66 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 3, 2012
utopian society led by a Queen Hiternia,
who was based atop the Tropicana hotel
in Las Vegas. But, first, he told the
victims, they had to double their IQs and
break down the “sub-cons,” or
subconscious intelligence barriers. “It
began with strip poker to break down
our sub-cons,” one victim recalled.
Later, she said, they had intercourse so
that he could inject the Earth girls with
“IRFs,” immunities to ward off space
diseases. After each encounter,
Briskman convincingly dialed “Andy,”
the Cablellian computer model Andrak
4000. The computer issued readouts of
the girls’ sub-con and IRF levels. Once
they had acquired 100 IRFs, Biskman
told them, they would be ready for space
travel. (O’Neill, 1995, para. 4–7)
At first one might be incredulous that anyone,
even young teens, could fall for such a fantasy,
but it becomes easier to understand when one
hears part of the victim-impact statement that
one of the girls gave: “I never had a father in my
life. I trusted him as a father figure, and he
betrayed that trust” (O’Neill, 1995, para. 16).
The themes of violated trust appear in many
accounts of pedophiliac abuse, but such abuses
that take place in religious contexts make it
especially difficult for victims to see assaults for
what they are.
Sex as Salvation
Somewhat similar to sex magick theologies is a
theological position that sufficiently elevates sex
so that it becomes the equivalent of salvation
itself. Nothing is valued so greatly everything
is valued in relation to it. For practitioners of
this alleged form of salvation, sex is not the
means through which to obtain cosmic
awareness it is that awareness itself.
Quantity—the amount of sex that a believer
has—may become as important as, or even more
important than, quality. Marriages, and even
age, may be impediments in the quest for
salvational sex as practitioners claim a
responsibility to initiate young and old alike in
the reputed inspiration that sex brings. The
highly sexualized theology developed by the
Children of God’s founder David Berg best
epitomizes this orientation toward salvation.
Berg’s descriptions, for example, concerning the
erotic nature of heaven place his theology firmly
within the tradition of sex itself, assuming a
salvational role for adherents. In, for example, a
speculative piece that Berg wrote about to his
disciples about his own death, he described
having sex with a young woman who had died
some years earlier. He then informed his
followers that
I HAD KNOWN THAT THERE
WOULD BE SEX IN HEAVEN, but I
had never dreamed that it was going to
be as wonderful as this, as thrilling &
exciting &rapturous &continuous!—
No exhaustion, no tiring, no surfeiting,
no impotence, no failures, no
dissatisfactions! All was pure joy &
love &endless fulfilment, hallelujah!
Thank You, Jesus! Praise the Lord!
([Berg], 1985, pp. 198, 233 [capitals in
original])
In comparison, another alternative religious
example comes to mind that had more or less
deified sex itself—the Community Chapel and
Bible Training Center in the American
Northwest.
Community Chapel and Bible Training
Center
An eroticized, religious environment that
seemed to foster instances of child or teen sexual
abuse apparently as a form of salvation existed
in the Community Chapel and Bible Training
Center in Washington state during the 1980s.
The group emerged out of Bible-study classes
that Donald Barnett began in 1967, which he
soon incorporated into a church on November
2nd of that year (Overland, 1988b, p. A7).
Barnett taught that the world was about to end,
but that members of his Community Chapel
church were going to be “the bride of Christ”
whose mission in those final days was to win the
world for Jesus (Overland, 1988b, p. A7).
Consequently, he placed great emphasis on
members “purifying themselves.” By the 1970s,
Barnett taught that God helped members purify
themselves by providing “movements” of
various sorts—which included falling down
under the “power of the Holy Spirit” and
utopian society led by a Queen Hiternia,
who was based atop the Tropicana hotel
in Las Vegas. But, first, he told the
victims, they had to double their IQs and
break down the “sub-cons,” or
subconscious intelligence barriers. “It
began with strip poker to break down
our sub-cons,” one victim recalled.
Later, she said, they had intercourse so
that he could inject the Earth girls with
“IRFs,” immunities to ward off space
diseases. After each encounter,
Briskman convincingly dialed “Andy,”
the Cablellian computer model Andrak
4000. The computer issued readouts of
the girls’ sub-con and IRF levels. Once
they had acquired 100 IRFs, Biskman
told them, they would be ready for space
travel. (O’Neill, 1995, para. 4–7)
At first one might be incredulous that anyone,
even young teens, could fall for such a fantasy,
but it becomes easier to understand when one
hears part of the victim-impact statement that
one of the girls gave: “I never had a father in my
life. I trusted him as a father figure, and he
betrayed that trust” (O’Neill, 1995, para. 16).
The themes of violated trust appear in many
accounts of pedophiliac abuse, but such abuses
that take place in religious contexts make it
especially difficult for victims to see assaults for
what they are.
Sex as Salvation
Somewhat similar to sex magick theologies is a
theological position that sufficiently elevates sex
so that it becomes the equivalent of salvation
itself. Nothing is valued so greatly everything
is valued in relation to it. For practitioners of
this alleged form of salvation, sex is not the
means through which to obtain cosmic
awareness it is that awareness itself.
Quantity—the amount of sex that a believer
has—may become as important as, or even more
important than, quality. Marriages, and even
age, may be impediments in the quest for
salvational sex as practitioners claim a
responsibility to initiate young and old alike in
the reputed inspiration that sex brings. The
highly sexualized theology developed by the
Children of God’s founder David Berg best
epitomizes this orientation toward salvation.
Berg’s descriptions, for example, concerning the
erotic nature of heaven place his theology firmly
within the tradition of sex itself, assuming a
salvational role for adherents. In, for example, a
speculative piece that Berg wrote about to his
disciples about his own death, he described
having sex with a young woman who had died
some years earlier. He then informed his
followers that
I HAD KNOWN THAT THERE
WOULD BE SEX IN HEAVEN, but I
had never dreamed that it was going to
be as wonderful as this, as thrilling &
exciting &rapturous &continuous!—
No exhaustion, no tiring, no surfeiting,
no impotence, no failures, no
dissatisfactions! All was pure joy &
love &endless fulfilment, hallelujah!
Thank You, Jesus! Praise the Lord!
([Berg], 1985, pp. 198, 233 [capitals in
original])
In comparison, another alternative religious
example comes to mind that had more or less
deified sex itself—the Community Chapel and
Bible Training Center in the American
Northwest.
Community Chapel and Bible Training
Center
An eroticized, religious environment that
seemed to foster instances of child or teen sexual
abuse apparently as a form of salvation existed
in the Community Chapel and Bible Training
Center in Washington state during the 1980s.
The group emerged out of Bible-study classes
that Donald Barnett began in 1967, which he
soon incorporated into a church on November
2nd of that year (Overland, 1988b, p. A7).
Barnett taught that the world was about to end,
but that members of his Community Chapel
church were going to be “the bride of Christ”
whose mission in those final days was to win the
world for Jesus (Overland, 1988b, p. A7).
Consequently, he placed great emphasis on
members “purifying themselves.” By the 1970s,
Barnett taught that God helped members purify
themselves by providing “movements” of
various sorts—which included falling down
under the “power of the Holy Spirit” and
