As a 30 year old second generation member of The Family I find the story aired on The Larry King Live Show to be very one-sided and tainted. The people in The Family International are dedicated to making the world a better place and to see them cast in such a negative light breaks my heart.

Many people within The Family are people I know and love, who sacrifice selfish pursuits in order to reach the world with the love of Jesus. In countries all around the world, The Family is often one of the first to respond to times of crisis, such as natural disasters, and the effect they have in relation to the finances and personnel available is unparalleled. Instead of balancing out this show by focusing on all the good that the Family has done and continues to do, the show instead focused on a small part of The Family’s past that has been drastically changed, apologized for and addressed repeatedly by The Family’s leadership.

I have always believed The Larry King show to be pretty fair and unbiased, but after watching last night’s show my opinion has changed considerably. The Family has been analyzed by a number of academics and leading professionals, as well as courts all over the world, and in almost every case it’s been the opinion that The Family is a save environment for children and no signs of abuse were present with any of the children examined. You would think that a show that is focusing on child abuse within The Family would think to mention that, especially since it’s easily available information.

I also don’t understand why out of all the academics and sociologists that have studied The Family, this show chose to feature Steven Kent, a person with obvious bias and a vendetta against The Family. It seemed like the deck was stacked against The Family in this show from the start and I can hardly call it journalism.

I take exception to the claim made over and over on the show that second generation members who leave have no skills and have great difficulty integrating into society. I left The Family for a time when I was 21. I had no problem getting a job, going to college, making friends and starting a new life. My parents were always supportive and in truth, the skills gained during my time in The Family were what helped me be successful in my endeavors outside the Family.

I could go on and on about the lies and distortions featured on this show, and I will give the benefit of the doubt that Larry King himself was misinformed, as I have a hard time believing a serious journalist could allow such an unbalanced show to air unless he was. I am a proud member of The Family and will continue to be. I stand beside my beliefs and am so grateful for the wonderful childhood I enjoyed that was rich in faith and love. May all the children of the world be so lucky.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 and is filed under Speaking Out, Archived. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.