28°
The now-25-year-old of Elmwood Park has disaffiliated and is suing the Godwin Avenue church in superior court to have the non-disclosure agreement he signed seven years ago dissolved, NorthJersey.com reports.
Gonzalez is one of nearly half-a-dozen people who claim they were lured in and "frightened into devotion," then sworn to secrecy, the report says. Many people were also talked into donated large amounts of money by the end of the world in 2012.
The church, which began in South Korea in 1964 before expanding to other parts of the world, believes that co-founder Jang Gil-ja of South Korea is, in fact, "God the Mother" in the flesh -- and claims to have 2,200 churches in 150 countries with 1.7 million members.
Last year, a Hasbrouck Heights woman warned that someone claiming to be with the church knocked on her door and then attempted to break in. The incident and others sparked controversy in Bergen County.
The church's legal counsel claims the agreement was for the members' protection. Gonzalez' attorney Peter Skolnik questioned what the church might be hiding by keeping members and ex-members tight-lipped forever.
Gonzalez says the confidentially agreement was meant to hide "illegal and wrongful conduct," such as forced abortions, tax fraud and advocation of doomsday prophecies, the media outlet reports. Members who didn't sign the NDA were threatened by the church with punishment by God in a fiery hell, according to the article.
A woman filed a federal suit in 2014 claiming that she attempted suicide after the church pressured her into an abortion and subjected her to "psychological harm and trauma."
Dissolving the NDA would allow Gonzalez to provide testimony in other cases against the church and speak freely about it.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Garfield-Lodi and receive free news updates.
