The Family International
L | 10.10.2005 16:52 | Analysis
The Family International claim to be a missionary organisation, whose role is to help those in need. In reality they are a fanatical Christian cult with a history of prostitution, incest and child abuse.
Formed in California in 1968, The Family International or simply The Family were originally named The Children of God. They were a new age Christian group that had been cobbled together from the Huntingdon Beach hippy movement by a man named David Brandt Berg. It was The Children of God and it's emphasis on total commitment to the group that prompted the cult scare of the 1970s and 1980s.
As it expanded The Children of God became more separated from mainstream Christianity. They began practising more and more bizarre methods of evangelism. In 1974 David Berg started to encourage his followers to use sex to win converts and/or donations (essentially prostitution, although known within the group as Flirty Fishing).
In 1978 due to reports of serious misconduct, financial mismanagement and child abuse David Berg and his wife Karen Zerby changed the name of the group to The Family of Love. It was during this time that Zerby gave birth to a son as a result of Flirty Fishing or FF'ing an employee of a hotel. Zerby's son Davidito (also known as Ricky Rodriguez) was one of over 300 babies that had been born into The Family as a result of Flirty Fishing, by 1982. There was even an FFers handbook that advised the women and girls of The Family that "fishing could be fun, but fun did not pay the bills. So don't do it for nothing"
By the 1980s The Family was reporting membership as high as 10,000. These members were distributed between 1,642 communes or homes worldwide. During this time The Family was plagued by further allegations of child abuse. Several women have publicly accused Berg of molesting them as children, including his eldest daughter Deborah Davis, his granddaughter Merry Berg and another of his granddaughters Joyanne Treadwell Berg. By the late 1980s these allegations were causing serious problems for The Family. This prompted Berg and Zerby to admit to their actions and issue apologies. Zerby herself wrote "Because of the insight Dad (Berg) gave into the scriptures which granted us a great deal of sexual freedom, without clearly stated explicit restrictions that prohibited all sexual activity between adults and minors, it resulted in actions that caused harm to some children".
It seems however that these apologies were just for show as in the 1990s yet more allegations of child abuse were laid against The Family, in different locations worldwide, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Peru, Spain, Sweden, the UK, the USA and Venezuela.
1994 saw the death of Berg, Zerby took control of the group and shortly after married long time Family member Steven Douglas Kelly also known as Peter Amsterdam.
In a 1995 UK court case, Lord Justice Ward decided that members of The Family including it's leadership had engaged in abusive sexual practices involving minors and that they had also engaged in severe corporal punishment and sequestration of minor children. However he concluded that they had abandoned these practices and that The Family was now a safe environment for children. Many former Family members have strongly disagreed.
In 2004 The Family changed it's name to The Family International, this has not made the allegations and criticisms of former members go away. The Family hit the headlines in January 2005, when Zerby's son, Ricky Rodriguez (who had left the group in 2000) invited one of his former abusers to his home in Tucson, Arizona. When his abuser, Family member Angela Smith arrived he stabbed her to death then drove to Blythe, California where he shot himself in the head. Friends of Ricky recieved videotapes in the post, that he had filmed of himself explaining what he was planning to do. In the video he describes himself as a vigilante avenging children like himself and his sisters who had been subject to rapes and beatings. He said, "It's not a want. It's a need for revenge. It's a need for justice, because I can't go on like this".
The Family are a global cult. They have homes in over 100 countries, including the UK. Chances are you may seen some of their members as they often tour town and city centres claiming to represent an orphanage and asking for
donations. The main trouble I have found in attempting to expose The Family, apart from the fact that their members change their names (three or four times in some cases) to avoid being traced, is that they are very secretive. The location of their homes are closely guarded, they have an administrative UK postal address in Luton and I have heard rumours of a home somewhere in Cardiff but nothing concrete. Attempting to track down The Family leadership is even harder. Most Family members do not even know the current location of Karen Zerby or Steven Douglas Kelly.
One thing however is clear The Family and it's culture of child abuse must not be allowed to continue.
If anyone has any information regarding The Family's recent activities, its members or the location of any of its homes I would be interested in hearing from you.
www.thefamily.com
Official Family International website
www.movingon.org
Former Family member website
As it expanded The Children of God became more separated from mainstream Christianity. They began practising more and more bizarre methods of evangelism. In 1974 David Berg started to encourage his followers to use sex to win converts and/or donations (essentially prostitution, although known within the group as Flirty Fishing).
In 1978 due to reports of serious misconduct, financial mismanagement and child abuse David Berg and his wife Karen Zerby changed the name of the group to The Family of Love. It was during this time that Zerby gave birth to a son as a result of Flirty Fishing or FF'ing an employee of a hotel. Zerby's son Davidito (also known as Ricky Rodriguez) was one of over 300 babies that had been born into The Family as a result of Flirty Fishing, by 1982. There was even an FFers handbook that advised the women and girls of The Family that "fishing could be fun, but fun did not pay the bills. So don't do it for nothing"
By the 1980s The Family was reporting membership as high as 10,000. These members were distributed between 1,642 communes or homes worldwide. During this time The Family was plagued by further allegations of child abuse. Several women have publicly accused Berg of molesting them as children, including his eldest daughter Deborah Davis, his granddaughter Merry Berg and another of his granddaughters Joyanne Treadwell Berg. By the late 1980s these allegations were causing serious problems for The Family. This prompted Berg and Zerby to admit to their actions and issue apologies. Zerby herself wrote "Because of the insight Dad (Berg) gave into the scriptures which granted us a great deal of sexual freedom, without clearly stated explicit restrictions that prohibited all sexual activity between adults and minors, it resulted in actions that caused harm to some children".
It seems however that these apologies were just for show as in the 1990s yet more allegations of child abuse were laid against The Family, in different locations worldwide, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Peru, Spain, Sweden, the UK, the USA and Venezuela.
1994 saw the death of Berg, Zerby took control of the group and shortly after married long time Family member Steven Douglas Kelly also known as Peter Amsterdam.
In a 1995 UK court case, Lord Justice Ward decided that members of The Family including it's leadership had engaged in abusive sexual practices involving minors and that they had also engaged in severe corporal punishment and sequestration of minor children. However he concluded that they had abandoned these practices and that The Family was now a safe environment for children. Many former Family members have strongly disagreed.
In 2004 The Family changed it's name to The Family International, this has not made the allegations and criticisms of former members go away. The Family hit the headlines in January 2005, when Zerby's son, Ricky Rodriguez (who had left the group in 2000) invited one of his former abusers to his home in Tucson, Arizona. When his abuser, Family member Angela Smith arrived he stabbed her to death then drove to Blythe, California where he shot himself in the head. Friends of Ricky recieved videotapes in the post, that he had filmed of himself explaining what he was planning to do. In the video he describes himself as a vigilante avenging children like himself and his sisters who had been subject to rapes and beatings. He said, "It's not a want. It's a need for revenge. It's a need for justice, because I can't go on like this".
The Family are a global cult. They have homes in over 100 countries, including the UK. Chances are you may seen some of their members as they often tour town and city centres claiming to represent an orphanage and asking for
donations. The main trouble I have found in attempting to expose The Family, apart from the fact that their members change their names (three or four times in some cases) to avoid being traced, is that they are very secretive. The location of their homes are closely guarded, they have an administrative UK postal address in Luton and I have heard rumours of a home somewhere in Cardiff but nothing concrete. Attempting to track down The Family leadership is even harder. Most Family members do not even know the current location of Karen Zerby or Steven Douglas Kelly.
One thing however is clear The Family and it's culture of child abuse must not be allowed to continue.
If anyone has any information regarding The Family's recent activities, its members or the location of any of its homes I would be interested in hearing from you.
www.thefamily.com
Official Family International website
www.movingon.org
Former Family member website
L
e-mail:
islch@bristol.ac.uk
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