daba64 wrote:The Children of God (COG), later known as the Family of Love, the Family, and now the Family International (TFI), is a religious group, widely referred to as a cult by the media, many in academia, and some former members.
In 1974, it began a method of evangelism called Flirty Fishing, using sex to show God's love and win converts. It was also a means of raising financial support as many of the women worked as prostitutes. Flirty fishing has been compared to religious prostitution. The practice was discontinued in 1987.
The group's liberal sexuality and its publication and distribution of writings, photographs and videos advocating and documenting adult-child sexual contact and the sexualization of children led to numerous reports of child sexual abuse.
TFI leadership, admitting only that some children were abused from 1978 until 1986, created policies prohibiting excessive discipline or any sexual contact between adults and minors. Those found to have abused children after December 1988 are excommunicated from TFI membership, but no attempt has been made by TFI members to recognize or reconcile the abuse that took place during the previous twenty years. TFI requires individuals who report child abuse to a law enforcement agency or pursue legal action against an alleged abuser to leave the group's communal homes and move to a lower commitment membership status until the matter is resolved, after which they must reapply for their former membership status if they wish to return.
A central tenet to their theology is the "Law of Love," which, stated simply, claims that if a person's actions are motivated by unselfish, sacrificial love and are not intentionally hurtful to others, such actions are in accordance with Scripture and are, thus, lawful in the eyes of God. They believe that this tenet supersedes all other Biblical laws, except those forbidding male homosexuality, which they believe is sin. Female bisexuality is sanctioned, though female homosexuality at the complete exclusion of men is not permitted. They believe that God created human sexuality, that it is a natural, emotional, and physical need, and that heterosexual relations between consenting adults is a pure and natural wonder of God's creation, and permissible according to Scripture. Teenagers from the age of 16 are allowed to have sex with other members under age 21. Since 1986, sex between minors and adults is forbidden. Adult members may have sex with any other adult member of the opposite sex, and are encouraged to do so, regardless of marital status, as a way to foster unity and combat loneliness of those "in need". This is commonly called "sharing" or "sacrificial sex". While TFI policy states that members should not be pressured to have sex against their will, numerous former members have alleged being coerced to "share" and subsequently cast as selfish or unloving when they did not.
This refers to a different group. 'The Family' that IanEye was discussing is older and more focused on recruiting politicians and other powerful men. The two groups are easy to get confused though as they are both Apocalyptic Christian cults. It's even more confusing now that promiscuous sex is associated with both groups. I've wondered before if they could be related. Of course it could be some kind of keyword-hijacking (paging Hugh). My guess is that they are unrelated. It seems that every cult views themselves as a 'family,' and it doesn't suprise me that unrelated cults would use this name (e.g. the Manson 'Family'). Interesting celebrity sidenote: the Phoenix siblings (River, Joaquin etc.) were raised as members of the hypersexual 'Family.' If someone writes a book about them then IanEye could add to his trifecta of conspiracy books.
