American Family Foundation

Cultic Studies Journal Psychological Manipulation and Society Vol. 11 No. 2 1994

CONTENTS Articles Lustfull Prophet: A Psychosexual Historical Study of the Children Of God‟s Leader, David Berg Stephen A. Kent

3

Psychological Issues of Former Fundamentalists James C. Moyers

34

Promises and Illusions: A Commencement Address Herbert L. Rosedale

40

Sleep Deprivation Jean-Louis Valatx

46

Book Reviews Therapy Gone Mad by Carol Lynn Mithers Reviewer: Doni Whitsett

50

Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon by Peter Washington Reviewer: Joseph P. Szimhart

51

The Guru Papers by Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad Reviewer: Frank MacHovec

53

Shooting for the Stars by Ross Clifford and Phillip Johnson Reviewer: Walter Debold

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The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield Reviewer: Joseph P. Szimhart

54

Blurred Boundaries by M. C. Miller Reviewer: Frank MacHovec

56

Mind-Forged Manacles by Thomas Case Reviewer: Walter Debold

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Video Reviews What Is a Cult? And How Does It Work? By Margaret Singer After the Cult: Recovering Together by AFF Project Recovery and The International Cult Education Project Reviewer: Janja Lalich

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*Note: these pages referenced are different than the original published journal. Please check the end of each article for the original pagination.

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Lustful Prophet: A Psychosexual Historical Study of the Children of God’s Leader, David Berg1 Stephen A. Kent, Ph.D. University of Alberta Alberta, Canada Abstract Religious figures have played a minor role in the psychohistorical tradition, despite Erik Erikson‟s studies of Luther and Gandhi and frequent psychological insights that are woven into religious biographies. This study, however, focuses specifically on a recently deceased religious leader, David Berg, who founded a worldwide religious organization in the late 1960s known as the Children of God (COG). Using both autobiographical material from Berg‟s letters to followers and interviews with former members who knew him personally, this essay argues that the group‟s controversial sexual practices are a direct reflection of early sexual trauma that Berg experienced within his sexually repressive and punitive family environment. After years of Berg‟s relative failure as a Christian minister, the death of his overbearing mother during the period in which he was successfully proselytizing California hippies allowed his repressed sexuality to appear in the form of innovative social mores for his group. In Berg‟s case, formerly repressed, then unbridled sexuality served as the basis for the group‟s ideology and deviant social behavior. Editor’s Preface Dr. Stephen Kent‟s article seeks to advance understanding of the founder of one of the most controversial religious groups of recent decades. In the tradition of other psychohistorical studies, most notably those of Erik Erikson, Dr. Kent‟s paper examines how the personality characteristics of a prominent individual affected the social behavior of the group he founded. This study, then, can be useful to scholars trying to understand the genesis of cultic groups, and to former group members trying to analyze their relationship to a figure whom they may have venerated as a godly prophet. This preface, however, is prompted not so much by a desire to explain the relevance of Dr. Kent‟s study to this journal--which should be obvious. Rather, it is prompted by a desire to alert readers to an important aspect of this study that has to do with the way in which the threat of litigation almost prevented this valuable paper from being published. What happened to Dr. Kent‟s paper is an example of how critical review of controversial groups can be stifled, even in staid scholarly journals. In 1990, Dr. Kent first submitted a paper based on his study of David Berg to Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (RSSSR), an international book series. As is commonly done with submissions to scholarly publications, Dr. Kent revised the paper in response to reviewers‟ comments. A resubmission was accepted by RSSSR in February 1992. In early 1993, Dr. Kent received page proofs of his article. In March 1993, the RSSSR‟s editors and publisher received letters from representatives of The Family (formerly known as the Children of God), its legal counsel, and Dr. James Lewis, director of the Association of World Academics for Religious Education (AWARE). These letters requested that Dr. Kent‟s article Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 3

be withdrawn from the volume. (Dr. Lewis later retracted his recommendation that the editors delay the appearance of Dr. Kent‟s article, although he stood by certain of his criticisms.) On March 29, 1993, Dr. Monty Lynn, co-editor of RSSSR, told Dr. Kent that his article had been withdrawn from the volume because the publisher feared the possibility of litigation. In a follow-up letter, Dr. Lynn said that this action “has been my most difficult editorial task during the past eight years. It is unfortunate that you must pay the price for legal and scholarly intimidation when your two pieces of scholarship [Dr. Kent‟s other contribution to the volume was also withdrawn, but is currently being revised for another journal] appear to your colleagues and to six reviewers to be appropriate in topic, method, and analysis and conclusions.” Dr. William Bridger, associate vice-president for research at the University of Alberta, wrote in a January 28, 1994, letter to the publisher: AI have never seen such a flagrant abuse of the principles that normally guide scholarly publication.... To ensure that Dr. Kent‟s methodology was appropriate for the study and met rigorous ethical standards, the specific conduct of the research that was used for the “Lustful Prophet” article was carefully and critically reviewed by the University of Alberta Ethics Review Committee. Full approval was granted.” In a January 5, 1994, letter to Dr. James Lewis, RSSSR‟s co-editor Dr. David Moberg articulated the issue that most concerns this journal: “If only those materials that shed favorable light on new religious movements (NRMs) are published, then scholarly publications cannot be trusted to give honest reports and appraisals that include their [NRMs‟] weaknesses and flaws alongside of their strengths and virtues. Ere long journalists, politicians, religious leaders, historians, and others would discover this bias, and then all of the pertinent journals, serials, and books with materials on NRMs would be suspected of seriously distorting everything they publish. The integrity of the scientific study of religion is clearly at stake in these issues of censorship. Are we scholars/scientists, or must we become mere propagandists?” Fortunately, the situation among scholarly journals has not deteriorated to the state that Dr. Moberg decries. Much critical material concerning the Children of God and other groups has been published in various journals and books. The conservative business decision made by the publisher of RSSSR, however much within the publisher‟s rights and prerogatives, is not representative of the entire scholarly publishing industry. Dr. Kent‟s article is serious scholarship that has gone through the proper channels at the University of Alberta and has been reviewed by nine scholars, including three associated with the Cultic Studies Journal. Individuals may disagree with Dr. Kent‟s methodology and/or conclusions, just as they may disagree with Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner, and a host of well-known and lesser known behavioral and social scientists. Unlike ideology, science does not coerce agreement. On the contrary, it invites disagreement, which is vital to the process by which scientific truth is pursued. Therefore, CSJ welcomes those who disagree with Dr. Kent to submit comments to this journal. We will consider all responsible comments, as we do with all articles published in CSJ (see our manuscript guidelines). Scientific understanding can only be advanced through such respectful dialogue. Intimidation tactics serve only to polarize opinions, chill scholarly inquiry, demean the scientific enterprise, and offend those who genuinely cherish the First Amendment--which includes freedom of speech as well as freedom of religion.

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Lustful Prophet: A Psychosexual Historical Study of the Children of God’s Leader, David Berg Psychohistorians examine how the personality characteristics of prominent individuals translate into social behavior and cultural events. Male political figures have served as the primary subjects of these studies, despite the fact that among psychohistory‟s most familiar works are two that examined religious figures--Martin Luther and Mahatma Gandhi (Erikson, 1958, 1969).2 Surprisingly, psycho historians have paid little attention to religious figures, even though religion plays a dramatic role in most psychological (and especially psychoanalytic) theories of personality development. While Erikson (1968, p. 106), Fromm (1950), and other neo-Freudians have taken somewhat sympathetic approaches to the positive role that religion can play in personality integration, Freud asserted that God is merely the superego in the form of a heavenly father-figure, repressing sexuality as it fosters civilization (see Freud, 1927, pp. 7, 13-14). Although most psychohistorians have ignored religion, religious biographers have not ignored psychohistory. Indeed, psychoanalytic and other psychological perspectives have become commonplace in biographies of religious figures. On occasion, these perspectives have provided the entire framework for analyses of prominent religious figures and the religious dogma that they espouse. Contemporary scholarship on Methodism illustrates these points dramatically. Moore‟s (1974) thoughtful and well-documented psychobiographical study of Methodism‟s founder argues that John Wesley‟s “compulsive, over-organized, perfectionistic [style] in his attempts to obey authorities which he believed to be legitimate, just and consistent” (p. 36) stemmed from his “early experience of the conflict between the intrusive maternal authority and the ambivalent paternal authority” of his childhood years (p. 35). Ironically, Moore (1974) notes that Methodism‟s appeal to the working classes of mideighteenth-century England may have been because: Wesley‟s theology and preaching offered the masses an experience with parental authority (albeit divine rather than human) which they in fact had never had, and which, given the frightening experiences of their own childhoods, indeed seemed to be almost unbelievably good news. (p. 50) Moore‟s psychoanalytic interpretation of Methodism and its founder is kinder in tone than the evaluation of the same group written a decade earlier by Thompson (1963), who found it “difficult not to see in Methodism in [its early] years a ritualized form of psychic masturbation” (p. 368) that revealed itself partly through “the perverted eroticism of Methodist imagery” (p. 370, see pp. 367-373). Another excellent example of religious psychobiography is Sandeen‟s (1971) study of John Humphrey Noyes (1811B1886), remembered for his establishment of the Oneida community in mid-nineteenth-century America. Using primary (and usually neglected) sources, Sandeen discovered that as a young man Noyes was deranged, besieged with sexual fantasies, and terrified of physical relationships with women; [was] a man unable to accept guidance from any source other than his own will, given to wildly neurotic denunciations of former friends and to a frightening intimidation of his own family, especially his mother. (p. 86) In essence, there existed a “pathological side of his personality [that had] been neglected” by traditional academic studies of his life and work. Most notably, Noyes Awas unable to approach a mature genital experience without severe trauma” (Sandeen, 1971, p. 87) until he fell in love with the wife of a fellow community member and gained sexual access to her through his initiation of “complex marriage” (a practice whereby each member was married Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 5

to all community members of the opposite sex). The object of his affection, Mary Cragin, probably became pregnant by him, and it seems likely that “the stability and peace of his little Putney [Vermont] community, combined with the love of Mary Cragin, provided the therapy which Noyes needed” to resolve his sexual problems (p. 90). Of particular note for our own study is a controversial observation that Sandeen made while reflecting on Noyes‟s doctrine of perfectionism: Seen from the perspective of psychology, movements championing antinomianism or millenarian social orders create an atmosphere in which previously repressed and subconscious wishes may be permitted public expression. As even historians know, this subconscious material is usually sexual. (p. 87)3 In this biographical study of David Brandt Berg (1919B94), I examine the effects of childhood psychosexual experiences on his implementation and practice of antinomian sexuality within the religious organization that he founded, the controversial Children of God (COG). COG emerged out of the hippie and antiwar counterculture of the late 1960s and the nascent Jesus Movement of the same period. It grew from a few members whom Berg‟s proselytizing children brought under his influence beginning in December 1967 to an organization with adherents around the world (see Davis with Davis, 1984; Melton, 1986; Pritchett, 1985, pp. ix-xxix; Wallis, 1981; Wangerin, 1982). Current accurate membership figures are difficult to obtain, but a 1978 internal publication indicated that there were 4,759 members (3,254 live-in adults and 1,505 live-in children) in 111 countries (Family of Love News, 1978a, pp. 1-3). Berg is an ideal psychosexual historical subject for several reasons. He wrote extensively (and, it seems, candidly)4 about his childhood, his attitudes towards his parents, and his own self-esteem, and he published these accounts throughout a corpus of printed letters (called Mo Letters, after his adopted name, Moses David) to his followers and supporters. While I do not have access to all of these publications (which may number at least 21 volumes, each comprising hundreds of pages), I have examined eight volumes of letters, some of which contain private, written comments from Berg‟s estranged daughter Deborah. In addition to these letters, I have interviewed 10 former members who were involved with the group in its early days, 6 of whom had worked directly with Berg himself. I use these sources to develop a tentative psychosexual history of this reclusive leader5, which I hope to revise if and when additional biographical information comes to light. The extensive material on Berg that currently is available allows me to portray a person whose legacy to the world likely will be very different from those left by the subjects of Erikson‟s two religious psychobiographies. Both Luther and Gandhi are remembered for the creative manner in which they channeled complex psychosexual tensions into social action, thereby having a profound (and arguably positive) influence upon important societal events. Berg‟s legacy, however, likely will not be respected. His group has attracted widespread condemnation from various authorities and the public because of allegations that some members engage in certain deviant practices, each of which is the direct translation of Berg‟s psychosexual drives into religious ideology. Among these controversial practices are “flirty fishing,” incest (according to some close family members), and pedophilia. My study shows how the death of Berg‟s mother unleashed his suppressed sexuality within the social context of the sexually permissive and antiauthoritarian era of the late 1960s. This social context facilitated Berg‟s construction of a religious theology and accompanying practices that directly reflected the desires of his newly unfettered id. Religious ideology sanctified his own sexual appetite, and the group context in which he expounded the ideology ensured that Berg‟s own complex sexual dilemmas influenced members‟ behavior around the world. COG‟s religious theology, and even its religious cosmology, reflected its founder‟s personal sexual drives. Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 6

The argument, therefore, provides a revealing glimpse into the relationship between Berg‟s sexuality and religion, a relationship that heretofore has been almost completely ignored by social scientists who have researched the group.6 The study concludes with a brief comment on the extent to which the findings about Berg‟s psychohistory relate to general theoretical propositions made by prominent psychohistorians Sigmund Freud, Robert J. Lifton, and Erik Erikson. David Berg’s Biographical History 7

Little in Berg‟s biography up through his late forties suggests that he would become the leader of an international religious movement. He was born in Oakland, California, on February 18, 1919, to Virginia Brandt Berg and Hjalmer Emmanuel Berg, both Christian evangelists. Early in the marriage, Hjalmer had been converted by Virginia‟s wealthy father (who also was a preacher), and Berg later stated that THIS DRAMATIC AND CLIMACTIC CHANGE from a cigar-smoking, beer-drinking, wilddancing, party-going, good-looking, and loose-living young man of the world to a suddenly sober, serious-minded, zealous, young idealistic minister of the Church was almost too much for my Mother, for it was not at all the man she had married. (Berg, 1972a, p. 1412)* Berg‟s father received theological training at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa (Berg, 1972a, pp. 1412-1413), and his mother received some graduate training at Texas Christian University (Davis with Davis, 1984, p. 30). David was the youngest of three children, with a brother born in 1911 and a sister in 1915. Berg‟s sister was born during a time later claimed by the mother to have been a period of complete invalidism for her, stating repeatedly that she had been totally crippled for five years before experiencing a miraculous healing. Although she based much of her ministry on that event, which later David proudly mentioned in his own work (Berg, 1972a, pp. 1413-1414), it now seems that Virginia Berg may have fabricated at least part of the story (Davis with Davis, 1984, 19-32). By his own account, Berg described himself as A VERY LONESOME LITTLE BOY. I had hardly any friends! ... I didn‟t see my mother much either. My childhood was at the height of her busiest ministry when she was away a lot. (1971f, p. 754) Elsewhere he added: I was frail, shy, and very reticent, a veritable bookworm and recluse who preferred to retreat to the world of study of other times and other places rather than participate in the foolishness and horrors of the hard, cruel world around me. (1972a, p. 1415) After spending several years traveling throughout the United States and Canada (Berg, 1971a, p. 1148), Berg‟s family moved to Miami, Florida, where Virginia‟s ascending career thrust her into the religious limelight as she founded a church that associated itself with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (Davis with Davis, 1984, pp. 21B22; Berg, 1972a, p. 1416). She lost her church, however, during the Depression,8 after which she became a fulltime itinerant evangelist (Davis with Davis, 1984, p. 22). Berg accompanied his parents, and apparently at some time traveled alone with his mother and functioned as “her chauffeur, secretary and singer” (Berg, 1973e, p. 2337). He * Berg extensively used capital letters, underlining, and boldface text in his writings, all of which are reproduced in the extracts here.

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graduated from Monterey (California) High School in 1935, 9 and in July and August of that same year attended Elliott School of Business Administration (city unknown [Bailey, 1991, p. 1]). He claims that as a young man he served a brief stint in the army (receiving a discharge in 1941 because of a serious heart problem [Berg, 1972a, p. 1417; Davis with Davis, 1984, p. 22]), but his records on file at the Christian and Missionary Alliance international headquarters make no mention of his brief military foray.10 His records do indicate, however, that Berg was “ordained by [the] British-American Ministerial Federation [on] September 25, 1941" (No knowledge obtainable about it [Bailey, 1991, p. 1]). Whatever his activities were in 1941, after they were completed, he seems to have returned to the evangelistic circuit with his parents. While touring, Berg met Jane Miller and married her in 1944, and after their marriage they continued to travel with Berg‟s mother on the preaching circuit. Eventually they would have four children: Linda (born September 10, 1945, later known as Deborah in COG), Paul (born June 21, 1947, known as Aaron in COG, and who likely committed suicide in April 1973 while a COG member), Jonathan (born in January 1949, known as Hosea in COG), and Faithy (born in February 1951)11 [see Davis with Davis, 1984, p. xii]. While his family was growing, Berg attended Southern California Bible College in Pasadena, California, from June to September 1948 (Bailey, 1991, p. 1; Hill, 1981, p. 14). As a travelling preacher with his own family, Berg led a modest life, spending much of his time sleeping in the family car, tent, or trailer as they moved from one location to another (Berg, 1971g, pp. 1152-1153). From 1949 to 1951, Berg served as a pastor to a Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Valley Falls, Arizona (Berg, 1972a, pp. 1417-1418), leaving that position either because (as he claims) of racism among white parishioners directed against his ministry to local impoverished Indians or because (as his elder daughter speculates) of charges involving sexual misconduct (Davis with Davis, 1984, pp. 23-24; see Kent & Mytrash, interview with Whitt, 1989, p. 5).12 In any case, his dismissal embittered and quite possibly traumatized him (Hill, 1981, pp. 15, 51-52). The next few years of Berg‟s life are unclear. Apparently he “attended Arizona State University for the Spring 1951 semester” (Denny, 1991), and then returned to Southern California Bible College for two summer sessions during that same year (Hill, 1981, p. 17). During this time he claims to have studied socialism and communism, presumably at Arizona State (Berg, 1972a, p. 1418). He also taught junior high school for three years in the early 1950s (see Davis with Davis, 1984, p. 2).13 Around 1954 Berg accepted a job in Texas with Fred Jordan, who trained missionaries for foreign travel and conducted a television ministry. Berg held the position for 13 years, until Jordan let him go in 1967 (for interesting details see Hill, 1981, pp. 21-25). Once again Berg moved around the United States and Canada on the preaching circuit. Meanwhile, his mother (widowed since February 1964 [Hill, 1981, p. 25]) had moved to Huntington Beach, California, where she began a small ministry to the local hippies and surfers. Apparently realizing the ministerial potential that existed with these young people, Virginia persuaded her son to try his hand at evangelizing to them. As Berg described these events, his mother was writing us, begging us to come help the hippies of Southern California, saying that in her particular beach town there was a coffeehouse run by church people, but they just didn‟t know how to reach the youth! She wanted us to come out and teach them to win souls and minister to the youth! So we finally c[a]me just before Christmas in December [1967]. (Berg, 1971b, p. 746) Berg and his family invigorated the coffeehouse by drawing in large numbers of hippies. With these successes, the seeds were being planted for the Children of God organization.

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Thus far, nothing is remarkable about this story. Indeed, Berg‟s own evaluation of his life prior to his Huntington Beach ministry is one of frustration and failure. Reflecting upon the state of his life when he was in his forties, Berg remembered that BY THE [NINETEEN-]FIFTIES I HAD REACHED MIDDLE AGE, I had a family, had worked in almost every kind of job from building construction to the District Attorney‟s Office, had been in the Army, been discharged as totally disabled due to heart trouble, been an evangelist, pastor, and was teaching school. I felt I was passing my prime and had not yet found God‟s perfect Will for my life -- and I became desperate for greater power, more gifts, and greater usefulness to Him! (Berg, 1971c, p. 729) Similarly, in 1966, when Berg realized that Fred Jordan was planning to fire him, Berg confessed that this would have meant that I‟d be out of a job, and almost broke at nearly fifty years of age. Seemingly frustrated and defeated, we were wondering what to do for the Lord, and we just decided to start out like we had in the beginning with our little family, now teenagers, and start preaching the Gospel on the road again. (Berg, 1976a, p. 4) In essence, Berg felt himself to be unsuccessful until he began the Huntington Beach ministry to which his mother had led him. David Berg’s Psychosexual History The unsubstantiated set of charges that Berg‟s eldest daughter, Deborah, reported in her book--involving the stories of sexual philandering while Berg was a pastor in Arizona-hinted at a complex psychosexual life that had begun when he was very young. 14 So too does the fact that sometime within the years of the late 1950s and early 60s, Berg had fallen in love with his young niece (who was not related by blood). He told his sister Virginia some time later that he wanted Jane as his wife and this niece as his concubine. (Hill, 1981, p. 26) In a Mo Letter entitled, “Revolutionary Sex” that Berg approved for distribution to the general public, he spoke at some length about his early sexual experiences -- experiences that the young Berg felt to be pleasurable but about which he quickly acquired guilt feelings. His early sexual experiences were of four types: genital manipulation by a female adult; oral copulation by that same adult; frequent masturbation; and sexual intercourse with a cousin. I will let Berg speak for himself about them. After a revealing interpretation of biblical prohibitions and allowances regarding a wide array of sexual practices (including incest and polygamy, to which I will return), Berg launched into a discourse on masturbation: WHAT ABOUT MASTURBATION? Isn’t that one of the prohibited sexual offences? My mother certainly prohibited it, told me it was very naughty and dirty, slapped my hand for doing it when I was little, and even threatened to cut it off if I didn‟t stop! She even slapped our poor little Mexican maid out of the house in Oklahoma when I was only three years old when she caught her putting me to sleep in this pleasant fashion, a common practice amongst many other primitive cultures! So I soon learned that you not only weren‟t supposed to do it in front of other people or even members of your own family, but absolutely not at all, that it was strictly forbidden, naughty, nasty, dirty, wicked, bad, sinful and maybe even worse! I was told all those false old horror tales of all the people who got terrible diseases, wrecked their health and went insane by doing it!

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27. BUT NEVERTHELESS THERE IT WAS, WITH FREQUENT PHYSIOLOGICAL INSISTENCE and an almost irresistible urge, as well as an extremely pleasant sensation, climaxing in an explosion of relief from the physical tension of the sexual necessity of our biological creation! But along with it came those terrible inhibitions and almost disastrous guilt complexes inculcated by my poor mother’s prohibitions and condemnations and denunciations, scoldings, threatening and dire warnings.” (Berg, 1973a, p. 1339)15 In this passage Berg discloses the mixed messages that he got about sex as a child. A female adult manipulated his penis and may even have orally copulated him (as we are about to learn). He liked the physical sensation, but he seemed distressed at seeing the maid who had fondled him get violently expelled from the house by his mother, who in turn made Berg feel fearful and guilty over his sexual urges and sensations. The trauma had been so great to the young Berg at seeing the maid beaten that the adult Berg discussed this event a second time in a tract called, revealingly, “Real Mothers!”: 40. EVEN THAT POOR LITTLE MEXICAN BABYSITTER MY MOTHER SLAPPED OUT OF THE HOUSE WHEN I WAS THREE FOR PUTTING ME TO SLEEP BY FONDLING MY PENIS, I even felt that was unjust and unfair! I don‟t think I ever forgave my mother for that, really. I thought that was very very mean and unfair when the poor little girl was only trying to put me to sleep! Besides, I liked it! 41. I LIKED IT WHEN SHE PETTED AND SUCKED MY PENIS TO PUT ME TO SLEEP AT THREE YEARS OF AGE! Well, why shouldn‟t I? -- I still like it! (Berg, 1975, p. 6) In yet another tract when Berg recounted the Mexican maid story, he added: 6. LOOK AT ME, I DON’T THINK IT DID ME ANY HARM! Of course if you‟d ask any of my enemies, they‟d say, Ahah, see! That‟s what made him such a sex maniac!” (Berg, 1978a, n.p.) Indeed, one researcher subsequently was to suggest that interpretation (Hopkins, 1980, p. 44). Among the reasons that Berg never forgave his mother for punishing him over his genital pleasure was that on one particular instance she humiliated him in front of the entire family about his masturbation habit. Again turning to Berg‟s own account: 34. MY DEAR MOTHER WAS REALLY NARROW-MINDED! I can remember when we first got to Miami & I was only six years old: It didn‟t seem to matter, after years & years of telling me not to, I was still doing it--In fact, I‟m still doing it now! So she came in & caught me playing with it [i.e., his penis] again! 35. I SUPPOSE SHE THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO MAKE ME SO ASHAMED THAT I WOULDN’T DO IT ANYMORE. So she brought in the whole family, If you can imagine!--And my governess whom I didn‟t even like anyhow, & my brother & sister, scolding me before all! 36. SHE BROUGHT A WASHBASIN, A LITTLE BOWL & A KNIFE, & SHE TOLD ME SHE WAS GOING TO CUT IT OFF! Oh, I was terrified! I was absolutely petrified! I almost never forgave my mother for that, threatening to cut it off & embarrassing me in front of the family! But that didn‟t stop me. It felt too good to quit! I just kept it up in secret, my terrible secret sin! (Berg, 1978a, n.p.)

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This castration threat obviously traumatized (as well as embarrassed) the young Berg, and his mother was the threatening castrator. His mother had “superiority” over his father, Hjalmer, “in spiritual things,” a condition that his father “humbly and rightfully acknowledged” (Berg, 1971h, p. 359). She was the dominant partner in the marriage, and when friends of theirs convinced them that Hjalmer SHOULD TAKE OVER AND TAKE THE LEAD, SPIRITUALLY AND EVERY OTHER WAY, AND MAKE [VIRGINIA] TAKE A BACK SEAT, SQUELCH HER GIFTS, AND SILENCE HER WITNESS ... THIS NEARLY RUINED THEM BOTH! (Berg, 1971h, p. 359) When, as an adult, Berg experienced release from guilt and sexual repression, it occurred in a dream that came to him shortly after his mother‟s death. One last story must be told before I have laid sufficient groundwork to leave Berg‟s childhood, and this story involves the sexual experimentation (including intercourse) that Berg and his cousin carried out, beginning when they were both seven years old. During the youths‟ first genital encounter on the family couch, Berg was horrified to discover that his uncle (i.e., his cousin‟s father), as well as the governess, the cook, and the maid, all were watching them. Terrified, Berg hid for several hours in a neighboring house, but apparently none of the adults ever told his parents. Reflecting back on the traumatic experience of being “caught in the act,” Berg concluded that “it‟s really amazing the attitude parents usually have to children when it comes to sexual experimentation, like it was all evil!” (Berg, 1978a, n.p. [verse 55]). As the adult leader of COG, Berg established policies that were completely opposite the sexual prohibitions that he endured as a child. This psychobiographical insight provides the interpretive framework for understanding the liberal yet exploitative attitudes that COG appears to have held toward childhood sex throughout much of the 1980s. Obviously Berg had suffered psychological abuse because of his mother‟s punishments and castration threat, and had been sexually molested (regardless of the intentions of the Mexican maid who fondled him). Berg also was emotionally abused by his uncle, who watched him voyeuristically, along with the hired help. It also appears likely that Berg was unduly physically punished by his father. When remembering for his followers how his father had spanked him as a child, Berg indicated that AT TIMES MY FATHER PICKED UP A BOARD AND HIT ME SO HARD ON THE FANNY he lifted me right off the ground, but I needed it, I‟ll tell you, and I respected him more for it. (Berg, 1977a, p. 6) Knowing that Berg experienced such intense corporal punishment as a child, it is not surprising that he advocated similar beating of COG children, and boasted about using a fly swatter on his own kids (Berg, 1977a, p. 6). Unfortunately, his childhood experiences of violent corporal punishment are common among other conservative Christian religious leaders (Greven, 1991). To summarize Berg‟s complex psychosexual history: he had early erotic experiences involving both oral and genital copulation, along with frequent experiences of masturbation. All of these sexual experiences involved adults either humiliating or shaming Berg, even to the point of threatening him with castration. Furthermore, he suffered severe beatings from his father. Each of these traumatic circumstances haunted Berg well into adulthood, but when he reached his fifties he suddenly found himself leading hundreds, then thousands, of hippies whose ideas of sex were very different from the ones with which he had been

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reared. In the COG social environment, Berg would “work out” his childhood sexual traumas through the deviant policies and practices that he initiated in the name of God. Berg’s Psychosexuality and the Children of God As a result of his evangelistic efforts among the counterculture youth of southern California, Berg‟s fortune changed. For the first time in his life, Berg began to have a successful ministry: IT HAD TAKEN ME 49 YEARS (GOD‟S NUMBER SEVEN TIMES SEVEN!) TO FIND MY LIFE‟S WORK! And there we found it among the poorest of the poor--the poor hippies of Huntington Beach! (Berg, 1976a, p. 3263) Obviously his mother had been right to encourage him to minister there, but Berg was resentful that he had to acquire his success under her initiation. As Berg himself remembered: IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THIS NEW MINISTRY--my personal ministry nearly 20 years ago, when my Mother was still fighting the change and resisting my leaving the System [of established churches], she used to ridicule my tactics, and accuse me of just being a carbon copy of Fred Jordan! (Berg, 1971i, p. 497) Such ridicule was part of his mother‟s evaluation of him as a failure -- an evaluation that his wife (whom he called Mother Eve in many of his tracts) also shared: 17. I THINK IN MY LAST DAYS WITH MOTHER [EVE], BEFORE I MET MARIA [Berg‟s young lover and Anew wife”], I’D ALMOST GIVEN UP ON MYSELF. Mother [Eve] had practically won me over to where I agreed with her that I was no good, of no account and could never accomplish anything, would never get anywhere, and I wasn‟t a man of God. I wasn‟t spiritual, I didn‟t pray enough or read my Bible enough, and I didn‟t get down on my knees and moan and groan like she did. I have sometimes, especially over her. 18. I THINK I’D REALLY GIVEN UP ON MYSELF. I still believed God, I believed in Him, but I‟d almost given up that he could ever do anything with me. I could see He was doing a lot with my kids, and I was trying to help them, 19. BUT I FIGURED MY DAY WAS OVER, and Mother [Eve] had given up on me, that was obvious. (Berg, 1977b, p. 2) Berg felt defeated, and his self-esteem was badly damaged by both his mother‟s and his wife‟s harshly negative judgments of his meager ministerial successes. Berg‟s lifelong resentfulness and anger burst forth shortly after his mother‟s death in the late spring of 1968, at a public meeting that he called and to which he invited many of his mother‟s friends (plus the press). His daughter Deborah recalls this August gathering in which “he came out with his big proclamation against the system”: Davis: Well, it was down at the Light Club [the group‟s coffeehouse]. He went down and spoke publicly, which he usually never did. Well, up to that time I don‟t think he ever had. He went down to the Light Club, and he got up, and the press was all invited to come and everything to hear...; the press was there and all my grandmother‟s old friends.... And there he just blows them all away. He just damns the system and damns the church system..., damns the war [in Vietnam], damns the political system, damns parents for raising their kids wrong -- I mean, oh, everything.... All of my grandmother‟s friends just..., you know, turned and didn‟t have anything to do with us after that. So it was kind of like all this vehemence [against] everything that he was disgusted with or mad about or -- he just came out against it after she died. And [he] just began to practice what he really wanted to and how he really wanted to be. Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 12

Kent: So it sounded like he was not only damning the system, but also damning his own upbringing. Davis: Yeah, his own -- of course he was. He was damning his own upbringing, and it was too traditional, and it was oppressive. But he -- like he never did it while my grandmother was alive. It was after...she was gone that he came out..., you know, when he came out with all of that. (Kent, interview with Davis, 1988, 46-47; see Berg, 1971e, p. 37) Berg‟s own remembrance of this meeting supported his daughter‟s account: 31. WHEN, AFTER THE DEATH OF MY MOTHER IN CALIFORNIA, THE SPIRIT OF GOD ROSE UP WITHIN ME ONE NIGHT IN PUBLIC DECLARATION OF WAR ON THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM, it was a decision that was made suddenly, in a split second, on the spur of the moment on my feet, unexpectedly and by surprise, with no time to counsel and confer with anyone but God! I openly declared war on the hypocritical old bottles of the religious system who were lined up on the back seat [i.e., his mother‟s friends], and I cast in my lot with outlaws, drug addicts, maniacs, and the younger generation, and [became] a traitor to my own.... I raved like a mad man; I cast myself upon the Mercy of God and the kids, and they both loved it--but the System walked out on me! (Berg, 1970b, p. 74) Although Berg blasted various societal institutions (such as traditional churches) in this meeting, his attacks against the values of his recently deceased mother are particularly telling. It was no coincidence, therefore, in 1971 when Berg wrote to his followers about the time when Jesus even came to the point where He virtually insulted and publicly rejected His own Mother and family in preference to those that do the Will of God! (Berg, 1971d, p. 780) More directly, in 1970 he wrote: THEY HAD TO GO AWAY. As long as my father or my mother were around, I reflected their light.... And I never could have become what I am today, if they had lived on, because I had to go beyond them -- and they would have gotten in my way. (Berg, 1970a, p. 242) Berg‟s sexual repressions were about to dissolve. With the death of Berg‟s mother, I see the conclusion of an important phase in his life. I call this concluding period Berg‟s sexually repressed phase, which began during his early childhood and continued until shortly after his mother‟s death. During this long period of his life (almost fifty years), Berg was “tormented” by guilt and anxiety over aspects of his sexuality, heightened by his sense of ministerial failure. He found relief from his guilt only after his mother, who was the source of much of it, passed away, and he entered into a new sexually released phase, with his explosion at the public meeting. Berg himself best described how he felt during this long, repressed phase in his admonition to followers about enjoying sex: 93. ENJOY YOURSELF AND SEX AND WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU TO ENJOY, WITHOUT FEAR OR CONDEMNATION! For “perfect love casts out all fear,” for Afear hath torment,” particularly sexual fears [which] can be physical torture! I know, because I myself personally suffered for years the tortures of the demons of hell with their Goddamned churchy attitudes towards sex with

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which they had filled me! And I don’t want you to suffer, as I did, the horrors of such sexual frustrations and condemnations! (Berg, 1973a, p. 1358) With the death of his mother, Berg‟s sexual guilt died as well, just in the very period that his own ministry was growing. For the rest of his life he engaged in a wide range of sexual activities with little if any apparent shame. A dream that Berg had soon after his mother‟s passing provides a clear sign that his repressed instincts were coming to the surface, marking entry into his sexually released phase. In the summer of 1968 Berg recalled: 1. I DREAMED THAT IT WAS VERY DARK -- A FRIGHTENING SORT OF DARKNESS--and I was alone. There was an awesome dreadfulness about the darkness, as though it was a time of great trouble or just before some impending doom. 5. EVERYWHERE THERE IS A TERRIBLE SILENCE AND I’M IN THIS CITY THE STREETS ARE DARK. There is nobody on the streets and I‟m so terrified I to run down the streets to where I see a rather dim light, and it turns out to drugstore or chemist‟s shop. So I decide to go inside to buy a newspaper to see has happened.

AND want be a what

6. THE DRUGSTORE IS RATHER DIMLY LIGHTED AND A FEW PEOPLE ARE STANDING AROUND INSIDE, BUT ARE EITHER ASLEEP OR HYPNOTISED, unconscious or dazed--totally unaware of what is going on outside. Suddenly my Mother appeared (this was not long after her death) and she said, “Son, come this way and you‟ll understand what‟s happening.” 7. SUDDENLY WE WERE UNDERNEATH IN A LABYRINTH OF BEAUTIFUL BRILLIANTLY LIGHTED UNDERGROUND CATACOMBS crowded with young people -- nearly all hippies with beards, long hair, and all stark naked! 8. EVERYBODY WAS BUSY AND HAPPY AND STARK NAKED, but didn‟t even seem to notice it or weren‟t conscious of being naked. So I asked Mother, “Why is this?” It seemed as though she communicated to me the meaning by mental telepathy, for immediately I could understand that they were mostly young and hippies because this was a part of the youthful underground church. -- But why do they have to be naked? She said to me: 9. ATHIS IS A SIGN THAT THEY HAVE BEEN STRIPPED OF ALL HYPOCRISY AND ALL SHAM AND THE COVER-UPS AND FASHIONS OF THE WORLD.” -- And I woke just like that!... and I knew it was from the Lord. (Berg, 1973b, pp. 1253-1254) I extend Berg‟s own interpretation of the dream--that the drugstore represented establishment churches,16 and the underground activity represented the “revolutionary church” of the Jesus Revolution (Berg, 1973b, p. 1254) -- by pointing out the crucial role that his mother played in introducing him to an “underground culture” of nakedness and (probable) sexual freedom. In reality, Berg‟s mother, inadvertently, had done just that when she encouraged her son to bring his ministry to the hippies of Huntington Beach. Now, in a dream, she was repeating in Berg‟s psyche what she had done in life, but through her death was giving her son “permission” to involve himself with a youthful, sexually expressive generation. Given the counterculture values of the late 1960s, the hippies with whom Berg now was associating represented a sexual ethos of relative freedom and free expression -- attitudes and behaviors that were exactly opposite to those in which he had been reared and under which he had felt yoked and burdened for half a century. Through the serendipity of his ministry to countercultural youth, Berg found himself amid what for him was a completely new set of cultural symbols and social opportunities to Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 14

explore and express his release from sexual repression.17 As Berg himself proclaimed, “Thank God for the sexual liberation movement!... It is beginning to relieve us from [sic] some of our former taboos and inhibitions and abnormal guilt complexes and frustrations of the past” (Berg, 1973a, p. 1335). Rather than utilizing these (for him) new symbols and opportunities in a manner that advanced his own mental health and provided a healthy model for his followers, Berg was overwhelmed by his newly released sexual drives. He translated his unbridled id into a series of destructive religious tenets. Berg synthesized the counterculture‟s sexual imagery with fundamentalist Christian doctrines of prophecy, revelation, and godly mission (see Pritchett, 1985, pp. xxi-xxii, xxiii). This synthesis allowed Berg to initiate within his organization an extensive series of behavioral and cognitive reorientations regarding sex that had the veneer of divine justification rather than psychological compulsion. Berg‟s translation of his id into religious tenets took place in (what for my analytic purposes were) a series of steps that imposed his will onto increasingly larger numbers of people who came under his control. Moreover, he fueled these steps with alcohol, and eventually admitted to his members that he was an alcoholic (Hill, 1981, pp. 44-48, 90; Van Zandt, 1991, p. 169 n.13). The initial step affected Berg‟s interpretations of his own sexual urges. Subsequent steps affected members of Berg‟s immediate family, especially his wife, daughters, and granddaughters. Berg‟s tenets next affected the women with whom he closely worked, then the families of these women. Finally, Berg‟s religiously cloaked sexual tenets affected all members of his organization, and even extended out into the community through his insistence that COG members practice recruitment and resource acquisition through sexual activities. Step One: Reconciling Masturbation Among the most basic issues that Berg addressed after his mother‟s death was that of masturbation guilt. After, for example, recounting a long and detailed history of his own masturbation habit and accompanying guilt,18 Berg compressed into one rambling sentence his new attitude toward it and the debility that his guilt had caused him: Masturbation in moderation (once or twice a week, as in married sex, depending on your strength), has absolutely no harmful effects whatsoever upon the human body, and in fact, is a perfectly normal God-given method of legally and lawfully satisfying these irresistible biological sexual urges of the human body amongst unmarried adults. The only damage it can possibly do is to cause psychological and spiritual frustrations and their consequent emotional stresses because of the wrongful indoctrination of religious and cultural taboos, prohibitions and inhibitions by misinformed and improperly educated, ignorant and prejudiced parents or other adults who have inflicted these horrible misconceptions, beliefs, doubts and fears upon their poor, pitiful and unsuspecting children, resulting in terrifying guilt complexes and agonising introversions in these innocent victims of awesome adult ignorance and religious bigotry! May God deliver us and our children from the same! (Berg, 1973a, p. 1343) In Berg‟s case, God‟s deliverance came in the form of his mother‟s death. Step Two: Berg’s Sexuality and His Daughters and Granddaughters Having concluded that masturbation is not abnormal or particularly unhealthy, Berg then addressed a series of issues involving his sexuality in relation to the women in his family. Interwoven within Berg‟s sexual guilt over masturbation and problems of self-esteem was the knowledge that he had a sexually intrusive relationship with one of his daughters, Faithy, and allegedly had sexually abused his other daughter, Deborah (Shukan Bunshun,

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1992, pp. 3B6; Davis with Davis, 1984, pp. 9-10, 14, 58). Reportedly, he also made a sexual advance to his daughter-in-law, Sarah Berg (Charity Frauds Bureau, 1974, p. 52). We cannot date when Berg‟s sexually intrusive relationship began with Faithy, but she alluded to it in a COG tract (see Davis with Davis, 1984, p. 204; Kent & Mytrash, interview with Whitt, 1989, p. 5).19 Hints at it, however, appear in his groundbreaking “Revolutionary Sex” letter of March 27, 1973. In it Berg claimed: Incest, or certain forms of sex with certain specified close relatives was not made illegal until the Mosaic Law 2600 years after Creation. (Berg, 1973a, p. 1336) Two pages later he added: 22. THERE ARE ALSO SO MANY BIBLICAL EXCEPTIONS TO SO-CALLED INCEST.... Such marriages of brothers and sisters, mothers and sons and even fathers and daughters were very common in ancient times and were not even considered incestuous, much less illegal, and were not even forbidden for the 2600 years from the creation of Adam until the law of Moses! (Berg, 1973a, p. 1338) He also made a cloaked reference to Deborah‟s refusal to sleep with him in a self-serving tract on August 26, 1969, entitled, “The Old Church and the New Church.” In the process of establishing the young Maria (Karen Zerby) as his new wife, Berg condemned unspecified relatives who DO NOT THE THINGS THAT I ASK and they know Me not, and they lie not with Me in the bed of love. (Berg, 1969, p. 2; see Davis and Davis, 1984, p. 58) Elsewhere in it might be cloaked references to his sexual activities with Faithy, such as: 8. BUT THIS LITTLE ONE, MY INFANT CHURCH, My little one, My beloved, shall be raised upon My knees with fondling care and tender love and My protection. 11. FOR I, THE LORD, HAVE DONE IT that I may glorify My Name and preserve her whom I love--My Infant Church, My Little Ones..., who dwelleth by My side in nakedness and humility and adoration obeying My slightest bidding, attending to My least will and caring diligently for those little ones that come of her. (Berg, 1969, pp. 1-2) Finally, in a chilling dream about Deborah in 1974 in which his eldest daughter‟s car wrecked and flattened her like a pancake, Berg revived her by putting his hands on her breasts (Berg, 1974, p. 2324). Berg‟s inappropriate sexual activities apparently extended beyond his daughters to at least two granddaughters. During COG‟s legal battles over child custody with Argentine officials late in the summer of 1993, granddaughters Joyanne Treadwell and Merry Berg spoke on American television about their grandfather‟s inappropriate sexual activities. In an in-depth interview that I conducted with Merry in 1992, she stated that she had experienced dozens of intrusive sexual encounters with her grandfather, often involving mutual masturbation and vaginal insertions with one of his fingers. She was not yet 12 years old when the first incident allegedly took place (Kent, interview with Merry Berg, 1992, pp. 32-35). She also discussed similar inappropriate sexual activity on the part of other high-status COG men (Kent, interview with Merry Berg, 1992, pp. 35-53), often with the complicity of COG women. With hindsight, we realize that Berg shared many characteristics with incestuous fathers. His sexual guilt combined with occupational failures and harangues from his mother seem to have produced a man with a weak ego, which is a trait found among some perpetrating fathers (see Renvoize, 1982, p. 73). He had suffered forms of emotional deprivation as a Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 16

child, growing up under an authoritarian father (at least when it came to punishment) and a frequently absent mother who was guilt-producing when she was around (see Mrazek, 1981, p. 100). His own accounts of childhood indicate that he felt very isolated (see Renvoize, 1982, p. 74). As we soon shall see, he and his wife suffered from sexual incompatibility (very dramatically at least early in their marriage) because of “their ignorance about sex” (Renvoize, 1982, p. 98), and for a long time the newlywed Berg had “little idea how to approach [his wife] in such a way that she [felt] sexually turned on” (Renvoize, 1982, p. 97). Berg seems to have repeated the often-reported pattern of fathers initiating sex with their oldest daughters (Mrazek, 1981, p. 100). As one author surmised about the incestuous father in general, but which aptly fits Berg himself: It is difficult to sympathize with such a man until we begin to consider that in all probability he himself was abused, either physically, sexually, or emotionally as a child, and that he had no chance to develop feelings of well-being and self-confidence. (Renvoize, 1982, p. 80) Of additional interpretive importance is the fact that Berg had his “first intercourse at the early age of seven” with his cousin of the same age (Berg, 1973a, p. 1340). About this first experience Berg wrote: It was not entirely pleasant, being somewhat painful, as, of course, she was pretty dry and I couldn‟t get very far in with it! She had said she had seen her mommy and daddy doing it, and she thought we ought to try it, as it looked like fun! -- And fun it was! And even educational, until my uncle caught us in the act! 29. THE CONSEQUENT SPANKINGS, OF COURSE, ONLY SERVED TO CONFIRM OUR MISGUIDED CONVICTIONS THAT ALL SEX MUST BE EVIL and those parts of our bodies were bad, although we could not understand why. So we diligently continued to examine each other for the answers by various forms of private exposure and pleasurable masturbations, mutual pettings, fondlings, huggings, kissings and other somewhat frustrating sexual attempts. (Berg, 1973a, p. 1340) 20 Berg‟s older daughter, Deborah, also was seven when her father allegedly first approached her (see Davis and Davis, 1984, p. 9). As with masturbation, the adult Berg (after his mother‟s death) sated himself with sexual practices over which he had experienced childhood guilt. Just as his family context provided the initial environment in which he felt guilt, so too was it in his family context later as an adult that he discharged that guilt. With Berg‟s subsequent extension of his family to include all of the Children of God, he extended the range of people onto whom he could impose, through claims of revelation, his own sexual wishes.21 Neither a sexual ideology influenced by the counterculture nor the fundamentalist Christian ideology of prophecy, revelation, and godly mission provided sufficient concepts or opportunities for him to integrate and assimilate his early pain into healthy, sharing, and moderated adult sexual expressions. Berg‟s inability to reconcile his early trauma at the same time that he was extending and tightening his control over his followers put him in a unique position of authority over thousands of people. On them and with them he unleashed his now-guiltless passions, and sanctified his deviance through scriptural interpretation and claims of divine revelation. Complementing Berg‟s religious justifications of incest were his religious justifications for abandoning his wife for another (much younger) woman. Although the evidence is somewhat conflicting, Berg appears not to have been satisfied with his marital sex life. Perhaps his feelings about his marriage to Jane were best captured by a psychic whom Berg apparently visited in April 1973, who told him, “You‟re not very happily married, but I don‟t think you are unhappy” (Berg, 1973c, p. 2110). Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 17

His weeklong honeymoon appears to have been disastrous, with the young couple having to visit the doctor after it was over in order to see if Jane had a medical problem that could explain her apparent sexual dysfunction. Nothing proved to be physically wrong with her, but about her emotional makeup Berg wrote: “It was just that she was so inhibited with all that holiness background that she was all tied up like an ox!” (Berg, 1970c, p. 2020). Berg himself admitted to being “so bashful and so holy that I was afraid to touch her to loosen her up” (Berg, 1970c, p. 2020), and said that he could not touch his wife‟s breasts for perhaps a year (Berg, 1973c, p. 2025). For the first years of their marriage, David and Jane were too inhibited even to talk about sex (Berg, 1973c, p. 2024), although somehow they were able to work things out sufficiently well enough that she allegedly was able to have multiple orgasms at some point in their relationship (Berg, 1973c, p. 2025). He remained irritated, however, about his wife‟s persistent habit of getting hungry or having to go to the bathroom RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT all” (Berg, 1973c, p. 2035). Considered together, David and Jane‟s sexual life seems to have had deeply seated problems--problems that afflicted them individually and as a couple. Jane, too, must have felt dissatisfaction with aspects of the marriage, since apparently she ran off with another man in 1960, after which “David quickly went to retrieve her” (Hill, 1981, p. 23). Berg‟s affair with Maria began in April 1969, while the group still was in Huntington Beach and after Berg had begun his practice of kissing female followers good night (see Davis with Davis, 1984, p. 47). In August 1969, some months after the affair had begun, Berg claimed to receive a revelation in which God required him to take a new wife who symbolized his establishment of a new church. In a fashion reminiscent of Joseph Smith‟s revelation allowing polygyny, supposedly sent to him by God after Smith already had secretly married several women (Muncy, 1973, p. 129), God‟s reputed revelation to Berg came long after he was sexually involved with Maria and had abandoned his wife. Berg delivered the prophecy using language that cleverly combined family imagery with church metaphors in a narrative voice that overlaid God‟s will onto his own desires. He reported to his family and followers that God had revealed to him that THEREFORE, SHALL THE OLD VESTURE BE REMOVED and she shall be clothed in a new garment and a new look and all things shall become new and old things shall pass away and I will have a new bride who will love Me and obey Me and do My will and bear Me children, no longer barren as she was. (Berg, 1969, p. 2) With this revelation Berg gave himself divine sanction for his adulterous wife abandonment (and elsewhere in it for incest). And “God” was not finished. Step Three: Berg’s Sexuality and His Female Followers In the third step in Berg‟s period of release from sexual guilt, he granted himself access to all COG women, and effectively destroyed monogamous marriages among his followers. As was the case with the other steps, the processes were gradual, yet a few prominent events stand out. After the group departed from California and traveled across the continent (ending up at Camp Laurentide in Quebec), Berg increasingly justified forms of nudity among his followers (Kent & Mytrash, interview with Whitt, 1989, p. 7). In the Texas Soul Clinic camp (from February 1970 to September 1971 [Davis with Davis, 1984, p. 97]), Berg required women to go braless, undoubtedly borrowing the idea from a trend within the women‟s movement (see Morrison & Holden, 1973). His December 27, 1970, poem, “Mountin‟ Maid!” (note the sexual allusion), however, gives no indication that Berg‟s bralessness policy was designed as a political statement against the body politic, as was the women‟s movement action. His own sexual fantasies and preferences form the only basis for the poem: Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 18

I am for the mini-blouse Or the see-through at my house! She is such a lovely thing! To her mounts I love to cling! I’m a mountin’ man, my Honey! Give me mountains for my money! Though I oft explore her cave It’s on her mountains that I rave! Let those mountains be more visible And their clothing more divisible! (Berg, 1970e, p. 1363) The poem continues in this vein for a total of 301 lines (see also Richardson & Davis, 1983, p. 412). Berg himself enforced the prohibition by grabbing women‟s breasts, ostensibly to check for the banned undergarment. Sandy Brown, for example, recounted that Berg molested her in late 1969 in a COG camp near Pittsburgh. She was hanging up clothes with another woman, and Berg walked up to the other one and gave her a hug and a kiss, and ... I watched him fondle her breasts, and I couldn‟t even ... believe my eyes. I told myself No.” And so directly after hugging and kissing [the other woman], he walks up to me. And [he] went to hug and kiss me, and said, [Sandy], are you wearing a bra?” And the next thing I knew, I felt his hands on my breasts. And I just -- I stiffened up like a corpse, and ICI threw his hands down, and I kind of cast it off like it was no big thing, but inside I was totally -- I was totally devastated and violated.... And he turned and kind of meandered off. And [the other woman] walked over and she asked me what was wrong, and I said, “He just felt me up.” And I was very angry about it, and she said, “Well, he does that to me all the time.” (Kent, interview with Brown, 1988, pp. 78-79) If women nonetheless persisted in wearing bras, then Berg used the coercive threat of forcibly removing them in order to get his way. Another former member recounts: Myself, I had made the statement that, if they were ... telling me to take off my bra today, they‟d be getting in my pants tomorrow, and it got back to Mo, so I got called on the carpet and got called up [to appear before the leadership]. It was about 2:30 in the morning ... and for the next three hours he called me about every name in the book and a few that I haven‟t heard before. And in front of the leaders that [sic] he bawled me out [in front] of he asked me to take off my bra.... And I very discreetly, under my shirt, unclasped my bra, and pulled it out through my arms ..., because I just, I just could not take off my shirt to take off my bra. And my husband balled me out and said [that] if I really had been broken before the Lord and really repentant for my attitude, I would have taken off my shirt in front of everybody and taken off my bra. But that‟s the way that you [i.e., women who resisted the bralessness policy] were dealt with. (Kent & Mytrash, interview with Whitt, 1989, p. 14) Women had little choice but to obey, and other members of the group (including both men and women) ensured obedience. Berg‟s bralessness position received its definitive statement several years after it began in the 1973 tract, “Come On Ma! -- Burn Your Bra!” Berg wrote this tract in response to a letter he had received from a Christian mother living near Red Deer, Alberta, who supported the group but who had sent a note to Berg raising questions about his “Revolutionary Sex” letter (Kent, interview with Jane and Luke Simon, 1989, p. 13; see Kent & Mytrash, interview with Whitt, 1989, p. 13). In the “Burn Your Bra” piece, Berg set the religiously

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antinomian bases for the braless requirement in imagery that combined religious justification, counterculture ideas, and Berg‟s own sexual impulses: 32. WE HAVE A SEXY GOD AND A SEXY RELIGION AND A VERY SEXY LEADER WITH AN EXTREMELY SEXY YOUNG FOLLOWING! So if you don‟t like sex, you‟d better get out while you can still save your bra! Salvation sets us free from the curse of clothing and the shame of nakedness! We‟re as free as Adam and Eve in the Garden before they ever sinned! If you‟re not, you‟re not fully saved! 33. MAY GOD DAMN EVERY SELF-RIGHTEOUS SEX-CONDEMNING, TRUTHHIDING HYPOCRITE WHO WOULD HIDE THE TRUTHS AND BEAUTIES OF GOD’S CREATION FROM HIS HOLY PURE-MINDED CHILDREN! To the pure all things are pure! 34. COME ON MA! BURN YOUR BRA! BE LIBERATED TONIGHT! -- Halleluiah! (Berg, 1973d, p. 1362) Women in COG had little choice but to follow Berg‟s commands, since the combination of social pressure and religious threats (involving assertions that their disobedience indicated their refusal to accept the promise of complete salvation) left them with few options. In subsequent years, pictures of bare-breasted women adorned the covers and pages of Family News, an internal publication.22 Berg also became actively involved with the contents of erotic videos made of COG women -- both for circulation among members and for members‟ recruitment and solicitation efforts (Berg, 1981a).23 A crucial aspect of this third stage of Berg‟s sexually released phase was his establishment of a personal harem, into which he constantly rotated new women while remaining with Maria. By the summer of 1971, Berg had taken a teenaged girl named Rachel as an additional wife, even though he had overseen her marriage to a young man two years earlier (Davis with Davis, 1984, pp. 101-102). Berg continued to ignore marriage bonds when he wanted sexual access to particular women, and Family News carried letters from Berg‟s lovers who extolled the skills of Maria and Berg at lovemaking. As one ecstatic lover swooned to “Dearest precious Dad” in 1978: To experience such an orgasm of Love while in your arms has been the desire of my heart for years! (Family of Love News, 1978b, p. 2) Religious justification for the removal of marriage bonds appeared in a 1972 letter entitled, “One Wife.” As he usually did with his sexually motivated organizational innovations, Berg framed the removal of marriage among members as an act of religious worship: 1. GOD WILL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE HIM, NOT EVEN THE SANCTITY OF THE MARRIAGE GOD! 2. THE FAMILY MARRIAGE, THE SPIRITUAL REALITY BEHIND SO-CALLED GROUP MARRIAGE, IS THAT OF PUTTING THE LARGER FAMILY, THE WHOLE FAMILY, FIRST, even above the last remaining vestige of private property, your husband or your wife! (Berg, 1972b, p. 1367)24 In a prescient passage, the implications of which no one could have foreseen at the time, Berg also added: 22. DON’T FORGET THIS MEANS YOUR CHILDREN, ALSO! Special favoritism and partiality--that is selfish property interest! If you love your flesh-and-blood children more than you love God’s children of God’s Family, then you haven‟t come to the realisation of what God‟s Family is all about! (Berg, 1972b, p. 1370)

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Paralleling the sexual intrusions that Berg seemingly had perpetrated on his daughters and granddaughters, members soon were encouraged to break the incest taboo--and to do so in the name of God. Having eliminated the strength of marriage bonds among COG couples, Berg extended his control over women‟s sexuality by establishing among his female (and eventually male) followers an elaborate system of “flirty-fishing.” He justified the practice on religious grounds (see Berg, 1974b, p. 528), even though he also recognized at the time the practical financial gains for his organization (see Berg, 1978b; Wallis, 1981, p. 107). As Berg preached to his group: Hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (I Jn 3:16). For inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these brethren, ye have done it unto Me!” (Mt. 25:40). 8. WOULD YOU DO IT FOR JESUS?--Then why not for others? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food (including sex?) and one of you say unto them, “Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled!” -- notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body (sex?), what doth it profit?” (Jas 2:15, 16). (Berg, 1977b, p. 1) By claiming to his followers that they were to convert people (especially men) to Jesus by showing them sexual “love,” Berg translated his own personal practices of antinomian sexual freedom into a recruitment and fund-raising enterprise for his organization. He also extended his own attitudes about sex outside of the confines of his group through his “hookers for Jesus.” Step Four: Berg’s Sexuality and Children In the fourth stage of Berg‟s sexual catharsis, Berg promoted sexuality between adults and children (see McFarland, 1994, pp. 498-499), using as models his apparently sexually intrusive relationship with Faithy and his youthful sexual experiences with the family maid. In 1985, an example of sex between adults and youth occurred in a suggestive illustration (and accompanying text), showing Berg in bed with two women, one of whom apparently was in her midteens (Berg, 1985c, p. 392, see p. 390). More explicit and controversial was the widely circulated publication entitled My Little Fish, which contained photographs of an adult woman orally copulating and manually manipulating a boy who was just over three years old. Additional photos showed a naked female adult in bed with the young boy, plus other pictures in which the boy was in various sexual poses with an even younger girl (World Services, 1979). These pictures notwithstanding (in addition to related items in other publications), Berg stated in a December 1988 public denial of child abuse in COG: “We do not approve of sex with minors & hereby renounce any writings in our Family which may seem to do so! We absolutely forbid it.” (quoted in Founders of the Children of God, 1989, p. 1) Critics, however, remained unconvinced, and with good reason. A June 1991 letter sent by COG‟s World Services to group members suggests that the organization still believed in Berg‟s teachings regarding sex and children but was involved in an intense campaign to purge itself of all documents that discussed the sensitive issue. The documents purge was not motivated by the organization‟s denunciation of the teachings. It was motivated by the realization that the group‟s opponents were using these documents to accuse it of practicing child abuse: To our ungodly enemies and vengeful false accusers, some of our perfectly pure doctrines and views regarding God‟s Own natural & beautiful sinless creation are very

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“defiled” & “impure” in their soiled minds! (See Titus 1:15). In fact, they‟re so offended by some of our views (or their interpretations & misinterpretations of what they think are our views) & publications & pictures, that they seem bent on using (misusing) them to try to substantiate their very false & malicious accusations against us that we abuse our own dear children! So for this reason, we are now initiating an extensive “purge” of our publications. Thank the Lord, most of our publications will come through this purge with only a few pages missing. (World Services Family, 1991, p. 1) The letter concluded with a list of publications that were to be Aburned & gotten rid of entirely, as well as the specific pages that should be removed from within books & and lit[erature] of your Home‟s Library” (World Services Family, 1991, p. 2). Failure to comply with this purge “will result in your excommunication from our fellowship!” (World Services Family, 1991, p. 2). A biblical quote, however, from Titus 1:15 allowed World Services to place blame on opponents, rather than on the teachings or the sexual practices themselves, as the reason for the purge. “„Unto the pure all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled & unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind & conscience is defiled!‟” (quoted in World Services Family, 1991, p. 2).25 Step Five: Berg’s Sexuality and Conceptions of Heaven In the fifth and final stage of his sexual catharsis, Berg projected his own sexual fantasies into his belief in an afterlife. As Hill surmised over a decade ago, “[Berg] has convinced himself that the ultimate power of the universe can be obtained through sex” (Hill, 1981, p. 84). At least as early as 1970 Berg was writing about “Sex in Heaven,” in which he described what he reputedly witnessed in a divine revelation: 43. I’LL NEVER FORGET THAT I SAW ONE OF OUR GIRLS IN A HEAVENLY VISION. That gown she had on was like nothing earthly! It was gorgeous and it seemed to shimmer with light, as though it was made of light! But it concealed nothing of her beauty! It was chiffon or something--nice and flowing and airy and beautiful & sheer & see-thru! (Berg, 1970d, p. 6262) In line with his behaviors on earth, by which he granted himself access to the women of his group, Berg envisioned (as I am about to show) that he would continue to have sex with women in heaven. In what must be an unparalleled example of a religious leader formulating doctrines about an “afterlife” that actually reflect his (or her) own psychologically projected desires, Berg‟s conception of heaven constituted endless rounds of sexual activity. In a 1985 tract titled “Grandpa Goes to Heaven!,” Berg expired and ascended into “the spirit world.” There he met several COG members who had died over the years, one of whom was a beautiful member named Phoebe. Predictably, soon the two of them were together in bed. As Berg related: 32. I HAD KNOWN THAT THERE WOULD BE SEX IN HEAVEN, but I never dreamed that it was going to be as wonderful as this, as thrilling & exciting & rapturous & continuous!--No exhaustion, no tiring, no surfeiting, no impotence, no failures, no dissatisfactions! All was pure joy & love & endless fulfilment, hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus! (Berg, 1985a, p. 233) He experienced repeated orgasms (Berg, 1985a, p. 235), and later the couple was joined by a second (as Berg called her) “pretty girl” (Berg, 1985b, p. 300). With a large number of women at his disposal during the twilight of his life, Berg fantasized the continuance of his earthly pleasures into the blissfulness of an orgiastic heaven.

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Conclusion Rarely do psychohistorians have such vivid material upon which to construct personality analyses as we have about David Berg. His childhood accounts were painfully troubling; his adult achievements were meager at least until nearly his fiftieth year; and his behaviors after that time demonstrate a degree of sexual appetite rarely recorded with comparable candor. With such demonstrable material I feel little need to restrict interpretations to one psychohistorical school, but instead shall explore several scenarios that may offer insight. To Freudian psychohistorians, Berg is the “primal father” (“Dad” to group members) who hoards the women of his “clan,” often stealing them from his “sons.” Unexpectedly, however, none of the younger “sons” kill him--a reality at odds with the classic primordial myth in which they commit patricide (Freud, 1913, pp. 125, 140-143; see Freud, 1939, pp. 102-106). Here we see the first of several differences from Freudian themes that suggest the limited utility of classic psychoanalytic interpretations to this religious figure and his work. Berg survived, and seemingly thrived, in the open atmosphere of sexual noninhibition and antinomianism because of a practice that Freud had not considered possible: the primordial father gave his male underlings relatively equal access to a pool of women similar to his own. Under his edicts, these men acquired many more sexual opportunities with women than they ever could have had in regular society, since COG women were pressured against refusing the sexual advances of sexually desirous males. As former member Karen Meyer related about her years in the COG: There‟s no recognition at all of a woman‟s rights. The last two years I was in the group, I don‟t think I ever had a night when I slept by myself. And I had no choice in the matter. (Kent, interview with Meyer, 1987, p. 28) Berg, the sexually intrusive and insatiable primal father, had lived most of his life as David, the guilt-ridden and unsuccessful son, and the source of his guilt was the parent figure that Freud least would have predicted. Berg‟s mother, much more so than his father, drove the boy to feel intense shame, and it was his mother‟s (not father‟s) death that unleashed years of pent-up anger, hurt, and rage. His pious mother also was the potential castrator--the adult who made Berg‟s habit of masturbation into a godless sin of damning proportions. Even though his father was a preacher, his mother‟s light cast the darker shadow over him. Throughout his adolescent and adult years Berg‟s career remained dim compared to hers. Berg was a deeply disturbed young man, but so, too, was Martin Luther, a religious figure whose ultimate religious achievements (at least according to Erikson) resolved many of his own psychological problems along with fundamental ones of his generation. 26 In contrast to Luther, Berg‟s resolution of his psychological problems only contributed to the confusion of a generation -- a generation that eventually had thousands of teenagers and young adults looking to him for inspiration. Arguably, his escape as a late adult from Pentecostal Christianity‟s guilt-producing attitudes about sexuality could have led him to assist the hippies and counterculture generation in their struggles over questions about love for themselves, love for their peers, and love for the adults whom they held responsible for a seemingly loveless world. Indeed, “love,” was among the cries of the counterculture--cries of hope, cries of fear, and cries of desperation as that generation watched hate steal away its political heroes and turn races against one other in American cities and Asian jungles. The sexual revolution and the women‟s movement brought the counterculture generation unbounded opportunities for developing egalitarian and emotionally fulfilling patterns of sexual expression. A great religious figure would have seen these opportunities and then used the experience of his or her own suffering to alleviate such anguish in others. In a Christian context, the love of Jesus would have translated into forgiveness and the Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 23

alleviation of sexual guilt, and from there would have nurtured couples in sensible, sensitive, and informed sexual practices. In Erikson‟s language, religion for the hippies would have eliminated guilt that they may have suffered from their sexually punitive parents during the third stage of their psychosexual development (of initiative versus guilt [Erikson, 1963, pp. 255-258]). Once freed from that guilt, the youthful generation would have been encouraged to emerge from the individual and collective period of moratorium (Erikson, 1963, pp. 262-263) and enter into a new phase where interpersonal intimacy became the example on personal levels of a much-needed candor among social and moral leaders. Berg, alas, is not a great religious figure, and his solution to his own childhood-based guilt brought havoc unto those who relied upon him for guidance. He alienated the older generation of his mother‟s friends, destroyed his own marriage along with the marriages of others, probably lost a son to suicide, eroticized the relationships with his daughters and granddaughters, and denounced his eldest daughter, all in the process of the pursuit of his own passions. Scores of young adults who once looked to him for guidance about the most personal aspects of their lives have departed from his organization with bitterness. Many of those who remained loyal to him are burdened with large numbers of children (often the result of religiously connected sexual activities, since Berg prevented birth control [Berg, 1978c]), have minimally marketable skills, and have sexually transmitted diseases (see Richardson & Davis, 1983, p. 417).27 In his twilight years, facing his own mortality, Berg committed a psychological fallacy based in religion analogous to a fallacy committed by Mao Tse-tung that was based in politics. As analyzed by Robert Lifton, the aging Chinese leader encouraged the Cultural Revolution in an attempt to ensure that his “revolutionary works” would transcend his individual death through “revolutionary immortality” (Lifton, 1974, p. 34). Within the Cultural Revolution was an attempt by Mao (and, by extension, the Chinese who followed him) to control the external technological environment through “an exaggerated reliance upon psychic [i.e., mental] power” (Lifton, 1974, p. 34). From this political example of revolutionary immortality and psychism, one easily could argue that Berg utilized a sexual “psychism” -- a quest for sexual immortality that would legitimize his sexually based group policies and ensure their continuance after his death. The alleged power of faith and love would overcome the personal and social tragedies that resulted from the reckless sexual behavior that he fostered among his followers. A sex-filled (and problem-free) heaven would be the eternal reward for his followers‟ earthly obedience. It is beyond the scope of this study to explore in depth the haunting question about why so many youth followed him into increasingly abusive sexual practices. While Berg did recruit persons from religious backgrounds who may have been reared in families where sex was a taboo subject, surely it cannot be true that all of his followers experienced a “collective sexual release” of some sort that paralleled Berg‟s own psychosexual catharsis. More plausibly, part of the answer about his loyal following lies in the religiously based justifications that he used to legitimate his behaviors and beliefs. Berg established a social system in which followers equated resistance to him with hostility to God (see Kent, 1994), which meant that members controlled one another with the same fierce consciences that they used to regulate themselves. Although hundreds (if not thousands) of people have left COG over the years, many of the apostates had difficult times doing so, partly because they felt they would be ungodly by their disloyalty. Such a compelling psychosexual historical account as Berg‟s, with its direct and adverse implications for thousands of people, points out dramatically the other side of religion to that studied by Erikson. When discussing individuals who are traumatized in the “initiative versus guilt” stage of psychosocial development, Erikson warned about the tragedy of a child‟s becoming “forever divided in himself” between “an infantile set [of instincts] which Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 24

perpetuates the exuberance of growth potential, and a parental set which supports and increases self-observation, self-guidance, and self-punishment” (Erikson, 1963, p. 256). For the traumatized child, “an inner powerhouse of rage” gets submerged at this stage into “the form of persistent moralistic surveillance, so that the prohibition rather than the guidance of initiative becomes the dominant endeavor” (Erikson, 1963, p. 257). As an adult, this moral person‟s “initiative is apt to burst the boundaries of self-restriction, permitting him to do to others, in his or in other lands, what he would neither do nor tolerate being done in his own home” (Erikson, 1963, pp. 257-258). Much of what Erikson described outlines the broad dimensions of Berg‟s own life, except for one chilling item: Berg tolerated in his own home, and required its perpetration in other “lands,” the violations of incest and pedophilia, claiming that both practices were sanctified by God. Notes 1. For the complex and unfortunate history about an earlier publisher‟s withdrawing this article from publication (at the page proof stage) after intimations of a possible lawsuit from the Children of God/The Family, see Mobilio (1994). Supporting the Children of God‟s demands for publication withdrawal was Dr. James Lewis, Director of the Association of World Academics for Religious Education (AWARE), an organization that purports to provide objective information on “new” and alternative religions. Lewis eventually apologized for his request that the publication be delayed. At the time of their interference, neither the Children of God nor Lewis had read the version of the article to be published in the annual Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion. In fact, two months prior to Lewis‟s intervention against my publication, The Family arranged a meeting with him and an unnamed colleague because it was “seeking advice on how to combat the negative publicity and other attacks they felt certain would result from [its] bold new public stature” in the United States (Lewis, in Lewis & Melton, 1994, p. vi). Subsequent to Lewis‟s intervention against my study, he co-edited a volume on The Family (Lewis & Melton, 1994), and published it through the publication company that he oversees. The Family now includes this book as part of its public relations pack. 2. In, for example, a review article by Tetlock, Crosby, & Crosby (1981), these 2 studies were the only ones listed (out of the 122 they reviewed) that focused on religious figures. All of the others studied male politicians. 3. Several other studies of religious biography that suggest psychosexual interpretations of data are worth mentioning. James Hopkin‟s (1982) study of the British prophet, Joanna Southcott (1750-1814), explained her “marriage” during her “divine pregnancy” and final months of life as the result of “her sexual longings turn[ing] back to her youth when her beauty had made her the heart‟s desire of the most striking young men of the neighborhood. The Spirit [i.e., the voices and visions that directed her], whose very existence was due to these unacknowledged and unexpressed desires, at last extended his benediction to a union which, except for the circumstances and the torments of Joanna‟s personality, should have taken place fifty years before” (Hopkins, 1982, pp. 207-208, see pp. 16-17). Another study worth examining is Tillett‟s (1982) biography of the Theosophical Society‟s Charles Leadbeater, who combined religious instruction with pederasty (pp. 279-284). Several studies discuss the relationships between male sexual confusion (especially over masturbation) and religious conversion (Delany, 1969, pp. 59, 61, 71; Thompson 1963, p. 366 n.2; Watts, 1978, pp. 418-419; see Kent, 1987a. p. 262 and n. 86; 1987b, p. 13 and n. 55). Also worth mentioning is Sil‟s (1991) biography of the nineteenth-century Indian mystic, Ramakrsna, which includes important psychohistorical insights such as “in more than one sense Ramakrsna‟s entire spiritual Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 25

discourse is a sermon about sex” (p. 49). 4. Some of Berg‟s comments about the family, however, may not be accurate or truthful. We have, for example, one autobiographical account in which his daughter, Deborah, has added critical, handwritten comments in the margins, disputing some of her father‟s statements (Berg, 1972a, pp. 1409-1416) 5. Berg‟s location at the time of his death remains a mystery. 6. One early study of COG (Davis & Richardson, 1976) examined the group‟s organizational structure. Another study by the same authors “discussed the use of sex by the COG as a recruitment tool” and argued “that the COG should probably be taken seriously about evangelism being the major reason for the rather unique embellishment of traditional fundamentalist orthodoxy” on recruitment and conversion (Richardson & Davis, 1983, p. 407). Although Van Zandt‟s (1991) recent study of COG contained a discussion of sex in the Mo Letters (pp. 25-26) and flirty fishing (1991, pp. 46-48), his primary intent was to describe what life was like from an insider‟s perspective. Roy Wallis gave a socioorganizational explanation of the recruitment logic behind flirty fishing, taking into account changing conditions both within the group itself and within the societies in which they operated. Wallis (1978b) realized, however, that “the origins of … developments within the Family [of Love—a later name for COG] such as the institution of plural wives, trial marriages, etc., can be accounted for partly in terms of Mo‟s own sexual appetites” (p. 72). In another publication, Wallis (1978a) outlines “structural and motivational factors that effectively free the women of the Children of God from the taboos and fears that form a part of marital relationships in most contemporary societies and render them available for „flirty fishing‟” (p. 16. Wallis‟s (1981) organizational history and analysis of the group is among the best available. His most recent publication on the group predicts that it likely will be “thrown into chaos and uncertainty … on the death of Mo” (1987, p. 89). None of these publications analyses the relationship between group doctrine and the psychosexual development of its leader. Ruth Elizabeth Wangerin (1984) provides a descriptive analysis of COG‟s impact upon its female adult members, indicating that “early on, they had to accept a middle-aged male prophet‟s fantasy-image of them” (p. 137). Her recent book said very little about Berg‟s sexual beliefs and activities (see Wangerin, 1993, p. 50), and she raised the possibility that his daughter Deborah‟s memories of incest might not be true (pp. 27, 178, 59 n. 13). Building on Van Zandt (1991) who cited a Reuters news account about Family members having used “pornographic videos” in a Canton, China, music club (p. 167 n. 7), Wangerin (1993) suggested that these films were “probably nude dancing videos made by female disciples at Mo‟s request (p. 167). One study, however, that should be read in conjunction with mine is Hill (1981). In his psychohistorical Master‟s thesis on Berg, Hill argues that the religious leader “has two main problems: an Oedipal regression and a paranoid psychosis with delusions of grandeur” (p. 87). Especially pertinent to my focus on Berg‟s psychosexual history is Hill‟s discussion and documentation of his alleged Oedipus complex (pp. 53-59). 7. Additional biographical information appears in Hill (1981) and Van Zandt (1991). 8. In 1924, Berg‟s parents built what Berg later claimed was “the largest Gospel Tabernacle in the Southeastern United States” (Berg, 1972a., p 1416). Apparently the church fell on hard times in 1925, and a hurricane destroyed it in 1926. His parents then rebuilt the church and affiliated it with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. According to a note written by Deborah Davis in the margin of the text, “They personally rebuilt the Tabernacle. Then it was taken away from them by Mr. Weston” (marginal notes in Berg, 1972a, p. 1416). I do not know who Mr. Weston was, but it sounds as if he was the successful contender in a power struggle for the pastorate of the congregation. In later Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 26

life, Berg used his parents‟ loss of this church as further proof of “the System‟s” corruption. 9. Hill (1981) claims that Berg “graduated with the highest scholastic record in the eightyyear history of Monterey High School” (p. 13). These and other comments about Berg‟s pre-COG history are very interesting because Hill had interviewed Berg‟s sister and obtained from her early letters that he had written to his family. 10. I attempted to verify Berg‟s military records through the National Personnel Records Center (Military Personnel Records) in St. Louis, Missouri, but was informed that the Privacy Act of 1974 required that I obtain the written consent of the individual before the information could be released (correspondence dated December 20, 1991). I have seen, however, a faded copy of an NBC television show on the Children of God from the early 1970s. In it a family picture is shown in which Berg appears to be in a military uniform. Hill states that Berg was drafted into the army a few days after Pearl Harbor, and “was stationed in the U.S. Army Engineers Headquarters Battalion at Fort Belvoir, Virginia until his complete disability discharge, due to his bad heart” (1981, pp. 13-14) 11. I thank Deborah David for providing me with these dates. She gave them from memory, so the possibility of slight errors exists. 12. Deborah Davis told me that the allegation of her father‟s sexual impropriety was a story that she heard over the years within the Berg family. I, however, was unable to find substantiating evidence about it. Records in the Christian and Missionary Alliance national office in Colorado Springs, Colorado, indicate that Berg “left Valley Farms Church [near the small town of Florence, southeast of Phoenix] and the denomination in February 1951. He dropped all association with the Christians and Missionary Alliance … His given reason for departure was „further education.‟ … The district superintendent at the time put in writing that Mr. Berg was not forced to resign. It was a voluntary, personal decision. No known immorality was involved” (Bailey, 1991, p. 1). 13. Hill (1981) sates that Berg taught junior high school for O.L. Jaggers, “a rather mystical and flamboyant Los Angeles TV preacher known today for his golden altar and white robe routine” (p. 18). Presumably Jaggers had a school attached to his ministry, but I am not able to confirm this conjecture. No mention, for example, of a junior high school appears in material about Jaggers and his wife that I located (Harrell, 1975; Martin, 1967). 14. Deborah points out, however, that her father bragged in Mo Letters that he had affairs with women who had lived in the Berg home as various types of domestic workers (Davis with Davis, 1984, p. 29) I have not yet discovered such passages. 15. For cross-cultural examples of adults masturbating children, often (ostensibly) to put children to sleep, see DeMause, 1994, pp. 142-143, 154. 16. Alternatively, the drugstore could have represented conventional society, while the underground “drug” culture of the hippies exemplified sexual freedom. 17. I must be careful, however, not to stereotype all members of this generation, especially since Berg indicated that many of his followers had written to him about their apprehension over masturbation (Berg, 1973a, p. 1342). Nonetheless, Berg generally viewed “THE PRESENT HIPPIE GENERATION [AS] YOUNG PEOPLE [WHO] FINALLY RETURNED TO A MORE NORMAL ATTITUDE TOWARD SEX”—an attitude that predated Christian repression (Berg, 1973a, p. 1344). 18. Worth noting is that the eight-year-old Berg first learned how to masturbate from instructions that a boy whispered in Berg‟s ear during one of his father‟s church sermons (Berg, 1973a. p. 1341). Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 27

19. In a 1988 internal publication titled Good News, the group published a section on “FAITHY‟S REACTION TO CHILDHOOD SEX!” She stated: I like it! It reminded me of how you [her father] used to put me to sleep when I was a little girl, 3 or 4. Wow! Daddy did it best! Back rubbin‟, that is, & front rubbin‟ too! The others, our various babysitters, just rubbed your back raw & it didn‟t even feel good, so I would pretend to fall asleep as fast as possible so they‟d stop. It felt so good when they stopped! Ha! BUT DADDY JUST MADE ME FEEL GOOD ALL OVER & I didn‟t know why, but it would really put me to sleep with a sigh! PTL [Praise the Lord]! I don‟t think it perverted me none at all, but it sure converted me to His Call! So I believe our parents should try it, & help our kids get the natural habit! WE PRAY IT‟LL WORK, then Junior [who was a nephew] won‟t be a sex jerk! It worked for me as you can see, I just do what comes naturally! Oh I could write a book, but this is just a look, into my childhood sex! (Family of Love, 1988, p. 15) Note that Faithy seems to be encouraging parents to masturbate their children. 20. The “consequent spankings” to which Berg referred may not have occurred in relation to the first sexual incident with his cousin on the couch, since he indicates elsewhere (as I quoted earlier) that his voyeuristic uncle never told his parents about it (Berg, 1978a). It sounds as if Berg and his cousin continued their sexual experimentations over a period of time, and perhaps at some point they got caught and punished. 21. This transformation of COG into Berg‟s extended family is indicated by the name changes that Berg underwent as its leader. In COG‟s early days, its members called him Uncle Dave. Later he was called Moses (or Mo), then David (after the Hebrew Bible King). Finally, he instructed his followers to call him Dad (Pritchett, 1985, pp. x, xxii, xxvi). Now members seem to call him Father David. 22. One former female member with whom I spoke reported that she was forced to remove her clothes so that males in her colony could photograph her, but she did not know what happened to the pictures. She indicated, however, that some women posed willingly. (Kent, interview with Lowe, 1989, pp. 29-30). 23. According to a former member, the group called these films “headless houri” videos. Apparently the name related to the practice of deliberately filming the female dancers from the neck down in order to minimize the chances of their being identified if problems (with, for example, outside authorities) were to arise (see Kent, interview with Hiebert & Hiebert, 1989, p. 10). This same source told me that some videos contained dances performed together by mothers and daughters (Kent, interview with Hiebert & Hiebert, 1989, p. 12). The videos that I have seen, however, show the faces of the women and girls, even though some of the girls seem to be about three years old and others appear to be preteens. 24. This passage resonates with Karl Marx, whom Berg probably studied during his near conversion to communism while he was a college student. In any case, he added sociological justification to his arguments about breaking down marriages, and, given the publication date of this tract (late October 1972), I wonder if he had heard about or read Rosabeth Kanter‟s well-know study of communes that was published in the same year (1972, pp. 86-93). Berg argued, for example, that “the history of communes shows that the most successful communes either abolished all private relationships entirely and required total celibacy, or abandoned the private marriage until for group marriage!— Because they found that the private family group was always a threat to the Larger Family unit as a whole! (Berg, 1972b, p. 1368). On the issue of destroying marriages, therefore, Berg was able to combine religious injunctions with sociological wisdom, all of which increased his access to “married” women. Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 28

25. The letter also revealed that some years earlier World Services had instructed COG home to dispose of any copies they may still have of the “Dito” [The Story of Davidito] book, as well as the “Adults Only” TK [True Komix] volume. We explained then that because of society‟s increasing hyper-sensitivity to any publications for or about children that could even be remotely construed as having any sexual overtones to them, the modern-day inquisitors & witch-hunters who are bent on destroying our Family & our work for the Lord are declaring that many of our Family pub[lication]s appear “evil” to them (1 Thes. 5:22). (World Services family, 199, p. 1) Again, however, the problem concerning the publications was not their content or message but the manner in which critics interpreted them. 26. I am aware, of course, of the generally convincing criticisms of Erikson‟s study on Luter (for example, Dekker & Roodenburg, 1983), yet this particular statement about the religious leader‟s parallel resolutions of intrapsychic and cultural developmental problems seems defensible. Even if it were not defensible about Luther (about whom major problems of source availability exist), however, I would not alter my observations about Berg. 27. The problem of sexually transmitted diseases among women practicing flirty-fishing had become so great by late 1976 that Berg wrote a Mo Letter to his followers called “Afflictions” in which he indicated that “some of the girls have been starting to catch things” (Berg, 1976f, p. 3). As he did with other demands upon his followers, Berg explained the disease problem as a necessary sacrifice for the higher effort of saving souls. Indeed, flirty fishers were to receive inspiration from the life of Jesus: 108. AND THEREFORE IF WE SUFFER DISEASES OR AFFLICTIONS OR INFIRMITIES AS A RESULT [of women flirty-fishing] WE ARE SUFFERING FOR THEIR SINS, NOT OURS. We are suffering for their sins as Jesus did for ours in order that we and they might be saved. Hallelujuh! Thank You Jesus! (Berg, 1976f, pp. 14-15 [4204-4205]) Along with prayer, Berg advised his female followers to go to a doctor “if you have anything at all that is at all questionable whatsoever” (Berg, 1976f, p. 19 [4210]).

References Bailey, R.W. 1991, July 15. Correspondence with Stephen A. Kent from Vice President for Church Ministries, The Christian and Missionary Alliance. Berg, D. 1969. “The Old Church and the New Church” [or “Old Love, New Love”]. Mo Letter No. A. (August 26)]; reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp. 1B4. ___. 1970a. “I Gotta Split!--II.” Mo Letter 29 (December 22); reprinted in Berg, 1976d, pp. 231-243. ___. 1970b. “Faith and Healing.” Mo Letter No. M (August); reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp. 67-79. ___. 1970c. “Revolutionary Love-Making!” Mo Letter No. 259 (Summer); reprinted in Berg, 1976d, p. 2017. ___. 1970d. “Sex in Heaven!” Mo Letter 818 (July); reprinted in Berg, 1981b, pp. 62586263. ___. 1970e. “Mountin‟ Maid!” Mo Letter No. 240 (December 27); reprinted in Berg, 1976b, pp. 1363-1366. ___. 1971a. “Have Faith Will Travel!” Mo Letter No. 150 (December 30); reprinted in Berg, 1976d, pp. 1146-1179. ___. 1971b. “Psalm 68.” Mo Letter No. 83 (July); reprinted in Berg, 1976d, pp. 746-753. ___. 1971c. “Key of David.” Mo Letter No. 78. (June 20); reprinted in Berg, 1976d, pp. 724731.

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___. 1971d. “Advice on 10:36ers.” Mo Letter No. 91; reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp. 780-781. ___. 1971e. “God‟s Explosions.” Mo Letter No. 69; reprinted in Berg, 1976b, pp. 32-38. ___. 1971f. “My Love is a Legend.” Mo Letter No. 84 (July); reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp. 754-755. ___. 1971g. “Have Faith Will Travel.” Mo Letter 150 (December 30); reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp. 1146-1179. ___. 1971h. “Third Epistle to Pastors.” Mo Letter No. 49 (February 14); reprinted in Berg, 1976c, pp. 354-371. ___. 1971i. “London.” Mo Letter No. 58 (March 14); reprinted in 1976c, pp. 490-502. ___. 1972a. “Survival!” Mo Letter No. 172 (June); in Berg, 1976d, pp. 1404-1454. ___. 1972b. “One Wife.” Mo Letter No. 249 (October 28); in Berg, 1976b, pp. 1367-1371. ___. 1973a. “Revolutionary Sex.” Mo Letter No. 258 (March 27); reprinted in Berg, 1976b, pp. 1331-1358. ___. 1973b. “The Drugstore.” Mo Letter No. 266. (September 4 [First typed 8/25/69]); reprinted in Berg, 1976b, pp. 1252-1254. ___. 1973c. “Madam M.” Mo Letter No. 268 (April 1973); reprinted in Berg, 1976d, pp. 2109-2117. ___. 1973d. “Come On Ma! -Burn Your Bra!” Mo Letter No. 286 (December 22); reprinted in Berg, 1976b, pp. 1359-1362. ___. 1973e. “Women In Love.” Mo Letter No. 292 (December 20); reprinted in Berg, 1976d, pp. 2327-2339. ___. 1974a. “Bewitched: The Danger of Compromise!” Mo Letter No. 291 (January 9); reprinted in Berg, 1976d, pp. 2320-2326. ___. 1974b. “Flirty Little Fishy” [or “The Little Flirty Fish”]. Mo Letter No. 293 (January 3, 1974); reprinted in Berg, 1976b, pp. 527-534. ___. 1975. “Real Mothers!” Mo Letter No. 389 (November 18); reprinted in Berg, 1976e, pp. 3521-3532. ___. 1976a. “Our Shepherd, Moses David.” Mo Letter No. 351 (January); reprinted in Berg, 1976d, pp. 3259-3273. ___. 1976b. The Basic Mo Letters. Geneva: Children of God. ___. 1976c. The Mo Letters I: 1-150. Geneva: Children of God. ___. 1976d. The Mo Letters II: 151-300. Geneva: Children of God. ___. 1976e. The Mo Letters III: 301-400. Rome: Children of God. ___. 1976f. “Afflictions.” Mo Letter 569 (November 25), pp. 1-26; reprinted in David Berg [Father Moses David], The Mo Letters Vol. IV, pp. 501-600 (The FF Volume!). Rome, Italy: The Family of Love, pp. 4188-4219. ___. 1977a. “Lashes of Love!.” Mo Letter No. 606 (August 15, 1975). ___. 1977b. “Real Love Never Fails.” Mo Letter No. 639 (October 31). ___. 1977c. “The FF-er‟s Handbook!” Mo Letter No. 559 (January, 1977). ___. 1978a. “My Childhood Sex! -- Doin‟ What Comes Naturally!” Mo Letter No. 779 (June 28 and August 11). ___. 1978b. A7 Supporters! -- For Brave Pioneers -- Or You!” Mo Letter No. 673. ___. 1978c. “Jesus Babies!” Mo Letter No. 739 (December). ___. 1981a. “Glorify God in the Dance!” Mo Letter No. 1026; reprinted in Berg, 1982, pp. 7913B7946. ___. 1981b. The Mo Letters Vol. VII. Zurich: World Services. ___. 1982. The Mo Letters Vols. IX & X. Zurich: Children of God. ___. 1985a. “Grandpa Goes to Heaven!” Chap. 8 (pp. 225-240), Heaven’s Children. Zurich: World Services, 1987. ___. 1985b. “The City of the Future!” Chap. 14 (pp. 293-300), Heaven’s Children. Zurich: World Services, 1987. ___. 1985c. “Grandpa Goes to Earth!” Chap. 21 (pp. 381-392), Heaven’s Children. Zurich: World Services, 1987. Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 30

Charity Frauds Bureau. 1974, September 30. Final Report on the Activities of the Children of God to Hon. Louis J. Lefkowitz Attorney General of the State of New York. Davis, D. (Linda Berg) with B. Davis. 1984. The Children of God: The Inside Story. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Davis, R., & J.T. Richardson. 1976. “The Organization and Functioning of the Children of God.” Sociological Analysis, 37, pp. 321-339. Dekker, R.M., & H.W. Roodenburg. 1983. “A Suitable Case for Treatment? A Reappraisal of Erikson‟s Young Man Luther.” Theory and Society, 12,6, pp. 775-800. Delany, P. 1969. British Autobiography in the Seventeenth Century. London: Routledge & Keagan Paul. DeMause, L. 1994. “The Universality of Incest,” Journal of Psychohistory, 19, 2, pp. 123164. Denny, L.A. 1991, August 22. Correspondence with Stephen A. Kent from the Associate Registrar of Arizona State University. Erikson, E. 1958. Young Man Luther: A Study in Psychoanalysis and History. New York: Norton. ___. 1963. Childhood and Society. New York: Norton. ___. 1968. Identity, Youth, and Crisis. New York: Norton. ___. 1969. Gandhi’s Truth. New York: Norton. Family of Love. 1988. Good News, No. 337 (October). Family of Love News. 1978a. Vol. 7, No. 7. Rome, Italy: The Family of Love [Children of God]. ___. 1978b. Vol. 5, No. 3. Rome, Italy: The Family of Love [Children of God]. Founders of the Children of God. 1989. Child Abuse?! Zurich: World Services (Pamphlet). Freud, S. 1913. Totem and Taboo. Trans. J. Strachey. London: Routledge & Kegan, Paul, 1950. ___. 1927. The Future of an Illusion. Trans. W. D. Robson-Scott. London: Hogarth Press, 1962. ___. 1939. Moses and Monotheism. Trans. K. Jones. New York: Vintage Books. Fromm, E. 1950. Psychoanalysis and Religion. 1972 Reprint. Toronto: Bantam Books. Greven, P. 1991. Spare the Child. The Religious Roots of Punishment and the Psychological Impact of Physical Abuse. New York: Knopf. Harrell, D.E., Jr. 1975. All Things Are Possible: The Healing & Charismatic Revivals in Modern America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Hill, G.M. 1981. David Berg: A Psychohistory. Master‟s thesis, Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, California. Hopkins, J. 1980. “Children of God--Update.” Update, 4, 4, pp. 42-45. Hopkins, J.K. 1982. A Woman to Deliver Her People: Joanna Southcott and English Millenarianism in an Era of Revolution. Austin: University of Texas Press. Kanter, R. 1972. Community and Commitment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kent, S.A. 1987a. “Psychological and Mystical Interpretations of Early Quakerism: William James and Rufus Jones.” Religion, 17, pp. 251-274. ___. 1987b. “Psychology and Quaker Mysticism: The Legacy of William James and Rufus Jones.” Quaker History, 76, 1, pp. 1-17. ___. 1994. “Misattribution and Social Control in the Children of God.” Journal of Religion and Health, 33, 1, pp. 29-43. ___. Interviews. Berg, Merry, 1992 (December 11), 84 pp.; Brown, Sandy [pseudonym], 1988 (August 2), 85 pp.; Davis, Deborah, 1988 (August 6), 56 pp.; Hiebert, David and Marylou, 1989 (July 28), 39 pp.; Lowe, Lucy [pseudonym], February 25, 50 pp.; Meyer, Karen, 1987 (October 31), 40 pp.; Simon, Jane and Luke [pseudonyms], 1989 (February 25), 24 pp. Kent, S.A., & K. Mytrash. Interview. Whitt, Lynn [pseudonym]. 1989 (August 21), 28 pp.

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Lewis, J.R., & J.G. Melton (Eds.). 1994. Sex, Slander, and Salvation. Investigating The Family/Children of God. Stanford, CA: Center for Academic Publication. Lifton, R.J. 1974. “On Psychohistory.” In R.J. Lifton, with E. Olsen (Eds.), Explorations in Psychohistory: The Wellfleet Papers, pp. 21-41. New York: Simon & Schuster. Martin, P. 1967, July. “Faith and Fear for $1.07.” Christian Herald, p. 13ff. McFarland, R. 1994. “The Children of God.” Journal of Psychohistory, 21, 4, pp. 497B499. Melton, J.G. 1986. The Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America. New York: Garland Publishing. Mobilio, A. 1994, July/August. “Inside Publishing: Children of a Lusty God.” Lingua Franca, pp. 16-19. Moore, R.L. 1974. “Justification Without Joy: Psychohistorical Reflections on John Wesley‟s Childhood and Conversion.” History of Childhood Quarterly, 2, pp. 31-52. Morrison, D.E., & C.P. Holden. 1973. “The Burning Bra: The American Breast Fetish and Women‟s Liberation.” In R.R. Evans (Ed.), Social Movements: A Reader and Source Book, pp. 564-583. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing. Mrazek, P.B. 1981. “The Nature of Incest: A Review of Contributing Factors.” In P.B. Mrazek & C.H. Kempe, Sexually Abused Children and Their Families, pp. 97-105. Toronto: Pergamon Press. Muncy, R. 1973. Sex and Marriage in Utopian Communities: 19th-Century America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Pritchett, W.D. 1985. The Children of God/Family of Love: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland. Renvoize, J. 1982. Incest: A Family Pattern. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Richardson, J.T., & R. Davis. 1983. “Experiential Fundamentalism: Revisions of Orthodoxy in the Jesus Movement.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 51, 3, pp. 397-425. Sandeen, E.R. 1971. “John Humphrey Noyes as the New Adam.” Church History, 40, 1, pp. 82-90. Shukan Bunshun. 1992, July 30. “Explosive Revelations of Founder Berg‟s Daughter & Granddaughter.” “„He Raped Me When I was Still a Child,‟” pp. 1-19. Trans. Alpha Omega, Tokyo. Sil, N.P. 1991. Ramakrsna Paramahamsa: A Psychological Profile. Leiden: Brill. Tetlock, P., F. Crosby, & L.C. Travis. 1981. “Political Psychobiography.” Micropolitics, 1, 2, pp. 191-213. Thompson, E. P. 1963. The Making of the English Working Class. New York: Vintage Books, 1966 Edition. Tillett, G. 1982. The Elder Brother: A Biography of Charles Webster Leadbeater. Melbourne: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Van Zandt, D.E. 1991. Living in the Children of God. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Wallis, R. 1978a. “Fishing for Men.” The Humanist, 38,1, pp. 14-16. ___. 1978b, May/June. “Recruiting Christian Manpower.” Society, pp. 72-74. ___. 1981. “Yesterday‟s Children: Cultural and Structural Change in a New Religious Movement.” In B. Wilson (Ed.), The Social Impact of the New Religious Movements, pp. 97-133. New York: Rose of Sharon Press. ___. 1987. “Hostages to Fortune: Thoughts on the Future of Scientology and the Children of God.” In D.G. Bromley & P.E. Hammond, The Future of the New Religious Movements, pp. 80B90. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. Wangerin, R.E. 1982. Make-Believe Revolution: A Study of the Children of God. Doctoral dissertation, City University of New York. ___. 1993. The Children of God: A Make-Believe Revolution? Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.

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___. 1984. “Women in the Children of God: „Revolutionary Women‟ or “„Mountin‟ Maids?” In R. Rohrlich & E.H. Baruch, Women in Search of Utopia: Mavericks and Mythmakers, pp. 130-139. New York: Schocken Books. Watts, M.R. 1978. The Dissenters. Oxford: Clarendon Press. World Services [Children of God]. 1979. “My Little Fish” (August). Pamphlet, 5 pp.; reprinted in World Services, The Story of Davidito. Zurich: World Services, 1982, pp. 443-448. World Services Family [Children of God]. 1991. “The Pubs Purge!” Letter, 2 pp.

Acknowledgments I express my appreciation to the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, whose grant support made possible the collection of documents and interviews that form the basis of this study. Special thanks go to Douglas Schmidt, who assisted me with much of the research, and to Alberta Chu, Jean DeBernardi, and Deana Hall for editing various versions of the text. ******************** Stephen A. Kent is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He has published articles in Philosophy East and West, Journal of Religious History, British Journal of Sociology, Sociological Inquiry, Sociological Analysis, Canadian Journal of Sociology, Quaker History, Comparative Social Research, Journal of Religion and Health, and Religion. His current research concentrates on nontraditional religions. This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1994, Volume 11, Number 2, pages 135-188. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

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Psychological Issues of Former Fundamentalists James C. Moyers, M.A., M.F.C.C. Berkeley, California Abstract Psychological problems of former fundamentalists often involve their past religious beliefs and practices. Recovery will involve careful examination of the way in which their religious history affects their current life. An understanding of the basic tenets and practices of fundamentalism is helpful for the professional who treats such individuals. Most psychotherapists have not been trained to deal with religious issues, and often fail to recognize the importance of religious experience in the lives of their clients. 1 This is particularly likely to be the case when the client is a former member of a religious group with beliefs and practices that diverge from cultural norms. Since the client is no longer associated with the group, the lingering effects of group membership can be easily overlooked or mistakenly attributed to something else. While the experience of individuals involved with cults has been extensively discussed in both popular and professional literature, it is only starting to be recognized that the psychological aftereffects of having been a fundamentalist Christian are very similar.2 Unlike the typical former member of a cult, ex-fundamentalists are likely to have been born into the religion which they left in adolescence or young adulthood. While there are trained exit counselors available for those who leave cults, similar help is not likely to be offered to former fundamentalists. The importance of their unique religious history in relation to subsequent problems is likely to be minimized by former believers as well as the professionals to whom they turn for help. It is not my intention here to debate the merits of fundamentalist Christianity or to try to describe the wide range of experience associated with fundamentalism. Many fundamentalists, as is also true of many members of groups which have been labeled cultic, feel that their beliefs and practices are a very positive aspect of their life which they have no desire to change. I am not so much concerned with their experience as I am with that of those individuals who, often after a great deal of anguish and inner struggle, feel the need to leave fundamentalism. Characteristics of Fundamentalism Saying just what fundamentalism is and is not is almost as difficult as trying to arrive at a definition of “cult” that everyone can agree upon. Strictly defined, fundamentalism is a conservative Protestant movement which adheres to the doctrines outlined in a series of pamphlets, The Fundamentals, published between 1910 and 1915. A distinction is often made between fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity, with the latter being less conservative and authoritarian. In this paper, however, I am using the term fundamentalism in its broadest sense to describe a certain way of viewing the world and humanity‟s place in it. Fundamentalist churches range from small, cultic groups centered around eccentric leaders, beliefs, and practices, to huge internationally established and respected denominations. Fundamentalist traits can also be found in conservative elements within churches generally regarded as liberal. The believer‟s experience may be primarily intellectual in stressing in-depth Bible study or focused on ecstatic “Spirit-filled” emotional states. Despite the Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 34

apparent diversity, there is a common thread of belief running through the fundamentalist community. Christian fundamentalism is above all else founded upon an abiding belief in the Bible as the inerrant word of God. Human nature is regarded as inherently flawed as a result of the entrance of sin into what was originally God‟s perfect creation. God and the devil, as well as innumerable angels and demons, are believed to be objective and personalized beings engaged in an ongoing battle for the possession of each and every human soul. Only through a personal “born again” experience of divine grace can one hope to escape the clutches of the devil. The life of the believer is marked by piety, zeal for evangelism, and adherence to a strict moral code. The Second Coming of Christ, which will bring about the end of the wicked secular world and the establishment of the Kingdom of God, is considered to be imminent as evidenced in the fulfillment of scriptural prophecy.3 Although specific beliefs and practices, along with the Biblical interpretations on which they are based, vary greatly from group to group, fundamentalism in its essence is more an outlook on life than it is a set of doctrines. Fundamentalist religion consistently maintains an attitude of militant opposition to secular culture and liberal theology as well as to scientific and historical views which challenge literal Biblical interpretation. The world outside the church is regarded as evil. Fundamentalists tend to form tightly knit, closed communities to protect their “traditional values” against those of “the world.” All questions, personal and political as well as religious, are likely to be referred to the authority of the Bible as interpreted by church leaders.4 The Shattered Faith Syndrome Many fundamentalists are quite content with their beliefs and way of life. It is not unusual for families to continue to be fundamentalists over the course of several generations, with family life centered around the church. But for some, often young people coming into adulthood, questions about who they are lead to unanswerable questions about what they have learned to regard as truth beyond all questioning. Many, especially those who had been intensely involved with their religion, experience what has been called the “shattered faith syndrome.”5 Having lost faith in what had been their primary source of life meaning and guidance, former believers may well feel lost and overwhelmed, alone and adrift in a world they no longer understand. Estrangement from the church community -- for many fundamentalists the focus of their social life -- as a result of their shattered faith may further add to former fundamentalists‟ sense of isolation and despair. While some former fundamentalists may be at risk for involvement with cults, the experience of having lost faith often produces a generalized distrust of groups and suspicion of all systems of belief. The psychological effects of having left fundamentalism often persist long after the time of one‟s actual departure. Many former fundamentalists experience chronic dissatisfaction and difficulty in finding direction for their lives. They may have a chronic distrust of their own feelings and judgment. At times they may despair in their inability to recapture the certainty that accompanied their former belief that their lives were divinely ordered and led. The fundamentalist belief that pride in oneself is sinful often leaves behind a persistently negative self-image. Long after fundamentalist condemnations of nonmarital sex have been consciously rejected, sexual inhibitions, compulsions, frustrations, and guilt may persist. Having been conditioned to carefully screen every impulse as potentially sinful, ex-believers may rarely be able to be spontaneous and often lack the means for genuine self-expression. A programmed distrust of “the world,” in combination with the disillusionment of having found the church unable to meet their needs, may make it difficult for former fundamentalists to feel a part of any group or make commitments.

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Psychological Issues Apart from my personal experience as an ex-fundamentalist, most of my knowledge of the psychology of former fundamentalists comes from what I have observed in working with such individuals in psychotherapy. In addition to my personal bias, it may be that my view is skewed as a result of its basis in people who were disturbed enough by the course of their lives to seek out professional help. Former fundamentalists are unlikely to come into therapy with their religious past as a presenting issue. They are, of course, subject to the same pathogenic factors as everyone else; a fundamentalist background is by no means an all-inclusive explanation for each and every dysfunction a former fundamentalist may present. But, as the work of therapy proceeds, unresolved conflicts involving the client‟s religious past often become apparent when there is an awareness of such a possibility. Psychological conflicts involving religion should always be approached from a position of neutrality. The therapist needs to walk a fine line between the traditional psychotherapeutic bias against religious experience as pathological and a naïveté about the ways in which religion can sometimes undermine the development of a healthy sense of self. 6 Even when individuals claim to have rejected their former beliefs, one needs to be careful in discussing them. An emphasis on the negative aspects of fundamentalism may trigger a defense of a way of life with which the ex-believer is still unconsciously identified. There may be a strong, even overwhelming sense of shame in having held beliefs which now seem completely untenable. Criticism of fundamentalism may stimulate the shame and be experienced as criticism of the past involvement. It is important to consider the positive as well as the negative aspects of having been a fundamentalist. It can be helpful to outline the involvement with fundamentalism as a developmental stage which has been important, in ways both good and bad, in making the ex-believers who they are. As with other developmental stages, fundamentalism was eventually outgrown. But, unlike most developmental processes, there is rarely an apparent next stage for former fundamentalists to move into, leaving them seemingly adrift with no guidebook or map. Fundamentalism tends to discourage awareness of other religions (even other forms of Christianity), the humanities, and modern critical thought. Education in church schools often furthers cultural and social isolation. Former fundamentalists may be unaware of other approaches to spiritual and existential questions. Referral to books on psychology and religion, as well as readings in comparative religion can be very helpful. 7 Unresolved questions about specific doctrines or scriptural interpretations, as well as general philosophical questions, may arise as former fundamentalists struggle to find a new way of viewing life. Support for such questioning, in contrast to the limits set by fundamentalism, validates the legitimacy of the questions and the individual‟s capacity for independent thought. I have often found that my primary therapeutic role with clients who are former fundamentalists is to provide support and encouragement as they search for an alternative to the fundamentalist philosophy. Since it is the process of the search rather than its details which is of primary importance, it is usually enough to support and respect the need for spiritual and philosophical exploration, even when it leads into territory with which the therapist is unfamiliar. Without the unequivocal pronouncements which once guided their lives, former fundamentalists are apt to feel lost and confused. Regardless of the type of belief system, there is typically a period of time between the collapse of old beliefs and their replacement by a new set of guiding principles. I have known a number of individuals who, as young adults, left fundamentalism to spend several years in a sort of wandering search for a new Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 36

sense of meaning and direction to replace the one they had lost. Kuhn‟s account of the disorientation that occurs when a scientific viewpoint once believed to be definitive fails to fit emerging facts can be applied to the similar confusion that occurs with shifts in religious paradigms.8 Bridge‟s concept of an empty middle phase as a normal part of all transitions is also helpful in normalizing former believers‟ experience of confusion and inner emptiness as a natural part of moving beyond their former view of self and the world.9 Fundamentalist tenets form the believer‟s primary source of meaning and self definition. In leaving their religion, former fundamentalists leave behind what has been the central focus of their lives. As with any loss there is an associated grief process which, however, may not be recognized as such. Acknowledgment of what has been lost and recognition of the depression that is a normal part of such a loss can go a long way toward helping individuals move more quickly and productively through the grief process. Former fundamentalists may feel doubly misunderstood and isolated. Friends and family members who remain in the church may have little tolerance for the experience of those who have “fallen away from the Truth.” Others, who do not share the fundamentalist background, are unlikely to understand the intense and long-lasting effects of having been a fundamentalist. Former believers may not readily make a connection between current life difficulties and past religious experience. Fundamentalist doctrines emphasize human imperfection, declaring that there is no possibility for doing good without the assistance of divine grace. After receiving such grace in the “born-again” or “Spirit-filled” experience, individuals maintain an ongoing connection with it through involvement with the church. When believers‟ idealized image of the church and its leaders fails, they lose what had been the only hope for redemption of their essentially worthless selves. Individual self-esteem, which had been maintained through association with the church and its teachings, will be seriously damaged by such a loss. I have found Carl Jung‟s concept of the Self as an inner, transcendent source of healing and wholeness which may be projected onto institutions and their leaders to be very helpful in understanding this process.10 Much of the recovery process involves reclaiming personal authority that had been given over to fundamentalism. Former fundamentalists may be very adept at meeting the perceived expectations of others. The black-and-white thinking characterized by viewing life in terms of opposites--for example, God vs. Devil, church vs. world, sin vs. righteousness--tends to result in the repression of anything which might be regarded in the least way as unacceptable. In the literalness of the fundamentalist mind-set, an “evil” thought is just as sinful as an actual act. Impulses or feelings that cannot be attributed to the workings of God are likely to be regarded as demonic in origin. Constant self-monitoring and rigid self-control, along with confession in prayer of every sin, are necessary to avoid divine condemnation. Denial, repression, and splitting, as well as the development of a false or as-if self, are prominent defense mechanisms which continue to function long after the conscious rejection of fundamentalist precepts. It is necessary to work gently and slowly in helping former fundamentalists uncover longdenied emotions. They are likely to need continual reassurance that there is nothing inherently evil in having negative feelings, and that recognition of the fact of their existence does not mean that such feelings will be acted upon. Confrontational techniques may only add to these individuals‟ sense of failure, guilt, and shame when they are unable to respond to what are perceived as demands for emotional expression. Strongly held fundamentalist beliefs can greatly complicate family dynamics when not all family members share those beliefs. While departure from a cult often reunites families, exiting from fundamentalism may in effect be a separation from family as well. Former fundamentalists may feel anger, pain, and grief in being misunderstood and judged Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 37

negatively by family members who continue to be involved with the church. Such individuals will need support in maintaining a personal outlook that clashes with their families‟ deeply held faith. Family interactions may become dominated by the well-meant attempts of the “faithful” to persuade their “lost loved one” to return to “the Truth.” The ex-believers‟ desire to win family and friends over to their condemnation of fundamentalism is often as strong as the desire of those still in the church to “bring the lost sheep back into the fold.” The realization that luring believers away from their faith is no more justifiable than is the attempt to reconvert someone who has left is often a major turning point in the former fundamentalist‟s recovery. Dysfunctional family patterns are sometimes hidden behind an idealized image of the church-affiliated family. Such an image is likely to fail with the loss of faith in the church. Discovery of pathology in a former fundamentalist‟s family will represent yet another challenge to previous beliefs. Adolescents from fundamentalist families often rebel by violating the strict moral codes upheld by their parents. Sexual acting out, running away, and substance abuse may represent a young person‟s dysfunctional attempt to assert autonomy against the overbearing authority of parents and church. Divorce and bitter child custody disputes rooted in black-and-white conflicts over transcendent values often follow the separation of one spouse from fundamentalism while the other remains. Some groups actively discourage contact with anyone who leaves the church, effectively cutting off the former believer from family members who stay in the church. Conclusion The psychological issues presented by former fundamentalists are unique primarily in the degree to which they involve the client‟s religious background. As when working with someone who has left a cult, a professional working with former fundamentalists must be prepared to be open-minded in dealing with what may seem to be unusual, perhaps even bizarre beliefs and practices, while bearing in mind that such beliefs and practices were once one of the most important influences in the client‟s life. In addition to the usual goals of psychotherapy, the former fundamentalist will also need assistance in understanding how his or her religious past affects current functioning, resolving lingering religious conflicts, and seeking sources of meaning more congruent with current beliefs and lifestyle. Notes 1. A.E. Bergin, “Psychotherapy and Religious Values,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48 (1980), pp. 95B105. E.P. Shafranske & R.R. Gorsuch, “Factors Associated With the Perception of Spirituality in Psychotherapy,” Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 16 (1984), pp. 231-241. 2. J.C. Moyers, “Religious Issues In the Psychotherapy of Former Fundamentalists,” Psychotherapy, 27, 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 42-45. Marlene Winell, Leaving the Fold: A Guide For Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion (Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, 1993). While some may object to a comparison between cults and such an established element in American religion as fundamentalism, Winell‟s outline (pp. 15-25) of the psychological issues that afflict former fundamentalists is very similar to Margaret Singer‟s description of the characteristics of former cult members (M.T. Singer, with J. Lalich, Cults in Our Midst [San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995], pp. 299-327). The respect-versus-abuse model developed by Michael Langone (“Psychological Abuse,” Cultic Studies Journal, 9, 2 [1992], pp. 206-218) focuses on violation of four aspects of personhood (mind, autonomy, identity, and dignity) as key factors in psychological abuse. Such violations are readily apparent in fundamentalism: fundamentalists tend to discourage independent thinking about the key tenets of their beliefs; making decisions about one‟s Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 38

personal life independent of church guidelines is condemned; the fundamentalist is encouraged to find his or her primary identity through group membership; frequent references to the worthless state of the individual (in the words of a hymn: “such a worm as I”) apart from the divine grace mediated by the church does little to support healthy self-esteem. While the questions in the Group Psychological Abuse Scale developed by Chambers, Langone, Dole, & Grice (“The Group Psychological Abuse Scale: A Measure of the Varieties of Cultic Abuse,” Cultic Studies Journal, 11,1 [1994], pp. 68-117) would have to be slightly adjusted to fit the specific beliefs and practices of fundamentalist Christians (for example, changing “The group believes or implies its leader is divine” to “leader(s) has(have) special understanding of scriptures or a special connection to God”), the former fundamentalists with whom I have had contact would identify the scales of compliance, exploitation, mind control, and anxious dependence as characteristic of their former churches. See Winell, especially the “Manipulations Checklist” on pp. 85B86. As is true of groups holding nontraditional beliefs, fundamentalist groups range from the very abusive through the relatively benign to those which are clearly not abusive. The problems stem not so much from the beliefs themselves as the rigidity with which they are held and imposed on group members. 3. G. Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980). 4. G. Marsden, “Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christianity,” in Mircea Eliade (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Religion (New York: Macmillan, 1987), Vol. 5, pp. 191-197. C.B. Strozier, Apocalypse: On the Psychology of Fundamentalism (Boston: Beacon Press, 1994). 5. R. Yao, Addiction and the Fundamentalist Experience (New York: Fundamentalists Anonymous, 1987). 6. J.S. Gordon, “The Cult Phenomenon and the Psychotherapeutic Response,” Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 11 [1983], pp. 603-615. 7. Winell (pp. 278-297) gives an extensive reading list as well as recommending other resources. Her book is an excellent resource for both former fundamentalists and professionals, and could be easily adapted for use in cult exit counseling. 8. T. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (2nd ed.) (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1970). 9. W. Bridges, Transitions (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1980). 10. I usually recommend Jung‟s autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (New York: Random House, 1965), as more accessible than his other more specialized writings. ******************** James C. Moyers, a licensed marriage, family, and child counselor, is an individual and couples therapist in private practice in Berkeley, California. In addition to a graduate degree in transpersonal counseling psychology, he did undergraduate work in religious studies. A former Seventh-Day Adventist, he is very interested in the development of heterodox religion as well as the relation of psychology and spirituality. This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1994, Volume 11, Number 2, pages 189-199. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

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Promises and Illusions: A Commencement Address to the SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome, New York Herbert L. Rosedale, Esq. AFF Abstract On May 13, 1995, Herbert Rosedale addressed the graduating class of the State University of New York‟s Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome. The address cautions students against getting so caught up in and thrown off balance by the modern world‟s frenetic pace and seemingly glittering opportunities that they become vulnerable to hucksters‟ promises of complete security or absolute certainty. The address discusses the deceptive, manipulative ways in which cultic groups lure the unsuspecting; presents historical and contemporary examples of otherwise decent people being manipulated into performing evil acts; and offers certain principles that graduates might keep in mind in order to avoid the “adoption of a narrow perspective that refuses to see beyond boundaries dictated by another.” I would like to dedicate my remarks to the hundreds of members of destructive cults whom I have seen emerge from the cloud of narrowed thought into the bright sunlight of assertion of their own free will. I also dedicate this to those other millions who I hope in their time will join other former cult members in sharing the spirit of liberty and pursuing their own choice of individual happiness. And I dedicate this to the families of current and former cult members everywhere. Today‟s world is one in which we confront a daunting array of challenges and a dazzling string of promises. Given the accelerating speed with which the world changes, challenges emerge in startling, sometimes confusing profusion. Often we appear to be merely observers in a scene so dominated by change that freshman courses are outdated by the sophomore year. This is true for specifics, as well as generalities. When I was a student, the industrial age was being transformed into the postindustrial age, which now has given way to the age of communication, soon to be followed by the age of introspection. If we keep going in that direction, we may see the age of contemplation, and then the age of utter silence. All of this speedy transformation not only tends to bewilder us but also presents us with the challenge of how to fit into a kaleidoscopic world. Institutions that we believed were indestructible, on which we relied -- such as the family, the nationstate, and the community of nations -- have been shaken, and we now confront the widespread belief in the diminished ability of any individual to make a difference, as well as experiencing a pervasive sense of personal insecurity. Indeterminacy is no longer just a law of physics; it has become a principle of economics and personal relationships. Nothing is safe or secure. There is no firm borderline between “there” and “here.” In such a world, the challenge each of us faces is how we individualize ourselves and make a place and mark upon this apparently chaotic world. In seeking to meet this challenge, we are often diverted by glittering promises. Hucksters of various stripes hold out the lure of complete security or absolute certainty. They flash the bait of unconditional approval, the taste of complete power, a quick peek at unconditional loyalty, and finally suggest the joy of total surrender. Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 40

But all of these are shadows cast by flickering light on the walls of Plato‟s cave. They are nothing but manipulative devices projected to divert you from the goals you seek, as the one who makes the promise imposes his hidden agenda. This agenda aims to place you in a state of narrowed consciousness, so as to effect the surrender of your critical thought, resulting in abdication of your rationality. In the decade that I have dealt with destructive cults, time and time again I have observed the offer of such promises. These false illusions -- spun out deliberately toward a person at moments of indecision or emotional stress -- seek to steal from each individual his or her persona and critical sense. These lures reek of soporific incense, relieving the stress of decision making and substituting dulled acquiescence. Cult recruiters conceal their identity, their real intent and motives. Their false sets of promises are constructed to offer what they believe you want or need at a given moment of time. These promises are not designed to bring fulfillment, but are merely lures. A cult recruiter approaches a person during moments of difficulty -- for example, when a personal relationship is strained or you‟re at a crossroads in life without assurance that any choice will be certain to be right. Cult recruitment is a process designed so that the only choice you need to make is that of surrender, which, of course, is not disclosed. A new lifestyle, new values and a new all-powerful leader are there to be grasped as salvation in the midst of the angst of the moment, along with making a commitment to a life of supposed idealistic fulfillment. Succumbing to this kind of solicitation results not from any fault or deficiency within us. Rather, it is our trust, humaneness, and idealism that feed into the success rates of cult recruitment. The entire recruitment process rests on concealment and callous manipulative abuse of power. It‟s as much a scam as the sale of watered stock, counterfeit merchandise, or automobiles with rigged odometers. And who are the people injured by this theft? Those who have seen their ideals spirited away, who have set out to do good and ameliorate the ills of the world but find themselves empty vessels filled with someone else‟s sound and fury. They were willing to invest themselves in righting the wrongs they perceived, but were left with their trust twisted, left bearing the scars of abuse: starving children, beaten women, stacks of corpses, victims of murderous zealots. How does this relate to events of recent years? We observe devotees who sacrificed their critical thought to the dictates of a single-minded leader who carried them away from questioning and using their own minds to the point where they engaged in behavior that might be considered beyond bizarre, even barbaric. Abandoning their own independent judgment in favor of submission to the will of others, they appear to have committed unthinkable, unspeakable acts. We wonder how intelligent people could commit such acts. When people forfeit their critical thought and independence, they no longer act as rational individuals but merely as vassals of an authoritarian leader. Exercise of power corrupts these leaders, and absolute power corrupts them absolutely. History shows numerous examples of people who, when co-opted into a totalist group, committed acts they would not have performed if they‟d been acting on exercise of their own free will. Mothers fed their children poisoned Fla-Vor-Aid at Jonestown. At Waco, an escapee from the burning building turned and ran back into the firestorm. In a California suburb, mothers asked a court to return their children to the control of a leader found guilty of murdering another child in the group. Members of the Solar Temple engaged in mutual slaughter. Parents in a northern New England group birched the flesh off the backs of their children because they made an unseemly noise while the leader was speaking. Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 41

Examples of people carrying out barbarous acts and using the justification that they were only “following orders” strike resonant chords in us. In Hitler‟s Germany, doctors and judges professing integrity maintained a cozy, private family life while carrying out the barbaric dictates of a totalitarian society with chilling efficiency. Students in a well-known psychological experiment inflicted what they believed to be dangerous levels of pain on an unconsenting subject when instructed to do so by a person possessing apparent authority. We have many examples of intelligent people abdicating their moral values after having surrendered their critical thought. But those who were in such groups or situations did not choose at the outset to involve themselves in a total loss of rationality or to commit these base acts. They only thought they were joining a group dedicated to social improvement, fighting against a perceived inequity or injustice. They were taken in by the initial sales pitch, trusting the charismatic and convincing leader. By the time these followers realized that the agenda was far more broad and more frightening, they had lost their capacity for critical thought and were locked into a group, cut off from their familial and prior personal connections, and deprived of access to unfiltered information or the ability to participate in discussions with someone other than a like-minded clone. In our country, many scholars have long acknowledged a paranoid style in American politics, and we have often seen tendencies in some to view the world as dominated by various conspiracies. Today there is a proliferation of apocalyptic and xenophobic groups held together by a paranoid belief that we are at the edge of some great cataclysm after which only the “elect” will survive. In following that view, they prepare themselves for Armageddon, not eschewing violence but grasping it firmly and without limit. They arm themselves for the inevitable war. They distance themselves from individuals who do not share their beliefs and disparage all institutions they do not control. These people are not only in remote locations far removed from us. They are also in our cities and towns. They are on our campuses and in our churches. They are the merchants of dread. These people believe that all their troubles are traceable solely to sources outside themselves. The “outsiders” are denominated variously as individuals of immense wealth and power, international bankers, foreigners, governmental agents or provocateurs, or, in some instances, all of those who believe differently from the “chosen few.” Clearly, these people believe they are above all but their own interpretation of the law. Their ends justify the use of any means, and they regard the death of innocents as a price that may be required for the advance of their cause. But there is no Valhalla, no paradise, no idealized end. All that is held out is resistance and alienation. None of these groups have a worldview in which you or I will survive that final battle. Their idealized world is a return to a fictional garden of Eden stripped of all discordant humanity. Promises of entry into an idealized world sound a bit too good to be true. Their shallowness and illusory nature derive from their absolute character. A patina of uncritical approval, which appears to vest us with attributes we know we do not fully possess, is often included in this process. While this seductive and manipulative solicitation has been described as “love bombing,” it is really “mind sapping.” For those who extend this shimmering adulation seek only to achieve their end, which is to attract a new member. How far recruits fall when they learn it was all an act and that they were led to accept the pretense for reality! There is nothing new in the attempt to sell the virtues of slavery. How bitter the fruit is when the trusting recruit learns that unconditional loyalty requires infliction of pain on others, public self-humiliation, violation of law, living in a state of dread and depression, suffering the exploitation of women, and inflicting abuse on children. All of these may be required for the purpose of proving the completeness of the individual‟s surrender and the

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unquestioned nature of obedience. The evil is easily seen afterwards when the veil is lifted, but there are cautions evident to the wary even while the web is being spun. Insistence on complete dependence, erosion of self-respect, and rejection of critical thought as abhorrent to the achievement of a group‟s goals are bright signs of the slippery slope ahead. When even the slightest remnant of individuality is subject to elimination -- including choosing your career, spouse, clothing, or even the maintenance of your name -- an alarm should sound. Pressing for submission and unconditional obedience or seeking the abandonment of intellectual reflection in dedication to a movement is not novel. For thousands of years venal leaders have sought the abdication of reason and promised millennial solutions. The pied piper, for example, is not new to us, but what is new in our contemporary society are the trappings with which pipers adorn themselves and the technologies of persuasion they utilize. Often the appeal is characterized under the guise of a “new age” or the label of a Anew religious movement.” Sometimes a manipulative message is wrapped in Eastern dress, claiming a false heritage and pedigree it does not possess. If, by chance, you state that the message does not make sense, it is turned around on you and you are marked as deficient. If you don‟t connect up, it‟s because you‟re not opening yourself to new thoughts. If you don‟t join, it‟s because you‟re a prisoner of the establishment or caught in a commitment to institutions whose time has passed. If you don‟t stay, it‟s because you don‟t possess true ideals but are selfish, and certainly you can‟t expect to understand all these purportedly wondrous ideas without putting the rest of your life on hold. Of course, this hard sell doesn‟t work well in the light of day or after reflection or communication with others, so it must be sold and pushed in the half-light of twilight or before dawn. Decisions must be made before the sun rises and light shines on these ideas. Critical thought and discussion is anathema and the recruit must be put in the position of an isolated receptor with access only to fully indoctrinated group members. Another infallible indication of the misleading and manipulative nature of these promises is the claimed urgency of the need for immediate commitment. The time trap is an invariable warning light. The need to commit before reflection or discussion with those who might have a different point of view is contrary to the education you have received. Your own ability to accept or reject ideas should overcome someone else‟s assertion of your inability to understand. There should always be enough time to explain. The only bus is not about to leave. The attempt to substitute someone else‟s judgment for your own is insufficient, no matter how stridently urged, as an acceptable basis for making an idea or belief your own. You should hold it up to the light and turn it first one way and then another to see how you interpret it and if you really want to make it yours. The urging that you give up that process because you are incapable of making those choices is an insult. We each know that what we treasure most differs somewhat from what another person holds dear. Ideas may be shared, but each person should go through her or his own examination of alternatives, which might result in a particular choice that will not always conform to another‟s. Suggesting that what was good for another must be good for you should raise an immediate warning, an immediate query as to why this imposed uniformity is so crucial. Similarly, identification of only one individual or group as the repository of all that is true and good, with everything outside indelibly tainted by evil often signals an ulterior purpose. If there were ultimate truth in such an assertion, why are there so many claimed exclusive sources of true and good, where each regards the others as flawed and evil? And why do so many of these messiahs, masters, and gurus use the same manipulative methods of Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 43

recruitment and retention? Given our pluralistic society‟s commitment to the free exchange of ideas and the defense of the right to disagree, the urging of totalistic authoritarianism and the denigration of all “outsiders” under whatever banner raises a warning. Under the cloak of such claims -- whether religious or patriotic -- hides the potential for the use of violence and regression to an age of bigotry and know-nothingism. The lures and scams that are out there today are not only in the political and religious selfhelp arenas, but they extend to the business world as well. Cultic management training groups claim to be able to improve an employer‟s bottom line and at the same time reform the personalities of the workforce, as well as adjust their families to newly dictated modes of behavior. Working for such an employer is not a job or career and you‟re not “in good hands” under such a regimen. It is a misappropriation of employees‟ lives and an unwanted intrusion into their privacy and constitutional freedom. In the political area, some nominally patriotic groups aim at destruction of our political system, hoping to substitute one where liberty exists only for those who share their views. In academia, cult groups have taken over universities without disclosure of their ties or their agendas. This fosters erosion of professional values and substitutes dogmatic thinking where ideas are accepted or rejected solely because of their conformity to the group‟s doctrine, not because of their intrinsic merit. Recognizing the importance of the media in today‟s world, cultic groups have obtained ownership and control of newspaper and television interests. Cults also contribute to debasing our language by substituting slogans and intricate symbols to distort communication. Words generally understood in one form with an accepted meaning are conveyed with a twist not readily ascertainable to the outsider. Obvious examples surface when we examine the self-labeling of these groups. For example: The Unification Church recruiting arm is called the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP). Certainly not something a new joiner would believe to be a religious group proselytizing for a new messiah. The Church of Scientology promotes its scripture through personality tests and communication courses, with no indication of its religious aim. Some groups that seek to change our government and purport to identify an evil cabal at the root of all our misery use bland names like the Historic Preservation Association or the Institute of Historical Review. This use of language has as its purpose the substitution of propaganda for truth. It seeks to eliminate objective evaluation of ideas by any manner other than the litmus test of cultic correctness. It applies this test, without restriction, to matters of current financial or political interest, and propositions of science, law, education, and medicine. In this era of the rapid development of technology of communication, we must understand that the quality of information supplied must be related to the identity of the parties supplying it. Without that, we may not readily be able to identify the informer‟s perspective and bias. Working within an accepted belief in something like “heavenly deception,” a zealot‟s underlying manipulative motive distorts what could otherwise be expected to be straightforward. That applies to revisionist history, the promise of new science, and the development of “novel” theories in education, medicine, and other professional arenas. These new world schemes should be carefully checked out lest they be no more than simply a science fiction writer‟s musings elevated to dogmatic scripture, or yet another instance of orchestrated Orwellian chanting of “war is peace.” Today‟s challenge requires that each of us build our individual critical thought and increase our self-reliance. Promises that are real are able to be fulfilled within your own personal self. They rest on the interaction of yourself with the external world. Each of you faces an individual challenge. You cannot fulfill the promise of your future by surrendering to a collective will. You must be prepared for the excitement of the unanticipated, the discovery that there is more to the Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 44

world than you thought there would be. To sort out the false from the real, you must recognize that every expressed idea is not of equal worth no matter how forcefully presented. The world is not made of green cheese; the sun does not move around the Earth; the Earth is not flat; and those black objects buzzing overhead may be flies not helicopters. Education has expanded your horizons, taken you on a journey to this point. Think how different you are from the person who embarked upon a college education a few years ago. Reflect on how many times you shifted direction, how many times you found something in yourself, in another, or in the world around you that you had not dreamed existed. Think of how many new people you met, how many new songs you heard, how many new skills you acquired, and, during the course of this journey, how many times you had an unexpected joy, saw a serendipitous solution as soap bubbles rising or an apple falling or experienced that famous individual “aha” reaction. A real promise is a promise of tomorrow, one that rejects absolutes and simplistic solutions and builds on your own self-confidence and self-respect, along with increasing respect for others who may differ from you. A real promise avoids the ideology of zealotry or the adoption of a narrow perspective that refuses to see beyond boundaries dictated by another. With it comes an understanding that power and knowledge contain responsibility and are not enhanced by an abusive need to establish dominance over another. Indeterminacy or uncertainty is not a vice. It may well be the ultimate opportunity. We have the ability to choose and the proclivity to change our minds and choose again. We have the right to make mistakes, recognize them, and correct them. We have the ability to reach out and help others and support them, not because we are told by another to do so, but because we want to. In doing so, we have the ability to recognize that we do not have to control those we help or make them identical to us. Our differences may be sources of celebration. They do not prevent us from living together. There is no single walled path that we must follow to our destiny. This would not be a gateway to tomorrow, but reentry to a maze of yesterdays. During the past four years, you have experienced a process of learning that has led to this moment of graduation, moving you from one stage of knowledge, of ideas and attitudes, to another which might be quite different from where you began. We are at a commencement, not an ending. It is a looking forward, a beginning of another stage of life. It is a life where you yourselves will make your future choices and assert control over your own destiny. Each of you, with the support of others, has gone through an experience of enhancing your own personal sense of responsibility. It is something that you cannot and should not give up to anyone else. It is your unique gift and your opportunity. Having come this far with the support of those who care about you and with the aid of those who helped you grow, do not give it all up and sell it in a supine surrender. Rely on your own common sense and, as stated by a Jonestown survivor, firmly believe that what sounds too good to be true, probably is. ********************** Herbert L. Rosedale, Esq., president of AFF, is a senior partner at Parker Chapin Flattau & Klimpl in New York City. This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1994, Volume 11, Number 2, pages 200-210. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write. Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 45

Sleep Deprivation Jean-Louis Valatx, M.D. National Institute of Health and Medical Research Lyons, France Abstract Various methods of sleep deprivation are used to control people. Here the author reviews the known sleep cycles, then describes the process of sleep deprivation and the common effects on the subject. Risk areas--such as families living in poor conditions, varied work schedules that interfere with normal sleep, cultic groups, and imprisonment and criminal interrogations--are described. When imposed willfully on a subject, sleep deprivation is seen as a violation of basic human rights. Sleep deprivation is one of the means used to control people. It was used as effectively by the Romans and during the Inquisition as it is today. It is always around, used not only by the police during interrogations in various countries--whether “dictatorships” or “democracies” -- but also by cultic communities. Sleep deprivation is often used in conjunction with other means of control in order to increase its effectiveness, such as dietary restrictions, sensory deprivation (light, sound, or physical contact), and repetitive, monotonous stimulations (light, sounds, words, etc.). Scientific awareness of the physiological effects of sleep deprivation is a relatively recent development. The first study was done in 1896, but most of the work in this field is less than 30 years old, and parallels the progress made in the field of neurobiology. First, I include a simple review of the physiology of sleep in order to facilitate one‟s understanding of the effects of total or partial sleep deprivation, which are detailed in the second section of this essay. This is followed by an outline of the “risk zones,” where sleep deprivation could be taking place without the subject‟s being fully aware of what‟s going on. Sleep Cycles The alternation of repose and activity is a characteristic of the living world. Sleep, the most evolved form of repose, always proceeds along the same pattern no matter which mammal is observed. The Desire for Sleep After a certain period of being awake, a desire to go to sleep is recognizable by certain wellknown signs: yawning, rubbing the eyelids, and gradual loss of attention. This is the opportune moment to go to bed. The person gets into a sleeping posture, which varies according to the surrounding temperature (in a ball, if cold; stretched out, if hot). If a person resists going to sleep, the desire to go to sleep lasts for about 15 to 20 minutes, then disappears, only to reappear at a later time. Sleeping Sleeping is possible only if the person feels secure. Calm sleep is characterized by closed eyelids; calm, regular breathing; an absence of bodily movements, and slowing down of brain activity (slow waves). The sleep becomes deeper and deeper. This first stage of sleep lasts around 80 to 90 minutes. Paradoxical Sleep Paradoxical sleep follows after calm sleep. This stage is very special. Here, the person experiences a profound sleep (complete muscular paralysis), with brain activity close to that Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 46

of being awake, with numerous eye movements, and irregular heart and breathing activity. Paradoxical sleep lasts about 20 minutes. A person awakened in the course of this sleep stage can relate very precise memories of dreaming. Men, from birth to a very advanced age, often experience genital erection without any connection to dream content. The time period for both calm and paradoxical sleep constitutes a sleep cycle of about 100 minutes. During the night, depending on the amount of sleep time, 4 to 6 such cycles occur in regular succession. The duration of nocturnal sleep averages 7 2 to 8 hours, but it can vary from 3 to 12 hours depending on the individual. Clinical and experimental studies have shown that besides environmental influences, heredity also influences the amount of sleep time. There are families of “short” (less than 6 hours) and “long” (more than 9 hours) sleepers. Natural hybridization (one parent a short sleeper, the other a long sleeper) produces short, medium, or long sleepers. This idea is important in understanding a person‟s resistance to sleep deprivation. Present-day concepts of sleep mechanisms suggest that, while a person is awake, the brain synthesizes some natural soporifics, which under the influence of the biological clock cause sleepiness at the end of the day. Sleep Deprivation Sleep deprivation is the prevention of the normal process of sleep. It is easy to understand that prolongation of the state of wakefulness involves an accumulation of natural soporifics which can be metabolized into toxic derivatives. These are the source of the various problems described here. This hypothesis accounts for the gradually increasing difficulties encountered during the period of deprivation. Each of the difficulties discussed here, however, is not exclusively caused by sleep deprivation, as each can be observed in other pathological circumstances, in which the presence of several of these symptoms can call attention to the possibility of sleep deprivation. Methods Used The methods used to prevent sleep are quite varied (physical exercise, shaking a person, shock, stress, solitary confinement, etc.). The list can be added to with the imagination of the experimenter or torturer. Upon cessation of such stimuli, if the subject is allowed to fall asleep freely, sleep time is increased. This is the phenomenon of recuperation or sleep rebound. This increase in sleep varies with each person, and represents, at the most, 50% to 60% of the sleep debt. Effects The effects of sleep deprivation vary with each person. They appear within 24 hours after the lack of sleep. The effects are multiple; their appearance and intensity are a function of the length of deprivation and the person‟s stress level. Mood problems. Mood problems are the first to occur: increasing irritability and irascibility; alternating rapid fluctuations (lasting several minutes) of euphoria and depression, with perhaps an indifference to one‟s environment and a desire to be alone. Unstable psychomotor activity. Unstable psychomotor activity renders the person unable to remain still. There is a desire to move around, change position (sit, stand). Because of this, the person has difficulty in focusing his or her attention. Somatic problems. Somatic problems are characterized by prickling or tingling sensations in the hands and feet, involuntary muscle contractions in the eyelids and at the base of extremities. Tests also show an increase in sensitivity to pain.

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Visual problems. Visual problems occur after 2 to 3 days without sleep. They are quite varied: experiencing ocular smarting; seeing halos around lights, sometimes with double vision, making reading difficult; having the impression that objects are changing in form (the sun shimmering, blinking lights). Some people experience true hallucinations. At first, the person sees some threads or hairs that she tries to remove; she thinks she sees worms or ants on her skin (diagnosable as dysesthesia). Some solitary seamen, often short of sleep, have seen a cow on the bridge of their ships or a high-speed train passing in midAtlantic. Thought disorganization. A certain amount of thought disorganization can occur, manifested by diminishing ideation, difficulties in finding the correct word and retaining logical reasoning, and memory loss. In addition, sleep-deprived people have difficulties in initiating new projects (“amnesia of the future”), essentially preoccupying themselves with the daily routine. Perception of time is altered: sometimes the subject believes time passes quickly, sometimes that it is passing slowly. Lack of sleep augments suggestibility; that is, if actions are suggested, the person will follow through, even though he wouldn‟t have if he hadn‟t been sleep-deprived. The potential for this increases with the use of alcohol and psychotropic drugs, and is accompanied by several hours of amnesia. For this reason, people can commit or be victims of criminal activities without being able to recall them. Vegetative syndrome. A vegetative syndrome occurs inconsistently, with moderate tachycardia and light hyperthermia (381-38.51C). Cephalic and gastrointestinal disturbances and an increase in libido have also been observed. Risk Areas for Sleep Deprivation It is possible to identify three groups at risk for sleep deprivation. 1. Families and Cultic Groups Children are the first victims of poor living conditions (noise, overcrowding, television). Adolescents show a deficit of sleep rhythms; most often with a late bedtime comes partial sleep deprivation. These permanent partial deprivations can be the source of attention problems, motor instability, irritability or apathy -- a source often ignored in understanding lack of academic achievement. Adults, whether short or long sleepers, tend to impose their sleep routine on those around them, which can be the cause of numerous conflicts. Sleeping is an individual characteristic, as much as eye color is. In cultic groups, a daily schedule imposed on everyone alike is endured only by those people who have the same needs and same rhythms, and also a good capacity to adapt to change. This “adaptability” varies with age, and also depends on hereditary factors. These “lifestyles,” under the pretext of asceticism, can be a factor in conditioning people. Respecting each person‟s needs and ability to adapt is part of a fundamental respect for human rights. Actually, one of the expected functions of sleeping and dreaming is the preservation of the individual personality. During the course of dreaming, innate components of the personality come forth and integrate with daily events in order to achieve a harmonious adaptation to the environment. The “right to dream” is a primal factor in resisting psychological conditioning. 2. Work Schedules Sleep is favored when a person has a regular schedule. Every change of schedule brings sleep disturbances. Night work, postal work, irregular shifts (chauffeurs and truckers, frequent transcontinental flights) provoke troubles similar to those described in Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 48

experimental sleep deprivation. Frequent repetition of these problems can bring on a narcoleptic syndrome, characterized by unexpected occurrence of paradoxical sleep during waking hours -- the source of numerous accidents on the road and at work. 3. The Criminal Justice System During interrogations. Prolonged interrogations are a source of sleep deprivation. Confessions or statements obtained under such conditions should be subject to careful checking because of individuals‟ increased suggestibility. In prisons. Some conditions of imprisonment (isolation or crowded conditions) can cause significant sleep deprivation because of the restrictions on behavior. Prescribing tranquilizers, which is perhaps overdone, increases suggestibility and is a means used to attempt to mitigate poor detention conditions. *** In conclusion, sleep deprivation is a condition found more and more frequently. Used willfully, it is an attack on the person physically and psychically. It is pernicious and perverse in that it does not allow normal physical functioning and it increases suggestibility to accept abnormal situations, making a person believe that he is acting in full possession of his faculties. ******************** Jean-Louis Valatx, M.D., is research director at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Lyons, France. This article is an electronic version of an article originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1994, Volume 11, Number 2, pages 211-216. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

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Book Reviews Therapy Gone Mad: The True Story of Hundreds of Patients and a Generation Betrayed. Carol Lynn Mithers. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1994, 409 pages. In her recently released book, Therapy Gone Mad, Carol Mithers chronicles the birth, life, and demise of the psychotherapy cult known as The Center for Feeling Therapy, of which I was a member. Born out of the hopes and dreams of the 1960s, the Center flourished through the 1970s, reflecting the psychological and social climate of the times. Mithers uses the single case history of the Center to tell the story of a generation disillusioned by politics (Watergate), grieving for its fallen heroes (Martin Luther King, JFK), and searching for true community and the meaning of life. The book describes a generation caught up in the human potential movement, who searched for “self-actualization” and worshiped the “peak experience.” Therapy Gone Mad is also the story of some of the casualties of those times. With sensitivity and respect, Mithers captures the idealism, the grandiosity, as well as the struggles and suffering of the people who were there. Her characterizations of the two charismatic men who emerged as leaders -- Joseph Hart and Richard Corriere -- are perceptive and highlight personality characteristics of many such leaders. Mithers documents the two men‟s journey from obscurity as a professor and a student at the University of California, Irvine, to sought-after talk-show guests, catapulting themselves and the little Hollywood community into first national, then international status. While the book lacks an in-depth understanding of the dynamics between the two leaders, this deficiency is more a reflection of the secrecy that surrounded their relationship than any failure on the part of the author. Without ever using the word cult or labeling Robert Lifton‟s eight criteria for thought reform, Mithers describes in easily readable narrative form the systematic dismantling of the Self. Through the eyes of 48 former members, the author clearly depicts the regressive techniques that destroyed individual boundaries until only one giant group ego mass remained. The book illustrates how Lifton‟s well-known characteristics of milieu control, loading the language, demand for purity, and so on, each came to be manifested at the Center, infantilizing its members, and how the threat of insanity if one left kept them psychologically hostage. Therapy Gone Mad is accurate in its description of the nature of the Center, its practices, its evolution, and the forces that led up to its demise in November 1980. Mithers utilized not only personal interviews, but also audiotapes and videotapes, personal notebooks, court records, and books and research articles published by the leaders themselves. However, as the saying goes, there are 350 stories in this community, and hearing each one would add another piece of understanding to a complex phenomenon. For example, omitted were the experiences of older patients, men and women in their thirties and forties with already established lives, who came for therapy seeking support and guidance during times of crisis and/or loss. Although the author alludes to their experiences, a more in-depth treatment would have added a dimension to the book that is currently missing. In defense of Mithers, she was handicapped by needing access to a population so traumatized by the experience that few would agree to be interviewed. We had tried to put the past behind us, to salvage what we could of our previous lives; we had struggled to move forward and were protective of our identities. Still reeling from having our idealism and trust betrayed, the last thing we wanted was to have our wounds exploited as well. Having read the result of Mithers‟s extraordinary efforts to be accurate rather than

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sensational, I am thankful that she persisted despite the obstacles. Upon reading the book, one is left with a sense of validation and self-respect, rather than a sense of victimization. I believe that former members of other abusive groups will easily identify with the stories related here, and will perhaps end up with a better understanding of their own experience. Although a history of one abusive group, this account is a tale of all such groups in which the principles of thought reform are operating. Therapy Gone Mad is recommended to all who strive to understand the powerful influences whereby relatively normal human beings can give up all that they hold dear, including children and their own identities, in the name of a higher purpose. Doni Whitsett, Ph.D. Encino, California

Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon: A History of the Mystics, Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America. Peter Washington. Schocken Books, New York, NY, 1995, 470 pages. Theosophy as discussed in Peter Washington‟s highly informative and entertaining survey has less to do with any sophisticated notion of “divine wisdom” than it has with a host of preposterous pretenders who successfully attracted thousands of seekers devoted to experiencing and unveiling hidden truths. In short, the Theosophists attempted to make occultism respectable in an age of scientism. According to Washington, these neo-occultists and their progeny have essentially failed, as the jacket liner notes tell us, in a “curious comedy of passion, power and gullibility.” Heading the list is Madame Helena P. Blavatsky (1831-1891), whose colorful character ranged from the ribald to the sublime. HPB, as she has been known to the Theosophists, cofounded the Theosophical Society (TS) with Colonel Henry S. Olcott and a few others who were interested in spirit contact and psychic phenomena in New York in 1875. In today‟s New Age jargon, HPB became the main “channeler” for TS. Within a few decades TS stimulated an ever-splintering amalgam of groups and cults, the more important of which Washington portrays with solid reporting from an impressive array of source material and his personal research. In each case a charismatic “guru” has either received “ancient wisdom” from some mysterious sect, self-proclaimed enlightenment, or metaphysical source, while also assuming an exalted position as guru, messenger, teacher, master, or adept in the eyes of the disciples and students. Following HPB and Olcott (aka Jack and Maloney), Washington tackles the lives and influences of the second generation of Theosophists, including the politically motivated Annie Besant, channeler Charles W. Leadbeater, Katherine Tingley, Rudolf Steiner (who broke from TS and founded Anthroposophy and the Waldorf schools), G.I. Gurdjieff, and many of their significant followers. Jiddu Krishnamurti, who became famous for abdicating his title of “the world teacher” or Theosophical messiah in 1929, a role imposed on him at age 13 by Leadbeater, is given a thorough treatment by Washington. In contrast, he only briefly describes and sometimes only mentions more recent splinter groups and leaders from the TS amalgam, like Elizabeth Prophet and her Church Universal and Triumphant, George King and the Aetherius Church, Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov and the Universal White Brotherhood, Lloyd Meeker and the Emissaries of Divine Light, Idries Shah and the Society for Understanding Fundamental Ideas, and the Raëlian Movement. Washington also covers the history of the esoteric School of Economic Science founded by Leon MacLaren and his connection with Transcendental Meditation‟s Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He concludes his text

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with a solid, dispassionate look at J.G. Bennett‟s life as it was influenced by Gurdjieff, P.D. Ouspensky, Shah, the Subud cult, and finally Catholicism. Some important TS offshoots are missing in Washington‟s survey, such as the Agni Yoga Society founded by Nicolas and Helena Roerich in the early 1920s, the Arcane School founded also in the 1920s by Alice A. Bailey, and the I AM Activity founded by Guy and Edna Ballard in the mid-1930s. To those who have studied the history of Theosophy as it has influenced these and other groups not mentioned by Washington, these may appear as glaring omissions. But the pervasiveness of Theosophy‟s influence, especially with the thousands of New Age movement teachers and sects throughout the world, would take volumes to merely summarize. Washington nevertheless accomplishes his mission to give us a clear taste of the Western guru tradition, its roots, and its effects on certain disciples. The book‟s title is derived from a stuffed baboon that stood prominently among Blavatsky‟s exotic paraphernalia in her flat in New York. The baboon was dressed complete with spectacles holding a copy of Darwin‟s Origin of Species, mocking that controversial scientist. Blavatsky saw herself as Ancient Wisdom‟s counterpoint to that “strutting gamecock” of science, whom she often railed against in her two fantastic, notoriously plagiarized tomes, Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine. HPB more than anyone has influenced the Western occult tradition with the notion of spiritual evolution as it allegedly occurs through rounds of “root races” reincarnating. Some of her racist notions later crept into Nazi philosophy, even though Hitler disavowed the Theosophical Societies. A most revealing passage from Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon describes P.D. Ouspensky, a Fourth Way or Gurdjieff School leader, who near the end of his life in 1947 was very depressed (confusion and depression have been common ailments of lifelong disciples of the Western guru tradition). He took to escaping from students in his car with his cats. Ouspensky would park his car at some destination, sit in the back seat staring out of a window while cuddling his pets. “Returning home from one journey, he spent the rest of the night in the car while a female pupil stood over him at the window, her arm raised as if in benediction. A cat would never be so stupid” (p. 337). This passage not only reveals the depths of delusion both guru and follower might reach, but it also reveals Washington‟s insensitivity to the perhaps deluded but nevertheless struggling, dedicated victims of such gurus. Washington‟s sources are many and significant. Three noteworthy ones are Ancient Wisdom Revived by Bruce F. Campbell, Blavatsky by Marian Meade, and The Harmonious Circle by James Webb, the latter being a complete history of Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, and their followers. A biography of Blavatsky was also written by Theosophist Sylvia Cranston, who clumsily tries to portray HPB as a maligned saint of the New Age. Meade‟s biography is far superior and accomplishes even more than Washington‟s or Campbell‟s books in presenting Blavatsky‟s complex persona to us. Another valuable resource on HPB and the Western guru type not mentioned by Washington was written in 1948 by E.M. Butler--The Myth of the Magus (Cambridge Canto edition, 1993). In any case, if you wish to read an updated, critical look at Blavatsky and her influence, pick up Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon.

Joseph P. Szimhart Cult Information Specialist/Exit Counselor Pottstown, Pennsylvania

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The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power. Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad. North Atlantic Books/Frog Ltd., Berkeley, CA, 1993, 385 pages. The authors have been collaborators for many years, during the human potential movement of the 1960s, and most recently regarding women‟s studies (Alstad) and yoga (Kramer). This book, which is about “authoritarianism,” grew from a few chapters “mainly for friends” into the present 385-page, 20-chapter paperback. There is a 9-page preface, a 6-page introduction, and a 13-page section called “Authority, Hierarchy, and Power” before the book itself begins. An impressive and thorough index is a helpful aid to readers, but there is no bibliography of sources. This book delivers what it promises in the preface and introduction, describing the many settings and situations in which overt and covert authoritarianism can intrude into social, political, and religious beliefs and interfere with normal personality development. Part I examines destructive relationships between one person and others, the guru-disciple dynamic broadly applied not only to political and religious leaders but also to parents, close friends, and lovers. Part II explores subtle, indirect forces in values and beliefs both personal and global concealed in what people assume and take for granted, most of the time unknowingly. The Guru Papers continues in the vein of the exposition of such writers as Packard (The Hidden Persuaders), Hoffer (The True Believer), and Sargant (The Battle for the Mind). It is a worthy addition to these other sources. It provides continuity with useful information about current negative influences and destructive forces. It does so without injecting the authors‟ bias or beliefs, seeking only to increase awareness and sharpen perception, objectively and in the spirit of freedom that is espoused as a goal of the book. That it does so merits wide readership; The Guru Papers, therefore, is highly recommended.

Frank MacHovec, Ph.D. Center for the Study of the Self Gloucester, Virginia

Shooting for the Stars. Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson. An Albatross Book, Sutherland, Australia, 1993, 223 pages. In Sydney, Australia, there was a New Age festival of “Mind, Body, Spirit.” Clifford and Johnson, who write and conduct seminars on the New Age, decided to staff a booth offering a Christian perspective on human potential in the midst of what they describe as a “metaphysical smorgasbord.” In dialogue with their neighbors, the authors‟ manner is not contentious but empathetic as they record the claims of astrologers, near-death experiencers, people who believe in reincarnation, others who live in a cosmic “oneness,” and some who have confidence in healing crystals. Clifford and Johnson had contact with “channelers” and people who claim to be clairvoyant, and also with people committed to sacred sex, yoga, the enneagram, witchcraft, yoga, sacred sex, and tarot cards. Each of the 10 chapters concludes with a section entitled “Insights.” By the time the authors get around to assessing the situation, the reader gets the feeling that such a convention of New Agers might be the surest cure for the whole New Age movement. The authors have empathy to spare, but their insights are not very profound or illuminating. The jacket claims, “A new paradigm is offered that takes seriously the spiritual ache found in today‟s fast-paced world.” If this is to be understood as a promise it only leads to Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 53

disappointment. If you are a busy person you will probably not be able to budget time for this book. Walter Debold Seton Hall University South Orange, New Jersey

The Celestine Prophecy. James Redfield. Warner Books, New York, NY, 240 pages. Book jackets can be interesting. The one on this book is plain with a white title and author copy on a midtone blue-green field. On the front is an endorsement by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: “A fabulous book about experiencing life -- I couldn‟t put it down.” On the back of the jacket in orange tone we read: “You have never read a book like this before.... A book that comes along once in a lifetime to change lives forever.” When Redfield first self-published his book, before the best-selling Warner edition, it had been a word-of-mouth sensation among New Age circles: the jacket says it was read by more than 100,000. Warner then offered Redfield a deal that he did not refuse. In the early edition it was classified as a New Age book according to the bookseller I bought my copy from. When the Warner edition came in, she said it was reclassified as fiction. After reading the book, I believe “New Age fiction” describes it well enough. Recently when I was in New York, I was directed to the New Age section of a large Greenwich Village bookstore by the owner who commented that this is the section where “the books take themselves seriously.” I shared the humor. The Celestine Prophecy is a book that takes itself seriously. One thing about Redfield‟s “adventure,” as it is subtitled, is its familiar format. It is an occult adventure story of the same genre of “true story” occult fiction made popular in the mid- to late-nineteenth century by Bulwer-Lytton (Zanoni, The Coming Race), Marie Corelli (A Romance of Two Worlds), and a host of less popular writers. Bulwer-Lytton was a Rosicrucian sympathizer who expressed the “mysteries” of his sect in Zanoni. In that book the author purports to merely rewrite a manuscript that is mysteriously left in his office. Mysterious manuscripts have influenced popular imaginations to the extent that several new religions, cults, and belief systems have formed around such documents. The “golden tablets” allegedly translated by Mormon founder Joseph Smith, the shadowy Book of Dzyan seen only by Theosophy‟s Madame H.P. Blavatsky and on which she based her Secret Doctrine, the missing Mayan tablets about the alleged lost civilization of Mu by James Churchward, the bogus manuscript about the lost years of Jesus allegedly seen by Nicolas Notovitch in Ladakh, and so on. The cult of the mysterious manuscript or prophetic revelation carries over to the twentieth century in esoteric adventures by Baird T. Spalding (Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East), Guy “Godfre Ray King” Ballard (Unveiled Mysteries), Eugene E. Whitworth (Nine Faces of Christ: Quest of the True Initiate), and more recently in books by Carlos Castaneda and Lynn Andrews. The Mayan Factor by José Arguelles prophesied a planetary “harmonic convergence” in 1987, after loosely interpreting an ancient calendar. Redfield takes up the theme of a mysterious Manuscript. His contains the secrets of life (10 “Insights”), written in Aramaic around 600 B.C., but found in Peru. This theme, more properly called a literary device, is engaged by writers with a deep need to get what they believe is a serious personal vision across to the public through the vehicle of a magical autobiographical experience. In his story, Redfield takes us on his journey of incredible coincidences as if he is guided by some unseen hand or telepathic force to meet the right people in his vague quest to find the Manuscript. He avoids getting shot while encountering

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sinister forces headed by a Cardinal Sebastian who somehow controls the military and the Manuscript. I was reminded of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Redfield unabashedly panders to some New Age beliefs of his admirers: 1. The ancient wisdom or truth has been made occult (hidden) because the established orthodoxy, jealous of its power, does not want the masses to know the truth. 2. We are on the verge of a paradigm shift in human evolution. Does anyone remember the dawning of the Age of Aquarius in the late 1960s or the already mentioned Harmonic Convergence in 1987? How about the hundredth monkey idea popularized by John Keyes, Jr.? 3. When enough people get it (i.e., the Insights), the human race will hit the “critical mass” level and we will all be enlightened. We will have peace on earth, the lion will lie down with lamb, and we will walk in bodies of light. The Maharishi of Transcendental Meditation has been selling a path like this for decades. 4. The Christian Church has been responsible for repressing the truth that in reality we are all “the Christ,” that we are truly God if we could only transcend our ignorance, or the “brainwashing” imposed upon us by the Church, the Bible God, the popular consensus, or modern scientists. 5. When we awaken (raise our energy levels) to this inner reality or gnosis, we will have magical powers like clairvoyance, healing, invisibility, and immortality. 6. We are co-creators of the universe. We create our own reality. 7. If we get rid of “fear and doubt” we will maintain the “energy level” of our “higher self.” The suggestion here is that anyone who might criticize the “teaching” (The Celestine Prophecy, in this case) is merely expressing his or her fear and doubt, therefore that person will not gain the magical powers or “Insights,” or be saved. Redfield‟s book jacket lied to me in several ways. I have read books like this one and it is not a prophecy. It is a didactic regurgitation of simplistic occult notions that have been expressed by more or less talented writers and fringe groups for well over a century. Redfield‟s style is cynical. He must take his audience for pathetic fools. His book, if nothing else, seems to describe a pyramid scheme with him at the top of his “spiritual” franchise which expects people to support whoever reveals the 10 Insights to them. From the book: “But what about money?” I asked. “I can‟t believe people will voluntarily reduce their incomes.” “Oh, we won‟t have to,” Dobson said. “The Manuscript says our incomes will remain stable because of the people who are giving us money for the insights we provide.” (p. 225) Since Redfield is the only source of revelation: “I‟ve been thinking,” Fr. Carl continued, “that they‟re going to release you. You may be the only one who can look for it [the tenth Insight].” (p. 246) Guess who gets most of the money? Guess who gets most of the adulation? If you think I am merely being cynical, read the promotion at the back of his book: $29.95 for the newsletter and $49.95 for an audiotape reading of your sun and moon sign by Redfield. So now we know that he is an astrologer. That explains a lot, to me at least, about his worldview and his milieu. Also, Redfield promises us a second book explaining the “tenth Insight.” Do we have a new guru with a new religious movement here?

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The popularity of Redfield‟s book is not, therefore, surprising. Now and then, books come out that appeal to a New Age or esoterically inclined audience, which easily numbers in the tens of millions. Among them are the folks who read and believe books by Carlos Castaneda, Shirley MacLaine, and Lynn Andrews. Some readers have been influenced by reactionary revisions of the Jesus story and Christian teaching in dictatorial tomes like A Course in Miracles or The Urantia Book. The Celestine Prophecy will go on my shelf among those just mentioned, but alas, unlike The Urantia Book, it is not large enough to serve as a doorstop. Joseph P. Szimhart Cult Information Specialist/Exit Counselor Pottstown, Pennsylvania

Blurred Boundaries: My Therapist, My Friend. M.C. Miller. Shades of Gray Books, Westminster, CO, 1993, 306 pages. This book is a personal account of one woman‟s search for self. Its 13 chapters flow much like a diary with dated entries describing her journey in therapy. Dedicating the book to her “inner child,” the author views “the gift of love” as the major dynamic between therapist and client. Therapy, for the author, is “a profound paradox” because “the relationship is not reciprocal,” yet it is “crucial” that therapists be “totally involved.” Otherwise clients feel “alone and terrified.” She believes therapists and clients “transform a part of themselves” in the process. This is the author‟s own personal view and she presents it well. The truth is that if all therapists invested themselves so intensely it is likely the experience would be too draining. There is a danger in the closeness and sensitivity of therapy. We can be thankful that only a small fraction of therapists become emotionally or sexually involved with clients. The book would have been stronger had it warned readers of this possibility. Blurred Boundaries revolves around the themes of dependency, codependency, striving for unity, integration, and autonomy. This book is everyone‟s story but at times only the author‟s, which may cause readers difficulty in feeling personally involved in what are mostly the author‟s personal concerns and issues. Readers pursuing their own search for meaning, stability, and identity can benefit from this detailed exploration of inner space. It is recommended for anyone along that path, especially recovering ex-cult members and their families, since it helps to see how someone else charted a course toward improved mental health. Frank MacHovec, Ph.D. Center for the Study of the Self Gloucester, Virginia

Mind-Forged Manacles: Cults and Spiritual Bondage. Thomas Case. Fidelity Press, South Bend, IN, 1993, 289 pages. This is a book I warmly recommend. The first chapter captured me and the following chapters never ceased to hold me. I am not in love with the title or with the cover illustration, I confess, but that is a matter of taste. You and the publisher and the author may be more easily satisfied. What matters is that it keep moving out of the bookstores. Case writes very well, indeed. The first of the two parts of the book is autobiographical. His recruitment to the Moonies and his susceptibility will prove completely understandable to those who have worked with cult victims. He fell into the Moonies and out and in and out and in and out, until the reader gets impatient with him. One would like to shake him and Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1994, page 56

scream, “Wake up!” But then, as if that were not enough he turned to dally with The Way International, then he describes a “dharma high” with the Naropa Buddhists in Colorado. After all these detours, he convinced himself that he could not avoid a confrontation with the Catholic Church. That is where he finds himself today in spite of the fact that he was not welcomed with a red carpet or love-bombing. If I were the publisher, I would have been tempted to turn out Part One separately, for while it will not replace Augustine‟s Confessions or Merton‟s Seven Storey Mountain, it is a moving acknowledgment of one man‟s gullibility and his sinfulness. Part Two, another hundred pages, is entitled “Catholic Cults.” Non-Catholics will surely find it very interesting, but for Catholics it should be required reading. It describes how a half dozen of the worst sort of manipulative groups have sprung up under the umbrella of Catholicism and how slow the administration of the church has been to recognize their malice. Toward the end of the book the author editorializes self-confidently about the “post-conciliar” church, sentiments with which this reviewer wanted to take frequent exception. But that is not a concern for the purposes of this review. Here we must praise his professional competence, his “total recall,” his economy of expression, and, finally, his vision. If you know a member of the clergy, of any denomination, make him a present of this paperback. But read it yourself before you give it away. Walter Debold Seton Hall University South Orange, New Jersey

Video Reviews What Is a Cult? And How Does It Work? Margaret Singer. 1994, 58 minutes; After the Cult: Recovering Together. AFF Project Recovery & the International Cult Education Project. 1994, 25 minutes.* I can‟t think of anything I would have wanted more when I got out of my cult nine years ago than some expert videos to look at that would have helped me understand my experience and tackle the agony and ecstasy of putting my life back together. Today, we can add two new videos to the increasing number of excellent resources available in our field. Aside from their instructive and insightful content, these videos are especially useful for a variety of reasons. In our fast-paced, highly technological world, watching videos has become an easy way to learn. It‟s something a family can do together. It‟s something a busy professional can find time for. And, perhaps most important, for former cult members who may be having difficulty reading or concentrating, watching a video can be less stressful and allow information to be more accessible. What Is a Cult? And How Does It Work? is a basic educational video that has the capacity to speak to and reach a vast audience. It‟s practically impossible to list all the contributions clinical psychologist and world-renowned cult expert Margaret Singer has made to our understanding of cults and their methods of influence and control. Having put together this video is simply one more way in which she is making widely available her vast knowledge of the subject. The 58 minutes whiz by as Singer explains with clarity, wit, and down-to-earth descriptions some of the fundamentals about cults and how they operate. * This review originally appeared in the April 1995 issue of the Cult Awareness Network newsletter, CAN News.

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Singer begins by discussing definitions and qualities of cults and cult leaders. She presents a picture of what‟s wrong with cults, how many there are, and how many people are currently involved or have been involved over the past decades. From the beginning, she makes it clear that anyone may become susceptible to a cult recruiter‟s pitch, and that contrary to popular belief, there are more cults and more types of cults than ever before. Particularly useful is her explanation of thought reform (sometimes called brainwashing). She does an excellent job of demystifying a concept that has been misconstrued and misunderstood. She uses everyday language to describe thought reform, not as a rigid, one-time zap to the brain with a gun at your head to get you to comply, but as a subtle set of coercive influence techniques that are used over time in a coordinated way to get you to change your thinking, your attitudes, and your behavior. The smiling, soft-sell technique has always been more effective, Singer tells us, than the menacing Big Brother approach. In the remainder of the video, Singer describes the cults‟ strategies, tactics, and techniques to recruit, control, and keep their followers. This information is presented in concise blocks formulated around her analysis of the six conditions for a thought-reform environment: (1) deception, (2) destabilization, (3) dependency and dread, (4) disconnection, (5) development of the cult pseudopersonality, and (6) denial and dedication. Each of these is explained in detail, with flash cards, vivid examples, and thorough explorations of how each stage is set up and exploited by the cult leader and group members. How cult leaders use trance techniques, spy networks, guilt induction, peer pressure, induced anxiety and fear states, denigration and humiliation, reframing of experiences, revision of members‟ personal history, and a vast array of thought-stopping techniques becomes much more understandable after we‟ve listened to Singer‟s new video. (By the way, her second video on cult aftereffects and recovery is now also available.) The video ends with some practical suggestions for how we as a society can deal with cults. And despite the rather grim nature of this topic, thanks to the wealth of information that is imparted so clearly and so succinctly, the viewer is left with a more positive spirit. After all, in knowledge there is power. Buy this video and give it to your school, your library, your lawyer, your pastor, your professional club, your therapist or counselor. The second video, After the Cult: Recovering Together, focuses on recovering from the impact of a cult experience. It is produced by AFF, a nonprofit research and educational organization, and narrated by William Goldberg, a New Jersey therapist who has worked with former cult members for more than 18 years. The value of this video is its personal tone, sensitivity, and positive approach to the issue. Two typical responses to coming out of a cult are shame and not wanting to tell others that you were in a cult, and fear and confusion about starting over. Often you feel as though you‟re going crazy, at times overwhelmed by the rush of thoughts and emotions and decisions that need to be made. Most helpful in facing the challenge of getting on with life is knowing that you are not alone. A video like this can go a long way toward bringing a sense of comfort and security to former members across the country who can see and hear others who‟ve been through a similar experience and have faced some of the same dilemmas. “You‟re not alone” and “it‟s not your fault” are probably the most important messages of cult recovery and this new video. In a casual setting, 10 former members from different types of cults talk candidly about their experiences, how they got recruited, and how they were affected. A couple who had been in a cult for 35 years talk about the sexual abuse that went on, including being told by their leader that he was “marrying” their 14-year-old daughter. We listen to a man who grew up in a cult explain how he‟s just beginning to grapple with who he is and what he likes, in contrast to who he had been for 20 years and what he‟d been forced to like. Other

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women and men of varying ages and backgrounds tell us what their cult experiences meant to them and how they‟re coping with life now. Because of the range of issues covered in the video, former members will be able to learn a great deal about their own recovery process. By hearing others, they can make their own connections and relate it to their own experiences. For example, identifying factors that caused you to be vulnerable to cult recruitment; recognizing reactions to “triggers” and how to control the impact of those cult reminders on your life today; confronting problems such as difficulty reading or concentrating, having fear or panic attacks, feeling uncomfortable in social situations or making friends, and dealing with unresolved spiritual or belief issues all those challenges become more manageable as you hear how others handled them and you begin to participate fully in life once again. Also coming to understand that “there is no magic formula to recovery,” as Bill Goldberg says in the opening of the video, is an important part of the process. The differences and variety in people and their experiences are what shapes the individualized responses to the consequences and aftereffects of a cult involvement. Reclaiming and rebuilding your life after leaving a cult is an extremely personal journey. Each person must go at his or her own pace. What‟s needed are determination and patience. And certainly what helps are thoughtful and caring aids such as this video. After the Cult: Recovering Together comes with a handy resource guide that lists related publications, information packets, and both national and international cult-awareness organizations. This video will also be beneficial to families, friends, clergy, and health and mental health professionals who are interested in learning more about cult-recovery issues.

Janja Lalich Cult Information Specialist Alameda, California These reviews are an electronic version of reviews originally published in Cultic Studies Journal, 1994, Volume 11, Number 2, pages 217-233. Please keep in mind that the pagination of this electronic reprint differs from that of the bound volume. This fact could affect how you enter bibliographic information in papers that you may write.

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