In San Francisco, California, former Unification Church member Teddy Hose recounts growing up in the church

The Bay Area has a reputation for what SFist describes as a “special affinity for cultism.” Muni Diaries says that while the term is often applied loosely to many kinds of experiences, it had not yet published a first-hand account of life in one. Its podcast episode aims to fill that gap with the story of Teddy Hose.

Hose grew up in the Unification Church of the United States, whose members are more commonly known as the Moonies after the church’s founder, Sun Myun Moon. His father came to San Francisco as an artist in the 1960s and lived in the artist commune in the Goodman Building, at Geary and Van Ness. His parents met in the church in San Francisco and later moved to other cities to work for it. Muni Diaries says Hose remembers that photographs of the Moon family were displayed throughout the family home during those years. One photo shows Hose, second from right, with his family in Tarrytown, New York.

A few years ago, Hose decided to speak publicly about his childhood in the church. He has since appeared in documentaries for A&E and Netflix offering an insider’s perspective on cults. The source reports these appearances as his own contributions and does not describe the documentaries’ conclusions.

In the podcast, Hose describes returning to San Francisco as an adult to begin his life as an artist. According to Muni Diaries, the city proved to be the best place for him to examine his family’s past and the mark it has left on him. He also describes his music from the 1990s, which he calls “churchy.”

The source includes a photograph of Hose and his church fundraising team from around 1996 to 1997. Muni Diaries reports that the team slept on the roof of the van to save money, a detail that recalls the way Hose’s childhood memories of the church were formed and now shared with listeners (Psalm 78:4).

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