TW: Sexual Assault and Incest
Sex Cult Nun by Faith Jones was a wild ride. It doesn’t even feel like a non-fiction book because the tales of Faith are an absolute unbelievable story. Following the life of Faith Jones, the granddaughter of the founder of Children of God cult that was prevalent through the late part of the 20th century, she recounts her personal life in this cult who’s focus was on their cult leader and a philosophy of free sex. The book is a fun read, but hard to get through at some parts. There is trauma, sexual abuse, and a myriad of atrocious parenting.
I can appreciate the openness that Faith has with her experience and explains her experience without malice or anger, but with almost a third-party perspective on the Cult. With her detached retelling of her childhood, I can hope that through lots of therapy and reconciliation, she has reclaimed her life, but it’s still odd. The childhood trauma and extreme religiosity is reminiscent of Tara Westover’s Educated. Although they both come from very different religions and opposite sides of the world (Faith spends most of the book in China and eastern Asia compared to Tara’s experience in Utah), there are echoes of a lost childhood to pain. I’ll say with this comparison, Tara is very forward with her pain and Educated reads more like a memoir than Sex Cult Nun that reads more like a third party analysis.
Overall, I’m glad I read this story, but it’s definitely not one I’m coming back to any time soon. It’s hard to read, emotionally, but it’s a story worth telling
