The Children of God were a rather silly American Christian group, born in 1968, that went, however, almost immediately off the rails, rode down the sidings and ended up chugging along in the blackest, grimiest ditches known to human experience. They specialized, for one, in unusual sexual practices. Some of these are too sordid to bear repeating: incest and child abuse were lowlights and for a horrific cautionary tale follow this link. But their most unusual Christian innovation was Flirty Fishing, referred to by an editor over at Wikipedia as ‘evangelistic religious prostitution’.

Read more:  Flirty Fishing: Evangelical Prostitution – Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog.