Children of God / The Family International
Founded by David 'Moses' Berg in 1968. From 1976 to 1987 practised 'Flirty Fishing' (using sex for evangelism and recruitment) and published 'Mo Letters' explicitly endorsing sexual contact between adults and children. Reorganised as 'The Family International' in 2004.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
+1 for documented systematic child sexual abuse and the 'Flirty Fishing' practice.
Profile facts
In context
Berg's apocalyptic Jesus-people movement evolved into one of the most heavily documented sexual-abuse cults of the 20th century. The 'Mo Letters' included explicit child-sexual material; the 'Flirty Fishing' programme between 1976 and 1987 used female members for sex-evangelism. Children including Berg's grandson Ricky Rodriguez (who killed himself and a former nanny in 2005 before suicide) testified to systematic abuse. Multiple second-generation members have publicly spoken; the organisation continues in much-reduced form as 'The Family International'.
Key control doctrines
- 'God is love, sex is love' (Mo Letters)
- Flirty Fishing
- Total community of property
- Imminent end-times Tribulation
Recovery resources
- xFamily archive — Long-running second-generation-survivor archive for ex-Children of God / Family International; canonical resource for case-specific material.
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — ICSA archive covers COG / Family International extensively including Ward 1995 ruling material.
- INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service; substantial COG historical archive.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Notable public ex-members
- Ricky Rodriguez (deceased 2005)
- Christina Babin
- Kristina Jones
- Verity Carter
Legal cases & controversies
- Multiple 1990s European custody cases over child welfare
- UK Lord Justice Ward 1995 ruling documenting abuse
- Argentinian and Brazilian raids and prosecutions
Evidence by BITE axis
- Explicit doctrinal endorsement of adult-child sexual contact (1980s)
- 'Flirty Fishing' use of female members for sex-evangelism
- Children raised communally, separated from parents
- 'God is love, sex is love' (Mo Letters)
- +1 for documented systematic child sexual abuse and the 'Flirty Fishing' practice
- Total separation from 'Systemite' (outside) world
- Members surrender all property and income
- Flirty Fishing
- Total community of property
- Imminent end-times Tribulation
- Extreme apocalyptic urgency
Timeline
- 1968David Berg founds Teens for Christ in Huntington Beach, CA
- 1974First 'Flirty Fishing' Letter published
- 1987Flirty Fishing officially ended after AIDS concerns
- 2004Reorganises as 'The Family International'
- 2005Ricky Rodriguez murder-suicide draws international attention
Sources
- James Chancellor, 'Life in The Family' (2000) search ↗
- Stephen Kent academic work search ↗
- Ricky Rodriguez 2005 video testimony search ↗
- BBC 'World in Action' investigations search ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch I: per-group recovery resources curated. 4 verified entries: xFamily archive (canonical second-generation survivor resource), ICSA, INFORM, Freedom of Mind.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources, investigative journalism. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Key terms in this profile
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
You may also want to explore
Found something wrong on this profile?
We accept correction requests from anyone — current and former members, researchers, journalists, family members, and the listed organisation. Submissions are reviewed by an editor; we do not auto-publish.