The Prophet Bus
Circling Park City for the last several days has been a converted red school bus bearing signs reading, "The Prophet Bus." The bus carries nine young Christian musicians on a road trip from Houston, Tex., to pass out Bibles and share their love of Jesus through music. According to their blog (www.prophetbus.com), however, the Prophet Bus crew had a rough introduction to Sundance. First, the cold Park City temperatures made it hard for them to get out of bed (they sleep on the bus). Then, their first impromptu sidewalk performance Monday was aborted because they didn't have a permit. But the bus was still in Park City on Tuesday, cruising up and down Main Street to spread the good word.
-- Brandon Griggs
-- Brandon Griggs
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 8:36 PM |
15 Comments:
The members of "The Prophet Bus" are unfortunately children of the cult "The Children of God" and went to Sun Dance strictly to protest the release of Noah Thompson's "Children of God - Lost and Found". Noah's documentary details the abuse that occurs in the cult and the affects it's had on it's children - 40 of whom have committed suicide since leaving the group.
Present members of The Children of God (a.k.a. The Family) will not admit to the child abuse that took place and continues to take place and have to date done nothing to advance the healing of their children that were subjected to such abuse.
The Children of God/ The Family / The Prophet Bus are no more different than the cult of Jim Jones and are ranked according to christiananswers.net as the 7th most destructive cult existing in America today.
The members of "The Prophet Bus" are unfortunately children of the cult "The Children of God" and went to Sun Dance strictly to protest the release of Noah Thompson's "Children of God - Lost and Found". Noah's documentary details the abuse that occurs in the cult and the affects it's had on it's children - 40 of whom have committed suicide since leaving the group.
Present members of The Children of God (a.k.a. The Family) will not admit to the child abuse that took place and continues to take place and have to date done nothing to advance the healing of their children that were subjected to such abuse.
The Children of God/ The Family / The Prophet Bus are no more different than the cult of Jim Jones and are ranked according to christiananswers.net as the 7th most destructive cult existing in America today.
Sorry but where do you get your facts from? Have you recently personally met the children of the Children of God who are still in the group? Have you asked them if they were abused and still being abused today? I think not. I personally am part of the group and am 24 years old. I have grown up in the "Children of God" and have never suffered from abuse in my whole life. I consider myself to have had a wonderful childhood filled with memories of love. My parents were and still are the best parents ever. They never abused me in anyway. I beg you to please consider both sides and do not only believe what you read on the interenet or watch on T.V.
Hi, I am a member of the Prophet Bus team. Unfortunately I didn't get to go on this trip. Firstly I would like to thank Brandon Griggs for this article its really great.. And secondly I Would like to clear up a few things after reading this last comment posted on here. Please don't tell me that "The Prophet Bus" team went there to so-called "protest" this film. I am a member of "The Prophet Bus" team and have been involved with all the prayer and hard work it's taken us to even get on the road to go on this trip. "The Prophet Bus" team went there strictly to witness and spread the Gospel as in Mark 16:15.
And guess what? they stumbled onto a flyer on the street advertising the Film: "Children of God - Lost and Found".
I guess it's kind of interesting to see what Noah's slant on the group is. I know his family both in "The Family" and out of "The Family". Some of his siblings posted some articles on www.myconclusion.com. You can go read them for yourself. As this last comment states, "Present members of The Children of God (a.k.a. The Family) will not admit to 'Child abuse'" most probably is because maybe there isnt any going on. I personally haven't heard of anyone being abused and I'm 23 years old and was born and raised in "The Family International a.k.a. The Children of God". You can also read my posting on www.myconclusion.com which I wrote after watching a slanted news program about "The Family International".
-Samuel Renaud
(A proud member of The Family international "www.thefamily.org" and a member of The Prophet Bus team "www.prophetbus.com").
To the young posters above...so glad you escaped abuse in the Children of God. Others definitely did not and some of the adults responsible are still members.
Outside a closed society such as a cult, people are prosecuted for the kinds of activities perpetrated in your group. Just praying and saying I'm sorry for beating and molesting children doesn't necessarily fix their lives and is, in fact, a crime. This is a definite, proven part of the history of the group with which you're associated. Screaming in public that it's not so doesn't change what happened.
Aside from that, your beliefs in doctrines other than the Bible may not do you well in the future. Assuming that you're sincere in your Christian beliefs and salvation, it might be wise to look a little closer for scriptural precedents on Family practices, like the Keys and the myriad of other worldly helpers, for example....who seem to be eerily similar to a lot of science fiction characters already in the media.
I'm a former member with adult children near your age. For your own sake, I hope you are truly seeking the truth....it will eventually lead you far from the Family and its deluded leadership.
I spent the majority of my childhood in The Children of God/The Family cult and I am sick of these cult members who say I was never abused and that everyone who tells the truth about the horrific child abuse they experienced in The Family is lying. In fact, I experienced physical, sexual and emotional abuse not to mention that my educational and medical needs were often neglected. The physical abuse I experienced as a child resulted in injuries such as bruises, black eyes, bleeding, broken teeth and even broken bones. I have not only emotional scars from this abuse but actual physical scars which prove that it happened. I also experienced sexual abuse on multiple occasions. It was only years after I left the group that I realized it wasn't normal and was in fact criminal child sexual abuse for an 11-year-old boy to have sexual intercourse with a 28-year-old woman while his own mother and other children were in the same room.
The problem is that children who grew up The Family were taught and indoctrinated to believe that this was normal. So of course they will say they were never abused and that all the victims are lying. I certainly never thought that what happened to me was abuse until many years after I escaped the cult at age 13 to live with my parents.
The Family has a completely different definition of child sexual abuse than the rest of society. This is especially evident in the case of the leader's son, Rick Rodriguez or Davidito. As recently as 2005, a Family spokesperson continued to deny that he had ever experienced any type of abuse in The Family. In fact, there is irrefutable evidence, including photographs, published confessions by his abusers and the statements of witnesses that he was sexually abused from a very early age. Virtually all the experts, including clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, attorneys and judges, who have examined this evidence have come to the same conclusion - that he was sexually abused starting at a very early age by adults including his own mother.
Some examples include the following:
"these experiences would be characterized as sexually abusive or neglectful by most child abuse experts..."
Larry Lilliston Psychological Assessment of Children-- "Sex, Slander & Salvation" Lilliston, Lawrence. 1994. Field observation of young people's experiences and role in The Family. In Sex, Slander, and Salvation. Investigating The Family/Children of God, edited by James R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton 47-56. Stanford, California: Center for Academic Publication.
"I pointed out to him that under most legal definitions of sexual abuse, Sara and the other women who participated in sex with him would be found guilty"
David Millikan THE CHILDREN OF GOD -- FAMILY OF LOVE THE FAMILY March, 1994 A Report by the Rev. Dr. David Millikan, B.A., B.D. (hons), Ph.D. (reprinted in ``Sex, Slander and Salvation'', pages 181-252)
The above two quotes come from the cult's own "Rebuttals" packet compiled by cult spokespersons Lonnie Davis and Claire Borowik. see http://media.xfamily.org/docs/fam/pr/Rebuttals
Excerpt from TV news transcript
"Narrator: 20/20 also asked Richard about "My Little Fish." That's the chapter in the cult publication which shows children in sexual poses with each other and with adults.
Richard (cult member): It's just a... it's a piece of educational material and we've learned many things through the years of childcare, taking care of children... It's actually fun to watch a child in... in this case, experience life.
Narrator: Dr. Margaret Singer is a psychologist and cult expert.
Reporter: How does that strike you as a statement from the father?
Singer: What he was saying, 'experience life,' shows a mother orally copulating a little boy and um, that's his opinion about what would usually in the United States be regarded as sexual abuse of a child. "
Source: ABC News 20/20: "To Bring Her Children Home" broadcast on July 15, 1988.
In 1982, The Family published and distributed 2700 copies of a 762-page book titled " The Story of Davidito"
see http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Story_of_Davidito
In written accounts and photographs, the book documented in explicit detail the sexual abuse of Rick Rodriguez. Some acts of criminal child sexual abuse it documented included the following: being encouraged to engage in sexual activities at a very young age, adults exposing their genital in his presence, adults, including his own mother, having sexual intercourse in his presence, adult women fondling his genitals and an adult
In January 2005 with a New York Times reporter, cult spokesperson Susan Claire Borowik had this to say about Mr. Rodriguez's experiences as a child:
"He was never taken advantage of," she said. "Rather he was allowed to explore his sexuality freely. He was allowed to explore as a young boy what comes naturally, and usually in our society, we do not allow such exploration."
Source: Goodstein, Laurie. New York Times "Murder and Suicide Reviving Claims of Child Abuse in Cult," January 15, 2005.
This same spokesperson has also denied publically denied that Rodriguez was ever subject to corporal punishment while growing up in The Family. Once again, it seems Family spokespersons define things very differently than the rest of the world as there is extensive and irrefutable evidence in Family publications and statements by Mr. Rodriguez that make it clear he was in fact the subject of acts (by those entrusted with taking care of him) that would be defined not only as corporal punishment but also, in some cases, as physical abuse.
This is detailed at http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Claim_by_Family_spokesperson_that_Ricky_Rodriguez_was_%22not_the_subject_of_corporal_punishment%22
Rational people thus have enough information to decide whether to believe The Family and Claire Borowik or whether to believe the mountains of evidence which contradict their position.
I think it is clear that it constitutes child sexual abuse and a crime for an adult woman to perform oral sodomy on a toddler. However, if you accept the Family's position on this, then you will conclude that this was just part of their "liberal liberality" and innocent exploration and that such acts are rarely harmful to children and were not at all harmful to the victim in this case. Coincidentally, The Family's position on this is virtually the same one taken by pedophile advocacy groups such as NAMBLA.
Similarly, I think a rational person can decide whether striking a child with an object or one's hand as a form of punishment constitutes corporal punishment or whether it does not as Borowik claims.
The Family claims that they have banned adult-child sexual contact, that they excommunicate any member found to be engaging in it and that they have enacted what they characterize as "stringent policies" to prevent child abuse. Over the years, they have repeatedly changed their story about when they enacted these policies. At various times in the past 20 years, they have claimed their policy changed in 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988. The public statements they have made contradict (sometimes there are contradictions within an individual statements) each other and and many of them are clearly false.
In fact, the only publically available document that proves that they made adult-child sexual contact an excommunicable offense is dated March 1989 and is found in a cult publication dated September 1989 (which may very well indicate most members did not receive it until them). http://media.xfamily.org/docs/fam/gn/gn-386.pdf (see page 10)
In public statements about child sexual abuse, Family spokespersons often refer to this policy they supposedly have to excommunicate child molesters. What they don't say is that the excommunication policy was only applied to those found to have sexually abused children AFTER the policy was enacted. Thus, uninformed members of the public might assume that they actually investigate ALL allegations of child sexual abuse and expel any member found to have ever sexually abused a child. This is not the case. Many current members have told me that it would "unfair" to apply the new rules to the earlier cases because it was allowed before. This position is absurd and criminal and has allowed hundreds of child molesters, including the top leaders of the cult, to remain in the organization and have access to vulnerable children. Sexually abusing children was a criminal offense before the group was founded and still is a criminal offense. What right does this sinister cult have to endanger thousands of children by giving all these child molesters a "free pass" just because it took the organization 20 years to figure out that they shouldn't allow members to sexually abuse children?
There are those who claim that because the group banned adult-child sexual contact in 1985 or 1986, or 1987 or 1988 or 1989 or whatever year they claim it was, that no children in the cult are now being abused. To those people I say - How the hell can you possibly know that? I think that because the organization has allowed so many child molesters to remain in the cult that every single child unfortunate enough to be in the group is at an increased risk of being sexually abused. Perhaps in 40 or so when all these child molesters have died, the risk will decrease but right now it is still there.
The Family claims they have enacted "stringent policies" but one has to wonder what kind of twisted definition of "stringent" they are using to describe policies that have allowed so many child molesters to remain in the cult in positions of authority and leadership and with access to more victims and which don't require and in fact strongly discourage ever reporting child sexual abuse to law enforcement authorities.
LIVE FROM THE PROPHET BUS TEAM: If you think we went to the Sundance Film Festival to protest Noah Thomson’s film, all you have to do is go to our website (www.prophetbus.com) and click on the little red bus icon on the top right hand side of the screen and you’ll see in our “Preparing for the Sundance Film Festival” video clip, that we didn’t even know what the Slamdance Film Festival was (which featured Thomson’s film), much less know that his film would debut there. By the way, we were NOT at the debut, which took place two days earlier. We visited the second showing. If we traveled 1,600 miles to protest the film, don’t you think we would have protested BOTH showings? In any case, it was interesting to see what Thomson included in his film. Both Pearl and I sat politely through the showing of the film and only after Thomson himself asked if anyone had any comments or questions, did he hand the microphone to Pearl. Pearl spoke for about 3-4 minutes, refuting some of the obvious untruths in the documentary, such as: News clips showing Family children being taken from their homes by the Australian government, without showing the court’s conclusion, that not one single child was abused. His documentary did not tell us that the Australian government is now paying out thousands and thousands of dollars in damages to those children, which was the same outcome in both the French and Argentine cases. Do you think that this is fair and honest reporting, to deliberately hide the facts and the court’s conclusions? All his documentary did was to repeat false accusations that have already been proven untrue in a court of law. Thomson’s documentary also made it look like his mother, a fulltime missionary in Mexico wouldn’t see him. His mother wrote to us yesterday saying: “I have seen Noah once or twice a year, EACH YEAR, only cutting my visits short when he put a camera in my face. A number of visits have been thus aborted. I just saw him Nov. 28, 2006. First ten minutes are fine, then comes the outrage, and I have to cut it short. I have tried all I can to help and keep in communication with all of my kids. I have made 5 trips just this past year alone to see them. I spend my last dime on them every time I see them. Just 3 months ago in November, my 11 year old, Eric, unfortunately was with me on a NY visit with Holly, 18, who asked me to help her move. I agreed to meet Noah out in a restaurant, as he is unpredictable behind closed doors. He started in on me. Eric who was at another table, jumps up and gets in Noah's face and said, " You have no right to talk to Mom like that! The only one who is going to regret your movie is you, not us!" Thomson’s film is full of obvious, dishonest portrayals. By the way, if you see the film’s display poster that HBO uses to advertise the film, there is a quote from Thomson’s mother, which says, “Noah, there won’t be a family if you make this film.” Thomson’s mother told us that she actually said, “Noah, there won’t be a family REUNION if you make this film.” But just missing a family reunion isn’t sensational enough, is it? So it seems that Thomson is using his editorial oversight to actually distort the true meaning of what is being said, both in the poster, and in the documentary itself. How many other distortions does the film contain? I guess only Thomson himself can answer that question. After the showing of the film I spoke with Thomson for a few minutes and said to him: “I’ll bet you filmed a lot of positive comments that the former Family member’s you interviewed said, but you didn’t include in your film, right?” After five seconds of silence, he nodded in agreement. In the future, if you’d like to know what the Prophet Bus’ plans are, please contact us directly. The fact that we were there at the showing of Thomson’s documentary was NOT coincidence, we believe the Holy Spirit led us there. We are an independent Family home and do NOT get orders from any Family leadership. We get down on our knees and ask for the Lord’s leadings. And when we say that we have never seen any abuse in the Family, as portrayed in Thomson’s documentary, why do you call us liars? It seems to me that it is this documentary that is full of lies! Thomson himself says that he was abused as a child when he was in The Family, without giving one single detail. I would call that pretty cheap talk, wouldn’t you? As far as the suicide statistics mentioned in one of the comments above, I also consider that grossly exaggerated sensationalism, in an attempt to infuriate the public. Who are these 40 nameless, faceless, deceased people? By the way, we are in the middle of making a documentary film about The Family ourselves and we have asked Thompson for an interview. So far, he has not responded to our request. I would like to caution you to not overlook the God factor, and that is, we serve the living God of Heaven and He told us to come to the Sundance Film Festival. Like Abraham, we obeyed, not knowing what we would find. After being in the city for two days, ministering and winning souls, two of our team members came across the poster of Thomson’s documentary, and it was then, that we knew why God sent us. As it says in the scripture, in Acts 5:38, 39: “And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.” –Johnny B, member of The Family International since January 1969, on the road with the Prophet Bus
AND THIS IS WHAT CONTINUES TO HAUNT ME. THOSE WHO SAY THEY WERE ABUSED AND THOSE WHO SAY THE ABUSED WERE NOT. HOW CAN YOU ACCUSE THE VICTIMS BASED ON THE FACT THAT ('YOU' WHO SCREAMED AT THE FESTIVAL FOR ALL TO HEAR), THAT NO ONE HAS BEEN ABUSED IN THE FAMILY? THIS ONLY MAKES THE FAMILY LOOK LIKE TOTAL LIARS. WHEN THE FACTS SHOW THERE WAS ABUSE, SEXUAL/PHYSICAL WRITTEN IN THE VERY BOOKS THE FAMILY HAD PUBLISHED. AND WHATS THE SCOOP ON THE LEADER OF THE GROUP BEING BI-SEXUAL? THE ME IN THE GROUP, ACTING OUT A SEXUAL ROLE PLAYING OF BEING A WOMAN TO MAKE-LOVE TO JESUS? WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE YOU CLAIMING TO BE?
All I have to say is 2 Timothy 3:12
"Yea, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
The Family Rocks!!
--Ryan, born and raised in the Family and loving it.
Apparently Ryan is confusing persecution for living godly in Christ with criticism & rejection for submitting to the spiritual leadership of a blind queen who incested her own son, a young man with enough demons on his back to viciously slaughter a stand-in for mom and then blow his brains out.
man some of you guys need some serious help... you need jesus...
Ryan, if you're gonna take pride in being persecuted, then take pride in it when people accuse you of being heretics and religious fanatics--you know, the kind of persecution St. Paul was referring to.
Being accused of promoting and defending sexual, physical, medical and educational child abuse (all documented in your group's own publications) is not religious persecution.
Frankly, it's rather disturbing that you can't tell the difference.
I am a former member of the Family, officially leaving about 4 years ago with almost 30 years associated with the cult. I see I know some of the members of the Prophet Bus team and can agree with their zeal for evangelization. I hope and pray none of them were abused. One could think of it using Bill Clinton when he said, “it depends on what the definition of is is”. What is a Family definition of abuse? Following will be some quotes from a letter written by the founder Father David in 1980 called The Devil Hates Sex. At sometime this letter was purged from their inventory of letters by Father David, which his letters were considered doctrine and words from God. He was considered as the prophet of the end times and as far as I know still is revered as such. One must only check out the Family International to see how a pedophile is revered. In the last publications I received 4 years ago he was still speaking from the grave and giving instruction to his followers. I apologize for any offensive subject matter in these quotes. Think about what this supposed man of God is saying:
5. I WAS THINKING ABOUT IT WHEN I SAW PHILIPPE LA PLUME'S "REVOLUTIONARY SEX" KOMIC about teaching children about sex and how beautiful it is and how true and how Godly and how Biblical and so on, and yet how dangerous for us to even put out such a truth! I mean if you want to infuriate the system, just talk about teaching sex to children, or allowing children any sexual activities or to explore sex or anything. Whew! They've passed so many laws against sex it's almost unbelievable!
10. WHAT A TERRIBLE THING TO TEACH CHILDREN! From the time they're born practically to teach them to hate sex and fear sex and abhor sex and deplore sex and be ashamed of sex and be ashamed of their sexual parts and "No no! Naughty! Dirty! Hide it! Don't ever do that!" (Maria: It's horrible! No wonder people are so perverted now.)
20. MARIA: WELL, WHAT ABOUT INCEST?-THAT'S A BIG BIG QUESTIO IN THE FAMILY RIGHT NOW) Honey, this subject of incest is so dangerous I hardly even dare talk about it in the privacy of our bedroom! I mean the System practically goes berserk when you talk about incest~ (Maria: Well, we'll just have to tell the kids that it's not prohibited by God, but you'd better watch out because it's dangerous!) Of course it is!
21. IT IS THE MOST DANGEROUS FORM OF SEX & THE MOST PROHIBITED BY THE SYSTEM!--As far as the System goes & as far as the law goes it is absolutely taboo! Illegal! Dangerous! The System & the Systemites are so absolutely crazy on the subject they would practically lynch you & string you up & not even wait for a trial or have you arrested or anything, that's just the way they are!-Insane!
22. IT'S BEEN SO INGRAINED & INDOCTRINATED IN THEM NOW FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS beginning with the Catholic Church. The whole idea being that sex is so wicked & sinful, so vile & horrible, so awful & the worst of all sins, so of course the worst of all sexual sins is with children. "How could you besmirch & defile & violate your own child?--An under-age minor!"
23. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL AGE HAS GOT TO DO WITH IT when God made'm able to enjoy it practically from the time they're born! But though God didn't count them as under age to have sexual feelings & sexual responses & sexual nerves & sexual orgasms from the time they're born, the system prohibits them from having them until they're 18 to 21 years of age!
69. THE ONLY WAY TO GET FREE FO HIM AND HIS LIES AND HIS PROHIBITIONS AND GUILT COMPLEXES ABOUT SEX is to get rid of his lies and his lying propaganda, his anti-sex propaganda, and believe the Lord and His Word and His Creation and God's Love and His freedom! That there's nothing in the world at all wrong with sex as long as it's practiced in love, whatever it is or whoever it's with, no matter who or what age or what relative or what manner! And you don't hardly dare even say these words in private! If the law ever got a hold of this, they'd try to string me up! They'd probably lynch me before I got to the jail!
My heart goes out to anyone who is taking the gospel to the masses. I’m talking about the real gospel, not the gospel of the Family International, with their keys, spirit helpers, and communication with the dead. Please young people of the Family don’t have Matthew 7:21-23 be said of you: 21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws. (New Living Translation)
There is great life out of the Family. After 30 years in I am in my 3rd year studying for the ministry. I have done some studies on cults in conjunction with my ministerial studies. Out of experience and also scholarly research the Family meets all criteria of a cult. For more info on cultic studies check out this website. http://mysite.verizon.net/resq4163/atthecrossofjesus/
......SIGH.
I guess the world has heard enough of both sides to be able to make up their own minds, don't you think?
But, just because, I'll talk.
Real, genuine love.
There's nothing wrong with telling a heartless world that it does actually very much exists. That it's there, and that they can have it too.
Two facts you can't disprove: The world is messed up (the cults are everywhere!), and we all need love.
The two absolutes you'll get from us. (I say that because I know you're open-minded enough to believe me when I tell you that we're open-minded enough.--Anything but deluted.)
It's what we talk about--love. It's what we'll always stand by--love. I'll say it over and over again--love.
Love works, and always will, and it's the solution to every problem this messed-up world has ever had.
If you can believe that that's what we believe, just because we say it's what we believe, then you can know that it's what we'll try to do. I know you can, because you are very understanding people that just love giving the benefit of the doubt, a fair chance, to anyone who asks for it. You learned from the mistakes of others ("us") to listen. And I trust that you will.
Having said that, we can finally agree on something--(goodness me, finally!); what we preach isn't wrong. Love isn't wrong. Everything else we say is meant to be done in love, because we've labeled that as the most important thing, right along with you. When we don't do that (stupid humans, us) that's when things get really messed up, and that's what you hold against us.
Love is right (look! I said it again!). Anything done in real, genuine love is right. Anything that ever hurt someone, sometime, someplace, was very wrong. And it also wasn't love, and because of that, it's not what we preach.
Truth or dare?
Truth: Do you think real love works?
Dare: Spend a while, just check, if everything we preach is not an efficient way to bring down love. If it doesn't, you'll have definite proof.
If it does, then it does.
Make or break, I love it!
In the end, it's all up to you and me.
Gio.
PS: By the by, I love sex. Isn't it just sexy?
I don't think you can truthfully deny that either.
Either that, or you can, and you're really weird.
I love you though. Thank you for listening. I type a lot.
PPS: This is horrible! I keep coming up with a new ending sentence--a sting to everything I'm saying--and I can't stop myself.
What do I do?
I'll just end it now.
Oooooh, the blood runs high here. Let's see some tension...come on, come on, raise those levels, people...there's a good, stinging fact...and...oh..niiiice, that's a great comeback.
I'm a writer for a column (as if I'd tell you which one) and I have been following this little thread over the last few weeks since it's inception. I find it quite interesting.
Being extremely, and I repeat, extremely liberal in my views on social behavior (a change from years of conservative thinking), this little exchange got me thinking.
We're talking here about a "cult" (The Family, COG) that has rather strange beliefs that apparently have physically impacted the lives of many ex-members in a negative way. Conversely, the current members of the group seem to disagree.
Unfortunately, we live in a conservative, socially-self-conscious world. If I were to say that my biggest fantasy involved my sister, my mom, and our pet dog, and this while I was only 11, would you think it singularly odd? Perhaps it is not a mainstream fantasy, but it is not that rare.
I find it amusing that the text used to incriminate The Family as a sexually-liberated but abusive cult is taken from some missive by their leader called "The Devil Hates Sex" which I've now had the chance to further read online after reading excerpts in this thread.
To say that the content of those few paragraphs is unconventional would be correct. Yet it is not revolutionary. It is not some avant-garde theme that has yet to be explored.
From Nancy Friday to Brett Kahr. Alfred Kinsey, all the way back in the 40's, Freudian psychologists and psychotherapists to the regular human individual and his/her mad-hatter fantasies. I should imagine that reading a letter that advocates children exploring their sexuality at an age earlier than 18 would not offend most people in this day and age. To broach the subject of incest sends shivers down most people's spines, but how did mankind reproduce, if according to the Bible's account of Creation, Adam and Eve were the only original man and woman? Ahhh. Only until Moses' law did incest become taboo, and in this day and age it is illegal or frowned upon because of the high risk of biological deformities. Yet I bet that most of you played doctor with one of your siblings before you turned 8. I did. Go figure.
I was surprised. And after further research into the beliefs of this "cult" and comparing them to previous research of extreme liberals and unconventional thinkers, I was even more surprised at the amount of intolerance this alternative society has been shown.
I will be delving further into this subject. It fascinates me, that there is a group such as this that exists and that thrives as well.
Aldous Huxley once said "children are remarkable for their intelligence and ardor, for their curiosity, their intolerance of shams, the clarity and ruthlessness of their vision".
Interpret as you will.
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