Author Faith Jones was raised in the cult group the Children of God (later known as The Family and The Family International). For most of her childhood, Jones lived on a commune in Macau, an island off the coast of China. She spent hours reading doctrine, memorizing scripture and chanting and praying.
"We grew up very isolated in a remote village doing sort of sporadic home study stuff and a lot of chores," she says.
And, she says, there was sex.
In 1968, Jones' grandfather, David Berg, had founded the group around the belief that God is love and — taking it a step further — that, therefore, sex is Godly. Berg preached that men could practice polygamy, and that women must freely "share" their bodies, regardless of whether they want to — because sex was their service to God.
Religion poisons everything! I wish I could live long enough to see the end of religion. Happy for this woman to be free of those monsters.
Same.
The group still exists under a new name Family International. It started in the US. I'm not sure if it still exists in Macau - that is a pretty wild and open part of China now, allowing gambling and such. Then again, the Chinese don't take well to cults, especially xtion ones.
I feel proud of Faith Jones for leaving her family and that horrible cult. She was raped repeatedly starting at age 12. "God ordained it."
Now she's an attorney. She worked hard to heal from the trauma she experienced. Bravo!