The Cult Dossier · No. 178 · Second Generation / Born In
The Davidito Protocol
The Story of Davidito; the Children of God second generation
1975 – 2005 · The Children of God communes, worldwide
XVIII. THE SECOND GENERATION — THE ONES WHO NEVER CHOSE
Christian-derived, and the doctrine reached explicitly into how children were to be handled. See 051.
Who led it
DAVID BERG (L027) wrote the doctrine; KAREN ZERBY (L131) was Ricky Rodriguez's mother; the child himself had no part in any of it.
What it worshipped and taught
A CHILDHOOD PUBLISHED AS INSTRUCTION. Ricky Rodriguez, born 25 JANUARY 1975, was presented to the movement as DAVIDITO, the prophesied child and the model for how children of the group should be raised. THE CHILDCARE MANUAL BUILT AROUND HIM WAS CIRCULATED TO COMMUNES AS GUIDANCE, and it documented sexual contact with him as a small child as though it were ordinary practice. THIS IS THE PUREST CASE IN THE DOSSIER OF A CHILD WHOSE ENTIRE UPBRINGING WAS SIMULTANEOUSLY THE ABUSE AND THE EVIDENCE OF IT.
Who was in it
Ricky Rodriguez (L212); David Berg (L027); Karen Zerby (L131); ANGELA SMITH, also known as Sue Kauten, one of his childhood carers; the many born-in members whose accounts followed.
How it ended, or where it stands
THE GROUP CONTINUES UNDER ANOTHER NAME. THE COHORT RAISED UNDER THE OLD DOCTRINE IS ITS PERMANENT LIABILITY AND ITS BEST-DOCUMENTED WITNESS.
The dead
Two: Angela Smith, killed on 8 January 2005, and Ricky Rodriguez himself, early the next morning. THE WIDER TOLL AMONG THE SECOND GENERATION — SUICIDES AND EARLY DEATHS — IS REPORTED IN SURVIVOR ACCOUNTS AND HAS NEVER BEEN SYSTEMATICALLY COUNTED, WHICH IS ITSELF THE POINT.
Of note
WHY THIS ENTRY EXISTS SEPARATELY FROM 051, WHICH ALREADY COVERS THE GROUP. Entry 051 describes what the Children of God did to the adults who joined it. This one describes what it did to the people who were simply born there, and the difference is not one of degree. THE ADULTS RECEIVED A DOCTRINE. THE CHILDREN WERE THE DOCTRINE — written up, illustrated, indexed and posted to other communes as a model to copy.
AND THE HARD PART, WHICH THE FILE'S PORTRAIT RULES ALREADY ENCODE: the most detailed record of Ricky Rodriguez's childhood exists only inside material that is itself abuse imagery. That is why L212 is one of the eighteen files where portrait sourcing is blocked outright, and why the block has never been relaxed. THE EVIDENCE AND THE CRIME ARE THE SAME OBJECT, AND A DOSSIER CANNOT REPRODUCE ONE WITHOUT REPRODUCING THE OTHER.
His video makes an argument this era should record rather than endorse: that the people who raised him were reachable and the institution was not. HE ACTED ON THAT AND KILLED A WOMAN, AND THEN HIMSELF, AND CHANGED NOTHING ABOUT THE INSTITUTION. The file records what he did and does not present it as a conclusion.
AND THE HARD PART, WHICH THE FILE'S PORTRAIT RULES ALREADY ENCODE: the most detailed record of Ricky Rodriguez's childhood exists only inside material that is itself abuse imagery. That is why L212 is one of the eighteen files where portrait sourcing is blocked outright, and why the block has never been relaxed. THE EVIDENCE AND THE CRIME ARE THE SAME OBJECT, AND A DOSSIER CANNOT REPRODUCE ONE WITHOUT REPRODUCING THE OTHER.
His video makes an argument this era should record rather than endorse: that the people who raised him were reachable and the institution was not. HE ACTED ON THAT AND KILLED A WOMAN, AND THEN HIMSELF, AND CHANGED NOTHING ABOUT THE INSTITUTION. The file records what he did and does not present it as a conclusion.
Its timeline
- 25 JANUARY 1975 Ricky Rodriguez is born and is designated the group's model child.
- late 1970s–1980s THE MANUAL DOCUMENTING HIS UPBRINGING IS DISTRIBUTED AS CHILDCARE DOCTRINE. The group later repudiated the practices; the documents had already been in circulation for years.
- 1980s–1990s Group policy on adult contact with children is formally changed. FOR THE COHORT ALREADY RAISED UNDER THE OLD RULES, THE CHANGE ARRIVES TOO LATE TO BE A REMEDY.
- 2000 Rodriguez leaves the group.
- 7–9 JANUARY 2005 On the night of 7 January he records a video setting out what he intends and why. ON 8 JANUARY, IN HIS APARTMENT IN TUCSON, ARIZONA, HE KILLS ANGELA SMITH, ONE OF HIS CHILDHOOD CARERS. He drives west and shoots himself in BLYTHE, CALIFORNIA, in the early hours of 9 January.
- 2005 onward His death becomes the reference point in the born-in survivor literature, and the reason the group's second generation is documented at all.