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Unification Church
Hangul 통일교회
Hanja 統一敎會
Revised Romanization Tongil Gyohoe
McCune–Reischauer T'ongil Kyohoe

The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC). In 1994, Moon changed the official name of the church to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.[1]

Members are found throughout the world, with the largest number living in South Korea or Japan.[2][3] Church membership is estimated to be several hundred thousand to a few million.[4][5] The church and its members own, operate, and subsidize organizations and projects involved in political, cultural, commercial, media, educational, and other activities. The church, its members and supporters as well as other related organizations are sometimes referred to as the "Unification Movement." In the English speaking world church members are sometimes referred to as "Moonies,"[6][7] (which is sometimes considered offensive)[8][9] church members prefer to be called "Unificationists".[10]

Unification Church beliefs are summarized in the textbook Divine Principle and include belief in a universal God; in striving toward the creation of a literal Kingdom of Heaven on earth; in the universal salvation of all people, good and evil, living and dead; and that a man born in Korea in the early 20th century received from Jesus the mission to be realized as the second coming of Christ.[11] Members of the Unification Church believe this Messiah is Sun Myung Moon.[12]

Contents

History

Unification Church members believe that Jesus appeared to Mun Yong-myong (his birth name) when Moon was 16, and asked him to accomplish the work left unfinished after his crucifixion. After a period of prayer and consideration, Moon accepted the mission, later changing his name to Mun Son-myong (Sun Myung Moon).[13]

The beginnings of the church's official teachings, the Divine Principle, first saw written form as Wolli Wonbon in 1946. (The second, expanded version, Wolli Hesol, or Explanation of the Divine Principle, was not published until 1957; for a more complete account, see Divine Principle.) Sun Myung Moon preached in northern Korea after the end of World War II and was imprisoned by the communist regime in North Korea in 1946. He was released from prison, along with many other North Koreans, with the advance of American and United Nations forces during the Korean War and built his first church from mud and cardboard boxes as a refugee in Pusan.[14]

Moon formally founded his organization in Seoul on May 1, 1954, calling it "The Holy Spirit(ual) Association for the Unification of World Christianity." The name alludes to Moon's stated intention for his organization to be a unifying force for all Christian denominations. The phrase "Holy Spirit Association" has the sense in the original Korean of "Heavenly Spirits" and not the "Holy Spirit" of Christianity. "Unification" has political as well as religious connotations, in keeping with the church's teaching that restoration must be complete, both spiritual and physical. The church expanded rapidly in South Korea and by the end of 1955 had 30 church centers throughout the nation.[14]

In 1958, Moon sent missionaries to Japan, and in 1959, to America. Moon himself moved to the United States in 1971, (although he remained a citizen of the Republic of Korea). Missionary work took place in Washington D.C., New York, and California. UC missionaries found success in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the church expanded in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco as the Creative Community Project. By 1971 the Unification Church of the United States had about 500 members. By 1973 the church had some presence in all 50 states and a few thousand members.[14] In other countries church growth was slower. In 1997 the Unification Church of the United Kingdom only had an estimated several hundred members.[15][16]

Irving Louis Horowitz compared the attraction of Unification teachings to American young people at this time to the hippie and radical movements of the 1960s and 1970s, saying:

"[Moon] has a belief system that admits of no boundaries or limits, an all-embracing truth. His writings exhibit a holistic concern for the person, society, nature, and all things embraced by the human vision. In this sense the concept underwriting the Unification church is apt, for its primary drive and appeal is unity, urging a paradigm of essence in an overly complicated world of existence. It is a ready-made doctrine for impatient young people and all those for whom the pursuit of the complex has become a tiresome and fruitless venture."[17]

In 1974, Moon took full-page ads in major newspapers defending President Richard M. Nixon at the height of the Watergate controversy.[18]

In 1975, Moon sent out missionaries to 120 countries to spread the Unification Church around the world and also in part, he said, to act as "lightning rods" to receive "persecution."

In the 1970s Moon gave a series of public speeches in the United states including one in Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1974 and two in 1976: In Yankee Stadium in New York City, and on the grounds of the Washington Monument in Washington D.C., where Moon spoke on "God's Hope for America."

Starting in the 1960s the Unification Church was the subject of a number of books published in the United States and the United Kingdom, both scholarly and popular. Among the better-known are: The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? (1984) by British sociologist Eileen Barker, Inquisition : The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon (1991) by American journalist Carlton Sherwood, and In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family (1998) by Nansook Hong, Moon's former daughter-in-law.

In 1978, the Fraser Committee a subcommittee of the United States Congress which was investigating the political influence of the South Korean government in the United States issued a report that included the results of its investigation into the Unification Church and other organizations associated with Moon and their relationship with the South Korean government. Among its other conclusions, the subcommittee's report stated that "Among the goals of the Moon Organization is the establishment of a worldwide government in which the separation of church and state would be abolished and which would be governed by Moon and his followers."[19]

In 1982 Moon was convicted of tax fraud and conspiracy in United States federal court and was sentenced 18 months in federal prison.

In 1991 Moon announced that church members should return to their hometowns in order to undertake apostolic work there. Massimo Introvigne, who has studied the Unification Church and other new religious movements, has said that this confirms that full-time membership is no longer considered crucial to church members.[20]

Starting in the 1990s the Unification Church expanded its operations into Russia and other formerly communist nations. Moon's wife, Hak Ja Han, made a radio broadcast to the nation from the Kremlin Palace of Congresses.[21] In 1994 the church had about 5,000 members in Russia and came under criticism from the Russian Orthodox Church.[22] In 1997, the Russian government passed a law requiring the Unification Church and other non-Russian religions to register their congregations and submit to tight controls.[23] Starting in 1992 the church established business ties with still communist North Korea and owns a automobile factory, a hotel, and other properties there. In 2007 it founded a "World Peace Center" in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital city.[24]

In 2000, the Unification Church was one of the co-sponsors of the Million Family March in Washington, D.C., along with Louis Farrakhan the leader of The Nation of Islam.[25] Starting in 2007 the church sponsored a series of public events in various nations under the title Global Peace Festival.[26][27][28][29]

In April 2008, Sun Myung Moon, then 88 years old, appointed his youngest son, Hyung Jin Moon, to be the new leader of the Unification Church and the worldwide Unification Movement, saying, "I hope everyone helps him so that he may fulfil his duty as the successor of the True Parents." [30]

In January 2009, Unification Church missionary Elizaveta Drenicheva was sentenced to two years in jail in Kazakhstan for "propagating harmful religious teachings." She was freed and allowed to leave the country after international human rights organizations expressed their concern over her case.[31][32]

In April 2009 the British school system was criticized for including study of the Unification Church in proposed religious studies guidelines for British students.[33]

Beliefs

See also: Divine Principle

The beliefs of the Unification Church are outlined in its textbook, Divine Principle.

God is viewed as the creator,[34] whose nature combines both masculinity and femininity,[34] and is the source of all truth, beauty, and goodness. Human beings and the universe reflect God's personality, nature, and purpose.[34]

"Give-and-take action" (reciprocal interaction) and "subject and object position" (initiator and responder) are "key interpretive concepts",[35] and the self is designed to be God's object.[35] The purpose of human existence is to return joy to God.[36] The "four-position foundation" is "another important and interpretive concept",[36] and explains in part the emphasis on the family.[36]

The Principle of Indemnity

Main article: Indemnity (Unification Church)

Indemnity, as explained in the Divine Principle, is a part of the process by which human beings and the world are restored back to God's ideal.[37][38][39][40][41]

Spiritualism

The Unification Church upholds a belief in spiritualism, that is communication with the spirits of deceased persons. Moon and early church members associated with spiritualists, including the famous Arthur Ford.[42][43] The Divine Principle says about Moon:

"For several decades he wandered through the spirit world so vast as to be beyond imagining. He trod a bloody path of suffering in search of the truth, passing through tribulations that God alone remembers. Since he understood that no one can find the ultimate truth to save humanity without first passing through the bitterest of trials, he fought alone against millions of devils, both in the spiritual and physical worlds, and triumphed over them all. Through intimate spiritual communion with God and by meeting with Jesus and many saints in Paradise, he brought to light all the secrets of Heaven."[44]

The ancestor liberation ceremony is a ceremony of the Unification Church intended to allow the spirits of deceased ancestors of participants to improve their situations in the spirit world through liberation, education, and blessing. The ceremonies are conducted by Hyo Nam Kim, a woman who church members believe is channeling the spirit of Soon Ae Hong, the mother of Hak Ja Han (church founder Sun Myung Moon's wife). They have taken place mainly in Cheongpyeong, South Korea, but also in various places around the world.[45][46][47]

In the 1990s and 2000s the Unification Church has made public statements claiming communications with the spirits of religious leaders such as Confucius, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and Augustine, as well as political leaders such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Mao Zedong, and many more. This has distanced the church further from mainstream Christianity as well as from Islam.[42]

Sex and marriage

Main article: Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church

The Unification Church is well-known for its marriage or marriage rededication ceremony, which is sometimes referred to by the news media and others as a "mass wedding." The Blessing ceremony was first held 1961 for 36 couples in Seoul, South Korea by Reverend and Mrs. Moon shortly after their own marriage in 1960. All the couples were members of the Unification Church. Rev. Moon matched all of the couples except 12 who were already married to each other from before joining the church.[48]

Later Blessing ceremonies were larger in scale but followed the same pattern with all participants Unification Church members and Rev. Moon matching most of the couples. In 1982 the first large scale Blessing held outside of Korea took place in Madison Square Garden in New York City. In 1988, Moon matched 2,500 Korean members with Japanese members for a Blessing ceremony held in Korea, partly in order to promote unity between the two nations.[49]

The Blessing ceremonies have attracted a lot of attention in the press and in the public imagination, often being labeled "mass weddings".[50] However, in most cases the Blessing ceremony is not a legal wedding ceremony. Some couples are already married and those that are engaged are later legally married according to the laws of their own countries.[51]

Several church-related groups are working to promote sexual abstinence until marriage and fidelity in marriage, both among church members and the general public.[52]

The church does not give its marriage blessing to same-sex couples.[53] Moon has spoken vehemently against "free sex" and homosexual activity. In talks to church members, he has compared people involved in free sex, including gay people, to "dirty dung-eating dogs"[54] and prophesied that "gays will be eliminated" in a "purge on God's orders." These statements were criticized by gay rights groups.[55]

South America

In the 1990s Moon directed church members to buy land in the Mato Grosso do Sul region of Brazil, which he compared to the Garden of Eden. 200,000 acres of farmland was purchased and building projects started.[56] In 2000 the church purchased 300,000 hectares of land in Paraguay for the purpose of logging and timber exportation to Asia. The land is the ancestral territory of the indigenous Chamacoco (Ishir) people, who live in northern Paraguay. They have told local anthropologists that they wish to purchase the land back, because it is considered a sacred area in their shamanic belief system, but they do not have the capital to purchase the huge tracts back from the Unification Church members. This loss of land has been devastating to the Chamacoco people, who are traditional hunter-gatherers, and in return the church members have financed the construction of schools for them. [57]

In May 2002, federal police in Brazil conducted a number of raids on organizations linked to Sun Myung Moon. In a statement, the police stated that the raids were part of a broad investigation into allegations of tax evasion and immigration violations by church members. Moon's support of the government of Argentina during the Falklands War was also mentioned by commentators as a possible issue.[58]

In 2009, the church gave 30,000 acres of land back to residents of Puerto Casado after a series of land disputes came before Paraguayan courts. It had acquired more than 1.48 million acres of land in 2000 for an environmental and tourism project in northern Paraguay.[59]

Campaign to replace the Cross with a Crown

In 2003 Moon began his "tear down"[60], or "take down the cross"[61] campaign. The campaign was begun in the belief that the cross is a reminder of Jesus' pain and has been a source of division between people of different faiths. The campaign included a burial ceremony for the cross and a crown to be put in its place. The American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), an interfaith group founded by Moon, spearheaded the effort, calling the cross a symbol of oppression and superiority.[62]

Unification Church member and theologian Andrew Wilson said, "The crucifixion was not something that God loves, but something that God hates. It hurts every time he sees people glorifying the cross, which was the instrument of execution used to kill his beloved son."[63]

Michael Schwartz, a spokesperson for the Christian advocacy organization Concerned Women for America, responded: "Just imagine if some misguided Christian were to suggest that the Jews have to take away their symbol and the Muslims would have to take away their symbol, not display it in public any longer. That would be identified instantly as a statement of intolerance. Reconciliation and peace do not grow out of intolerance." [64]

Related organizations

See also: List of Unification Church affiliated organizations

There are a number of organizations founded, run, or backed by church founder Sun Myung Moon. Among them are interfaith, educational, arts, sports, and political organizations as well as profit-making businesses.[65] Commentators have mentioned Moon's belief in a literal Kingdom of Heaven on earth to be brought about by human effort as a motivation for his establishment of groups that are not strictly religious in their purposes.[66][67] Others have said that one purpose of these groups is to pursue social respectability for the church.[68]

Controversy

Cult status

The Unification Church is among the most controversial religious organizations in the world today. In response to doubt regarding the organization's religious origins, Frederick Sontag, a professor of philosophy, concluded that "one thing is sure: the church has a genuine spiritual basis" after an 11-month study of the worldwide Unification Church.[69] A German court made a similar finding.[70]

Use of money

Critics also allege irregularities in the use of money and claim that the church has enriched Moon personally.[71] The Moon family situation is described as one of "luxury and privilege"[72] and has been referred to as "lavish."[73]

Nansook Hong, who lived with the Moon family for 14 years, describes the Unification Church as "a cash operation" and reports on a number of incidents of questionable movement of money, citing this instance as one example:

"The Japanese had no trouble bringing the cash into the United States; they would tell customs agents that they were in America to gamble at Atlantic City. In addition, many businesses run by the church were cash operations, including several Japanese restaurants in New York City. I saw deliveries of cash from church headquarters that went directly into the wall safe in Mrs. Moon's closet."[73]

Allegations of fraud

In the 1990s, thousands of Japanese elderly people claimed to have been defrauded of their life savings by church members.[74] The Unification Church was the subject of the largest consumer fraud investigation in Japan's history in 1997 and number of subsequent court decisions awarded hundreds of millions of yen in judgments, including 37.6 million yen ($300,000) to two women coerced into donating their assets to the Unification Church.[75] In 2009 the president of the Unification Church of Japan, Eiji Tokuno, resigned after the church was raided, and some church members were arrested and indicted, for a scam involving selling expensive personal seals, telling people that failure to buy would bring bad fortune.[76]

Recruitment and allegations of brainwashing

In the United States in the 1970s, the media reported on the high-pressure recruitment methods of Unificationists and said that the church separated vulnerable young people from their families through the use of brainwashing or mind control. In 1979, Dr. Byron Lambert, in a foreword to a book highly critical of Unification Church beliefs, wrote that accusations of brainwashing were extremely dangerous to the religious freedom of other religious groups, which used some of the same recruitment techniques as the Unification Church.[77] Eileen Barker, a sociologist specializing in religious topics, studied church members in England and in 1984 published her findings in her book The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? Observing Unificationists' approach to prospective new members, Barker came to reject a strict interpretation of the "brainwashing" theory as an explanation for conversion to the Unification Church. Nor did she find the Unification Church's methods of recruiting members to be very effective.[78] In 1985 Anson Shupe, a sociologist who is considered a leading expert on cults and new religious movements, told Time: "What the Moonies do is ludicrous. Most people who go through that experience with them walk away later." [79]

Political activities

See: Unification Church political activities

The Unification Church has been criticized for its political activities, especially its support for United States president Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal[80], its support for anti-communism during the Cold War[81][82], and its ownership of various news media outlets, especially the Washington Times, which tend to support conservatism.[83]

Reports of children conceived out of wedlock

In her 1998 book In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family, Nansook Hong-- ex-wife of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han's eldest son, Hyo Jin Moon-- said that both Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han told her about Sun Myung Moon's extramarital affairs (which she said he called "providential affairs"), including one which resulted in the birth of a boy raised by a church leader, named by Sun Myung Moon's daughter Un Jin Moon on the news show 60 Minutes.

In 1993, Chung Hwa Pak released the book Roku Maria no Higeki (Tragedy of the Six Marys) through the Koyu Publishing Co. of Japan. The book contained allegations that Moon conducted sex rituals amongst six married female disciples ("The Six Marys") who were to have prepared the way for the virgin who would marry Moon and become the True Mother. Chung Hwa Pak had left the movement when the book was published and later withdrew the book from print when he rejoined the Unification Church. Before his death Chung Hwa Pak published a second book, The Apostate, and recanted all allegations made in Roku Maria no Higeki.[84]

Accusations of antisemitism

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) released a report on antisemitism in in 1976, centers on passages found in Divine Principle, the church's basic text, stating that it contained "pejorative language, stereotyped imagery, and accusations of collective sin and guilt."[85] In a news conference consisting of the AJC, and representatives of Catholic and Protestant churches, panelists stated that the text 'contained over 125 anti-Semitic references.' The panelists noted Moon's public recent condemnation of "anti Semitism and anti-Christian attitudes", and called upon him to make a "comprehensive and systematic removal" of antisemitic and anti-Christian references in Divine Principle as a demonstration of good faith.[86]

In 1977 the Unification Church issued a rebuttal to the report, stating that it was neither comprehensive nor reconciliatory, but was rather had a "hateful tone" and was filled with "sweeping denunciations." It denied that Divine Principle teaches antisemitism and gave detailed responses to 17 specific allegations contained in the AJC's report.[87]

Leo Sandon Jr. wrote in Theology Today in 1978 supporting the AJC's charge of antisemitism in Unification Church teachings, but noted that the church argued that this resulted from "Korean ignorance of Jewish sensitivities". He stated that he was more troubled by the "unmistakable anti-semitism" of "a highly placed and veteran Korean Moonist".[88]

The Unification Church explanation for the Holocaust, that its victims were paying indemnity for the crucifixion of Jesus, has been reported in a number of sources, including in the official record of the parliament of the United Kingdom.[89] Some commentators, including David G. Bromley, a sociologist and expert on New Religious Movements, have suggested that this is a reason for the church being "considered anti-Semitic".[90]

In 2003, journalist John Gorenfeld criticized the Anti Defamation League (ADL) in an article in Salon Magazine for its silence on antisemitic statements by members of the Unification Church, in contrast to the its outspoken criticism of the Nation of Islam and other groups.[91]

Use of term 'moonie'

Main article: Moonie (Unification Church)

Moonie (plural Moonies) is a term which refers to members of the Unification Church; it is derived from the name of church founder Sun Myung Moon.[92] Some dictionaries call it offensive or derogatory;[93][94] others do not.[95][96] It has been used by critics of the church since the 1970s.[97] Church members have used the term, including Sun Myung Moon,[98] President of the Unification Theological Seminary David Kim,[99] and Moon's aide Bo Hi Pak.[100] Members of the Unification Church have stated that they currently prefer the term "Unificationists".[10] It has seen usage in languages including English,[95][96] French,[101][102] German,[103][104] Spanish,[105][106] and Portuguese,[107][108] and according to Religion and Politics In America Unification Church followers are "universally known, often derisively" by the term.[109]

Future church leadership

Observers of the Unification Church, as well as some church members, have speculated about the issue of Unification Church leadership after Moon's death. Among those sometimes mentioned are his wife Hak Ja Han Moon, and their sons Hyun Jin Moon[110] and Hyung Jin Moon.[30][111][112] In 2001, Moon said:

"I have to set up a representative or successor before I can complete this mission. Is there anyone? Rev. Kwak? Dr. Bo Hi Pak? Is there? No, not one is qualified."[113]

In 2009 the BBC reported on recent changes in the Unification Church and concluded that: "...Unificationism has a long way to go before it is simply regarded as one religion among many."[114]

Notes

  1. ^ Introvigne, Massimo, 2000, The Unification Church Studies in Contemporary Religion, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7, excerpt
  2. ^ Unification Church International Directory lists contact information for 56 countries.
  3. ^ Sun Myung Moon "They now have a presence in over 150 countries, with concentrations in Korea, Japan and the United States."
  4. ^ Membership estimates from the Unification Church (i.e., UC fact sheet) have been variously 1-3 million followers worldwide, but some sociologists of religion who have studied the church believe this number is greatly inflated. The Adherents.com site specializes in religious demographics; it gives direct and indirect reports of estimates of members in the 1-3 million range as well as one source estimating 250,000, and another estimating "hundreds of thousands."
  5. ^ excerpt The Unification Church Studies in Contemporary Religion, Massimo Introvigne, 2000, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7 This book mentions 250,000 as the best guess of scholars.
  6. ^ Oxford English Dictionary
  7. ^ WordNet 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University
  8. ^ Von Dehsen, Christian D. (1999). Philosophers and Religious Leaders. Greenwood. p. 136. ISBN 1573561525.  
  9. ^ Jenkins, Philip (2000). Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History. Oxford University Press. pp. 28, 200. ISBN 0195127447.  
  10. ^ a b Lasseter, Don (2006). If I Can't Have You, No One Can. Pinnacle. p. 111. ISBN 0786018208.  
  11. ^ Exposition of the Divine Principle, HSA-UWC, 1996 (ISBN 0-910621-80-2).
  12. ^ Moon has said he is the Second Coming of Christ, the "Savior", "returning Lord", and "True Parent". He teaches that all people should become perfected like Jesus and like himself, and that as such he "appears in the world as the substantial body of God Himself."
  13. ^ excerpt The Unification Church Studies in Contemporary Religion, Massimo Introvigne, 2000, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7
  14. ^ a b c Introvigne, 2000
  15. ^ McGrandle, Piers (June 8, 1997), "Cult explosion threatens to bury Christianity", The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/cult-explosion-threatens-to-bury-christianity-1254757.html  
  16. ^ Beyond the dark side of the Moonies, The Independent, November 2, 1995
  17. ^ Irving Louis Horowitz, Science, Sin, and Society: The Politics or Reverend Moon and the Unification Church, 1980, MIT Press
  18. ^ The Eclipse of Sun Myung Moon New York Magazine By Chris Welles Sep 27, 1976
  19. ^ Investigation of Korean-American Relations; Report of the Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives
  20. ^ [Introvigne, 2000
  21. ^ The Moonies in Moscow: a second coming?, Green Left Weekly, May 28, 1997. "With the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moon's anticommunism lost much of its camouflage value. There was, however, the compensating possibility of being able to expand his operations into Russia -- both with the bible, and with business. One of Moon's schemes in Russia during the early 1990s was reportedly to rent Red Square for a mass wedding ceremony of the type practised by his sect in many cities around the world, in which scores and perhaps hundreds of couples -- selected for one another by church leaders, and introduced only a few days previously --are married simultaneously. This plan came to nothing. The most that was achieved was that Moon's wife was allowed to broadcast from the stage of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses."
  22. ^ A Less Secular Approach, The Saint Petersburg Times, June 7, 2002
  23. ^ Russian unorthodox The Globe and Mail February 8, 2008.
  24. ^ Dubai Tycoon Scouts Pyongyang Forbes, September 9, 2006
  25. ^ Million Family March reaches out to all
  26. ^ "Moonies" stage festival in Mongolia Mongolia Web August 23, 2008
  27. ^ Kenya asked to back world peace forum Daily Nation, August 31, 2008
  28. ^ Moonie peace group to hold biggest UK event The Guardian November 21, 2008
  29. ^ Global Peace Festival This Saturday Solomon Times, November 25, 2008
  30. ^ a b Son of Moonies founder takes over as church leader The Guardian, 2008-04-28
  31. ^ http://www.rferl.org/content/Right_Defenders_Demand_Release_Of_Missionary_In_Kazakhstan/1370910.html Right Defenders Demand Release Of Missionary In Kazakhstan], Radio Free Europe, January 16, 2009
  32. ^ Liza Drenicheva Freed
  33. ^ Pupils to learn about Druids, Moonies and Rastafarians for new religious studies GCSE, The Daily Mail, April 3, 2009
  34. ^ a b c Sontag, Fredrick (1977). Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Abingdon. p. 102. ISBN 0687406226.  
  35. ^ a b Sontag, Fredrick (1977). Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Abingdon. p. 107. ISBN 0687406226.  
  36. ^ a b c Sontag, Fredrick (1977). Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Abingdon. p. 108. ISBN 0687406226.  
  37. ^ Daske, D. and Ashcraft, W. 2005, New Religious Movements, New York: New York University Press, ISBN 0814707025 "To restart the process toward perfection, God has sent messiahs to earth who could restore the true state of humanity's relationship with God. Before that can happen, however, humans must perform good deeds that cancel the bad effects of sin. Unificationists call this "indemnity". Showing love and devotion to one's fellow humans, especially within families, helps pay this indemnity." p142
  38. ^ Yamamoto, J. 1995, Unification Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Press, ISBN 0310703816 "The doctrine of indemnity. Indemnity is that which people do to restore themselves to God's kingdom. Young Oon Kim describes it this way: 'We atone for our sins through specific acts of penance.' Kwang-Yol Yoo, a Unification teacher, even goes so far as to say that by following the Divine Principle, 'man's perfection must be accomplished by his own effort without God's help.' God does most of the work, but people must still do their part in order to achieve God's plan of salvation: 'Five percent is only to say that man's responsibility is extremely small compared to God's.' "p35 "The doctrine of indemnity is not biblical. 'In simple language.' states Ruth Tucker, 'indemnity is salvation by works.' Bob Larson makes a distinction between Moon's doctrine and biblical theology, saying, 'Moon's doctrine of sinless perfection by "indemnity [forgiveness of sin by works on Moon's behalf], which can apply even to deceased ancestors, is a denial of the salvation by grace offering through Jesus Christ.' 'Farewell,' said John Calvin. 'to the dream of those who think up a righteousness flowing together out of faith and works.'" p40
  39. ^ Tingle, D. and Fordyce, R. 1979, The Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and Its Principles, Hicksville, New York: Exposition Press p53-55 "In short, indemnity is anything you want to make it, since you establish the conditions. The zeal and enthusiasm of the Unification Church members is not so much based on love for God as it is compulsion to indemnify one's own sins."
  40. ^ The Power of the Principle: Whence it Came; Where it Went, Richard Quebedeaux
  41. ^ Exposition of the Divine Principle, The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, 1996 Translation, p. 176. ISBN 0-910621-80-2
  42. ^ a b Unifying or Dividing? Sun Myung Moon and the Origins of the Unification Church George D. Chryssides, University of Wolverhampton, U.K. 2003
  43. ^ Unification Church of America History by Lloyd Pumphrey
  44. ^ Introduction Exposition of the Divine Principle, 1996 Translation
  45. ^ The Unification Church (Studies in Contemporary Religion), Massimo Introvigne, 2000, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7 p29-30
  46. ^ lengthy description of UC ancestor liberation ceremony
  47. ^ still photos of ancestor liberation ceremony - low quality JPGS, mostly
  48. ^ Duddy, Neil Interview: Dr. Mose Durst
  49. ^ MARRIAGE BY THE NUMBERS; MOON PRESIDES AS 6,500 COUPLES WED IN S. KOREA Peter Maass Washington Post October 31, 1988
  50. ^ Despite controversy, Moon and his church moving into mainstream Chicago Tribune, April 11, 2006. 'The church's most spectacular rite remains mass weddings, which the church calls the way "fallen men and women can be engrafted into the true lineage of God."'
  51. ^ At RFK, Moon Presides Over Mass Wedding, Washington Post, November 3, 1997, "Church and stadium officials estimated that more than 40,000 people, mostly couples, attended the event, including the Moon-matched couples who took their marriage vows on the football field and exchanged gold rings displaying the church symbol. Those couples, however, must still fulfill whatever requirements exist where they live to be considered legally married."
  52. ^ Rosenthal, Elisabeth (2000-09-12). "Group Founded by Sun Myung Moon Preaches Sexual Abstinence in China". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E5DA1638F931A2575AC0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-02-22.  
  53. ^ Unification Church pres sees smaller mass weddings, The Monitor (Uganda), 2008-12-30, "Moon said the church does not give its wedding blessing to same sex couples.”
  54. ^ The Family Federation for Cosmic Peace and Unification and the Cosmic Era of Blessed Family. Retrieved on 04-11-2007.
  55. ^ [http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_uni.htm THE UNIFICATION CHURCH AND HOMOSEXUALITY] B.A. Robinson, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance 2005
  56. ^ Moonies build a new Garden of Eden in Brazil's fertile cowboy country , The Independent, November 28, 1999
  57. ^ The land is the ancestral territory of the indigenous Chamacoco (Ishir) people, who live in Northern Paraguay. They have told local anthropologists that they wish to purchase the land back, because it is considered a sacred area in their shamanic belief system, but they do not have the capital to purchase the huge tracts back from the Moon followers. This loss of land has been devastating to the Chamacoco people, who are traditional hunter-gatherers. However, the Chamacocos do benefit from the presence of the Moon followers because the latter have built schools for them.Uproar after Moonies buy town, BBC, October 14, 2000
  58. ^ The Unification Church in South America Australian Broadcasting Corporation May 15, 2002
  59. ^ Paraguayans Protest to Reclaim Moonie Land
  60. ^ "Tear down the Cross" Ceremony - Bronx, New York
  61. ^ Quotes from Sun Myung Moon relevant to the May 2003 Pilgrimage to Israel (Take Down the Cross)
  62. ^ Rome and Israel Pilgrim Tour - Burying of the Cross.
  63. ^ Reflections on the Breakthrough in Jerusalem, Dr. Andrew Wilson, July 20, 2003.
  64. ^ Christian Churches Should Stop Using the Cross, Group Says, by Jeff Johnson, CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief, August 22, 2003.
  65. ^ For a partial list, see Projects and Activities Founded by Unificationists. Nearly all of these were founded by Sun Myung Moon.
  66. ^ Tingle, D. and Fordyce, R. 1979, Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and its Principles, Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press ISBN 0682492647 p86-87
  67. ^ Biermans, J. 1986, The Odyssey of New Religious Movements, Persecution, Struggle, Legitimation: A Case Study of the Unification Church Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Ontario: The Edwin Melton Press ISBN 0889467102 p173
  68. ^ Helm, S. Divine Principle and the Second Advent Christian Century May 11, 1977 "In fact Moon’s adherents differ from previous fringe groups in their quite early and expensive pursuit of respectability, as evidenced by the scientific conventions they have sponsored in England and the U.S. and the seminary they have established in Barrytown, New York, whose faculty is composed not of their own group members but rather of respected Christian scholars."
  69. ^ Frederick Sontag. (1977). Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Abingdon Press.
  70. ^ Fefferman, Dan (December 31, 2001). "ICRF White Paper: The Schengen Treaty and the Case of Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon". http://www.religiousfreedom.com/Whatsnew/whitepaper.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-29.   Moon, who was born and grew up in a Japan-occupied Korea, started to preach his religious teachings back in 1945 or 1946 before he personally encountered difficulties with communism. Following Moon's torture and imprisonment by the North Korean communists from 1947 to 1950 he was not reported to have engaged primarily in political agitation, but rather in daily worship. Furthermore, he was barred from the Presbyterian Church as early as 1948 owing to his different religious teachings.
  71. ^ These criticisms have been repeated hundreds of times in media reports. One such example is "Cults, Deprogrammers, and the Necessity Defense," Michigan Law Review, Vol. 80, No. 2 (Dec., 1981), pp. 271–311
  72. ^ "Money, Guns, and God" by Christopher S. Stewart, Conde Nast Portfolio, October 2007
  73. ^ a b Hong, Nansook. (1998). In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family. Little, Brown. (ISBN 0-316-34816-3).
  74. ^ http://www1k.mesh.ne.jp/reikan/english/active/active.htm
  75. ^ The Activities of Unification Church in Japan, National Network of Lawyers Against the Spiritual Sales, Tokyo, Japan.
  76. ^ Unification Church head to step down, The Japan Times, July 14, 2009
  77. ^ Lambert, B. in Tingle, D. and Fordyce, R. 1979, Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and its Principles, Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press ISBN 0682492647 "The point is this: almost all of the attacks in the media are directed against their so-called brain-washing techniques and the horror of life going on in the inner sanctum of Moon's church. The furor and pressure created by the media are extremely dangerous, not just to the partisan of the Divine Principle, but to any group zealous to promote a religious cause. The accusations cast a kind of slander on a young person's right to change his religious faith or to work in an unpopular or not quite traditional religious body, or to call door to door and distribute tracts, or to hold camps and religious retreats and congregate with others in any "exclusive" way. The Moon followers, in my estimation, are guilty of no more than Jehovah's Witnesses, or Mormons, or (do I need to say it) people of the Christian churches, when they seek to convert others to their way."
  78. ^ Barker, Eileen, The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? (1984) Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK ISBN 0-631-13246-5.
  79. ^ Religion: Sun Myung Moon's Goodwill Blitz, Time (magazine), April 22, 1985
  80. ^ Introvigne, Massimo, 2000, The Unification Church Studies in Contemporary Religion, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7, excerpt page 16
  81. ^ [1] San Francisco Chronicle September 3, 1983
  82. ^ How to Read the Reagan Administration: The Miskito Case
  83. ^ See
  84. ^ A speech made by Pak titled "Retraction of The Tragedy of the Six Marys" can be found at www.tparents.org.
  85. ^ Rudin, A. James, 1978 A View of the Unification Church, American Jewish Committee Archives
  86. ^ Sun Myung Moon Is Criticized by Religious Leaders; Jewish Patrons Enraged, David F. White, New York Times, December 29, 1976
  87. ^ Response to A. James Rudin's Report, Unification Church Department of Public Affairs, Daniel C. Holdgeiwe, Johnny Sonneborn, March 1977.
  88. ^ "More troubling is the unmistakable anti-semitism I heard expressed by a highly placed and veteran Korean Moonist who interpreted the failure of the New York Board of Regents to grant the Barrytown seminary a charter as being the result of the international communist and Jewish conspiracy. The communists and Jews characteristically are linked, he explained. I have heard Robert Shelton, veteran American Klansman, allude to the same conspiracy." Korean Moon: Waxing or Waning?, Leo Sandon Jr, Theology Today, July 1978.
  89. ^ Reports include:
    • Jewish currents, Volume 30, 1976, p5
    • Parliamentary debates: Official report, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, 23 February 1977, vol 926 p1593 THE UNIFICATION CHURCH (Hansard, 23 February 1977)
    • Religious education, Volume 73, 1978, p356
    • Cults in America: programmed for paradise‎, Willa Appel, 1983, p171
    • Anti-cult movements in cross-cultural perspective, Anson D. Shupe, David G. Bromley, 1994, p42
    • Feher, Shoshanah. Passing over Easter: constructing the boundaries of Messianic Judaism, Rowman Altamira, 1998, p. 36.
    • Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon, Gordon Neufeld, 2002, p173
    • Sun Myung Moon forms new political party to merge divided Koreas, Church & State, May 01, 2003
    • Bad Moon on the rise, John Gorenfeld, Salon Magazine, Sep 24, 2003
    • False dawn, Lee Penn, 2004, p121
  90. ^ Anti-cult movements in cross-cultural perspective, Anson D. Shupe, David G. Bromley, 1994, p42; Feher, Shoshanah. Passing over Easter: constructing the boundaries of Messianic Judaism, Rowman Altamira, 1998, p. 36.
  91. ^ Bad Moon on the rise, John Gorenfeld, Salon Magazine, Sep 24, 2003
  92. ^ Miller, Timothy (1995). America's Alternative Religions. State University of New York Press. pp. 223, 414. ISBN 0791423980.  
  93. ^ Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009 (2009). "moonie". Dictionary.com. dictionary.reference.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moonie. Retrieved 2009-09-28.  
  94. ^ Compact Oxford English Dictionary (2009). "Moonie". AskOxford. www.askoxford.com. http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/moonie?view=uk. Retrieved 2009-09-28.  
  95. ^ a b World Book Encyclopedia (2002). The World Book Dictionary: L-Z. World Book, Inc. p. 1348. ISBN 0716602997.  
  96. ^ a b Editors of Webster's II Dictionaries (1999). Webster's II New College Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 711. ISBN 0395962145.  
  97. ^ BBC News staff (July 19, 2008). "'Moonies' founder hurt in crash". BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7515435.stm. Retrieved 2009-09-28.  
  98. ^ Enroth, Ronald M. (2005). A Guide To New Religious Movements. InterVarsity Press. pp. 69, 72. ISBN 0830823816.  
  99. ^ Shupe, Anson D.; Bronislaw Misztal (1998). Religion, Mobilization, and Social Action. Praeger. pp. 197, 213, 215. ISBN 978-0275956257.  
  100. ^ Ofcom (February 20, 2006). "Complaint by Mr Robin Marsh on behalf of The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification – UK (formerly known as the Unification Church)". Broadcast Bulletin (www.ofcom.org.uk) (54). http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/obb/prog_cb/pcb41/. Retrieved 2009-09-28.  
  101. ^ "Mgr Milingo: "Admonition canonique", ultimatum au 20 août 2001" (in French). Zenit: Le monde vu de Rome (www.zenit.org). July 17, 2001. http://www.zenit.org/article-933?l=french. Retrieved 2009-09-30.  
  102. ^ "Rome: Après l’ordination de quatre évêques mariés aux Etats-Unis" (in French). APIC (www.kipa-apic.ch). September 26, 2006. http://www.kipa-apic.ch/meldungen/sep_show_fr.php?id=3236. Retrieved 2009-09-30.  
  103. ^ "Sun Myung Moon: Guru mit Geschäftssinn" (in German). Stern (www.stern.de). August 19, 2009. http://www.stern.de/panorama/sun-myung-moon-guru-mit-geschaeftssinn-536981.html. Retrieved 2009-09-30.  
  104. ^ "Ein neuer Konkurrent im Kampf um die Seelen" (in German). Stuttgarter Zeitung. September 24, 1997.  
  105. ^ "Empresas de dietética alimentan en España a la secta del reverendo Moon" (in Spanish). El País (www.elpais.com). June 21, 1988. http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/MOON/Empresas/dietetica/alimentan/Espana/secta/reverendo/Moon/elpepiesp/19880621elpepinac_20/Tes/. Retrieved 2009-09-30.  
  106. ^ "La guerra de los moonies" (in Spanish). La Jornada (www.jornada.unam.mx). August 22, 1997. http://www.jornada.unam.mx/1997/08/22/ramirez.html. Retrieved 2009-09-30.  
  107. ^ "Jornal Semanal da Comunidade Brasileira no Sul da Florida" (in Portuguese). Gazeta Brazilian News (www.gazetanwes.com). December 27, 2005. http://www.gazetanews.com/imigracao_noticia.php?cd_noticia=3255. Retrieved 2009-09-30.  
  108. ^ "O Brasil na imprensa internacional" (in Portuguese). Portugal Digital (www.portugaldigital.com). December 26, 2005. http://www.portugaldigital.com.br/noticia.kmf?cod=4042023&canal=159. Retrieved 2009-09-30.  
  109. ^ Fowler, Robert Booth; Allen D. Hertzke, Laura R. Olson (1999). Religion and Politics In America. Westview Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0813334905.  
  110. ^ "The mantle is passing to Hyun Jin Nim."
  111. ^ Unification Church pres sees smaller mass weddings, Daily Monitor, 2008-12-30
  112. ^ Massimo Introvigne, From the Unification Church to the Unification Movement, 1994–1999: Five Years of Dramatic Changes, 1999, Center for Studies on New Religions, "The issue of succession is now of fundamental importance. The Reverend Moon will be eighty years old (by Korean age calculations, he turned eighty in 1999) in 2000. Mrs. Moon is fifty-seven years old. Since 1992 she has taken a more visible role, particularly in three world speaking tours in 1992, 1993, and 1999. Mrs. Moon has also spoken on Capitol Hill, at the United Nations, and in other parliaments around the world. Her relative youth and the respect with which she is held by the membership may be a point of stability for the Unification movement. The ceremony to inaugurate the Reverend and Mrs. Moon's third son, Hyun Jin Moon, as vice president of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International (FFWPUI) on July 19, 1998, as well as his responsibility to educate the "second generation," denotes him as the successor. Hyun Jin Moon had represented the Republic of Korea in the Olympic equestrian event in 1988 and 1992. He graduated from the Harvard Business School with an M.B.A. in 1998. The Reverend Moon joked during his address that he is criticized for having "failed in business ventures, but now I have a son with an M.B.A. who will be successful in business." Hyun Jin Moon's blessing to Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak's (the Reverend Moon's assistant and former president of the FFWPUI) daughter, Jun Sook Kwak, is also a significant point of continuity"
  113. ^ Talk by Sun Myung Moon
  114. ^ Christopher Landau, 'Moonies' mull future without founder, BBC, 2009-10-08

See also

Annotated bibliography

  • Durst, Mose. 1984. To bigotry, no sanction: Reverend Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Chicago: Regnery Gateway. ISBN 9780895266095
  • Sontag, Frederick. 1977. Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Nashville, Tenn: Abingdon Press. ISBN 9780687406227
  • Fichter, Joseph Henry. 1985. The holy family of father Moon. Kansas City, Mo: Leaven Press. ISBN 9780934134132
  • Gullery, Jonathan. 1986. The Path of a pioneer: the early days of Reverend Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. New York: HSA Publications. ISBN 9780910621502
  • Sherwood, Carlton. 1991. Inquisition : The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway. ISBN 9780895265326
  • Biermans, J. 1986, The Odyssey of New Religious Movements, Persecution, Struggle, Legitimation: A Case Study of the Unification Church Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Ontario: The Edwin Melton Press ISBN 0889467102
  • Bryant, M. Darrol, and Herbert Warren Richardson. 1978. A Time for consideration: a scholarly appraisal of the Unification Church. New York: E. Mellen Press. ISBN 9780889469549
  • Ward, Thomas J. 2006. March to Moscow: the role of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon in the collapse of communism. St. Paul, Minn: Paragon House. ISBN 9781885118165
  • Barker, Eileen, The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? (1984) Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK ISBN 0-631-13246-5.
  • Chryssides, George D., The Advent of Sun Myung Moon: The Origins, Beliefs and Practices of the Unification Church (1991) London, Macmillan Professional and Academic Ltd. The author is professor of religious studies at the University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom.
  • Hong, Nansook, In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family. Little Brown & Company; ISBN 0-316-34816-3; (August 1998). The book is written by the ex-wife of Hyo Jin Moon, Reverend Moon's son (to whom she was married, handpicked by Moon, at 15 years of age) and details various abuses she says she suffered from members of the Moon family.
  • Introvigne, M., 2000, The Unification Church, Signature Books, ISBN 1560851457
  • Lofland, John, Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith first published Prentice Hall, c/o Pearson Ed, 1966. Reprinted Ardent Media, U.S. ISBN 0-8290-0095-X
  • Matczak, Sebastian, Unificationism: A New Philosophy and World View (Philosophical Questions Series, No 11) (1982) New York: Louvain. The author is a professor of philosophy and a Catholic priest. He taught at the Unification Theological Seminary.
  • Tingle, D. and Fordyce, R. 1979, Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and its Principles, Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press ISBN 0682492647
  • Wright, Stuart A., Leaving Cults: The Dynamics of Defection, published by the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion: Monograph Series nr. 7 1987 ISBN 0-932566-06-5 (Contains interviews with ex-members of three groups, among others the Unification Church)
  • Yamamoto, J. Isamu, 1995, Unification Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House ISBN 0310703816
  • Bromley, David G. (September 1985). "Financing the Millennium: The Economic Structure of the Unificationist Movement". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Sep., 1985), pp. (Blackwell Publishing on behalf of Society for the Scientific Study of Religion) 24 (3): 253-274. http://www.jstor.org/pss/1385816.  

External links

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Quotes

Up to date as of January 14, 2010

From Wikiquote

The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Sun Myung Moon in Seoul, South Korea in 1954.

Sourced

  • It’s frightening what these Moonies can do to the family unit..I get letters from parents all over the country telling me the same story..The kids are swept along by his outfit and then taken away for a few days to a ‘workshop.’ By the time the parents see their kids again – if they can manage to see them – the kids are starry-eyed and ready to take on anyone who disagrees with them. It’s a form of hypnotism. There is something very unhealthy going on.
    • Rabbi Maurice Davis, United States Congressional Record, 94th Congress, United States House of Representatives, 2nd session, (1976-01-28), Congressional Record, Volume 122, Part 2.
  • Indeed, many of the Unification Church’s characteristics and techniques faithfully correspond to those traditional in fringe groups of Christianity -- from the buttonholing solicitors with their repertoire of causes to the authoritarian structure, from the dedicated young people to the financial solvency. Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses and many before them have walked this path. There does not seem yet any reason to regard these features as especially sinister in the Unification Church. In fact Moon’s adherents differ from previous fringe groups in their quite early and expensive pursuit of respectability, as evidenced by the scientific conventions they have sponsored in England and the U.S. and the seminary they have established in Barrytown, New York, whose faculty is composed not of their own group members but rather of respected Christian scholars.
  • Reverend Moon and his church are a long, low cry from the past: a demand for a return to a simplified, unified world over and against what must appear to many to be a complicated and fragmented present-day world, growing more so daily. It is also a cry of the heart for a Western civilization that has no menaces and no communists: the last crusade, the final roundup, the assertion of antihistory, a demand that compromises yield to principle and that religion replace realpolitik.
  • Mr. Speaker, the activities of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church continue to cause distress for many of us. As you know, the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, chaired by my distinguished colleague, Donald Fraser, is investigating allegations of close ties between the Reverend Moon and some of his organizations and the South Korean government, including the KCIA. As a member of the subcommittee, I am, of course, disturbed over such allegations. My greatest concern, however, is for those young people who have been converted by these religious cults and for their parents, who have suffered the loss of their children. One of these parents, Mrs. Ida Watson Camburn of Sunnyvale, Calif., brought to my attention the testimony of John G. Clark, Jr., M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, before a Vermont Senate committee, which was investigating religious cults. Dr. Clark's remarks, based on 2 ½ years of research, deal with the effects of some religious cults on the mental and physical health and welfare of their converts. I highly recommend his conclusions to my colleagues.
  • I would argue that the essential power of the movement's cohesiveness is not to be found in the logic of Divine Principle, but rather in the experience of warm, chaste, unselfish, morally principled, and ordered fraternity. In a day when both church and secular society are questioning the viability of the traditional family structure and have almost given up on the possibility of community, the Moonies have "met the family" and are willing to substitute for the pursuit of individual material achievement roles which are communally designated. These emphases are neither heretical nor esoteric; nor are they incompatible with the inherited Christian theological framework. Indeed, to the extent these emphases are missing in our own witness, we in the mainline churches are judged by the Unification heresy, and the Moonies just might be harbingers of a new age in which the unification of physical and spiritual reality in a lifestyle of principled love is the only alternative to an increasingly fragmented culture and to broken communities. The notion of the final restoration of all things in God, as it was articulated by Gregory of Nyssa, needs no revision by a Korean shaman, but perhaps Sun Myung Moon has served to remind us that we need to affirm it as the ethical corollary to any doctrine of divine sovereignty.
  • The full name of this movement, the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, captures the contours of the restored order. The spiritual and material, the physical and supernatural, the sciences and humanities, the subject and object, male and female, all religions and all denominations, all the dualities of the created universe must be restored to their essential unity under God. To achieve these ends Unification seeks to be a catalyst. It is not interested in becoming another sect but acts as a movement which can disappear organizationally as its goals are attained. It is a success oriented movement, not given to idealizing suffering or deaths on crosses, rather, it seeks a hearing through economic and political power. While the Vatican and national councils of churches may use their powers in quiet diplomacy, Moon frankly admits that only those with this world's power are heard by the worldly powerful. And the powerful must hear, for the sacred/secular dichotomy is false; all must be restored.
  • The Unification Church, its leaders and followers were and continue to be the victims of the worst kind of religious prejudice and racial bigotry this country has witnessed in over a century. Moreover, virtually every institution we as Americans hold sacred the Congress, the courts, law enforcement agencies, the press, even the U.S. Constitution itself was prostituted in a malicious, oftentimes brutal manner, as part of a determined effort to wipe out this small but expanding religious movement.
    • Carlton Sherwood, (1991), Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon
  • The zeal and enthusiasm of the Unification Church members is not so much based on love for God as it is compulsion to indemnify one's own sins.
    • Donald Tingle & Richard Fordyce, 1979, The Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and Its Principles, Hicksville, New York: Exposition Press p53-55

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Simple English

The Unification Church is a new religious movement based on the importance of the family in creating a world of peace, started by Sun Myung Moon in Korea in the 1940s. It officially began as a church in 1954 in Seoul, South Korea. On October 12, 2009, it was announced that Sun Myung Moon was given the church to his sons, Moon Hyung-jin, Moon Kook-jin, and Moon Hyun-jin.[1]

Contents

Controversies

The Unification Church is a controversial organisation. Some people say it is a cult with bizarre features. For example, Sun Myung Moon's says he is the "Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord"[2] and using a Senate office building for a coronation ceremony.[3] He also said that his teachings have helped Hitler and Stalin be "reborn as new persons".[3] Many countries have recognized the organisation as a bona fide religion for legal purposes. This means the Unification Church has to pay less taxes, or no taxes at all.

Some doubt the organization's religious origins. Frederick Sontag, a professor of philosophy whose view of the church is no longer favorable[4] has studied the Unification Church for 11 months. He concluded that "one thing is sure: the church has a genuine spiritual basis."[5] A German court made a similar finding.[6]

Some detractors have said that the church's main purpose is to advance Moon's political aspirations, such as the formation of a one world government.

B. A. Robinson wrote:

However, there is a potential negative side to membership in the Unification Church. Their core, dedicated members accept strong discipline and can develop a deep commitment to the church. They must remain celibate before marriage, abstain from tobacco and alcohol and work long hours. The group can become their whole life, the source of their religious, cultural, social, and other support systems. If they become disillusioned by some aspect of the church, this minority of unusually dedicated members can find it very difficult to leave the organization and abandon these support networks. When they do leave, they are often angry with themselves and the church, believing that they have wasted perhaps years of their life within the group. This problem is common to all high intensity denominations which require major commitment to the group. e.g. Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and (for priests and nuns) the Roman Catholic Church.[7]

Abuse of money

Critics point to irregularities in the use of money. They highlight the church's role in enriching Moon personally.[8] The Moon family situation is described as one of "luxury and privilege"[9] and as "lavish".[10]

Nansook Hong lived with the Moon family for 14 years. She describes the Unification Church as "a cash operation". She also pointed out there have been questionable movements of money, for example: "The Japanese had no trouble bringing the cash into the United States; they would tell customs agents that they were in America to gamble at Atlantic City. In addition, many businesses run by the church were cash operations, including several Japanese restaurants in New York City. I saw deliveries of cash from church headquarters that went directly into the wall safe in Mrs. Moon's closet."[10] In the 1990s, thousands of Japanese elderly people claimed to have been defrauded of their life savings by Moon followers' spiritual sales. Moon's church was the subject of the largest consumer fraud investigation in Japan's history in 1997 and number of subsequent court decisions awarded hundreds of millions of yen in judgments, including 37.6 million yen ($300,000) to pay two women coerced into donating their assets to the Unification Church.

Recruitment and allegations of brainwashing

In the United States in the 1970s, the media reported on the high-pressure recruitment methods of Unificationists and said that the church separated vulnerable college students from their families through the use of brainwashing or mind control.[11]

Moon dismissed these criticisms, stating in 1976 that he had received many thank-you letters from parents whose children became closer to them after joining the movement. (In 1977, Moon had a notice posted in all Unification Churches in America, mandating that all members write to their families no less than once every 10 days.)

Moon and his wife were banned from entry into Germany and the other 14 Schengen treaty countries, on the grounds that they are leaders of a sect that endangered the personal and social development of young people. The Netherlands and a few other Schengen states let Moon and his wife enter their countries in 2005. In 2006 the German Supreme Court overturned the ban. [12]

Political activities

Critics of the Unification Church have accused the organization of being closely involved with covert CIA-authored operations against communism in Korea during the 1960s. The Church is known to have been involved with weapon and munitions manufacturing in Korea since the 1960s, as documented in a 1978 United States Congressional Report on the Unification Church. The explanation given by Korean Unification Church members is that all manufacturers seeking to do business in South Korea were required to supply the military.

Sun Myung Moon's controversial religious and political Unification Movement, which includes not only the Unification Church but an enormous constellation of civic organizations, including the Washington Times Foundation, is allied politically with evangelical Christians such as Jerry Falwell and Tim LaHaye. Advocates adhering to this point of view have challenged the church's tax-exempt status in the US, arguing that the political activities of church-related groups comprise an impermissible intrusion of the church into political areas.

Rev. Moon's infidelity

In her 1998 book In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family, Nansook Hong, ex-wife of Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han's eldest son Hyo Jin Moon said that both Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han told her about Sun Myung Moon's extramarital affairs (which she said he called "providential affairs"), including one which resulted in the birth of a boy raised by a church leader, named by Sun Myung Moon's daughter Un Jin Moon on the news show 60 Minutes.

In 1993, Chung Hwa Pak released the book Roku Maria no Higeki (Tragedy of the Six Marys) through the Koyu Publishing Co. of Japan. The book contained allegations that Moon conducted sex rituals amongst six married female disciples ("The Six Marys") who were to have prepared the way for the virgin who would marry Moon and become the True Mother. Chung Hwa Pak had left the movement when the book was published and later withdrew the book from print when he rejoined the Unification Church. Before his death Chung Hwa Pak published a second book, The Apostate, and recanted all allegations made in Roku Maria no Higeki.[13]

South America

Authorities in Brazil and Paraguay have expressed concerns over the Church's purchases in recent years of large tracts of land in South America, ranging in the hundreds of thousands of acres.

In May 2002, federal police in Brazil conducted a number of raids on organizations linked to Sun Myung Moon. In a statement, the police stated that the raids were part of a broad investigation into allegations of tax evasion and immigration violations by Moon's organization. The Association of Families for Unification and World Peace was the target of the raids, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and the personal residence of Moon's primary representative in Brazil, Reverend Kim Yoon-sang. As of 2008 no legal action has been taken by the Brazilian government resulting from their investigations.

Anti-gay teachings

Moon has spoken vehemently against homosexual activity. In talks to church members he compared homosexuals to "dirty dung-eating dogs"[14] and prophesied that "gays will be eliminated" in a "purge on God's orders". These statements were criticized by gay rights groups. [15]

B. A. Robinson of the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance wrote:

With this emphasis on male-female sex as the only valid model, and on heterosexual marriage as the only ideal, it is reasonable to expect that the Unification Church has very negative views on homosexual behavior:
  • Actively homosexual persons are not admitted into membership.
  • Actively homosexual persons would be prohibited from the clergy.
  • Most church leaders are married and have stable families.
  • Since they consider a gay or lesbian committed relationship to be outside God's ideal, commitment services for homosexuals are not held.
  • Their practice is to hate the sin but love the sinner.
  • They view homosexual behavior as a deviation from the God-centered family.'[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Rev. Moon turning over Unification Church to sons". http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091012/ap_on_re_as/as_skorea_unification_church;_ylt=AtG8Q2vqyk0nno8BJESCZZIEtbAF. Retrieved 2009-10-12. 
  2. ↑ "God's heart and love for humanity has been the heart of a parent who loves a child. God could not ignore the immorality and wickedness of this world, so He finally sent me to correct these things and to tear down the barriers of war and conflict for all eternity. (..) He gave me the qualification to be the Savior, Messiah, returning Lord, and True Parent who appears in the world as the substantial body of God Himself." "Let Us Perfect the Peace Kingdom Through the Peace United Nations". http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/Mspks/2003/20031015_1.html. , speech given by Rev. Moon at the Inaugural Assembly of the Headquarters of the Interreligious and International Peace Council (IIPC) - October 15, 2003 - Seoul, Korea
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Warner Helped the Rev. Moon
  4. ↑ "Theological Uproar in Unification Church; Rev. Moon Recognizes Zimbabwean as His Reincarnated Son", Washington Post March 30, 1988 article by Michael Isikoff. Sontag is quoted as saying: "The church began as a spiritual movement, but in recent years, it's become sort of humdrum and dissolved into more of a business"
  5. ↑ Frederick Sontag. (1977). Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Abingdon Press.
  6. ↑ Fefferman, Dan (December 31, 2001). "ICRF White Paper: The Schengen Treaty and the Case of Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon". http://www.religiousfreedom.com/Whatsnew/whitepaper.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-29.  Moon was born and grew up in a Japan-occupied Korea. He started to preach his religious teachings back in 1945 or 1946 before he personally encountered difficulties with communism. After Moon's torture and imprisonment by the North Korean communists from 1947 to 1950 he was not reported to have engaged primarily in political agitation, but rather in daily worship. Furthermore, he was barred from the Presbyterian Church as early as 1948. This ban was because of his different religious teachings.
  7. ↑ The Unification Church founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon
  8. ↑ These criticisms have been repeated hundreds of times in media reports. One such example is "Cults, Deprogrammers, and the Necessity Defense", Michigan Law Review, Vol. 80, No. 2 (Dec., 1981), pp. 271-311
  9. ↑ ""Money, Guns, and God" by Christopher S. Stewart, Conde Nast Portfolio, October 2007". http://www.portfolio.com/careers/features/2007/09/17/Unification-Church. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Hong, Nansook. (1998). In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family. Little, Brown. (ISBN 0-316-34816-3).
  11. ↑ See Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, 1900- . New York: Wilson, 1905- . v.1- .
  12. ↑ Report released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. State Dept.
  13. ↑ A speech made by Pak titled "Retraction of The Tragedy of the Six Marys" can be found at www.tparents.org.
  14. ↑ The Family Federation for Cosmic Peace and Unification and the Cosmic Era of Blessed Family. Retrieved on 04-11-2007.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "The Unification Church and Homosexuality". http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_uni.htm. , B.A. Robinson, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 2005

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