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Date Posted: 06:33:06 04/15/05 Fri
Author: Chris
Subject: 2nd gen behavior

One thing that is extremely irritating for me is how UBF 2nd gens defend the UBF ministry so vehemently. Among them are people who I had always known as nice, honest, non-fundamentalist and quite rational, like Elia, like the eldest sons of Kaleb Hong, of Abraham Lee and of Volker Keller (I don’t know whether the last of them still defends UBF, maybe this has changed). Some American UBF 2nd gens also defended UBF so much on this board. None of them wanted to admit any of the systemic problems or they claimed UBF has changed so much that the problems do not exist any more and should not be discussed any more.

I had expected that 2nd gens would be more critical about the generation of their parents, their teachings and practices, of the UBF “system,” since usually young people are more honest and not yet corrupt. But these young people don’t seem to care neither for the theological and systemic problems, nor for concrete abuse. It seems to be a mentality of “I feel well in the group, I did not experience extreme things, so what?” I still don’t want to believe that these 2nd gens are that dishonest, superficial and careless. On the other side, I know UBF all too well to believe their defense of UBF is a valid one and their claims “these problems do not exist” were credible.

So what other explanation do we have? Reading the cult apology web site MyConclusion.com was shocking for me, but on the other side made me see that it is a phenomenon that is not restricted to UBF only. It was shocking, since so many 2nd gens of “The Family” cult, one of the worst youth cults of Christianity, defended the group and painted the picture of a wonderful family of love where nothing was wrong, and the problem was only on the side of its critics who where full of hatred. How could so many young people not see the problem of the cult and defend its corrupt leader David Berg? Anyway, I had to accept it as a fact and it makes me better understand the phenomenon that many 2nd gens defend UBF. If 2nd gens can defend “The Family” cult that is a hundred times worse than UBF, then it is not amazing any more that they also will defend a group like UBF where the abuse and theological error is much smaller and much more subtle.

I also talked about this with my wife, who is a “Communist 2nd gen,” i.e., she grew up as a child in the former Soviet Union. Her parents were pure hearted, hard working people who lived in a small town in the outskirts and believed most of the Communist propaganda. They both received a mention as “heroes of work.” If you have seen the movie “The Animal Farm,” these kind of people where represented by the donkey. My wife said she had a beautiful childhood in Communism, she took part in a “pioneer camp” which was great fun etc. She never experienced any of the abuse and problems that are usually attributed to communist regimes. Before she knew about these problems, she said, she would probably have defended the communist system in a very similar way like UBF 2nd gens defend the UBF system.

Today, however, she says she cannot ignore the many testimonies of the victims of the regime and the historical facts, so she says she thinks it was a horrible regime, though her personal experience was not so bad. She also said that if she now looks back, she recognizes that, honestly speaking, the abuse even affected her own family. Both of her parents had to work hard around the clock as shift workers, and in their little spare time they had to stand in a line in order to get some butter, milk, sugar or flour – even staple foods were scarce articles. So they had to neglect their children, send them (particularly her elder siblings) to a day nursery, where they stayed the whole week. This was not the fault of the parents, it was the fault of a regime where women had to work as hard as men. They ruined their health, and now they only get a very small retirement pension they can hardly survive with (and sometimes, the government didn’t even pay the pensions for months). Anyway, she says, she can see this only now. Before the Perestroika, they believed they lived in the best of all possible worlds, and America was a land where the majority of people were much poorer and had to get their food from garbage cans on the street, exploitet from a few capitalist managers. And she did not perceive that her parents were exploited and abused by the system, because she believed it was normal for them to work that much. She simply grew up in that environment and was accustomed to it. Outwardly, Communism seemed to be plausible and a good thing. Inwardly, the regime was very corrupt. But these things happened only behind the scenes. What my wife as a little girl perceived about Communism was her experience in the pioneer camp with games and fun and friendship, not the political things and corruption going on behind the scenes. Just as UBF 2nd gens associate UBF first of all with their youth conferences and worship sessions which are mostly fun and friendship and high emotion.

Also, Moonie and UBF 2nd gens never experience a healthy Christian church, just as Communist 2nd gens never experienced life in other countries. They only hear the propaganda stories how in other churches they do not “live for love” (Moonies) or they do not “work enough” (UBF). And some of the propaganda is certainly true, just as the Communist criticism of American style capitalism is certainly legitimate and true, particularly in these times of globalization, where the whole world, even China, seems to be ruled by capitalist principles. This again nurtures their belief that they live in a wonderful group that is much better than the world outside.

So this somewhat explains the behavior of UBF 2nd gens. Still, I feel this explanation is not sufficient. Still, I cannot understand why Elia and others turn such a blind eye on things that happened in Bonn and even in their own chapters, believing it is “not their business” as long as they themselves feel well. Still, I am disappointed by their behavior.

And actually, there are many other 2nd gens who left UBF, including the son of the “UBF president” and the daugther of the Cologne UBF leader. Why did they leave and others don’t? Maybe Joe can elaborate a little bit more on this. I’m not a 2nd gen and only speculating here.

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