REM song helped former Children of God member leave commune in 1991

A former member of the Children of God says hearing REM’s song "Losing My Religion" pushed her to escape a commune in Japan in 1991. She had been living in the commune with about 200 other people and says the group preached the world would end in 1993. She describes two decades of control: leaders decided where she slept and who she could sleep with, members were encouraged to keep diaries that were handed to leaders each night, and only cult-sanctioned music and happy-ending films were permitted.

The commune’s supreme leader, David Berg, communicated by written "prophecies," and the writer says his explanations grew unconvincing as the predicted end failed to materialise. She also says Berg shifted doctrine toward sexual freedom, ordering couple‑swapping; her refusal led to forced separation from her wife and reassignment to a different commune.

Although members were allowed Walkmans, they were forbidden from listening to "worldly" music. She says she began secretly tuning in to an American armed forces radio station in Japan and that the lyric "That's me in the spotlight / Losing my religion" made her stop and put words to her doubts.

She says the line "Every whisper of every waking hour / I'm choosing my confessions" made her think of the daily diaries she had been compelled to write. After about five months of listening, she says she left the commune in the autumn of 1991, moved back in with her parents and trained to become a lawyer.

Key Topics

Culture, Rem, Losing My Religion, David Berg, Japan, Armed Forces Radio