something of a following, which initially called itself Teens of Christ before Berg changed it to Children of God to have a wider appeal. As time went on the group underwent many name changes, going from Children of God to The Family of Love to The Family, before settling on the name it still has today, The Family International.

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The salacious sexual practices of the cult are what drew it the most attention. One of the major principles of the cult was free love, arguing that God was love, and love was sex, so therefore having sex was a way of expressing devotion to god. However, what drew controversy about this was that The Children of God's definition of free love included love between adults and children, as well as between relatives. (Though ironically male homosexuality was disallowed.) The cult was also known for it's practice of "flirty fishing," where female members were required to have sex with men considering joining the cult, in order to gain their membership and/or their donations.

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Pictured above is a piece of propaganda distributed in defense of "flirty fishing"

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There were strict expectations that members of the group would comply with demands. Women were made to accept any sexual advances made by men, at risk of being accused of lacking devotion to God. Women were also expected to participate in a practice known as flirty fishing and also were accused of not loving God enough if they didn't. All members were also expected to follow all of Berg's commands unquestioningly.

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David Berg structured the Children of God to give himself supreme power. His followers were reliant on his teachings (The Mo Letters) to tell them how to live and what to do. He referred to his living space as "The King's House," and allegedly said he claimed to start a "dynasty." Besides Berg himself, the cult was led by a board of advisors, which was largely made up of Berg's own extended family members, which he called The Royal Family. Although they held power, they were expected to serve him completely and without question.

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Many escapees have gone on to recount the horrible sexual abuse they encountered in The Children of God. One such case was with Berg's own granddaughter, Faith Jones, who wrote a book about her experience of living in and fleeing the cult. She describes that all throughout her childhood adults in her community made sexual advances toward her. Jones also recounts witnessing her mother being forced to have sex with any man who wanted her, even those who would act in cruel or verbally abusive ways toward her. Jones says that the cult used sex as a form of control, forcing women to submit to men at risk of punishment, as the cult's taught that to refuse a man is a sign that one is not truly devoted to the cult.

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Along with sexual abuse, the children in the cult also experienced physical, verbal, and mental abuse from authority figures in the cult. Former members have described that for even the smallest breaches of the rules, they would be beaten, or, in the case described by a former member, locked in a closet for a rule violation. This situation was a place where the bystander effect could have taken place. Adults in the group were aware of the abuse that was happening, but it's likely that those that objected assumed that other people would intervene and made no action to stop it, allowing the abuse to continue.

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Multiple factors increased the need to conform among members of the group. The size of the group, which was reported to be around 10,000 in the 1970s made people feel as though they would be going against a massive group of people if they dissented. There was also a lot of pressure from leaders of the group directed at people with lesser status than them. Those people would be intimidated by the status of the people ordering them around, and would comply.

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The cult was an incredibly cohesive group. They were all taught the same things, which led them to the same beliefs. They also largely lived in communes, where they were taught to view every member as their family. Further, everyone in the cult was conditioned to believe that the outside world (in particular the government, CPS, and the police) were against them, which gave every member a common enemy they could unite against.

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The Family International serves as a clear example of groupthink. They all would blindly follow the leadership of David Berg, who would regularly release prophecies and teachings, known as the "Mo Letters." (Mo was short for Moses David, a name he adopted at times). His rules, for example that they must engage in sexual activity, and should distrust outsiders, were to be believed unquestioningly, for to question him was to question God. Aside from his leadership, the group was also incredibly isolated from the rest of the world, and believed that the world was out to get them and that society at large was their enemy, which left them with nothing to believe but Berg's teachings. The cult was also made up in large proportion by hippies, particularly ones isolated from their families, meaning their backgrounds were similar, and also that they had no one else to turn to.

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A publication of David Berg's Mo Letters

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David Berg and Warren Jeffs have extremely similar strategies for exerting control over their followers. They both isolate the members of their group, having them live in communes and distrust outsiders. They also claim to be prophets and say that their teachings come straight from god. This causes their followers to feel that to go against them is impossible because of their connection to god and the status that came with it. Finally, both would severely punish those who did not comply with their rules. Both would beat those who violated rules and customs, even children. This made their followers incredibly obedient for fear of physical violence.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-44613932

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Family-International

https://davidberg.org/

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/05/1060010341/granddaughter-of-cult-leader-tells-her-story-of-escape-in-sex-cult-nun

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0cd2p6d/inside-the-controversial-cult-known-as-the-children-of-god-

https://www.pdfdrive.com/not-without-my-sister-the-true-story-of-three-girls-violated-and-betrayed-e194980052.html