Escaping a Free-Love Legacy

They are the children of the Children of God, a new generation of freewheeling Christian revolutionaries.

According to their detractors, they are heretics, cultists and polygamists, spawned by a twisted prophet preaching a strange brew of Christian compassion and free love. But to Sarah Lieberman, the oldest of 10 children born to a female member of the sect, the Children of God have been misunderstood and maligned.

"People think this is all about sex," said Lieberman, 25. "But it's greater than sexual relations. It's about how you relate and feel about people. It's about loving God with all your soul."

Founded in the late 1960s by David "Moses" Berg, this underground church was one of the most notorious sects of the 1970s and '80s.

Christian history is replete with movements inspired by self-proclaimed prophets--messianic leaders who claim they are the mouthpiece for God. Few of those prophets, however, were as obsessed with sex as David Berg.

"We have a sexy God and a sexy religion with a very sexy leader with an extremely sexy young following," Berg wrote. "So if you don't like sex, you better get out while you can."

Berg also made it clear that his word was God's word. "I am God's man for this hour, and I am the prophet of God for you," he said. "You had better believe it or you are in serious spiritual trouble."

Berg died in 1994, but his movement lives on today as "The Family."

Other survivors of the Children of God include hundreds--perhaps thousands--of "Jesus babies" born in the 1970s and '80s. Their mothers were young missionaries who followed Berg's call to share sexual favors in order to bring young men to Christ.

"We came from a generation that wanted something different," said Marina Tafuri, who was 16 when she joined Berg's sect in 1977.

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