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The Children of God was a California-based religious sex cult started by David Berg in 1968 in the wake of the Summer of Love. But like many of the 1960's free-love and mind-expansion institutions, the Children of God warped into a series of shady dealings and sexual-exploitation claims in the '70s. Berg, a messianic figure who called himself Father David, maintained that a connection with Jesus could be found through sex. Female followers were instructed sleep with
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male cult members with the aim of bringing them closer to Christ, and to proselytize by sexually seducing outsiders (a practice they called "Flirty Fishing," or FFing). Underage boys serviced their nannies for "spiritual" purposes — River Phoenix, whose parents were members, told Details magazine in 1991 that he'd lost his virginity at age four to another cult member.
In the early '70s, Berg went into hiding, but continued to communicate with his followers through what he called "Mo Letters" — religious edits that he said detailed how God wanted them to behave. When he died, one of the cult members, an artist named Edward Priebe, said that Berg's vision had been to have the Mo Letters illustrated as comics upon his death (perhaps to appeal to the cult's youngest members). Edward and others drew several dozen pamphlet-sized comic books, which they titled True Komix, based on Berg's missives. They were published together in one volume in 1982. — Will Doig
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Will Doig writes for all sorts of fabulous and exciting magazines. He was
raised in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Today he lives in Brooklyn.
, featuring curious yet marvelous infusions of cucumber and rose petal.
