Editing David Berg (section)

===The Children of God/The Family (1968–1994)===
Berg and his family founded the organization Teens for Christ, operating out of the Light Club coffeehouse in [[Huntington Beach, California]], in 1968.<ref>Cowan and Bromley, ''Cults and New Religions'', 102.</ref> While in California, after encountering strong resistance from local churches due to his followers picketing them, he took the whole group of 40–100 people on the road. It was while they were camped in Lewis and Clark Park that a news reporter first called them "The Children of God".<ref>{{Cite web |title=History - TFI |url=https://www.thefamilyinternational.org/en/about/our-history/ |access-date=2022-06-24 |website=www.thefamilyinternational.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Children of God \\ History \ Birth of the Children of God |url=https://childrenofgod.com/en/history/articles/birth-of-children-of-god/ |access-date=2022-06-24 |website=childrenofgod.com}}</ref><ref>Cowan and Bromley, ''Cults and New Religions'', 103.</ref>

Around the end of 1969, about 200 members of the COG group established a 425-acre "colony" several miles from Thurber, Texas - a ghost town. This acreage was owned by the American Soul Clinic.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Association |first=Texas State Historical |title=The History of the Children of God Movement |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/children-of-god |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620183701/https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/children-of-god |archive-date=June 20, 2024 |access-date=2026-01-11 |website=Texas State Historical Association |language=en}}</ref>

In the mid-1970s, Berg began preparing his followers for a "revelation" he had about [[Flirty Fishing]], or winning important, influential men through prostitution.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catherineauman.com/flirty-fishing/|title=Flirty Fishing|first=Catherine|last=Auman|date=April 24, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Gardner 2016">{{cite news |last=Gardner |first=Simon |title=Children of God sex cult survivors come out of the shadows |website=CBC |date=March 11, 2016 |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/children-of-god-survivors-1.3481788 |access-date=January 28, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeYQvFU9VSo|title=Flirty fishing|date=May 26, 2010 |via=www.youtube.com}}</ref>

By 1971, the COG claimed that it had 4,000 members, mostly consisting of teenagers and people in early 20s. In November of 1971, COG's colony was evicted after a serious disagreement with American Soul Clinic's head Fred Jordan and other associates.<ref name=":6" />

In 1978, in an attempt to deflect public concern over some of his more controversial policies, Berg changed the name to the "Family of Love".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pubs.xfamily.org/text.php?t=650|title=The Re-Organisation Nationalisation Revolution, para. 28|first=David|last=Berg|date=January 1978}}</ref> In 1991, this was changed to "The Family", and in 2004 it was changed again to "The Family International".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://media.xfamily.org/docs/fam/gv/gv_176.pdf#page=2|title=The Grapevine Issue 176, pg. 2|first=Steven|last=Kelly|date=November 1, 2004}}</ref>

Berg lived in seclusion, communicating with his followers and the public via nearly 3,000 "Mo Letters"<ref name="moletters">[http://pubs.xfamily.org xFamily.org Publications Database] &mdash; contains many of the "Mo Letters" written by David Berg</ref> ("Mo" from his pseudonym "Moses David") that he wrote on a wide variety of subjects. These typically covered spiritual or practical subjects and were used as a way of disseminating and introducing policy and religious doctrine to his followers. Berg's letters admonished the reader to "love the sinner but hate the sin". His writings were often extreme and uncompromising in their denunciation of what he believed to be evil, such as mainstream churches, pedophilia laws, capitalism, and Jews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Main_Page|title=XFamily - Children of God|website=www.xfamily.org|access-date=February 1, 2018}}</ref>