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Apologia Report 16:17 (1,067)
May 18, 2011
Subject: Behind closed doors at Children of God headquarters
In this issue:
THE FAMILY/CHILDREN OF GOD - sociologists publish interviews with "Maria," the wife and successor of "Moses David" Berg
HOMOSEXUALITY -- "a fascinating window onto the never-ending battle for the teenage soul"
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM - Hinduism Today exults: "All Religions Are Not the Same"
SCIENTOLOGY - testimony from former UK official detailed to "deny, discredit and neutralise claims" of its critics
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THE FAMILY/CHILDREN OF GOD
Talking with the Children of God: Prophecy and Transformation in a Radical Religious Group, by Gordon Shepherd and Gary Shepherd [1] -- "David Berg founded the Children of God, later called the Family, in Southern California in the 1960s. The new religious movement shared with Pentecostal churches a belief in the end times and an evangelical zeal. More controversially, Berg introduced ideas of communal living, divine prophecy, and sexual permissiveness. The negative attention drove Berg into secrecy, a practice he passed on to his wife and successor, known in the group as Maria. Sociologists Gordon Shepherd (Univ. of Central Arkansas) and Gary Shepherd (Oakland Univ.) have written about the Family since the 1990s, but it was not until 2005 that Maria invited them to her clandestine headquarters. Over four days, the pair interviewed the staff that produces public relations, publications, and Web sites for 10,500 members and thousands of readers in 90 countries. Their access highlights the banality of administering a religious organization, even one based on direct prophecy and apocalyptic vision. By presenting interview transcripts nearly verbatim, the authors lend their academic legitimacy to the Family's self-serving spin. Admiration replaces analysis, leaving readers unequipped to evaluate the serious charges of sexual abuse leveled against the Family." Choice, Mar '11, n.p.
For extensive documentation and background on the group, see <www.xfamily.org> and <www.exfamily.org>.
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HOMOSEXUALITY
Recruiting Young Love: How Christians Talk About Homosexuality, by Mark D. Jordan [2] -- the University of Chicago Press promo reads: "In the view of many Christians, the teenage years are simultaneously the most dangerous and the most promising. At the very moment when teens are trying to establish a sense of identity and belonging, they are beset by temptation on all sides - from the pressure of their peers to the nihilism and materialism of popular culture. Add the specter of homosexuality to the mix, and you've got a situation ripe for worry, sermonizing, and exploitation.
"In Recruiting Adolescence, Mark D. Jordan explores more than a half century of American church debate about homosexuality to show that even as the main lesson - homosexuality is bad, teens are vulnerable - has remained constant, the arguments and assumptions have changed remarkably. At the time of the first Kinsey Report, in 1948, homosexuality was simultaneously condemned and little discussed - a teen struggling with same-sex desire would have found little specific guidance. Sixty years later, church rhetoric has undergone a radical shift, as silence has given way to frequent, public, detailed discussion of homosexuality and its perceived dangers. Along the way, churches have quietly adopted much of the language and ideas of modern sexology, psychiatry, and social reformers - deploying it, for example, to buttress the credentials of anti-gay 'deprogramming' centers and traditional gender roles.
"Jordan tells this story through a wide variety of sources, including oral histories, interviews, memoirs, and even pulp novels; the result is a fascinating window onto the never-ending battle for the teenage soul."
Should you wonder where Jordan is coming from, note that he is also the author of The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology [3].
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RELIGIOUS PLURALISM
"All Religions Are Not the Same" by Swami Nikhilanand -- opens: "Let us be very clear and forthright about our heritage: Hinduism has a profound depth and unique features not available in other faiths. ...
"We often say, 'All religions are the same.' Why do we say it? Sometimes we don't want to offend anyone. This is a safe, politically correct, fallback position. Sometimes, not knowing the intricacies of Hinduism, we fail to recognize its uniqueness and greatness. If Hinduism were the same as all other religions, then why would we care if our children convert to other religions? ...
"It is true that there cannot be two Gods. There cannot be a separate Hindu God, a separate Christian God, a separate Muslim God, a separate Jewish God, etc. Our Vedas state, ... 'God is one and absolute. There can be no other.' So whoever is worshiping God, anywhere in this universe, is worshiping the same God. And all theistic religions agree on certain general characteristics of God. God is perfection, absolute divinity, omnipresent, all-knowing, all powerful, blissful, etc. This is the extent of the description available in other religions, but not in Hinduism. The Sanskrit scriptures of Hinduism reveal the knowledge of God on a much deeper level. ...
"What does God look like? You cannot tell me, because God is just an abstract term. However, in Hinduism we have the specific description of God's form and personal names. He is Krishna, He is Ram, He is Vishnu, He is Siva, She is Durga, etc. We know what He looks like, and we know what His Divine personality is like. ...
"Krishna says in the Gita, ... 'I come to you in whatever form you worship Me.' Hinduism not only incorporates the concepts of God of other religions but also reconciles the apparent differences in the various descriptions....
"Hinduism is also unique in saying that God can be experienced, and, in fact, that is the ultimate goal of a soul. [Hinduism] clearly states that you can meet God in person. ... However, if you don't have the full description of God, then how will you find Him? ... Hinduism provides such a detailed description of God.... This path, known as the path of God realization, is also described in Hinduism." Hinduism Today, Apr/Jun '11, <www.j.mp/l7myUS>
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SCIENTOLOGY
The Irish Times story "Scientology: Inside and Out" by Cian Traynor of March 19, 2011 <www.j.mp/eFQEX5> strikes us as a good example of the problems that the controversial belief system is having around the world. Traynor collects experiences from a variety of people who left the group: 22-year veteran John Duignan, former "Commanding officer, Scientology Missions International UK;" Mike Rinder, "former chief spokesman for Scientology and head of its office of special affairs;" Gabrielle Wynne, former staff member at the Scientology mission in Dublin; Pete Griffiths, anti-Scientology protestor with Anonymous; and more.
The section discussing Rinder begins: "Not long ago, when former members of Scientology spoke out it was Mike Rinder's job to deny, discredit and neutralise their claims, a process known as 'dead agenting'.
"In 2007 that role involved following the BBC reporter John Sweeney, who was then filming an edition of Panorama about the religion [www.j.mp/d5ChS3]. Sweeney had been inquiring about allegations that Scientology's ecclesiastical leader, David Miscavige, had physically assaulted people within the church. Although Rinder ensured the allegations were omitted from the programme, Miscavige believed he should have stopped the edition from airing. As punishment Rinder was told to report for ditch-digging duty at Scientology's UK base, in Sussex.
"Instead he disappeared. 'I literally walked out the door with my briefcase, which was all I had,' he says."
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - Talking with the Children of God: Prophecy and Transformation in a Radical Religious Group, by Gordon Shepherd and Gary Shepherd (Univ of Illinois Prs, 2010, paperback, 272 pages) <www.j.mp/lCpMoL>
2 - Recruiting Young Love: How Christians Talk About Homosexuality, by Mark D. Jordan (Univ of Chicago Prs, 2011, hardcover, 296 pages) <www.j.mp/kNpskZ>
3 - The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology, by Mark D. Jordan (Univ of Chicago Prs, 1998, paperback, 200 pages) <www.j.mp/kUIube>
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