This topic assumed some importance in the trial insofar as (a) it throws light on the character and proclivities of Berg and (b) it assists me in making judgments as to the credibility of those who speak for The Family in this litigation. In a vain attempt to clarify the issues, I required the Plaintiff to plead her case and in paragraph 21 of the particulars of her allegations dated September 1992, she alleged:
"Some female members of the organisation are encouraged to appear in video tapes which show them naked or scantily dressed masturbating. These video tapes are alleged to be made for the consumption of David Berg."
The answer was a denial of that allegation. In his affidavit sworn in December 1992, SPM stated that the allegation that women in The Family had been forced to masturbate on video was completely untrue. He stated the dancing was by adults.
I gave leave to the Plaintiff to file further evidence and she produced a number of video tapes said to emanate from The Family. The Family were indignant at their production and that indignation arose in part from the obvious fact that the production of these tapes utterly destroyed the case that had earlier been presented by them. Their indignation arose also out of the circumstances in which these videos were obtained. Although the evidence before me is hearsay piled upon hearsay, and so too unreliable for me to come to firm conclusions about it, there is the strongest suspicion that these videos were obtained dishonestly from the Philippines by a member of the anti-cult movement and copies were eventually passed to the Plaintiff. I am not suggesting that she was involved in any way in the theft and it was right and proper in the interests of truth and justice and to enable me to decide what is best for this child that the videos were placed before me. Consequently I was not prepared to exclude their being put in evidence because they were clearly material to the issues I had to try. I am also perfectly satisfied that even if they are compilations of different tapes they originate from The Family. Oral evidence given from several sources including the Defendant's witnesses confirmed that. Those tapes exploded the Defendant's denial. The tape called "Glorify God in the Dance" has six clips of children aged between four and twelve dancing naked or semi-naked in imitation of the older women also shown on those tapes. The tape numbered 4 includes a party scene in South America. One of the Defendant's witnesses, JC, was refreshingly frank about his making it. It showed half naked couples dancing and embracing. Children who seem to be about three or four years old were shown to be present. JC explained that he made the film "for spice" because at that time (January 1983), "That is what we did." They sent the video to Berg because they thought it would please him. Video number 5 is the "Love Video." It shows young children dancing, two girls together, scenes of masturbation and sexual intercourse or simulated sexual intercourse, a testimony from a girl called Joan admitting that she masturbated. In another clip a man Appeles says they had the Love Video from World Services, that it was so inspiring that it was a chance to share his wife with another but, more disturbing, his son J1 who seems to be about ten years old had a chance to "share" with adult Sally.
Faced with that evidence The Family were more forthcoming and in SPM's affidavit sworn in January this year, he exhibited the World Services "History on Sexual Policies" to which I have already referred. In a passage "Experimenting with Dance and Love Videos in 1980", they revealed that Berg had encouraged The Family to make the love videos. The videos:
"Explored ways to inculcate a positive body image in all of our members. ... A few of the under aged girls, admittedly unwisely, performed dances bare breasted in playful imitation of their mothers or guardians".
World Services acknowledged that:
"Father David also suggested that they could possibly also film some portions of romantic and loving heterosexual interaction between adults".
By the mid 1980's, The Family instituted a number of policies to curb liberality of this nature. In "Latest Newsflash no. 47" in April 1984, The Family were asked to erase any tapes with explicit sex scenes because some such videos had fallen into the hands of the authorities. In "Latest Newsflash No. 57" of January 1985, under aged children were urged not to take their clothes off when dancing on video because:
"You could hardly touch a more sensitive nerve in most of the systemites to enrage them and have them want to lynch you on the spot than to bring up child abuse, and child sex, and child pornography, and all that kind of rot."
I highlight these words because so to dismiss sexual perversion of that kind as "rot" is, to my mind, to provide proof positive from his own words that Berg was a man without judgment or moral scruple, and a malign corrupting influence on his susceptible followers. I simply do not understand how else this choice of language can be explained."
That is how the matter stood when the hearing commenced. Well into the hearing further documents were produced including the letter "Glorify God in the Dance" dated July 1981. The letter praises those who have:
"Bared your all perhaps for the first time before others and members of The Family, in not only your own home but realising that your dance was going to be viewed by the whole Family."
This seems to me to confirm the Plaintiff's evidence which had been denied in the pleadings that these videos were regularly seen in all Family homes. He justified the dancing in these terms:-
"Yes, dancing does sometimes lead to sex, that's for sure. Why not? It's one of God's highest forms of the expression of love, and that is what it's all about, God's love, because God is love, love is God. He expects us to love and be loving and make love - both to him and to each other - and one way we can make love to the Lord is in the spirit in praising him and singing and dancing and fucking! Hallelujah! TYJ! (Thank You Jesus) ... So if a dance is sexy, it's no more evil than sex itself. Of course, you who seem to have the idea that sex is evil naturally would think that sexy dancing was evil too."
He uttered some caution on the future dance videos:-
"Lest you repeat some of the mistakes which a few have made in our first childish stumbling attempts to create beautiful sights and sounds on video. As we first encouraged you to make some of these video tapes, we told you that love can be beautiful, but perhaps we didn't put enough emphasis on the fact that sex can also be ugly if you don't approach it from the right angle and in the right way, in the right spirit and with the right know-how. ... Although some of your love scenes were very tastefully and beautifully done, such as one by some of the folks in our own home and one which was done by WWM and another done by MWM and a few others, there were one or two which frankly were just plain down right ugly. ... We have found in some of your videos that sex can not only be beautiful but it can also be ugly, just plain coarse and crude and almost sickening, especially when there's too much of it, and it's just too raw for good taste, and some of it has left a very bad taste in our mouth when it was overdone. ... So may we suggest we have just about had enough of these actual sex act videos."
He then gave encouragement to the girls in their exotic dancing. He gave detailed descriptions in this and a subsequent letter as to precisely how they were to dance and he condescended to such detail as to specify the length of their pubic hair and the manner in which they were to rub their nipples to make them erect. He concluded:-
"I know on some of these I have been making love to Maria and she to me, and the rhythm has been so slow that in our love making it was almost difficult to eventually arrive at an orgasm because the beat was too slow, and in making love to your beautiful love videos we always like to keep time to the music, believe it or not! It just is natural and automatic with me, I can hardly do anything rhythmic without keeping time to the music or rhythm to which I am listening. If you don't speed up a few of those numbers, it's going to take me forever to goose her or her forever to jack me to the point where we can reach the final glorious conclusion! So do step up the tempo a little bit as you go along, make it a little more rapid, and I think some of you in particular would find it easier to dance and more comfortable if the final tempos were a little bit more rapid as you're getting into the fiery fury of the glorious climax, both of your dance and our sexual fervour!"
These passages give some insight into Berg's personality. Crude sex found no favour with him but in every other respect he was obsessed with sex. To require the women in the group to dance for him whether the dance was erotic, or exotic, or artistic, in order to heighten his sexual pleasure, was depraved. He might have idealized sex but he also perverted it. In the chapter "Dancing before the King", from Techi's life story, we learnt that:
"When Techi was two years four months old, she started off with one of her favourites, "Sex in Heaven". Techi was dressed just with a scarf and played during her dance with a big plume feather. Dad after viewing the children's show warned us that it wasn't very wise to film Techi all naked. At that time we lived in South Africa, which has real strict laws regarding pornography!"
There was a photograph of the naked Techi and the comment, "A drape to cover her pubic area would have been much better!" Despite the "Latest Newsflash No 57," to which I have already referred, endeavouring to restrain under-aged children removing their clothes when dancing on video, "Latest Newsflash No 112" dated November 1988 said this:
"Developing nudie-cuties! As much as Dad loves to receive your nudie-cuties, girls, he wanted to mention a word of caution about getting these developed in commercial photo shops, especially if there are any shots of under age girls on the roll. ... Therefore for any developing of nudie-cuties we would definitely suggest that you go to an area of town where people would tend to be more liberal in this respect (i.e. nightclub district etc)... So keep those gorgeous nudie-cuties coming girls but please use discretion in getting them developed."
There is overwhelming evidence that videos were made and distributed showing couples having sexual intercourse or simulating doing so, of women masturbating or pretending to do so, of women dancing in various states of undress and, importantly, of young girls copying those dances. The evidence is so overwhelming that I need but highlight some of the pointers to that conclusion:-
1. Firstly I have seen some of the videos. They show actual or, more likely simulated sexual intercourse, masturbation or masturbatory actions and of young girls dancing. I saw Fiona S. dancing and I saw her 12 year old daughter H2 copy her and I saw, shamefully, her four year old daughter MS following suit.
2. MB gave evidence, which I accept of her being taken into the woods with another lady and copying her dance. She spoke of being encouraged by the adults to engage in mutual masturbation with her 9 year old friend A1, who is also shown on the video I have seen. This was filmed by Paul and he holds office as one of the European CROs (leaders) at the moment. She saw Jeremy S. having sexual intercourse with Rachael and being filmed doing it. The films were made for Berg.
3. MS told me and I believed it, that she was taught to strip during her time with Music with Meaning . Zack, the camera man, filmed his own four year old daughter. MS can recall the men making lewd comments which she told me, "made me feel funny". She saw women masturbating and she saw sexual intercourse on films. These were made "as Family entertainment". When she was in India aged about 11, The Family were asked to make a video for Berg's birthday. I note that the instruction was that girls under 12 were not to be filmed and that is some evidence, one piece among many, that Family attitudes were changing over the course of time.
4. VP told me she made that film as did SF.
5. KJ spoke of having to dance at a National Area Fellowship Meeting. I believed her. She spoke of making her costume cutting out hearts to cover her nipples and a heart to cover her pubic area. She represented the elixir of love. Much later in the case, the True Komix "The Goddess of Love" was produced and that portrays, as I have already set out, the Holy Spirit as a naked lady covered where appropriate only by her three hearts.
6. SF admitted that girls were filmed and that she herself was videoed for Berg's birthday.
7. Dr Melton, the expert called by the family, spoke of the "love videos" being sent to World Services and circulated, although only for a short time. The dance videos continued until about 1987. He was satisfied that videos of this kind were regularly shown at Fellowship Meetings as some form of entertainment or uplifting of the spirit.
8. In view of the December 1988 advice about developing nude cuties, I am less sure whether the distribution of these videos did cease in about 1987. I am, however, satisfied that it is no longer a practice to make, still less to distribute, any of these kinds of videos.
Mr Barton on behalf of the mother submits that since this can be confined to the perhaps rather nasty litter bin of history, it is irrelevant for the issues I have to try. That is true insofar as there is no risk of S's exposure to this material, but there are three matters of continuing concern to me, namely:
Firstly the corrupting influence of these videos. Dr Cameron gave evidence of this. He is an eminent, highly regarded child psychiatrist. He told me, and I accept, firstly that repeatedly to require young girls to dance in a way imitative of their elders and to expose a child's body in erotic dance, an activity which is ordinarily taboo, was part of the process of grooming children for sexual exploitation by adults. The effect of the open acceptance of this kind of video was gradually to erode the sense of taboo about the sexuality of children, thereby reducing the ability to regard sexual activity with children as abhorrent. He said that it was self deceit to think that it was not made for sexual gratification. Secondly, the insistence that the dances be done in so similar a way had the tendency to make them focused fetishist films. Thirdly, it is relevant to my enquiry to see whether or not those close to S are themselves capable of self-deception. Almost universally I find that they are. Again only by way of example, the evidence which leads to that conclusion came from:-
1. NT herself: having heard Dr Cameron's evidence, she said that it was for expert opinion to know if it was damaging for children to dance like that but "I don't think a cute little dance is damaging. If the child was told that there was some dirty old man across the seas and to do a dance for him, that would be damaging and harmful but a free normal attitude to sex or sexuality or copying their mother in a cute way, I don't think is damaging". She could not have been listening to MB and MS who at their tender age were perfectly well aware of "the dirty old man across the seas" and were instinctively aware they were demeaned. To describe the dances as "cute" is utterly naive judged against the explicit letters which link the dancing with sex.
2. EM, one of the family's experts in child care, sent to this country to carry out an investigation into teenage problems, was prepared to accept that there had been dancing but not masturbating. She said she had not seen any of the children dancing but she thought that when they had done it in the past, it was "very artistic. I don't see anything wrong with it. There is a beautiful (my emphasis) letter about it called "Glorifying God in dance". This demonstrates a complete lack of insight in one who played an important part in forming and implementing Family child-care policy.
3. SF: in her Affidavit she said that the allegation about children taking part in pornographic stripteases was a fabrication. Giving her the benefit of the doubt that "pornographic" qualifies stripteases so that her statement might be true on such a construction, nevertheless not to admit that children were at least involved in some kind of stripteasing is another tiny example of "Deceivers Yet True". She knew that her husband filmed 12 year old VP having to do one of these striptease dances. She did one herself. In evidence in chief she described its purpose as "an artistic dance, no sex involved at all, for us nudity does not denote sex." Under cross-examination she maintained that they did not do these dances for sex but she did accept that it was done for Berg's sexual gratification and she described that as inappropriate and unnecessary. What struck me so forcibly was that her sons FC and SC were shocked by their mother's involvement in this activity. In chief FC told me, "I don't know anything about striptease dances, honestly." He was shuffling his feet and he was lying to me. He was a prissy, smugly self-righteous young man. He had known since September 1992 of the allegations made by MB that young children were having to strip. He said he had no need to ask whether it was true or not because he doubted it very much. He found it very hard then to believe that his mother would have danced topless because she was not that kind of person. When pressed to accept that his mother's obvious sensibilities had been corrupted by the Mo letters, he defiantly refused to contemplate the implications because he declared it was not relevant today because "all I know is I am serving Jesus right now and doing the best for Him.
This is typical of the evidence I heard from Family members who, schooled in the way to deal with these questions, attempted to argue that it was no different from taking a family photograph of a little girl running naked on the beach in Greece. MM, from her present more conservative perspective, acknowledged that, "we lived in a bubble in some ways looking back". There was little, if any, full acknowledgement of the corrupting effect of the dance nor of the directive force of Berg indulging his own salacious desires.
