![Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Sun_Myung_Moon_and_Hak_Ja_Han.jpg)
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a
new religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
, whose members are called Unificationists, or "
Moonies
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonie (nickname), Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 unde ...
". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name
(HSA-UWC) in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, South Korea, by
Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon (; born Yong Myung Moon; 6 January 1920 – 3 September 2012) was a Korean religious leader, also known for his business ventures and support for conservative political causes. A messiah claimant, he was the founder of the Unif ...
(1920–2012). Moon and his wife
Hak Ja Han
Hak Ja Han (Korean: 한학자, Hanja: 韓鶴子) (born January 6, 1943, lunar calendar which is February 10, 1943, Gregorian) is a Korean religious leader. Her late husband Sun Myung Moon was the founder of the Unification movement, also known ...
were the leaders of the church and are honored by its members as their "True Parents."
The beliefs of the Unification Church are based on Moon's book the ''Divine Principle.'' The movement is well known for its "
Blessing
In religion, a blessing (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the impartation of something with grace, holiness, spiritual redemption, or divine will.
Etymology and Germanic paganism
The modern English language term ''bless'' likely ...
" or
mass wedding
A collective wedding or mass wedding is a marriage ceremony in which several couples are married at the same time.
History
In 324 BC Alexander the Great married Stateira II, the eldest daughter of Darius, the king of Persia. In the same cerem ...
ceremonies.
[ The Unification Church has been criticized for its teachings and for its social influence, with some critics calling it a "]dangerous cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This s ...
". Its involvement in politics include anti-communism
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
and support for Korean reunification
Korean reunification () is the potential reunification of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea into a single Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification was started by the June 15th North–South Joi ...
.[Kent, Stephen A., ''From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam War Era'' (Syracuse University Press, 2001), 168.] Its members have founded, owned, and supported other related organizations, including business, educational, political,[Sun Myung Moon forms new political party to merge divided Koreas](_blank)
Church and State
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular stat ...
, May 2003 and other types of organizations.
Popular terminologies
Moon did not originally intend on founding a separate organization or denomination, and did not give his group of followers its official name, Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (Korean: 세계 기독교 통일 성령 협회 ''Segye Gidoggyo Tong-il Seonglyeong Hyeobhoe''), until 1954.[ The informal name "Unification Church" () has been commonly used by members, the public, and the news media.
'' Moonie'' is a colloquial term] first used in 1974 by some American media outlets. Unification Church members have used the word, including Moon himself, the president of the Unification Theological Seminary
Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) is a private Unification Church-affiliated graduate seminary headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. The seminary was granted an absolute charter from the State of New York in January 198 ...
David Kim, and Bo Hi Pak
Bo Hi Pak (August 18, 1930 – January 12, 2019 in Korea. Korean: 박보희/朴普熙) was a prominent member of the Unification Church. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a major leader in the church movement, leading projects such as newspapers ...
, Moon's aide and president of Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea
The Little Angels Children’s Folk Ballet of Korea is a Korean traditional art and dance troupe made up of elementary and middle school children, founded in 1962 by Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, to project a positive image ...
. In the 1980s and 1990s the Unification Church of the United States
The Unification Church of the United States is a religious movement in the United States of America. It began in the 1950s and 1960s when missionaries from Japan and South Korea were sent to the United States by the international Unification Churc ...
undertook an extensive public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
campaign against the use of the word by the news media
The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...
. In other contexts it is still sometimes used and not always considered pejorative. By 2018, the term "Unification Movement" was widely used.
Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han, are regarded by Unificationists as "True Father" and "True Mother", respectively, and as "True Parents" collectively.
History
Background and origins
On 25 February 1920, Moon was born Mun Yong-myeong in modern-day Sangsa-ri (), Deogun-myon, Jeongju-gun, North P'yŏng'an Province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
, at a time when Korea was under Japanese rule. His birthday was recorded as January 6 by the traditional lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gre ...
(25 February 1920, according to the Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
). Around 1930, his family, who followed traditional Confucianist
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...
beliefs, converted to Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
and joined a Presbyterian Church
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
, where he later taught Sunday school
A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West.
Su ...
.
In 1945, Moon attended the Israeli monastery with his wife, Sun-Kil Choi, to learn the teachings of Ben-mun Kim (), including his book ''The Fundamental Principles of Christianity'' (基督教根本原理 drafted March 2, 1946, published March 2, 1958). After World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and the Japanese rule ended in 1945, Moon began preaching. In 1946, Moon traveled alone to Pyongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...
in Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
-ruled North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
. He was arrested on allegations of spying for South Korea and given a five-year sentence to the Hŭngnam
Hŭngnam is a district of Hamhung, the second largest city in North Korea. It is a port city on the eastern coast on the Sea of Japan. It is only from the slightly inland city of Hamhung. In 2005 it became a ward of Hamhung.
History
The port a ...
labor camp
A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...
.
Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (1954–1994)
Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC) in Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
on 1 May 1954. It expanded rapidly in South Korea and by the end of 1955, had 30 centers throughout the nation. The HSA-UWC expanded throughout the world with most members living in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and other nations in East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
.[ In the 1970s, American HSA-UWC members were noted for raising money for UC projects.
The HSA-UWC also sent missionaries to Europe. They entered ]Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
in 1968 and remained underground until the 1990s.["Czechs, Now "Naively" Seeking Direction, See Dangers in Cults"](_blank)
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', February 14, 1996 Unification movement activity in South America began in the 1970s with missionary work. Later, the HSA-UWC made large investments in civic organizations and business projects, including an international newspaper.["Unification Church Gains Respect in Latin America"](_blank)
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', November 24, 1996 Starting in the 1990s, the HSA-UWC expanded in Russia and other former communist nations. Hak Ja Han
Hak Ja Han (Korean: 한학자, Hanja: 韓鶴子) (born January 6, 1943, lunar calendar which is February 10, 1943, Gregorian) is a Korean religious leader. Her late husband Sun Myung Moon was the founder of the Unification movement, also known ...
, Moon's wife, made a radio broadcast to the nation from the State Kremlin Palace
The State Kremlin Palace (russian: Государственный Кремлёвский Дворец), formerly and unofficially still better known as the Kremlin Palace of Congresses (Кремлёвский Дворец съездов), is a ...
. As of 1994, the HSA-UWC had about 5,000 members in Russia.[A Less Secular Approach](_blank)
, ''The Saint Petersburg Times'', June 7, 2002 About 500 Russian students had been sent to the US to participate in 40-day workshops.
Moon moved to the United States in 1971, although he remained a citizen of the Republic of Korea. In the 1970s, he gave a series of public speeches in the United States, including one in Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
in New York City in 1974; two in 1976 in Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...
in New York City; and one on the grounds of the Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and the ...
in Washington, DC, where he spoke on "God's Hope for America" to 300,000 people. In 1975, the HSA-UWC held one of the largest peaceful gatherings in history, with 1.2 million people in Yeouido
Yeouido (Hangul: 여의도, en, Yoi Island or Yeoui Island) is a large island (or eyot) on the Han River in Seoul, South Korea. It is Seoul's main finance and investment banking district. Its 8.4 square kilometers are home to some 30,988 people ...
, South Korea.
In the 1970s, the Unification Church, along with some other new religious movements, became a target of the anti-cult movement
The anti-cult movement (abbreviated ACM, and also known as the countercult movement) consists of various governmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals that seek to raise awareness of cults, uncover coercive practices used to a ...
. Activists have accused the movement of having "brainwashed" its members. In 1976, American UC president Neil Albert Salonen Neil Albert Salonen (born 1946) served as the ninth president of the University of Bridgeport, a private university in Bridgeport, Connecticut from 1999 to 2018. He is a member of the Unification Church and became the president of the Unification ...
met with Senator Bob Dole
Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
to defend the HSA–UWC against charges which were made by its critics, including the parents of some members.
Starting in the 1980s, Moon instructed HSA-UWC members to take part in a program called "Home Church" in which they reached out to neighbors and community members through public service.
In April 1990, Moon visited the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and met with President Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
. Moon expressed support for the political and economic transformations underway in the Soviet Union. At the same time, the movement was expanding into formerly communist nations.[EVOLUTION IN EUROPE; New Flock for Moon Church: The Changing Soviet Student](_blank)
from ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''
Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (1994–)
On 1 May 1994 (the 40th anniversary of the founding of the HSA-UWC), Moon declared that the era of the HSA-UWC had ended and inaugurated a new organization: the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) would include HSA-UWC members and members of other religious organizations working toward common goals, especially on issues of sexual morality and reconciliation between people of different religions, nations, and races. The FFWPU co-sponsored Blessing ceremonies in which thousands of couples from other churches and religions were given the marriage blessing previously given only to HSA-UWC members.[Stymied in U.S., Moon's Church Sounds a Retreat](_blank)
Marc Fisher and Jeff Leen, The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
, November 24, 1997
In the 1980s and 1990s the Church's membership shrank but its businesses expanded wildly and encountered significant success leading to the Church growing wealthy despite declining numbers.
In 1994, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' recognized the movement's political influence, saying it was "a theocratic powerhouse that is pouring foreign fortunes into conservative causes in the United States." In 1998, the Egyptian newspaper ''Al-Ahram
''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...
'' criticized Moon's "ultra-right leanings" and suggested a personal relationship with conservative Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
.
In 1995, the former U.S. President George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
and his wife, Barbara Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously was ...
, spoke at a FFWPU event in the Tokyo Dome
is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...
. Bush told the gathering: "If as president I could have done one thing to have helped the country more, it would have been to do a better job in finding a way, either through speaking out or through raising a moral standard, to strengthen the American family." Hak Ja Han
Hak Ja Han (Korean: 한학자, Hanja: 韓鶴子) (born January 6, 1943, lunar calendar which is February 10, 1943, Gregorian) is a Korean religious leader. Her late husband Sun Myung Moon was the founder of the Unification movement, also known ...
, the main speaker, credited her husband with bringing about the Fall of Communism
The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...
and declared that he must save America from "the destruction of the family and moral decay".
In 2000, Moon founded the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO), which describes itself as "a global organization whose mission is to serve its member organizations, strengthen and encourage the non-governmental sector as a whole, increase public understanding of the non-governmental community, and provide the mechanism and support needed for NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
to connect, partner, and multiply their contributions to solve humanity's basic problems." It has been criticized for promoting conservatism in contrast to some of the ideals of the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
.[Rev. Moon and the United Nations: A Challenge for the NGO Community](_blank)
Harold Paine and Birgit Gratzer, Global Policy Forum
Inner City Press, June 5, 2007
In 2000, the FFWPU co-sponsored the Million Family March
The Million Family March was a rally in Washington D.C. to celebrate family unity and racial and religious harmony; as well as to address other issues, including abortion, capital punishment, health care, education, welfare and Social Security ref ...
, a rally in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, to celebrate family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
unity and racial
A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...
and religious
Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...
harmony, along with the Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930.
A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...
. Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, black supremacist, anti-white and antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and former singer who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI). Prior to joining the NOI, h ...
was the main speaker at the event which was held on 16 October 2000; the fifth anniversary of the Million Man March
The Million Man March was a large gathering of African-American men in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995. Called by Louis Farrakhan, it was held on and around the National Mall. The National African American Leadership Summit, a leading ...
, which was also organized by Farrakhan.[Families Arrive in Washington For March Called by Farrakhan](_blank)
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', October 16, 2000 FFWPU leader Dan Fefferman wrote to his colleagues acknowledging that Farrakhan's and Moon's views differed on multiple issues but shared a view of a "God-centered family".
In 2003, Korean FFWPU members started a political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in South Korea, "The Party for God, Peace, Unification, and Home". An inauguration declaration stated the new party would focus on preparing for Korean reunification
Korean reunification () is the potential reunification of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea into a single Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification was started by the June 15th North–South Joi ...
by educating the public about God and peace. A FFWPU official said that similar political parties would be started in Japan and the United States.["Moonies" launch political party in S Korea](_blank)
''The Independent'' (South Africa), March 10, 2003 Since 2003, the FFWPU-related Universal Peace Federation's Middle East Peace Initiative has been organizing group tours of Israel and Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
to promote understanding, respect, and reconciliation among Jews, Muslims, and Christians.
On 15 August 2012, Moon was reported to be gravely ill and was put on a respirator at the intensive care unit of St. Mary's Hospital at The Catholic University of Korea in Seoul. He was admitted on 14 August 2012, after suffering from pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
earlier in the month. He died there on September 2.[Unification Church founder dies](_blank)
''Korea Herald
''The Korea Herald'' is a leading English-language daily newspaper founded in 1953 and published in Seoul, South Korea. The editorial staff is composed of Korean and international writers and editors, with additional news coverage drawn from int ...
'', 2012-9-3
Moon was a member of the Honorary Committee of the Unification Ministry
The Ministry of Unification is an executive department of the South Korean government aimed at promoting Korean reunification. It was first established in 1969 as the ''National Unification Board'', under the rule of Park Chung-hee. It gained it ...
of the Republic of Korea. The church member Jae-jung Lee had been once a unification minister of the Republic of Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its east ...
. Another, Ek Nath Dhakal
Ek Nath Dhakal (Nepali: एकनाथ ढकाल) (born 13 August 1974) is a Nepalese politician, belonging to the Nepal Pariwar Dal, and served as Minister for the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction of the Government of Nepal. He is the hea ...
, is a member of the Nepalese Constituent Assembly
The Second Constituent Assembly of Nepal, later converted to the Legislature Parliament ( ne, व्यवस्थापिका संसद), was a unicameral legislature of Nepal. It was elected in the 2013 Nepalese Constituent Assembly elec ...
, and a first Minister for Co-operatives and Poverty Alleviation Ministry of the Government of Nepal. In 2016, a study sponsored by the Unification Theological Seminary
Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) is a private Unification Church-affiliated graduate seminary headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. The seminary was granted an absolute charter from the State of New York in January 198 ...
found that American members were divided in their choices in the 2016 United States presidential election
The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...
, with the largest bloc supporting Senator Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
.[Unificationists in the Voting Booth](_blank)
/ref>
Hak Ja Han
Hak Ja Han (Korean: 한학자, Hanja: 韓鶴子) (born January 6, 1943, lunar calendar which is February 10, 1943, Gregorian) is a Korean religious leader. Her late husband Sun Myung Moon was the founder of the Unification movement, also known ...
has been acting as a leader and public spokesperson for the movement. In 2019, she spoke at a rally in Japan and called for greater understanding and cooperation between the Pacific Rim
The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The ''Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire.
List of co ...
nations. In 2020, she spoke at a UPF sponsored in-person and virtual rally for Korean unification, which drew about one million attendees.['']The Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
'', 11-22-2020
Rally for Hoope Draws Million Attendees
/ref> In 2020 former Secretary General of the United Nations
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
The role of the secretary-ge ...
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
received the Sunhak Peace Prize
The Sunhak Peace Prize (선학평화상, 鮮鶴平和賞) was established to continue the legacy of Sun Myung Moon and is given biennially in Seoul, Korea, in recognition of individuals and organizations that have made enduring contributions to he ...
, which is sponsored by the Unification Church, and an award of .
In 2021, Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
and Shinzo Abe
Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍 晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...
gave speeches at the Rally of Hope event hosted by an affiliate of the Unification Church. The Unification Church has ties with Kishi Nobusuke
was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960.
Known for his exploitative rule of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Northeast China in the 1930s, Kishi was nicknamed the "Monster of the Shō ...
, Abe's grandfather and former prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, and Abe Shintaro
was a Japanese politician from Yamaguchi Prefecture. He was a leading member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He served as foreign minister from 1982 to 1986. He was the father of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Early life and ...
, Abe's father and former foreign minister
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
. Five ministers of the Cabinet of Japan
The is the chief executive body of the government of Japan. It consists of the prime minister, who is appointed by the emperor after being designated by the National Diet, and up to nineteen other members, called Ministers of State. The prime ...
are linked to the Unification Church, including the Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare
The is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. The minister is nominated by the Prime Minister of Japan and is appointed by the Emperor of Japan.
Minister Katsunobu K ...
and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
The is a cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Japan. Its English name was Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) prior to 2004. It is housed in the 2nd Building of the Central Common Government Of ...
.
Beliefs
Moon's teachings, called the ''Divine Principle'', were first published as ''Wonli Wonbon'' (원리 원본, "Original Text of the Divine Principle") in 1945. The earliest manuscript was lost in North Korea during the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. A second, expanded version, ''Wonli Hesol (원리 해설)'', or ''Explanation of the Divine Principle'', was published in 1957. The ''Divine Principle'' or ''Exposition of the Divine Principle'' () is the main theological textbook of the movement. It was co-written by Sun Myung Moon and early disciple Hyo Won'eu and first published in 1966. A translation entitled ''Divine Principle'' was published in English in 1973. The ''Divine Principle'' lays out the core of UC theology and is held by its believers to have the status of holy scripture. Following the format of systematic theology
Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topi ...
, it includes God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
's purpose in creating human beings, the fall of man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God in Christianity, God to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* ...
, and restorationthe process through history by which God is working to remove the ill effects of the fall and restore humanity back to the relationship and position that God originally intended. David Václavík and Dušan Lužný described the details of those 3 points as follows:
# Principle of Creation: This first principle states that God created the world in His image. All of reality is then composed of bipolarities. The basic bipolarity is expressed by the terms sung-sang ("inner character" – the inner, invisible aspect of the created world) and hyung-sang ("outer form" – the outer, visible aspect of the created world). In addition to this, there is another bipolarity, denoted by the terms yin and yang. The first-mentioned bipolarity of sung-sang and hyung-sang reflects the relationship between soul (mind) and matter (body), while yin-yang reflects the relationship between femininity and masculinity. Hierarchy, described by the first principle (the basis of the four positions) then guarantees order in the world – God or higher purpose is placed highest, in the middle are man and woman, and finally, children are placed as the result. As Václavík and Lužný further characterize the doctrine, "''God is an absolute reality transcending time and space. The fundamental energy of God's being is also eternal. By the action of this energy, entities enter into a relationship with each other, the basis of which is the activity of giving and receiving. The goal is to achieve a balanced and harmonious relationship of giving and receiving, i.e., love.''" According to the teachings of the Church, the highest level of relationship is the relationship with God. By properly developing the relationship of giving and receiving, it should be possible to achieve union with God. The goal of creation is then the realization of the kingdom of heaven and can be achieved by fulfilling the three biblical blessings. Principle describes three blessings as follows. The first blessing concerns the nature of man: God created man in his own image. The second blessing was to be fulfilled through Adam and Eve by establishing an ideal family that was pure and loving, but they failed to do so. The third blessing concerns man's position as a mediator between God and nature. Man is to master nature in order to perfect himself and nature itself and thus create the kingdom of heaven. Principle then describes three stages of growth of everything including man, namely, origin (formation), growth, and completion.
# The Fall of Man: according to the teaching of the Church, there was no fulfillment of God's plan. God endowed man with free will and responsibility. Like everything in the universe, Adam and Eve went through three phases of development (origin, growth, and completion). This part describes, that before completion could occur, Adam and Eve disobeyed God's command and had illicit sexual intercourse during the growth phase. As a result, the orientation of the give-and-take relationship was reversed, and a departure from God and a relationship with Satan was established. Thus happen the fall of man and the creation of a world "''with Satan at the center, and all men have become children of Satan.''" According to this belief, the world is from that time dominated by Satan, and men with evil natures transmit evil. Through their children, they then create evil families and thus an evil world.
# The principle of restoration: According to the teaching of the Church, the primary purpose of creation was to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. This means that God will eventually save this sinful world and restore it to its original, sinless state. This is the basis of the principle of restoration. This is the perspective through which the Unification Church views the entire history of humanity. For the church, history is the history of restoration and of God's efforts to save fallen men. At the end of this history, the Last Days are to come. Restoration teaches, that God has tried to end the sinful world and restore the original good world several times in human history. But men have failed in their responsibility and thwarted God's will. Doctrine claims that God made several such attempts: in the case of Noah, God first destroyed the sinful world with a flood, yet Noah's secondborn son Ham sinned again. Another attempt to restore the original sinless world was the coming of Jesus Christ when God sent the Messiah to establish the perfect family and thus create the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Jesus did not fulfill this mission because He was crucified. Václavík and Lužný summarize: "''According to the doctrine of the Unification Church, we are currently living in the period of the Last Days, that is, the period of the Second Coming of Christ. However, today's situation is very different from previous ones. For Christ will be successful at His Second Coming – God will send the 'True Parents of humanity' and through them fulfill the purpose of creation. During the previous two thousand years, God has prepared, according to the principle of restoration, a suitable democratic, social, and legal environment that will protect Christ at the Second Coming.''"
Followers take as a starting point the truth of the Christian Old and New Testaments, with the ''Divine Principle'' an additional text that intends to interpret and "fulfill" the purpose of those older texts.[Korean Moon: Waxing of Waning?](_blank)
Leo Sandon Jr., ''Theology Today'', Vol 35, No 2, July 1978. Moon was intent on replacing worldwide forms of Christianity with his new unified vision of it, Moon being a self-declared messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
. Moon's followers regard him as a separate person from Jesus but with a mission to basically continue and complete Jesus's work in a new way, according to the ''Principle''.[Moon At Twilight: Amid scandal, the Unification Church has a strange new mission]
, Peter Maass
Peter Maass (born 1960) is an American journalist and author.
Life and career
Maass was born in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked for ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Wa ...
''New Yorker Magazine
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', September 14, 1998. The UC regards a person's destination after death as being dependent on how much one's work during this life corresponds to its teachings. Moon's followers believe in Apocatastasis
In theology, apocatastasis () is the restoration of creation to a condition of perfection. In Christianity, it is a form of Christian universalism that includes the ultimate salvation of everyone—including the damned in hell and the devil. The ...
, that everyone will eventually receive salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
.
In 1977, Frederick Sontag analyzed the teachings of the Divine Principle and summarized it in 12 concise points:
# God: Divine Principle teaches, that there is one living, eternal and true God, a person beyond space and time, who has a perfect reason, emotion, and will, whose deepest heart essence is love, which includes both masculinity and femininity, a person who is the source of all truth, beauty and goodness, and who is the creator and sustainer of man, the universe and all things visible and invisible. Man and the universe reflect his personality, character, and purpose.
# Man: Man was then created by God as a unique creature, made in His image as His children, like Him in personality and character, and created with the capacity to respond to His love, to be a source of His joy, and to share His creativity.
# God's desire for man and creation: To the relationship between God and Man teaching says, that God's desire for man and creation is eternal and unchanging, God wants men and women to fulfill three things: First, each should grow to perfection so as to become one with God in heart, will, and action, so that their mind and body are united in perfect harmony centered on God's love; second, to be united with God as husband and wife and give birth to God's sinless children, thereby establishing a sinless family and ultimately a sinless world; third, to become masters of the created world, establishing loving dominion with Him in a mutual relationship of giving and receiving. None of this happened because of human sin. Therefore, God's present desire is to solve the sin problem and restore all these things, which will bring about the earthly and heavenly kingdom of God.
# Sin: Divine Principle describes the origin of sin and the process of the fall of man. The first man and woman (Adam and Eve), before they became perfect, were tempted by the archangel Lucifer to illicit love. Because of this, Adam and Eve willfully turned away from God's will and purpose, bringing spiritual death to themselves and the human race. As a result of this Fall, Satan usurped the position of the true father of mankind, so that all humans since then have been born in sin both physically and spiritually and have sinful tendencies. Therefore, human beings tend to resist God and His will and live in ignorance as to their true nature and parentage and all that they have lost thereby. Thus God suffers for lost children and a lost world and has had to constantly struggle to restore them to Himself. Creation groans to give birth while waiting to be reunited through the true children of God.
# Christology: According to the Divine Principle, fallen humanity can only be restored to God through Christ (the Messiah) who comes as the new Adam to become the new head of the human race through whom humanity can be reborn into the family of God. In order for God to send the Messiah, mankind must fulfill certain conditions that restore, what was lost because of the Fall.
# History: Divine Principle describes, that restoration is accomplished through the payment of the indemnity for a sin. Human history is then a record of God's and man's efforts to make this indemnity over time so that the conditions can be met and God can send the Messiah who comes to begin the final process of restoration. If some efforts fail in fulfilling the conditions of indemnity, they must be repeated, usually by another person after a period of time. This, according to the Divine Principle, is why history shows cyclical patterns. History culminates with the coming of the Messiah, which ends the old age and begins a new age.
# Resurrection: Divine Principle explains resurrection as the process of restoration to spiritual life and spiritual maturity, ultimately uniting a person with God. It is the transition from spiritual death to spiritual life. This should be accomplished in part by human effort (through prayer, good works, etc.) with the help of the saints in the spirit world and completed by God's effort to bring man to new birth through Christ (the Messiah).
# Predestination: According to Divine Principle, God has predestined absolutely that all men will be restored to Him and have chosen all men for salvation, but He has also given man a portion of responsibility (to be fulfilled by man's free will) for the fulfillment of His original will and His will to bring about restoration. This responsibility remains permanently with man. God has predestined and called certain persons and groups of people to certain responsibilities. If these fail, others must fill their role and greater compensation must be made.
# Jesus: Divine Principle teaches, that Jesus of Nazareth came as the Christ, the second Adam, the only begotten Son of God. He became one with God, spoke God's words, and did God's works, thus showing God to men. However, people eventually rejected and crucified him, preventing him from building God's kingdom on earth. Divine Principle teaches that Jesus overcame Satan in the crucifixion and resurrection, making spiritual salvation possible for those who are born again through him and the Holy Spirit. The restoration of the Kingdom of God on earth awaits the Second Coming of Christ.
# Bible: Divine Principle offers an explanation of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Both should be the record of God's progressive revelation to mankind. The purpose of the Bible, according to the Divine Principle, is to bring us to Christ and reveal to us the heart of God. Divine Principle supports Bible, as the truth is unique, eternal, and unchanging, so any new messages from God will be consistent with the Bible and will contain deeper explanations. Divine Principle describes the current time as the last days when the new truth must be communicated by God (in the book 'God's Principle') so that mankind will be able to finish what is still unfinished.
# The ultimate renewal: According to the Divine Principle, a proper understanding of theology focuses simultaneously on man's relationship with God (vertical) and man's relationship with his neighbor (horizontal). Man's sin has disrupted both of these relationships and thus caused all the problems in our world. These problems will be solved through the restoration of man to God through Christ, as well as through such measures as establishing appropriate moral standards and practices, forming true families uniting all peoples and races (Oriental, Western, and African), resolving the tension between science and religion, correcting economic, racial, political, and educational injustices, and overcoming God-denying ideologies such as Communism.
# The Second Coming (Eschatology): Divine principle teaches, that Christ's Second Coming will occur in our age, which would be similar to the time of His First Coming. Christ should come as before, that is, as a man in the flesh. By marrying His bride in the flesh, He will establish a family and thus become the True Parents of all mankind. Through accepting the 'True Parents' (the Second Coming of Christ), obeying them, and following them, the original sin of mankind would be removed and people can eventually become perfect. In this way, true families fulfilling God's ideal will begin, and the Kingdom of God's will should be established both on earth and in heaven. According to the Divine Principle, this day is now at hand.
Traditions
Blessing ceremony
The Unification Church is well known for its mass wedding
A collective wedding or mass wedding is a marriage ceremony in which several couples are married at the same time.
History
In 324 BC Alexander the Great married Stateira II, the eldest daughter of Darius, the king of Persia. In the same cerem ...
or wedding vow renewal ceremony
A wedding vow renewal ceremony or wedding vow reaffirmation ceremony is a ceremony in which a married couple renew or reaffirm their marriage vows. Most ceremonies take place in churches and are seen as a way for a married couple to renew their co ...
. It is given to engaged or married couples. Through it, members believe, the couple is removed from the lineage of sinful humanity and grafted into God's sinless lineage, according to their belief in a serpent seed
The doctrine of the serpent seed, also known as the dual-seed or the two-seedline doctrine, is a controversial and fringe Christian religious belief which explains the biblical account of the fall of man by stating that the Serpent mated with Eve ...
interpretation of original sin
Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...
and the Fall of Man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God in Christianity, God to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* ...
: that Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
was sexually seduced by Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
, which has since contaminated the human bloodline
Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...
. The first Blessing ceremony was held in 1961 for 36 couples in Seoul, South Korea by the Moons shortly after their own marriage in 1960. All the couples were members of the church. Moon matched all of the couples except 12 who were already married to each other before joining the church. This was Moon's second marriage. In 1945 he married Sun Kil Choi. They had a son in 1946 and divorced in 1954.
Later Blessing ceremonies were larger in scale but followed the same pattern. All participants were HSA-UWC members and Moon matched most of the couples. In 1982 the first large scale Blessing (of 2,000 couples) outside of Korea took place in Madison Square Garden, 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.
Moon's practice of matching couples was very unusual in both Christian tradition and in modern Western culture and attracted much attention and controversy. The Blessing ceremonies have attracted a lot of attention in the press and in the public imagination, often being labeled "mass weddings". However, in most cases the Blessing ceremony is not a legal wedding
A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...
ceremony. Some couples are already married and those that are engaged are later legally married according to the laws of their own countries. ''The New York Times'' referred to a 1997 ceremony for 28,000 couples as a "marriage affirmation ceremony", adding: "The real weddings were held later in separate legal ceremonies."
Mary Farrell Bednarowski says that marriage is "really the only sacrament
A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...
" in the Unification movement. Unificationists therefore view singleness as "not a state to be sought or cultivated" but as preparation for marriage. Pre-marital celibacy and marital faithfulness are emphasized. Adherents may be taught to "abstain from intimate relations for a specified time after marriage". The church does not give its marriage blessing to same-sex couples.
Moon has emphasized the similarity between Unification views of sexuality and evangelical Christianity, "reaching out to conservative Christians in this country in the last few years by emphasizing shared goals like support for sexual abstinence outside of marriage, and opposition to homosexuality."
Holy days
Holy Days of the Unification Church:
* True God's Day, (established 1. January 1968) - always 1. January until 2009, then according to the lunar calendar - 23. January 2012
* True Parents' Birthday (6. January 1920 - 6. January 1943) - Anniversary of the Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God (2001), 6. January until 2009, then according to the lunar calendar - 28. January 2012
* True Parents' Day, (established 1. March 1960 according to the lunar calendar) - 28. January 2012
* Day of All True Things, (established 1. May 1963 according to the lunar calendar) - 20. June 2012
* Chil Il Jeol - Declaration Day of God's Eternal Blessing, (also Chil Il Jeol, Founded 1. July 1991) - always 1. July until 2009, then according to the lunar calendar - 18. August 2012
* Chil Pal Cheol - Declaration of the Realm of the Cosmic Sabbath for the Parents of Heaven and Earth (also Chil Pal Jeol, founded 7. July 1997 according to the lunar calendar) - 24. August 2012
* True Children's Day, (established on 1. October 1960 according to the lunar calendar) - 14. November 2012
* Foundation Day for the Nation of Heaven and Earth, (founded 3. October 1988) - always 3. October until 2009, then 16. November 2012 according to the lunar calendar
Scholarly studies
In the early 1960s John Lofland lived with HSA-UWC missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
Young Oon Kim
Young Oon Kim (1914–1989) was a leading theologian of the Unification Church and its first missionary to the United States.J. Isamu Yamamoto, 1994, ''Unification Church: Zondervan guide to cults & religious movements'', Zondervan, pages 8 and ...
and a small group of American members and studied their activities in trying to promote their beliefs and win new members. Lofland noted that most of their efforts were ineffective and that most of the people who joined did so because of personal relationships with other members, often family relationships. Lofland published his findings in 1964 as a doctoral thesis entitled "The World Savers: A Field Study of Cult Processes", and in 1966 in book form by Prentice-Hall
Prentice Hall was an American major educational publisher owned by Savvas Learning Company. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market, and distributes its technical titles through the Safari B ...
as '' Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith.''
In 1977 , a professor of philosophy at Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...
and a minister in the United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...
.,[Frederick E. Sontag dies at 84; Pomona College philosophy professor](_blank)
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', June 20, 2009 spent 10 months visiting HSA-UWC members in North America, Europe, and Asia as well as interviewing Moon at his home in New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
. He reported his findings and observations in ''Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church
''Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church'' is a nonfiction book about the Unification Church and its founder and leader, Sun Myung Moon. It was written by Frederick Sontag, a professor of philosophy at Pomona College and a minister in the Unit ...
'', published by Abingdon Press
Abingdon Press is the book publishing arm of the United Methodist Publishing House which publishes sheet music, ministerial resources, Bible-study aids, and other items, often with a focus on Methodism and Methodists.
History
Abingdon Press w ...
. The book also provides an overview of the ''Divine Principle''.[Who is this Pied Piper of Religion?](_blank)
''St. Petersburg Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...
'', February 4, 1978 In an interview with UPI
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...
Sontag compared the HSA-UWC with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
and said that he expected its practices to conform more to mainstream American society as its members become more mature. He added that he did not want to be considered an apologist
Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and ...
but a close look at HSA-UWC's theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
is important: "They raise some incredibly interesting issues."[Moon: an objective look at his theology](_blank)
''Boca Raton News
The ''Boca Raton News'', owned by the South Florida Media Company, was the local community newspaper of Boca Raton, Florida. The paper began publication December 2, 1955, with a startup circulation of 1200, published by Robert and Lora Britt, and ...
'', 1977-11-25
In 1984 Eileen Barker
Eileen Vartan Barker (born 21 April 1938, in Edinburgh, UK) is a professor in sociology, an emeritus member of the London School of Economics (LSE), and a consultant to that institution's Centre for the Study of Human Rights. She is the chairpe ...
published '' The Making of a Moonie'' based on her seven-year study of HSA-UWC members in the United Kingdom and the United States.[Review](_blank)
William Rusher
William Allen Rusher (July 19, 1923 – April 16, 2011) was an American lawyer, author, activist, and conservative columnist. He was one of the founders of the conservative movement and was one of its most prominent spokesmen for thirty years as ...
, ''National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'', December 19, 1986. In 2006 Laurence Iannaccone
Laurence Robert Iannaccone ( ; born May 24, 1954) is a Professor of Economics at Chapman University, Argyros School of Business and Economics, Orange County, California. Before moving to Chapman in 2009 he was a Koch Professor of Economics at Georg ...
of George Mason University
George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...
, a specialist in the economics of religion The economics of religion concerns both the application of the techniques of economics to the study of religion and the relationship between economic and religious behaviours. Contemporary writers on the subject trace it back to Adam Smith (1776).
...
, wrote that ''The Making of a Moonie'' was "one of the most comprehensive and influential studies" of the process of conversion to new religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
s. Australian psychologist Len Oakes and British psychiatry professor Anthony Storr
Anthony Storr (18 May 1920 – 17 March 2001) was an English psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author.
Background and education
Born in London, Storr was educated at Winchester College, Christ's College, Cambridge, and Westminster Hospital. H ...
, who have written rather critically about cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
s, guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
s, new religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
s, and their leaders have praised ''The Making of a Moonie''. It was given the Distinguished Book Award for 1985 by the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (founded in 1949) was formed to advance research in the social scientific perspective on religious institutions and experiences. The ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'' is published by ...
. In 1997 Barker reported that Unificationists had mostly undergone a transformation in their world view
A worldview or world-view or ''Weltanschauung'' is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and point of view. A worldview can include natural p ...
from millennialism
Millennialism (from millennium, Latin for "a thousand years") or chiliasm (from the Greek equivalent) is a belief advanced by some religious denominations that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur on Earth prior to the final judgment and future ...
to utopianism
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
.
In 1998 Irving Louis Horowitz Irving Louis Horowitz (September 25, 1929 – March 21, 2012) was an American sociologist, author, and college professor who wrote and lectured extensively in his field, and his later years came to fear that it risked being seized by left-wing ideo ...
, sociologist, questioned the relationship between the HSA-UWC and scholars whom it paid to conduct research on its behalf.
Relations and differences with other religions
Judaism
Unificationism holds that the Jewish people as a whole were prepared by God to receive the Messiah in the person of Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, with John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
tasked from birth with the mission to lead the Jewish people to Jesus, but failed in his mission. According to the ''Divine Principle
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...
'', the Jews went through a "course of indemnity" due to the failure of John the Baptist to recognizse Jesus as the Messiah, in spite of publicly testifying to him at the Jordan River, whilst receiving the baptism.
In 1976, the American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...
released a report by Rabbi A. James Rudin which stated that the ''Divine Principle'' contained "pejorative language, stereotyped
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
imagery, and accusations of collective sin and guilt."[Rudin, A. James, 197]
A View of the Unification Church
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...
Archives In a news conference which was presented by the AJC and representatives of Catholic and Protestant churches, panelists stated that the text "contained over 125 anti-Jewish
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
references." They also cited Moon's recent and public condemnation of "antisemitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
and anti-Christian attitudes", and called upon him to make a "comprehensive and systematic removal" of antisemitic and anti-Christian references in the ''Divine Principle'' as a demonstration of good faith.[Sun Myung Moon Is Criticized by Religious Leaders; Jewish Patrons Enraged](_blank)
David F. White, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', December 29, 1976
In 1977, the HSA-UWC issued a rebuttal to the report, stating that it was neither comprehensive nor reconciliatory, instead, it had a "hateful tone" and it was filled with "sweeping denunciations". It denied that the ''Divine Principle'' teaches antisemitism and gave detailed responses to 17 specific allegations which were contained in the AJC's report, stating that the allegations were distortions of teachings and obscurations of the real content of passages or the passages were accurate summaries of Jewish scriptures or New Testament passages.[Response to A. James Rudin's Report](_blank)
Unification Church Department of Public Affairs, Daniel C. Holdgeiwe, Johnny Sonneborn, March 1977.
In 1984, Mose Durst Mose Durst (born 1939) is an author, educator, and the former president of the Unification Church of the United States. He was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, a predominantly Orthodox Jewish community, to immigrants from Russia. He ...
, then the president of the Unification Church of the United States
The Unification Church of the United States is a religious movement in the United States of America. It began in the 1950s and 1960s when missionaries from Japan and South Korea were sent to the United States by the international Unification Churc ...
as well as a convert from Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
, said that the Jewish community had been "hateful" in its response to the growth of the Unification movement, and he also placed blame on the community's "insecurity" and Unification Church members' "youthful zeal and ignorance". Rudin, then the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee, said that Durst's remarks were inaccurate and unfair and he also said that "hateful is a harsh word to use".["Unification Church seen as persecuted", '']The Milwaukee Sentinel
The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...
'', September 15, 1984, p. 4 In the same year Durst wrote in his autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
: "Our relations with the Jewish community have been the most painful to me personally. I say this with a heavy heart, since I was raised in the Jewish faith and am proud of my heritage."
In 1989, Unification Church leaders Peter Ross and Andrew Wilson issued "Guidelines for Members of The Unification Church in Relations with the Jewish People" which stated: "In the past there have been serious misunderstandings between Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
and the Unification Church. In order to clarify these difficulties and guide Unification Church members in their relations with Jews, the Unification Church suggests the following guidelines."[Guidelines for Members of The Unification Church in Relations with the Jewish People](_blank)
Peter Ross and Andrew Wilson, March 15, 1989.
Christianity
Protestant commentators have criticized Unification Church teachings as being contrary to the Protestant doctrine of salvation by faith alone. In their influential book ''The Kingdom of the Cults
''The Kingdom of the Cults'', first published in 1965, is a reference book of the Christian countercult movement in the United States, written by Baptist minister and counter-cultist Walter Ralston Martin.Michael J. McManus, "Eulogy for the god ...
'' (first published in 1965), Walter Ralston Martin
Walter Ralston Martin (September 10, 1928 – June 26, 1989) was an American Baptist Christian minister and author who founded the Christian Research Institute in 1960 as a parachurch ministry specializing as a clearing-house of information ...
and Ravi K. Zacharias
Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias (26 March 194619 May 2020) was an Indian-born Canadian-American Christian evangelical minister and apologist who founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). He was involved in Christian apologet ...
disagreed with the ''Divine Principle'' on the issues of Christology
In Christianity, Christology (from the Ancient Greek, Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, wiktionary:-λογία, -λογία, wiktionary:-logia, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Chr ...
, the virgin birth of Jesus
The virgin birth of Jesus is the Christian doctrine that Jesus was conceived by his mother, Mary, through the power of the Holy Spirit and without sexual intercourse. It is mentioned only in and , and the modern scholarly consensus is that the ...
, the movement's belief that Jesus should have married, the necessity of the crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consid ...
, and a literal resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...
as well as a literal Second Coming
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...
.
In 1974 Moon founded the Unification Theological Seminary
Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) is a private Unification Church-affiliated graduate seminary headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. The seminary was granted an absolute charter from the State of New York in January 198 ...
, in Barrytown, New York
Barrytown is a hamlet (and census-designated place) within the town of Red Hook in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is within the Hudson River Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and contains four notable Hudson River V ...
, partly in order to improve relations of the movement with other churches. Professors from other denominations, including a Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
minister, a Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
, and a Roman Catholic priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
, as well as a rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
, were hired to teach religious studies to the students, who were being trained as leaders in the movement.
In 1977, Unification member Jonathan Wells, who later became well known as the author of the popular Intelligent Design
Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...
book ''Icons of Evolution
''Icons of Evolution'' is a book by Jonathan Wells (intelligent design advocate), Jonathan Wells, an advocate of the pseudoscientific intelligent design argument for the existence of God and fellow of the Discovery Institute, in which Wells criti ...
'', defended Unification theology against what he said were unfair criticisms by the National Council of Churches
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the Uni ...
. That same year , a professor of philosophy at Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...
and a minister in the United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...
, published ''Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church
''Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church'' is a nonfiction book about the Unification Church and its founder and leader, Sun Myung Moon. It was written by Frederick Sontag, a professor of philosophy at Pomona College and a minister in the Unit ...
'' which gave an overview of the movement and urged Christians to take it more seriously.
In 1982, Moon was imprisoned in the United States after being found guilty by a jury of willfully filing false Federal income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
returns and conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
. (See: '' United States v. Sun Myung Moon'') HSA-UWC members launched a public-relations campaign. Booklets, letters and videotapes were mailed to approximately 300,000 Christian leaders in the United States. Many of them signed petitions protesting the government's case. The American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A, the National Council of Churches
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the Uni ...
, the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus
The National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus (NBCCC) is an organization of African-American clergy, religious, and seminarians within the Catholic Church.
History
The group was founded in April 1968, shortly after the assassination of Martin Luthe ...
, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civi ...
filed briefs in support of Moon.
In the 1980s the Unification Church sent thousands of American ministers from other churches on trips to Japan and South Korea to inform them about Unification teachings. At least one minister was dismissed by his congregation for taking part. In 1994 the church had about 5,000 members in Russia and came under criticism from the Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
. In 1997, the Russian government passed a law requiring the movement and other non-Russian religions to register their congregations and submit to tight controls.
In 1995 the Unification Movement related organization the Women's Federation for World Peace
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonie (nickname), Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 unde ...
indirectly contributed $3.5 million to help Baptist Liberty University
Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...
which at that time was in financial difficulty. This was reported in the United States news media as an example of closer relationships between the movement and conservative Christian congregations.[ "Also in 1995, the Women's Federation made another donation that illustrates how Moon supports fellow conservatives. It gave a $3.5 million grant to the Christian Heritage Foundation, which later bought a large portion of Liberty University's debt, rescuing the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Lynchburg, Va., religious school from the brink of bankruptcy."]
Islam
The ''Divine Principle'' lists the Muslim world
The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
as one of the world's four major divisions (the others being East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
, Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, and Christendom
Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwine ...
). Unification movement support for Islamist anti-communists
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...
came to public attention in 1987 when church member Lee Shapiro
Lee Shapiro (1949–1987) was an American documentary filmmaker. His one feature-length film, ''Nicaragua Was Our Home'', was released in 1986. It was filmed in Nicaragua among the Miskito people, Miskito Indians who were then fighting against Nica ...
was killed in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
during the Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...
while filming a documentary.[Afghanistan: eight years of Soviet occupation](_blank)
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
, March 1988, The campaign to target foreign journalists had more tragic results. Two American filmmakers, Lee Shapiro and Jim Lindelof, were apparently killed by a regime attack while traveling with the mujahidin. In 1986, Lindelof had been named paramedic of the year for his efforts training Afghan medical workers. In response to protests, Kabul stated it could not "guarantee the security of foreign subjects" who enter illegally, whose presence it views as "evidence" of "external interference".[2 Americans killed in ambush](_blank)
''Pacific Stars and Stripes'', October 29, 1987 The resistance group they were traveling with reported that they had been ambushed by military forces of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
or the Afghan government
The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is a theocracy and an emirate with political powe ...
. However, the details have been questioned, partly because of the poor reputation of the group's leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ( ps, ګلب الدين حكمتيار; born 1 August 1949) is an Afghan politician, former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so calle ...
.
In 1997, the ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
The ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs'' (also known as ''The Washington Report'' and WRMEA) magazine, published eight times per year, focuses on "news and analysis from and about the Middle East and U.S. policy in that region". '' (which is critical of United States and Israeli policies), praised the Unification Movement owned newspaper, ''The Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
'' and the ''Times'' sister publication '' The Middle East Times'' (along with ''The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'' owned by the Church of Christ, Scientist
The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Mary Baker Eddy, author of '' Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,'' and founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word an ...
) for their objective and informative coverage of Islam and the Middle East, while criticizing the ''Times'' generally pro-Israel editorial policy. The ''Report'' suggested that these newspapers, being owned by religious organizations, were less influenced by pro-Israel pressure groups in the United States.
In 2000 the FFWPU co-sponsored the Million Family March
The Million Family March was a rally in Washington D.C. to celebrate family unity and racial and religious harmony; as well as to address other issues, including abortion, capital punishment, health care, education, welfare and Social Security ref ...
, a rally in Washington D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
to celebrate family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
unity and racial
A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...
and religious
Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...
harmony, along with the Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930.
A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...
. Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, black supremacist, anti-white and antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and former singer who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI). Prior to joining the NOI, h ...
, the leader of The Nation of Islam, was the main speaker at the event which was held on 16 October 2000; the fifth anniversary of the Million Man March
The Million Man March was a large gathering of African-American men in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995. Called by Louis Farrakhan, it was held on and around the National Mall. The National African American Leadership Summit, a leading ...
, which was also organized by Farrakhan. Unification Church leader Dan Fefferman wrote to his colleagues acknowledging that Farrakhan's and Moon's views differed on multiple issues but shared a view of a "God-centered family". In 2007 Rev and Mrs Moon sent greetings to Farrakhan while he was recovering from cancer, saying: "We send love and greetings to Minister Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah."
In the 1990s and 2000s the Unification Movement made public statements claiming communications with the spirits of religious leaders including Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
and also Confucius
Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...
, the Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
, Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, and Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...
, as well as political leaders such as Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
, Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ,["Engels"](_blank)
'' Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
, Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
, Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
, Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
and many more. This was reported to have distanced the movement from Islam as well as from mainstream Christianity. From 2001 to 2009 the Unification movement owned the American Life TV Network
YTA TV (an initialism for its former full name, Youtoo America; commonly referred to as just YTA) is an American television network which originally launched in February 1985 as a cable channel. Unusual for a network of its type, it has had multi ...
(now known as Youtoo TV), which in 2007 broadcast George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...
's documentary, ''A Journey to Darfur
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...
'', which was harshly critical of Islamists in Darfur
Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju, ...
, the Republic of Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
.[American Life TV targets baby boomers: Channel airing Clooney's Darfur docu](_blank)
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
, June 1, 2007 It released the film on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
in 2008 and announced that proceeds from its sale would be donated to the International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 19 ...
. In his 2009 autobiography Moon praised Islam and expressed the hope that there would be more understanding between different religious communities. In 2011, representatives of the Unification Church took part in an international seminar which was held in Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
by the Muslim World League
The Muslim World League (MWL; ar, رابطة العالم الاسلامي, Rabitat al-Alam al-Islami, ) is an International Islamic NGO based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia that promotes what it calls the true message of Islam by advancing moderate v ...
. The said purpose of the seminar was to encourage inter-faith dialogue and discourage people from resorting to terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
.
Interfaith activities
In 2009 the FFWPU held an interfaith event in the Congress of the Republic of Peru
The Congress of the Republic of Peru ( es, Congreso de la República) is the unicameral body that assumes legislative power in Peru.
Congress' composition is established by Chapter I of Title IV of the Constitution of Peru. Congress is compose ...
. Former President of the Congress Marcial Ayaipoma and other notable politicians were called "Ambassadors for Peace" of the Unification Church. In 2010, the church built a large interfaith temple in Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
. Author Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra (; ; born October 22, 1946) is an Indian-American author and alternative medicine advocate. A prominent figure in the New Age movement, his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in alternati ...
was the keynote
A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...
at an interfaith event of the Unification Church cohosted with the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
at the Headquarters of the United Nations
zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas
, image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg
, im ...
. In 2011, an interfaith event was held in the National Assembly of Thailand
The National Assembly of Thailand ( Abrv: NAT; th, รัฐสภา, , ) is the bicameral legislative branch of the government of Thailand. It convenes in the Sappaya-Sapasathan, Dusit District, Bangkok.
The National Assembly was establishe ...
, the President of the National Assembly of Thailand
The President of the National Assembly ( th, ประธานรัฐสภา; ; ) is the presiding officer (speaker) of the National Assembly of Thailand. Since 1997, the office has been an ''ex officio'' position occupied by the Speaker of ...
attended the event.[http://web.parliament.go.th/php4/radio/temp/news8688.doc ] In 2012, the Unification movement affiliated-Universal Peace Federation held an interfaith dialogue in Italy that was cosponsored by United Nations. That year, the Universal Peace Federation held an interfaith program for representatives of 12 various religions and confessions in the hall of the United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
. The President of the United Nations General Assembly
The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly.
Election
...
, the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations
The deputy secretary-general of the United Nations is the deputy to the secretary-general of the United Nations. The office was created to handle many of the administrative responsibilities of the secretary-general, help manage Secretariat operat ...
, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations
The Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations is the representative of the Holy See (Vatican) at the United Nations (UN). This diplomatic mission does not have the status of Permanent Representative because the Holy See is not a UN m ...
and other UN officials spoke.
Science
The ''Divine Principle'' calls for the unification of science and religion: "Religion and science, each in their own spheres, have been the methods of searching for truth in order to conquer ignorance and attain knowledge. Eventually, the way of religion and the way of science should be integrated and their problems resolved in one united undertaking; the two aspects of truth, internal and external, should develop in full consonance."
In the 1970s and 1980s the Unification Movement sponsored the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Spi ...
(ICUS),[Kety Quits Moon-Linked ICF Conference]
Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at ...
, 1976-08-10. in order to promote the concept of the unity of science and religion.[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 pp. 86–87][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 p. 173] American news media have suggested that the conferences were also an attempt to improve the often controversial public image of the church.[Church Spends Millions On Its Image](_blank)
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
. 1984-09-17[Rev. Moon is sponsor of scholarly conference](_blank)
''St. Petersburg Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...
'', November 12, 1977 The first conference, held in 1972, had 20 participants; while the largest conference, in Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, South Korea in 1982, had 808 participants from over 100 countries. Participants in one or more of the conferences included Nobel laureates John Eccles (Physiology or Medicine 1963, who chaired the 1976 conference)[ and ]Eugene Wigner
Eugene Paul "E. P." Wigner ( hu, Wigner Jenő Pál, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his con ...
(Physics 1963).
The relationship of the Unification Movement and science again came to public attention in 2002 with the publication of ''Icons of Evolution
''Icons of Evolution'' is a book by Jonathan Wells (intelligent design advocate), Jonathan Wells, an advocate of the pseudoscientific intelligent design argument for the existence of God and fellow of the Discovery Institute, in which Wells criti ...
'', a popular book critical of the teaching of evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
written by member Jonathan Wells. Wells is a graduate of the Unification Theological Seminary
Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) is a private Unification Church-affiliated graduate seminary headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. The seminary was granted an absolute charter from the State of New York in January 198 ...
and has been active with the Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute (DI) is a politically conservative non-profit think tank based in Seattle, Washington, that advocates the pseudoscientific concept Article available froUniversiteit Gent/ref> of intelligent design (ID). It was founded ...
as an advocate for intelligent design
Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...
.
Political activism
Anti-communism
In the 1940s, Moon cooperated with Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
members in support of the Korean independence movement
The Korean independence movement was a military and diplomatic campaign to achieve the independence of Korea from Japan. After the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, Korea's domestic resistance peaked in the March 1st Movement of 1919, which ...
against Imperial Japan
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...
. After the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
(1950–1953), he became an outspoken anti-communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
. Moon viewed the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
between liberal democracy and communism as the final conflict between God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
and Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
, with divided Korea as its primary front line
A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or uninte ...
. Soon after its founding, the Unification movement began supporting anti-communist organizations, including the World League for Freedom and Democracy
The World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD) is an international non-governmental organization of anti-communist politicians and groups. It was founded in 1952 as the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) under the initiative of Chiang Kai-shek ...
founded in 1966 in Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
, Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
(Taiwan), by Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
, and the Korean Culture and Freedom Foundation
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Spi ...
, an international public diplomacy
In international relations, public diplomacy or people's diplomacy, broadly speaking, is any of the various government-sponsored efforts aimed at communicating directly with foreign publics to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influen ...
organization which also sponsored Radio Free Asia. The Unification movement was criticized for its anti-communist activism by the mainstream media
In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...
and the alternative press
Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...
, and many members of them said that it could lead to World War Three
World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use since at ...
and a nuclear holocaust
A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear Armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scenar ...
. The movement's anti-communist activities received financial support from Japanese millionaire and activist Ryōichi Sasakawa
was a Japanese suspected war criminal, businessman, far-right politician, and philanthropist. He was born in Minoh, Osaka. In the 1930s and during the Second World War he was active both in finance and in politics, actively supporting the Japane ...
.
In 1972, Moon predicted the decline of communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, based on the teachings of the ''Divine Principle
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...
'': "After 7,000 biblical years—6,000 years of restoration history plus the millennium, the time of completion—communism will fall in its 70th year. Here is the meaning of the year 1978. Communism, begun in 1917, could maintain itself approximately 60 years and reach its peak. So 1978 is the border line and afterward communism will decline; in the 70th year it will be altogether ruined. This is true. Therefore, now is the time for people who are studying communism to abandon it." In 1973, he called for an "automatic theocracy
Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deity, deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs.
Etymology
The word theocracy origina ...
" to replace communism and solve "every political and economic situation in every field". In 1975, Moon spoke at a government sponsored rally against potential North Korean military aggression on Yeouido Island in Seoul to an audience of around 1 million.
In 1976, Moon established News World Communications
News World Communications Inc. is an American international news media corporation.
Background
It was founded in New York City, in 1976, by Unification movement founder and leader Sun Myung Moon. Its first two newspapers, ''The News World'' (l ...
, an international news media conglomerate which publishes ''The Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
'' newspaper in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and newspapers in South Korea, Japan, and South America, partly in order to promote political conservatism
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
. According to ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', "the ''Times'' was established by Moon to combat communism and be a conservative alternative to what he perceived as the liberal bias of ''The Washington Post''." Bo Hi Pak
Bo Hi Pak (August 18, 1930 – January 12, 2019 in Korea. Korean: 박보희/朴普熙) was a prominent member of the Unification Church. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a major leader in the church movement, leading projects such as newspapers ...
, called Moon's "right-hand man", was the founding president and the founding chairman of the board.[Pak was founding president of the Washington Times Corporation (1982–1992), and founding chairman of the board. ]Bo Hi Pak
Bo Hi Pak (August 18, 1930 – January 12, 2019 in Korea. Korean: 박보희/朴普熙) was a prominent member of the Unification Church. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a major leader in the church movement, leading projects such as newspapers ...
, Appendix B: Brief Chronology of the Life of Dr. Bo Hi Pak, in ''Messiah: My Testimony to Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Vol I'' by Bo Hi Pak (2000), Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Moon asked Richard L. Rubenstein
Richard Lowell Rubenstein (January 8, 1924 – May 16, 2021) was a theologian, educator, and writer, noted particularly for his path-breaking contributions to post-Holocaust theology and his socio-political analyses of surplus populations an ...
, a rabbi and college professor, to join its board of directors. ''The Washington Times'' has often been noted for its generally pro-Israel editorial policies.[As U.S. Media Ownership Shrinks, Who Covers Islam?](_blank)
''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
The ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs'' (also known as ''The Washington Report'' and WRMEA) magazine, published eight times per year, focuses on "news and analysis from and about the Middle East and U.S. policy in that region". '', December 1997 In 2002, during the 20th anniversary party for the ''Times'', Moon said: "The ''Washington Times'' will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
to the world."
In 1980, members founded CAUSA International
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...
, an anti-communist educational organization based in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.["Moon's "Cause" Takes Aim At Communism in Americas." '']The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. August 28, 1983 In the 1980s, it was active in 21 countries. In the United States, it sponsored educational conferences for evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
and fundamentalist
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...
Christian leaders[Sun Myung Moon's Followers Recruit Christians to Assist in Battle Against Communism]
''Christianity Today
''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evange ...
'', June 15, 1985 as well as seminars and conferences for Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
staffers, Hispanic Americans
Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spaniards, Spanish and/or Latin Americans, Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include a ...
and conservative activists.[Church Spends Millions On Its Image](_blank)
''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', 1984-09-17. "Another church political arm, Causa International, which preaches a philosophy it calls "God-ism," has been spending millions of dollars on expense-paid seminars and conferences for Senate staffers, Hispanic Americans and conservative activists. It also has contributed $500,000 to finance an anticommunist lobbying campaign headed by John T. (Terry) Dolan, chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC)." In 1986, CAUSA International sponsored the documentary film '' Nicaragua Was Our Home'', about the Miskito Miskito may refer to:
* Miskito people, ethnic group in Honduras and Nicaragua
** Miskito Sambu, branch of Miskito people with African admixture
** Tawira Miskito, branch of Miskito people of largely indigenous origin
* Miskito language, original la ...
Indians of Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
and their persecution at the hands of the Nicaraguan government. It was filmed and produced by USA-UWC member Lee Shapiro
Lee Shapiro (1949–1987) was an American documentary filmmaker. His one feature-length film, ''Nicaragua Was Our Home'', was released in 1986. It was filmed in Nicaragua among the Miskito people, Miskito Indians who were then fighting against Nica ...
, who later died while filming with anti-Soviet forces during the Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...
. At this time CAUSA international also directly assisted the CIA in supplying the Contras, in addition to paying for flights by rebel leaders. This funneling of supplies to the Contras escalated after Congress cut off CIA funding for the rebel groups.
In 1980, members in Washington, D.C., disrupted a protest rally against the United States military draft
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...
. In 1981, the Appellate Division of New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
ruled that the HSA–UWC was not entitled to property tax
A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...
exemptions on its New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
properties since its primary purpose was political, not religious
Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...
. In 1982, this ruling was overturned by the New York State Supreme Court itself, which ruled that it should be considered a religious organization for tax purposes.
In 1983, some American members joined a public protest against the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
in response to its shooting down of Korean Airlines Flight 007
Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KE007/KAL007)The flight number KAL 007 was used by air traffic control, while the public flight booking system used KE 007 was a scheduled Korean Air, Korean Air Lines flight from New York City to Seoul via Anch ...
. In 1984, the HSA–UWC founded the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy, a Washington, D.C. think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
that underwrites conservative-oriented research and seminars at Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, the University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, and other institutions. In the same year, member Dan Fefferman founded the International Coalition for Religious Freedom in Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, which is active in protesting what it considers to be threats to religious freedom
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
by governmental agencies. In August 1985, the Professors World Peace Academy
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Spi ...
, an organization founded by Moon, sponsored a conference in Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
to debate the theme "The situation in the world after the fall of the communist empire."[Projections about a post-Soviet world-twenty-five years later.](_blank)
// Goliath Business News After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
in 1991 the Unification movement promoted extensive missionary work in Russia and other former Soviet nations.
Korean unification
In 1991, Moon met with Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...
, the North Korean President, to discuss ways to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, as well as on international relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...
, tourism, and other topics.[At Time of Change for Rev. Moon Church, a Return to Tradition](_blank)
// The New York Times, 14 October 2009 In 1992, Kim gave his first and only interview with the Western news media to ''Washington Times'' reporter Josette Sheeran
Josette Sheeran (born 12 June 1954) is an American non-profit executive and diplomat who served in the United States Department of State. Sheeran serves as the seventh president and CEO of Asia Society since June 10, 2013. Sheeran was also the Un ...
, who later became executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme
The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен ...
. In 1994, Moon was officially invited to Kim's funeral, in spite of the absence of diplomatic relations
Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...
between North Korea and South Korea.
In 1998, Unification movement-related businesses launched operations in North Korea with the approval of the government of South Korea, which had prohibited business relationships between North and South before. In 2000, the church-associated business group Tongil Group
Tongil Group ( ko, 통일그룹) is a Korean business group ( chaebol) associated with the Unification Church (UC). (“Tongil” is Korean for “unification,” the name of the Unification Church in Korean is “Tongilgyo.”) It was founded in ...
founded Pyeonghwa Motors
Pyeonghwa Motors (Hangul : 평화자동차) ( Hancha : 平和自動車), a Korean language word for "peace", also spelled Pyonghwa, is one of the two car manufacturers and dealers in the North Korean automotive industry, alongside Sungri Motor ...
in the North Korean port of Nampo
Nampo (North Korean official spelling: Nampho; ), also spelled Namp'o, is the second largest city by population and an important seaport in North Korea, which lies on the northern shore of the Taedong River, 15 km east of the river's mouth. ...
, in cooperation with the North Korean government. It was the first automobile factory in North Korea.
During the presidency of George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
, Dong Moon Joo, a Unification movement member and then president of ''The Washington Times'', undertook unofficial diplomatic missions to North Korea in an effort to improve its relationship with the United States.[The Bush Administration's Secret Link to North Korea](_blank)
Aram Roston, ''The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'', February 7, 2012 Joo was born in North Korea and is a citizen of the United States.[Unification Church president on condolence visit to N. Korea](_blank)
''Yonhap News
Yonhap News Agency is a major South Korean news agency. It is based in Seoul, South Korea. Yonhap provides news articles, pictures and other information to newspapers, TV networks and other media in South Korea.
History
Yonhap (, , translit. ' ...
'', December 26, 2011
In 2003, Korean Unification Movement members started a political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in South Korea. It was named The Party for God, Peace, Unification and Home. In its inauguration declaration, the new party said it would focus on preparing for Korean reunification
Korean reunification () is the potential reunification of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea into a single Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification was started by the June 15th North–South Joi ...
by educating the public about God and peace. Moon was a member of the Honorary Committee of the Unification Ministry
The Ministry of Unification is an executive department of the South Korean government aimed at promoting Korean reunification. It was first established in 1969 as the ''National Unification Board'', under the rule of Park Chung-hee. It gained it ...
of the Republic of Korea. Church member Jae-jung Lee was a Unification Minister of the Republic of Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its east ...
.
In 2010, in Pyongyang, to mark the 20th anniversary of Moon's visit to Kim Il-sung, ''de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
Kim Yong-nam
Kim or KIM may refer to:
Names
* Kim (given name)
* Kim (surname)
** Kim (Korean surname)
*** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties
**** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948
** Kim, Vietnamese f ...
hosted Moon's son Hyung Jin Moon
Hyung Jin Moon (born September 26, 1979), also known as Sean Moon, is an American pastor and co-founder, alongside his wife, Yeon Ah Lee Moon, of the Pennsylvania-based World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church, also known as Rod of Iron Min ...
, then the president of the Unification Church, in his official residence
An official residence is the House, residence of a head of state, head of government, governor, Clergy, religious leader, leaders of international organizations, or other senior figure. It may be the same place where they conduct their work-relate ...
. At that time, Hyung Jin Moon donated 600 tons of flour to the children of Jeongju
Chŏngju (; also Jŏngju) is a ''si'', or city, in southern North P'yŏngan province, North Korea. Prior to 1994, it was designated as a ''kun'' or county. The terrain is mostly level, but mountainous in the north. To the south lies the Chŏ ...
, the birthplace of Sun Myung Moon.
In 2012, Moon was posthumously awarded North Korea's National Reunification Prize
The National Reunification Prize () is an award of North Korea, bestowed by the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly upon people who have contributed to the reunification of Korea. The award was instituted in 1990.
Recipients
* An Ji-sae ...
. On the first anniversary of Moon's death, North Korean chairman Kim Jong-un
Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's sec ...
expressed condolences to Han and the family, saying: "Kim Jong-un prayed for the repose of Moon, who worked hard for national concord, prosperity and reunification and world peace."[North Korean leader extends condolences over 1 yr anniversary of Unification Church founder death](_blank)
''Yonhap News'', August 20, 2013 In 2017, the Unification Church sponsored the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP)—headed by former Prime Minister of Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
Madhav Kumar Nepal
Madhav Kumar Nepal ( ne, माधवकुमार नेपाल, ; born 6 March 1953), is a Nepalese politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal. He served as Prime Minister of Nepal from 25 May 2009 to 6 February 2011 for nearly two years. ...
and former Minister of Peace and Reconstruction Ek Nath Dhakal
Ek Nath Dhakal (Nepali: एकनाथ ढकाल) (born 13 August 1974) is a Nepalese politician, belonging to the Nepal Pariwar Dal, and served as Minister for the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction of the Government of Nepal. He is the hea ...
—visited Pyongyang and had constructive talks with the Korean Workers' Party
The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party o ...
.[Proposal for a Joint Mission to North Korea](_blank)
Tehran Times
The ''Tehran Times'' is an English-language daily newspaper. Ayatollah Mohammad Hossein Beheshti, second in line in the political hierarchy following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, stated: "''Tehran Times'' is not a state-owned newspaper, rathe ...
, 2017-11-6 In 2020 the movement held an in-person and virtual rally for Korean unification which drew about one million attendees.
Controversy
Criticisms of Moon
Moon's claim to be the Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
and the Second Coming of Christ
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...
has been rejected by both Jewish and Christian scholars.[Rodney Sawatsky, 1978]
Dialogue with the Moonies
''Theology Today.'' Protestant commentators have criticized Moon's teachings as being contrary to the Protestant doctrine of salvation by faith alone.[Daske, D. and Ashcraft, W. 2005, ''New Religious Movements'', New York: New York University Press, p142][Yamamoto, J. 1995, ''Unification Church'', Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Press, p40] In their influential book ''The Kingdom of the Cults
''The Kingdom of the Cults'', first published in 1965, is a reference book of the Christian countercult movement in the United States, written by Baptist minister and counter-cultist Walter Ralston Martin.Michael J. McManus, "Eulogy for the god ...
'' (first published in 1965), Walter Ralston Martin
Walter Ralston Martin (September 10, 1928 – June 26, 1989) was an American Baptist Christian minister and author who founded the Christian Research Institute in 1960 as a parachurch ministry specializing as a clearing-house of information ...
and Ravi K. Zacharias
Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias (26 March 194619 May 2020) was an Indian-born Canadian-American Christian evangelical minister and apologist who founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). He was involved in Christian apologet ...
disagreed with the ''Divine Principle'' on the issues of the divinity of Christ
In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Differ ...
, the virgin birth of Jesus
The virgin birth of Jesus is the Christian doctrine that Jesus was conceived by his mother, Mary, through the power of the Holy Spirit and without sexual intercourse. It is mentioned only in and , and the modern scholarly consensus is that the ...
, Moon's belief that Jesus should have married, the necessity of the crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consid ...
, a literal resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...
, as well as a literal second coming of Jesus
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messian ...
.[Walter Ralston Martin, Ravi K. Zacharias, ''The Kingdom of the Cults'', Bethany House, 2003, pages 368–370] Commentators have criticized the ''Divine Principle'' for saying that the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, and the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
served as indemnity conditions to prepare the world for the establishment of the Kingdom of God
The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" b ...
.
In 1998, journalist Peter Maass
Peter Maass (born 1960) is an American journalist and author.
Life and career
Maass was born in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked for ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Wa ...
, writing for ''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', reported that some Unification members complained about blessing being given to non-members who had not gone through the same course that members had. Since 2001 couples Blessed by Moon have been able to arrange marriages for their own children, without his direct guidance.
In 2000, Moon was criticized, including by some members of his church, for his support of Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930.
A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...
leader Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, black supremacist, anti-white and antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and former singer who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI). Prior to joining the NOI, h ...
's Million Family March
The Million Family March was a rally in Washington D.C. to celebrate family unity and racial and religious harmony; as well as to address other issues, including abortion, capital punishment, health care, education, welfare and Social Security ref ...
. Moon was also criticized for his relationship with Jewish scholar Richard L. Rubenstein
Richard Lowell Rubenstein (January 8, 1924 – May 16, 2021) was a theologian, educator, and writer, noted particularly for his path-breaking contributions to post-Holocaust theology and his socio-political analyses of surplus populations an ...
, an advocate of the "death of God theology
Death of God theology refers to a range of ideas by various theologians and philosophers that try to account for the rise of secularity and abandonment of traditional beliefs in God. They posit that God has either ceased to exist or in some w ...
" of the 1960s. Rubenstein was a defender of the Unification Church and served on its advisory council, as well as on the board of directors of the church-owned ''Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
'' newspaper. In the 1990s, he served as president of the University of Bridgeport
The University of Bridgeport (UB) is a private university in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. In 2021, the university was purchased by Goodwin University; it retain its own n ...
, which was then affiliated with the church. In 1998, the Egyptian newspaper ''Al-Ahram
''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...
'' criticized Moon's possible relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
and wrote that the ''Washington Times'' editorial policy was "rabidly anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and pro-Israel." Moon has also been criticized for his advocacy of a world-wide " automatic theocracy", as well as for advising his followers that they should become " crazy for God".
Theological disputes
View of Jesus
Central to Unification teachings is the concept that fallen humanity can be restored to God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
only through a messiah, who comes as a new Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
to become the new head of the human race, replacing the sinful parents, through whom mankind can be reborn into God's family. According to the religion, Jesus is this messiah.
In 1980, Unification theologian Young Oon Kim
Young Oon Kim (1914–1989) was a leading theologian of the Unification Church and its first missionary to the United States.J. Isamu Yamamoto, 1994, ''Unification Church: Zondervan guide to cults & religious movements'', Zondervan, pages 8 and ...
wrote:
The Unification view of Jesus has been criticized by mainstream Christian authors and theologians. In their influential book ''The Kingdom of the Cults
''The Kingdom of the Cults'', first published in 1965, is a reference book of the Christian countercult movement in the United States, written by Baptist minister and counter-cultist Walter Ralston Martin.Michael J. McManus, "Eulogy for the god ...
'' (first published in 1965), Walter Ralston Martin and Ravi K. Zacharias disagreed with the ''Divine Principle'' on the issues of the divinity of Christ
In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Differ ...
, the virgin birth of Jesus
The virgin birth of Jesus is the Christian doctrine that Jesus was conceived by his mother, Mary, through the power of the Holy Spirit and without sexual intercourse. It is mentioned only in and , and the modern scholarly consensus is that the ...
, the Unification Church's belief that Jesus should have married and a literal resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...
as well as a literal Second Coming
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...
. They add: "Moon makes all men equal in "divinity" to Jesus, thereby striking a blow at the uniqueness of Christ."
The ''Divine Principle'' states on this point:
Unificationist theologian Young Oon Kim wrote, and some members of the Unification movement believe, that Zechariah was the father of Jesus, based on the work of Leslie Weatherhead
Leslie Dixon Weatherhead (14 October 1893 – 5 January 1976) was an English Christian theologian in the liberal Protestant tradition. Weatherhead was noted for his preaching ministry at City Temple in London and for his books, including ' ...
, an English Christian theologian in the liberal Protestant
Liberal Christianity, also known as Liberal Theology and historically as Christian Modernism (see Catholic modernism and Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy), is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by taking into consideration m ...
tradition.
Indemnity
Indemnity, in the context of Unification theology, is a part of the process by which human beings and the world are restored to God's ideal. The concept of indemnity is explained at the start of the second half of the ''Divine Principle'', "Introduction to Restoration":
※Translated as "indemnity", the antonym of "forgiveness", conceptually closer to the original meaning of tang-gam(탕감蕩減).[Naver Korean-English Dictionary](_blank)
/ref>[Search result for '탕감' Naver English-Korean Dictionary](_blank)
/ref>
The ''Divine Principle'' goes on to explain three types of indemnity conditions. Equal conditions of indemnity pay back the full value of what was lost. The biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
verse "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (Exod.21:23–24) is quoted as an example of an equal indemnity condition. Lesser conditions of indemnity provide a benefit greater than the price that is paid. Faith
Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".
Religious people often ...
, baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
, and the eucharist
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
are mentioned as examples of lesser indemnity conditions. Greater conditions of indemnity come about when a person fails in a lesser condition. In that case a greater price must be paid to make up for the earlier failure. Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
's attempted sacrifice of his son Isaac
Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...
(Gen. 22:1–18) and the Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
' 40 years of wandering in the wilderness under Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
(Num.14:34) are mentioned as examples of greater indemnity conditions. The ''Divine Principle'' then explains that an indemnity condition must reverse the course by which the mistake or loss came about. Indemnity, at its core, is required of humans because God is pure, and purity cannot relate directly with impurity. Indemnification is the vehicle that allows a "just and righteous" God to work through mankind. Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
' statement that God had forsaken him (Matt.27:46) and Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
's history of martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
dom are mentioned as examples of this. The ''Divine Principle'' then states that human beings, not God or the angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
s, are the ones responsible for making indemnity conditions.[Daske and Ashcraft]
In 2005 scholars Daske and Ashcraft explained the concept of indemnity:
Other Protestant Christian
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
commentators have criticized the concept of indemnity as being contrary to the doctrine of ''sola fide
''Justificatio sola fide'' (or simply ''sola fide''), meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, fr ...
''. Christian historian Ruth Tucker said: "In simple language indemnity is salvation by works."[Yamamoto, J. I., 1995, ''Unification Church'', Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House ]
Excerpt:
)
"1. The Unification Theological Seminary
:a. The Unification Church has a seminary in Barrytown, New York called The Unification Theological Seminary.
:b. It is used as a theological training center, where members are prepared to be leaders and theologians in the UC.
:c. Moon's seminary, however, has not only attracted a respectable faculty (many of whom are not members of the UC), but it also has graduated many students (who are members of the UC) who have been accepted into doctoral programs at institutions such as Harvard and Yale." Rev. Keiko Kawasaki wrote: “The indemnity condition (of the Unification Church) is an oriental way of thinking, meaning a condition for atonement for sins (unlike Christianity).” Donald Tingle and Richard Fordyce, ministers with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
who debated two Unification Church theologians in 1977, wrote: "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."
Investigation by the United States House of Representatives
In 1977, the Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations, of the United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
, reported that the Unification Church was established by the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
(KCIA), Kim Chong Pil
Kim Jong-pil (; ; January 7, 1926 – June 23, 2018), also known colloquially as JP, was a South Korean politician and the founder/first director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA, now the National Intelligence Service). He s ...
. The committee also reported that the KCIA had used the movement to gain political influence with the United States and some of its members had worked as volunteers in Congressional offices. Together they founded the Korean Cultural Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit organization which acted as a public diplomacy
In international relations, public diplomacy or people's diplomacy, broadly speaking, is any of the various government-sponsored efforts aimed at communicating directly with foreign publics to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influen ...
campaign for the Republic of Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its east ...
. The committee also investigated possible KCIA influence on the Unification Church's campaign in support of Nixon.
Defamation lawsuit against the ''Daily Mail''
In 1978, the ''Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'', a British tabloid newspaper, published an article with the headline: "The Church That Breaks Up Families".[William Borders, "Moon's Sect Loses Libel Suit in London," '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', 1 April 1981. The article accused the Unification Church of brainwashing
Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwash ...
and separating families. The British Unification Church's director Dennis Orme
Dennis Frederick Orme (born 17 June 1938) is a former leader of Unification Churches in England, theologian and author. Orme and his wife were among the earliest Western followers of the Unification Church, and he is perhaps best known for his u ...
filed a libel
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
suit against the ''Daily Mail'' and Associated Newspapers
DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...
, its parent company, resulting in one of the longest civil actions in British legal historylasting six months.[ James T. Richardson and Barend van Driel, "New Religious Movements in Europe: Developments and Reactions" in ''Anti-Cult Movements in Cross-Cultural Perspective'', edited by Anson Shupe and David G. Bromley, 129–170 44 (New York: Garland, 1994), ISBN 9780815314288.] Orme and the Unification Church lost the libel case, the appeal case, and were refused permission to take their case to the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
. The original case heard 117 witnesses, including American anti-cult
The anti-cult movement (abbreviated ACM, and also known as the countercult movement) consists of various governmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals that seek to raise awareness of cults, uncover coercive practices used to a ...
psychiatrist Margaret Thaler Singer
Margaret Thaler Singer (July 29, 1921 – November 23, 2003) was an American clinical psychologist and researcher with her colleague Lyman Wynne on family communication. She was a prominent figure in the study of undue influence in social and ...
. In the original case, the Unification Church was ordered to pay Associated Newspapers GB£750,000 in costs which was maintained after appeal. The jury of the original case not only awarded Associated Newspapers costs, but it and the judge requested that the Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
re-examine the Unification Church's charitable status, which after a lengthy investigation from 1986 to 1988 was not removed.[Eileen Barker, "General Overview of the "Cult Scene" in Great Britain," '' Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions'' 4, no. 2 (2001): 235–240, 36] According to George Chryssides
George D. Chryssides (born 1945) is a British academic and researcher on new religious movements and cults, has taught at several British universities, becoming head of Religious studies at the University of Wolverhampton in 2001. He is an honora ...
, about half of the Unification Church's 500 full-time membership in Britain moved to the United States. The Unification Church sold seven of its twelve principal church centers after the ruling. Other anti-cultists in countries like Germany sought to incorporate the London High Court
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...
's decision into law. The Unification Church has won other libel and defamation
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
cases in the United Kingdom, including a similar case against ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
''.
United States v. Sun Myung Moon
In 1982, Moon was convicted in the United States of filing false federal income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
returns and conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
: see '' United States v. Sun Myung Moon''. He served 13 months of the sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury
The Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury (FCI Danbury) is a low-security United States federal prison for male and female inmates in Danbury, Connecticut. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Depar ...
in Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut.
Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
. The case was protested as a case of selective prosecution
In jurisprudence, selective prosecution is a procedural defense in which defendants argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law, as the criminal justice system discriminated against them by choosing to prosecute. In ...
and a threat to religious freedom
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
by, among others, Jerry Falwell
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelism, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, ...
, head of Moral Majority
Moral Majority was an American political organization associated with the Christian right and Republican Party. It was founded in 1979 by Baptist minister Jerry Falwell Sr. and associates, and dissolved in the late 1980s. It played a key role in ...
, Joseph Lowery
Joseph Echols Lowery (October 6, 1921 – March 27, 2020) was an American minister in the United Methodist Church and leader in the civil rights movement. He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. and ot ...
, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civi ...
, Harvey Cox
Harvey Gallagher Cox Jr. (born May 19, 1929) is an American theologian who served as the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, until his retirement in October 2009. Cox's research and teaching focus on theological developments in ...
a professor of Divinity
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine ...](_blank)
at Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, and Eugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...
, United States Senator and former Democratic Party presidential candidate.
Crown of Peace event in Washington DC
In 2004, at a ceremony on March 23 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building
The Dirksen Senate Office Building is the second office building constructed for members of the United States Senate in Washington, D.C., and was named for the late Minority Leader Everett Dirksen from Illinois in 1972.
History
On the eve o ...
, in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, Moon crowned himself with what was called the "Crown of Peace".[ Lawmakers who attended included Senator ]Mark Dayton
Mark Brandt Dayton (born January 26, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. He was a United States Senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, and the Minnesota State Auditor from 1991 to 1 ...
( D- Minn.), Representatives Roscoe Bartlett
Roscoe Gardner Bartlett Jr. (born June 3, 1926) is an American politician who was U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party and was a member of the Tea Party Caucus. At the end of his tenure in ...
( R- Md.) and Elijah Cummings
Elijah Eugene Cummings (January 18, 1951October 17, 2019) was an American politician and civil rights advocate who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1996 until his death in 2019, when he was succeeded by his predecess ...
( D-Md.), as well as former Representative Walter Fauntroy
Walter Edward Fauntroy (born February 6, 1933) is an American pastor, civil rights activist, and politician who was a delegate to the United States House of Representatives and a candidate for the 1972 and 1976 Democratic presidential nominations ...
( D-D.C.). Key organizers of the event included George Augustus Stallings Jr., a former Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
priest who had been married by Moon, and Michael Jenkins, the president of the Unification Church of the United States
The Unification Church of the United States is a religious movement in the United States of America. It began in the 1950s and 1960s when missionaries from Japan and South Korea were sent to the United States by the international Unification Churc ...
at that time.[ Rep. ]Danny K. Davis
Daniel K. Davis (born September 6, 1941) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative from , elected in 1996. The district serves much of western Chicago, including the Loop. It also includes several of Chicago's inner western suburb ...
played an active role in the ceremony. ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', in 2008, suggested that the participation of federal elected officials in this event was a possible violation of the principle of separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
in United States law.
Spiritual sales
Before the enactment of laws restricting spiritual sales
Historically, Japan has provided 70% of the Unification Church's income. The church gets funding from "spiritual sales." This involves parishioners scanning obituaries
An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...
, going door-to-door
Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a p ...
, and saying, "Your dead loved one is communicating with us, so please go to the bank and send money to the Unification Church so your loved one can ascend to heaven in the spirit world." The Unification Church and its leaders have been accused by critics of "exploiting the labor and capital of their followers, including billions of dollars transferred from Japan to the United States, to build a business empire". Tak Ji-il, a professor at Busan Presbyterian University
Busan Presbyterian University, also known as Busan Jangsin University, is a private Christian university in Gimhae City, South Gyeongsang province, in southeastern South Korea. It provides undergraduate training in theology, social welfare, and s ...
, said the Unification Church is fighting over religious principles on the surface but money in reality.
Some of the additional criticisms of the Japanese Unification Church are that it conceals its name to entice people to become followers and that it forces followers to marry partners it has chosen for them. In 1984 Yoshikazu Soejima, a senior official of the Unification Church, revealed inside information about the church in the monthly magazine ''Bungei Shunjū Bungei may refer to:
* ''Bungei'' (magazine), a Japanese literary magazine
* The Bungei Prize, a literary prize of Japan, awarded by ''Bungei''
* Bungeishunjū, a Japanese publishing company known for its literary magazine of the same name
* Wilfr ...
'' released on June 10, 1984. According to Soejima, in the 1970s about 200 billion yen in donations from Japanese believers were sent to South Korea. Also about 800 million dollars were transferred from Japan to the United States in the nine years from 1975 to 1984. Soejima was stabbed several times in front of his house on June 2, just before the magazine was released, He almost died. The police could not identify his attacker.[ Tsuyoshi Hida. (2018) ''記者襲撃 赤報隊事件30年目の真実''. pp.160–168 ]Iwanami Shoten
is a Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo.Louis Frédéric, ''Japan Encyclopedia'', Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 409.
Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. Its first major publication was Natsume Sōseki's novel ''Ko ...
.
In 1987, about 300 lawyers in Japan set up an association called the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales
The (abbreviated to ) is a non-profit anti-cult association established in May 1987, comprising about 300 lawyers in Japan. It is specialized in providing legal assistance for victims of cult-related frauds, known as in Japan, from religious or ...
to help people who were forced to make expensive donations or forced to buy expensive things like pots and seals
Seals may refer to:
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
. According to statistics compiled by the association's lawyers between 1987 and 2021, the association and local government consumer centers received 34,537 complaints alleging that the Unification Church had forced them to make unreasonably large donations or to spend large amounts of money, amounting to about 123.7 billion yen. The network reported that victims were cheated out of about 300 million yen in 2021. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, a lawyer working for the network said, "The Unification Church should consider the pain and tragedy of the families of its followers. The Unification Church has bankrupted many of its followers". Another lawyer, Yasuo Kawai, accused Japanese politicians and administrators of taking no action against the Unification Church, which he said disintegrates families, for more than 30 years. Kito Masaki called for Japan's National Diet
The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...
(parliament) to conduct an investigation of the case bipartisanly.
In civil cases, Japanese courts have issued a number of rulings ordering the Unification Church to pay compensation to the plaintiffs, saying its missionary work is illegal. Criminal cases related to the Unification Church have also occurred. In 2009, the Tokyo District Court
is a district court located at 1-1-4 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan.Supreme Court of Japan websit東京地方裁判所の紹介Retrieved on August 7, 2011
See also
*Judicial system of Japan
The judiciary (also known as the judicial sys ...
sentenced Unification Church members to prison for forcing victims to buy expensive seals. The court ruled that the missionary work was a pernicious act of forcing its victims to buy a seal immediately after instigating their anxiety by linking their worries to their long-time ancestral pasts.
According to the Japanese Communist Party newspaper ''Akahata'', for the Unification Church, Japan has a history of aggression against Korea, therefore has an obligation to serve Korea, and as atonement, internally known as "indemnity", collection of money by "Fortune telling fraud"(霊感商法) is imposed.[Japanese Communist Party Newspaper Akahata 2010/05/11](_blank)
/ref> According to of the and the ''Zenkoku genriundo higaisha fubo no kai'' (literally, National Association of Parents of Victims of the Moonism, 全国原理運動被害者父母の会) – an organization formed by the parents of Unification Church members – the Unification Church's doctrines make Japanese people the target of its fundraising efforts by disseminating a doctrine which depicts Korea as “the Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
nation” and Japan as “the Eve
Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
nation” that committed sins, and therefore obliged to pay money and send people to Korea. Moon's theology is that Korea is the Adam country, the home of the ruling race destined to rule the world, and Japan is the Eve country, subordinate to Korea. The church preached that Moon was appointed to save humanity after Eve fell from grace by having sexual relations with Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
. According to Yoshifu Arita
is a Japanese writer, journalist and politician from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. He served two terms as a member of the House of Councillors after being elected in 2010 and in 2016 and serving as Chair of the Special Committ ...
, a former journalist and member of the House of Councilors
The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or ...
who is investigating the Unification Church, it is taking advantage of Japanese young people's sense of guilt for Japan's 40-year colonial rule of Korea (1905-1945) and defrauding them of money.
Legislation to restrict donations to religious organizations and provide relief to victims
On 9 December 2022, Taro Kono
is a Japanese politician serving as the Minister of Digital Affairs of Japan since August 2022. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he previously served as Minister for Administrative Reform and Regulatory Reform from 2015 to 2016 and fro ...
, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food Safety The , is the member of the Cabinet of Japan in charge of the Consumer Affairs Agency. The position was created along with the agency on September 1, 2009. As of September 11, 2019, the current minister is Seiichi Eto
is a Japanese politician of ...
, who will have jurisdiction over the law, stated that he personally recognizes the Unification Church as a "cult".
On 10 December 2022, the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
of Japan and the House of Councillors
The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, ...
passed two bills to restrict the activities of religious organizations such as the UC and provide relief to victims. These bills were designed to address social problems caused by the Unification Church, and the political parties and the press saw these bills as a way to restrict "cults" in the process leading up to the legislation.
The new law stipulates prohibited acts and duty of care for juridical person
A juridical person is a non-human legal person that is not a single natural person but an organization recognized by law as a fictitious person such as a corporation, government agency, NGO or International (inter-governmental) Organization (such ...
s, including religious organizations, when soliciting donations. Prohibited acts include the following: a juridical persons must not induce the donor to borrow money or sell his/her home or fields in order to raise the funds for the donation, a juridical person must not accompany the donor to a place from which the donor is unable to leave, and a juridical person must not prevent the donor from consulting with someone. The duty of care is that the juridical person shall not suppress the free will of the soliciting subject and that the solicitation shall not make life difficult for the soliciting subject's family. If a juridical person commits a prohibited act, a correction order is issued, and a person who repeatedly violates the order is subject to imprisonment for up to one year and a fine of up to 1,000,000 yen. If a juridical person violates its duty of care, the name of the juridical person will be made public. It was also stipulated that contracts for donations or sales of goods through "spiritual sales" (''reikan shōhō'', 霊感商法) can be revoked up to 10 years after the contract is concluded and up to three years after the target of the solicitation becomes aware of the damage. In addition, it is also stipulated that donations contracted while the target of the solicitation is under brainwashing can be canceled. The law also stipulates that the victim's family can also revoke the donation due to improper solicitation, and that the victim or his/her family can claim from the juridical person the amount of past damages as well as living expenses and child support that the child or spouse is entitled to in the future. The new law then defines spiritual sales, in which a contract can be rescinded, as soliciting donations or selling goods after taking advantage of the anxiety of the target of the solicitation or causing the target of the solicitation to become anxious.
These bills were supported by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito
, formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalitio ...
, and opposition parties the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan
The (CDP or CDPJ) is a social-liberal political party in Japan.
It was founded in October 2017 as a split from the Democratic Party ahead of the 2017 general election. In late 2020, the party was re-founded following a merger with majoritie ...
(CDP), Nippon Ishin no Kai
The is a conservative and right-wing populist political party in Japan. Formed as ''Initiatives from Osaka'' in October 2015 from a split in the old Japan Innovation Party, the party became the third-biggest opposition party in the National D ...
, and Democratic Party for the People
The , abbreviated to DPP or DPFP, is a centre to centre-right political party in Japan. The party was formed on 7 May 2018 from the merger of the Democratic Party and Kibō no Tō (''Party of Hope'').
In September 2020 a majority of the party ...
, and opposed by the opposition parties the Japanese Communist Party
The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world.
The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...
(JCP) and the Reiwa Shinsengumi
is a left-wing populist and progressive political party in Japan founded by actor-turned-politician Tarō Yamamoto in April 2019. The party was formed by left-wing members of the Liberal Party who opposed its merger with the Democratic Party fo ...
. The CDP had opposed the bills, seeking legislation to more strictly restrict religious organizations, but switched to support it after a clause to review the law two years later was specified in the bill. According to the CDP and some Unification Church victims, legislation to restrict religious organizations even more strictly is needed.
The JCP had proposed another bill to restrict religious organizations and therefore opposed the bills.
Cooperation with North Korea's development of nuclear weapons
According to Defense Intelligence Agency
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence.
A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the I ...
reports in August and September 1994, Moon donated 3.5 billion dollars to Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...
during his stay in North Korea from November 30, 1991, to December 7, 1992. Most of the money was said to have been donated to the Unification Church by Japanese believers. According to the former chief executive of Pyeonghwa Motors
Pyeonghwa Motors (Hangul : 평화자동차) ( Hancha : 平和自動車), a Korean language word for "peace", also spelled Pyonghwa, is one of the two car manufacturers and dealers in the North Korean automotive industry, alongside Sungri Motor ...
, a Unification Church auto company, the money collected from Japanese devotees was first transferred to South Korea and money laundered, then transferred to Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and finally to North Korea. He said he had a close relationship with Ju Kyu-chang
Ju Kyu-chang (25 November 1928 – 3 September 2018) was a North Korean politician, who served as the director of the Workers' Party of Korea's (WPK) Machine-Building Industry Department.
Ju was reportedly the head of North Korea's nuclear and ...
, a senior member of the Workers' Party of Korea
The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of ...
and its weapons development chief. According to Baek Seung-joo, a former South Korean vice defense minister, has analyzed that money donated by Japanese followers of the UC was diverted to North Korea's nuclear development and development of intercontinental ballistic missiles
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons ca ...
. According to Masuo Oe, who was the public relations director of the Unification Church, when Moon said to Kim Il-sung in a meeting, "Please be my brother", Kim Il-sung replied, "Sure, why not?". According to him, believers heard this anecdote and admired that the Messiah had brought Satan to his knees with the power of love. This was a symbolic event that marked a major shift in the anti-communist policies of the Unification Church.
According to a 2016 South Korean Defense Ministry parliamentary report, a Tokyo-run company operated by members of the UC sold a Russian Golf II-class submarine still loaded with missile launchers to North Korea in 1994, disguised as scrap metal, and the technology was then diverted to North Korea's development of submarine-launched ballistic missile
A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is a ballistic missile capable of being launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which carries a nuclear warhead ...
s.
Renaming (Japan)
Since 1997, the Japanese Unification Church had repeatedly applied to the Agency for Cultural Affairs
The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture.
The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion.
Overview
The ag ...
(ACA), a department directly under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community ...
, for changing its name from "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity" (世界基督教統一神霊協会) to "Heavenly Parent's Holy Community Family Federation for World Peace and Unification" (天の父母様聖会世界平和統一家庭連合). According to the then chief of the Religious Affairs Division, , the application was rejected by the ACA. When in 2015, Hakubun Shimomura
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature).
Early life and education
A native of Takasaki, Gunma, Shimomura was born on 23 May 1954. He lost his f ...
was appointed as the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
The is a member of the Cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The minister is nominated by the Prime Minister of Japan and is appointed by the Emperor of Japa ...
under the Third Abe Cabinet
The Third Abe cabinet governed Japan under the leadership of the prime minister, Shinzō Abe, from December 2014 to November 2017. The government was a coalition between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito (which had changed its name fro ...
, the Unification Church applied for rename again and it was finally approved. Shimomura denied any involvement in the approval process, excusing the final decision was made by the head of the ACA, but Shimomura admitted that he received report about the application of rename, the 2015 head of the ACA also echoed Shimomura's explanation. Maekawa said that for an organization being repeatedly rejected for rename in preview applications, an approval without direct instruction by the parent minister would be unthinkable. Just after the approval, Toru Miyamoto of the Japanese Communist Party
The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world.
The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...
requested a copy of the documents of the approval from the ACA, the documents he received were heavily sanitized. In particular the reason for approval from the department and the argument for rename by the Unification Church were completely redacted.
Assassination of Shinzo Abe
The UC has historically had close ties to the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which Nobusuke Kishi
was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960.
Known for his exploitative rule of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Northeast China in the 1930s, Kishi was nicknamed the "Monster of the Shō ...
founded, and which later had been led by his grandson, then Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe
Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍 晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...
. In 2019, National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales released a document protesting Abe sending congratulatory messages to events organized by the Unification Church and its affiliated organizations. The association feared that Abe's message would give authority to the Unification Church and encourage its " anti-social activities".
In 2022, Abe was assassinated by Tetsuya Yamagami
Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan and a serving member of the House of Representatives, was assassinated on 8 July 2022 while speaking at a political event outside Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Whil ...
, who stated that he resented the Unification Church because his mother was forced to make a large donation to it. She joined the Unification Church in 1998, and sold the land she inherited from her father along with the house where she lived with her 3 children. In June 1999, she donated about 100 million yen ($720,000) to the Unification Church, leading to her family's bankruptcy in 2002 and significantly affecting their family, according to Yamagami. Financially troubled, Yamagami was unable to enter university despite graduating from a prestigious high school. His brother and his father would later commit suicide. Yamagami stated that his original plan was to assassinate Hak Ja Han
Hak Ja Han (Korean: 한학자, Hanja: 韓鶴子) (born January 6, 1943, lunar calendar which is February 10, 1943, Gregorian) is a Korean religious leader. Her late husband Sun Myung Moon was the founder of the Unification movement, also known ...
, the widow of Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon (; born Yong Myung Moon; 6 January 1920 – 3 September 2012) was a Korean religious leader, also known for his business ventures and support for conservative political causes. A messiah claimant, he was the founder of the Unif ...
and the current leader of the Unification Church. However, he gave up killing her because he could not get close to her. He believes Abe and his grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi
was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960.
Known for his exploitative rule of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in Northeast China in the 1930s, Kishi was nicknamed the "Monster of the Shō ...
, spread the Unification Church in Japan and decided to kill Abe after discovering online that Abe had sent video messages to Unification Church-related organizations.
Tomihiro Tanaka, a spokesperson for the Unification Church, admitted in a press conference that in the past the Unification Church had problems with its followers due to illegal solicitations and large donations. He claimed that there has been no trouble between the Unification Church and its followers since 2009, when the church began to emphasize legal compliance. On 11 July 2022 the Unification Church issued a press release stating donation amounts are determined by individual members. Chung Hwan Kwak, the Honorary President of the Global Peace Foundation, who had long held a position second to Sun Myung Moon in the UC and left the Unification Church in 2009 after internal strife, apologized on behalf of the Unification Church. He said that the church was responsible for the assassination of Abe. According to Kwak, a wave of bankruptcies, divorces and suicides among Japanese believers had prompted him to attempt to normalize Japan's status as an "economic force" in 2001, but his attempt was thwarted by strong opposition from other church leaders. The Unification Church later denied Kwak's claim, saying that it was Kwak who called for the transfer of Japanese money to the church headquarters.
The National Public Safety Commission chair Satoshi Ninoyu
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, and served as a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). As National Public Safety Commission chairperson, Ninoyu ordered police authorities to set up an inv ...
instructed police authorities to set up a panel to investigate the security lapses which may have been involved in the incident. The Commission chair is among several elected officials who promoted a Unification Church event in 2021. Japan's main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan
The (CDP or CDPJ) is a social-liberal political party in Japan.
It was founded in October 2017 as a split from the Democratic Party ahead of the 2017 general election. In late 2020, the party was re-founded following a merger with majoritie ...
, and two other opposition parties, the Democratic Party for the People
The , abbreviated to DPP or DPFP, is a centre to centre-right political party in Japan. The party was formed on 7 May 2018 from the merger of the Democratic Party and Kibō no Tō (''Party of Hope'').
In September 2020 a majority of the party ...
and the Japanese Communist Party
The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world.
The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...
, have said that they plan to launch their own investigations into the UC's political influence and connections in Japanese politics. On August 31, 2022, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), of which Shinzo Abe was a member, announced that it would no longer have any ties with the Unification Church and related organizations. The Liberal Democratic Party has announced that it will expel its members if they do not break ties with the Unification Church.
Esotericism
The Unification Church is sometimes said to be esoteric
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...
in that it keeps some of its doctrines secret from nonmembers, a practice that is sometimes called "heavenly deception". In 1979, critics Tingle and Fordyce commented: "How different the openness of Christianity is to the attitude of Reverend Moon and his followers who are often reluctant to reveal to the public many of their basic doctrines." Since the 1990s, many Unification texts that were formerly regarded as esoteric have been posted on the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification's official websites.
Related organizations
Although Moon was commonly known as a religious figure, commentators have mentioned his belief in a literal Kingdom of God
The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" b ...
on earth to be brought about by human effort as a motivation for his establishment of multitudinous groups that are not strictly religious in their purposes. Moon was not directly involved with managing the day-to-day activities of the numerous organizations that he indirectly oversaw, yet all of them attribute the inspiration behind their work to his leadership and teachings. Others have said that one purpose of these non-sectarian organizations is to pursue social respectability. These organizations have sometimes been labeled "front groups
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...
", an expression which originally referred to Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
supported organizations during the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
.
Multi-faceted organizations
Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP)
The Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) is a collegiate organization founded by Moon and his followers in 1955. According to the group's website, its goal is to promote "intercultural, interracial, and international cooperation through the Unification world view". J. Isamu Yamamoto states in ''Unification Church'': "At times CARP has been very subtle about its association with the Unification Church, however, the link between the two has always been strong, since the purpose of both is to spread Moon's teachings."
Universal Peace Federation (UPF)
Universal Peace Federation (UPF) is an international and interreligious civil society organization that was founded in 2005 which promotes religious freedom
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
. UPF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit NGO in general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). ''Dialogue and Alliance'' is its journal published from Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...
.
Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP)
The Women's Federation for World Peace
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonie (nickname), Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 unde ...
was founded in 1992 by Hak Ja Han. Its stated purpose is to encourage women to work more actively in promoting peace in their communities and greater society. It has members in 143 countries.
Han has traveled the world speaking at conventions on the WFWP's behalf. In 1993 the WFWP held a conference in Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, Japan, at which the keynote speaker was former U.S. Vice President
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice pr ...
Dan Quayle
James Danforth Quayle (; born February 4, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republic ...
's wife Marilyn Tucker Quayle, and in a speech at the event Han spoke positively of Mrs. Quayle's humanitarian work.
In 1993 Han traveled to 20 cities in the United States promoting the WFWP, as well as to 12 countries. At an event in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, Utah, she told attendants: "If a family is not centered on God's ideal of love, there will be conflict among the members of that family. Without God's love as an absolute center, such a family will ultimately break down. A nation of such families will also decline." Her 1993 speeches in the United States focused on increasing violence in the U.S., and the degradation of the family unit.
In 1995 the WFWP generated controversy when it indirectly contributed $3.5 million to help Liberty University
Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...
, which at that time was in financial difficulty. This was reported in the United States news media as an example of closer relationships between the Unification movement and conservative Christian congregations. That same year former United States president George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
spoke at several WFWP meetings in Japan, and at a related conference in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
There he was quoted by ''The New York Times'' as saying: "If as president I could have done one thing to have helped the country more it would have been to do a better job in finding a way, either through speaking out or through raising a moral standard, to strengthen the American family."
The events in Japan drew protests from Japanese people who were wary of unorthodox religious groups. Bush's spokesperson Jane Becker stated "We were satisfied that there was not a connection with the Unification Church, and based on the information we were given we felt comfortable speaking to this group." 50,000 people attended Bush's speech in Tokyo. The theme of the talks was "family values
Family values, sometimes referred to as familial values, are traditional or cultural values that pertain to the family's structure, function, roles, beliefs, attitudes, and ideals.
In the social sciences and U.S. political discourse, the conventi ...
". In the half-hour speech, Bush said "what really counts is faith, family and friends". Bush also spoke on the importance of the relationship between Japan and the United States and its importance for world peace. Han spoke after Bush's speech and praised Moon, crediting him for the decline of communism and saying that he must save America from "the destruction of the family and moral decay".
In 1999 the WFWP sponsored a conference in Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
in which religious and government leaders spoke on the need to strengthen education and support families, as well as the need for peace and understanding between ethnic and racial groups in the nations. In 2009 it co-sponsored, along with the Unification movement affiliated organization the Universal Peace Federation and the government of Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, a conference in Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
calling for Taiwan's greater participation in world affairs independent of the People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Taiwan's president, Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, 馬英九, born 13 July 1950) is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese politician who served as president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he served as justice minister from 1993 to 1996 and mayor of Taipei from ...
, spoke at the event. The WFWP has also been active in sponsoring various local charity and community events.
Service For Peace (SFP)
''Service For Peace (SFP)'' is a non-profit organization, founded in 2001 by the Sun Myung Moon's third son, Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon
Hyun Jin Moon (born 25 May 1969) is a South Korean social entrepreneur, founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation, and later the Family Peace Association. His father, Sun Myung Moon, was the founder of the Unification Church, an inte ...
, to give opportunities to young people who wish to better themselves and their communities. As of April 2007, the organization had established chapters in North America, Central America, Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. SFP is active in communities and statewide. Colleges have recruited Service for Peace Campus Corps to benefit their fellow peers as well as the communities around them. Some SFP chapters have smaller initiatives designed to meet local needs. In the US, Service For Peace's Backpack Angel program supports students throughout Kentucky by providing backpacks and school supplies for children in need.
International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS)
'' International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS)'' is a series of conferences formerly sponsored by the ''International Cultural Foundation'' and since 2017 by the Hyo Jeong International Foundation on the Unity of the Sciences (HJIFUS).[ The first conference, held in 1972, had 20 participants; while the largest conference, in ]Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, South Korea in 1982, had 808 participants from over 100 countries.
Participants in one or more of the conferences included Nobel laureates John Eccles (Physiology or Medicine 1963, who chaired the 1976 conference),[ ]Eugene Wigner
Eugene Paul "E. P." Wigner ( hu, Wigner Jenő Pál, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his con ...
(Physics 1963), economist and political philosopher Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August von Hayek ( , ; 8 May 189923 March 1992), often referred to by his initials F. A. Hayek, was an Austrian–British economist, legal theorist and philosopher who is best known for his defense of classical liberalism. Haye ...
, ecologist Kenneth Mellanby
Major Kenneth Mellanby (26 March 1908 – 23 December 1993) was an English ecologist and entomologist. He received the OBE for his work on the scabies mite.
Life and work
lMellanby was educated at Barnard Castle School and then at King's Colleg ...
, Frederick Seitz
Frederick Seitz (July 4, 1911 – March 2, 2008) was an American physicist and a pioneer of solid state physics and lobbyist.
Seitz was the 4th president of Rockefeller University from 1968–1978, and the 17th president of the United States Nat ...
, pioneer of solid state physics
Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the l ...
, Ninian Smart
Roderick Ninian Smart (6 May 1927 – 29 January 2001) was a Scottish writer and university educator. He was a pioneer in the field of secular religious studies. In 1967 he established the first department of religious studies in the United Ki ...
, President of the American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,
serving as a profes ...
, and Holocaust theologian Richard Rubenstein.
Moon believed that religion alone can not save the world, and his particular belief in the importance of the unity of science and religion
The relationship between religion and science involves discussions that interconnect the study of the natural world, history, philosophy, and theology. Even though the ancient and medieval worlds did not have conceptions resembling the modern u ...
was reportedly a motivation for the founding of the ICUS. American news media have suggested that the conferences were also an attempt to improve the often controversial Unification movement's public image.
The last two editions of the conference have focused on environmental issues, such as rising sea levels and water temperatures, food scarcity, renewable energy, and waste management. The theme in 2017, at ICUS XXIII, was "Earth's Environmental Crisis and the Role of Science", with a similar theme following at ICUS XXIV, in 2018: "Scientific Solutions to the Earth's Environmental Challenges". At ICUS XXV in 2019, the theme was "Environmental Health and the Quality of Human Life."
InterFaith organizations
* The Assembly of the World's Religions was founded by Sun Myung Moon. The first assembly was held from November 15 to 21, 1985, in MacAfee, New Jersey. The second was from August 15 to 21, 1990 in San Francisco.
* Interreligious Federation for World Peace
* American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC)
* The Middle East Peace Initiative sponsors projects to promote peace and understanding including visits by international Christians to Israel and Palestine and dialogues between members of the Israeli Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
and the Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the unicameral legislature of the Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It currently comprises 132 members, e ...
.
* The Interreligious Association for Peace and Development (IAPD) is an interfaith association that represents different religious traditions from around the world. It was launched in November 2017 in South Korea. The IAPD supports the efforts of the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
to achieve sustainable development and emphasizes the importance of religious freedom in society, and promotes interreligious cooperation, in accordance with publicly published information on the organization's official website. Eminent Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
leader Sadguru Bhau Maharaj ji supported the founding conference of the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development in India. On August 14, 2021, the UPF initiated the establishment of the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development in Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
, with the aim of promoting peace in the world through interfaith dialogue and cooperation. IAPD National Branches have so far been launched in Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
, DR Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
, Côte d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
, Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
, Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
, Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
and Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
. The inauguration of the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development for Europe and the Middle East was held in April 2018 in Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria. The ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Austria spoke at the inauguration, as did Dr. Unger, one of the founders of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA, la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea) is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 37 Nobel Prize laure ...
. Speakers also included the Apostolic Archbishop of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
, the President of the World Congress of Religions from the United Kingdom and other religious leaders. In 2021, IAPD was also established in Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. At the UPF summit in Korea in August 2022, a resolution was adopted to launch the IAPD Advisory Council in partnership with the African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...
. During the celebration of the World Week of Interfaith Harmony in Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, a local branch of the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development was established in February 2022.
Educational organizations
* Cheongshim Graduate School of Theology
Gapyeong County is a county in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It was the scene of the Battle of Kapyong, a major battle of the Korean War.
Administrative Region and Language
Gapyeong County has one eup and five myeon, and its population i ...
* CheongShim International Academy
Cheongsam International Academy (Korean: 청심국제중고등학교, abbreviated as CSIA), is a private boarding school in South Korea located in Gapyeong County, Gyeonggi Province. CSIA is classified as a special purposes high school (특수 ...
* International Educational Foundation.
* ''New World Encyclopedia'' – an Internet encyclopedia
An online encyclopedia, also called an Internet encyclopedia, or a digital encyclopedia, is an encyclopedia accessible through the internet. Examples include Wikipedia and ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.
Digitization of old content
In January 199 ...
that, in part, selects and claims to rewrite certain Wikipedia articles through a focus on Unification values. It "aims to organize and present human knowledge in ways consistent with our natural purposes" and "to promote knowledge that leads to happiness, well-being, and world peace".
* Paragon House, book publishing.
* The Professors World Peace Academy was founded in 1973 by Sun Myung Moon, who declared the group's intent to "contribute to the solutions of urgent problems facing our modern civilization and to help resolve the cultural divide between East and West". PWPA now has chapters in over one hundred countries.
* Sun Hwa Arts School
Sunhwa Arts School is a private coeducational college preparatory arts academy located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded as the Little Angels Art School in 1973 by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon (the founder of the Unification Church), the Sunhwa Art ...
* Sun Moon University
Sun Moon University is a university located in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea.
Sport
The university's football team participated in the 2014 IFA Shield tournament.
Notable people
*Oh Jung-se, actor.
*Kim Jong-woo, South Korean footbal ...
* Sun Myung Moon Institute
* The Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) is the main seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
of the international Unification movement. It is located in Barrytown, New York
Barrytown is a hamlet (and census-designated place) within the town of Red Hook in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is within the Hudson River Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and contains four notable Hudson River V ...
, and has an Extension Center in midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
. Its purpose has been described as training leaders and theologians within the movement.[Yamamoto, J. I., 1995, ''Unification Church'', Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House ]
Excerpt:
The seminary's first classes were offered in September 1975. The institution's regional accreditation
Higher education accreditation in the United States is a peer review process by which the validity of degrees and credits awarded by higher education institutions is assured. It is coordinated by accreditation commissions made up of member ins ...
by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...
first granted in 1996 was reaffirmed in 2016.["New England, Mid-Atlantic Accreditors Reaffirmation of the Seminary's Accreditation"](_blank)
MSA CHE. accessed March 16, 2016["List of Accredited Institutions by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education"](_blank)
MSA CHE. accessed March 16, 2016["Removal of Probation and Reaffirmation of Accreditation"](_blank)
MSA CHE. accessed March 16, 2016 While most of the UTS's students have been Unification Church members,
Leo Sandon Jr. ''Theology Today'', July 1978, "The Unification Church purchased the estate and now administers a growing seminary where approximately 110 Moonies engage in a two-year curriculum which includes biblical studies, church history, philosophy, theology, religious education, and which leads to a Master of Religious Education degree." a growing number come from diverse churches and faiths. The seminary's professors come from a wide range of faiths, including a Rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
, a Sheikh
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
, a Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
minister, a Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
, and a Roman Catholic priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
.[Dialogue with the Moonies](_blank)
Rodney Sawatsky, ''Theology Today'', April 1978. "Only a minority of their teachers are Unification devotees; a Jew teaches Old Testament, a Christian instructs in church history and a Presbyterian lectures in theology, and so on. Typical sectarian fears of the outsider are not found among Moonies; truth is one or at least must become one, and understanding can be delivered even by the uninitiated."[Where have all the Moonies gone?](_blank)
K. Gordon Neufeld, ''First Things'', March 2008, "While I was studying theology, church history, and the Bibletaught by an eclectic faculty that included a rabbi, a Jesuit priest, and a Methodist ministermost of my young coreligionists were standing on street corners in San Francisco, Boston, and Miami urging strangers to attend a vaguely described dinner."[Divine Principle and the Second Advent](_blank)
''Christian Century
''The Christian Century'' is a Christian magazine based in Chicago, Illinois. Considered the flagship magazine of US mainline Protestantism, the monthly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and review ...
'' 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." In 2003, the seminary had about 120 students from around the world, with most coming from South Korea and Japan, which have large numbers of Unification Church members.
* New Hope Academy
New Hope Academy, which includes New Hope International High School, is an academically oriented pre-school through high school private school, founded in 1990, and located on a former public school"Dream school gives parents New Hope", by Nicole B ...
Landover Hills, Maryland, US. "Although New Hope Academy was founded in 1990 by members of the Unification movement, it is not a sectarian school. No doctrines are taught; in fact, no classes in religion are offered.However morning services are mandatory, during services discussions about religious doctrines, hymns, and group prayers all take place. We believe it is the job of parentswith the support of their church, temple, or mosqueto impart their personal faith to their child."
* WUF – World University Federation
* Several UC-related groups are working to promote sexual abstinence
Sexual abstinence or sexual restraint is the practice of refraining from some or all aspects of Human sexual activity, sexual activity for medical, psychological, legal, social, financial, philosophical, moral, or religious reasons. Sexual abstin ...
until marriage and fidelity in marriage and to prevent child exploitation; they care for victims of Thailand's sex trade as well. In 1996, members of the Unification Church gathered 3,500 signatures in an anti-pornography
Reasons for opposition to pornography include religious objections and feminist concerns (for specific sectors of feminism), as well as alleged harmful effects, such as pornography addiction. Pornography addiction is not a condition recognized ...
campaign.
Arts-related organizations
* Kirov Academy of Ballet
The Kirov Academy of Ballet (formerly the Universal Ballet Academy) was a ballet school in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1989. It closed in May 2022 due to financial issues.
Facilities
The Kirov is located on a 1.2 acre campus in northeast ...
, dance school in Washington, D.C.
* Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea
The Little Angels Children’s Folk Ballet of Korea is a Korean traditional art and dance troupe made up of elementary and middle school children, founded in 1962 by Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, to project a positive image ...
, a dance troupe
A dance troupe or dance company is a group of dancers and associated personnel who work together to perform dances as a sport, spectacle or entertainment. There are many different types of dance companies, often working in different list of dance ...
founded in 1962 by Moon and other UC members to project a positive image of South Korea to the world. In 1973 they performed at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City. The group's dances are based on Korean legends and regional dances, and its costumes on traditional Korean styles.
* Manhattan Center
The Manhattan Center is a building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1906 and located at 311 West 34th Street, it houses Manhattan Center Studios, the location of two recording studios; its Grand Ballroom; and the Hammerstein Ballroo ...
, Theater and recording studio in New York City.[A Church in Flux is Flush with Cash](_blank)
''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', November 23, 1997
* New York City Symphony
* The Universal Ballet
The Universal Ballet was founded in Seoul, South Korea in 1984. One of only five professional ballet companies in South Korea, the company performs a repertory that includes many full length classical story ballets, together with shorter contempora ...
, founded South Korea in 1984, is one of only four professional ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
companies in South Korea. The company performs a repertory that includes many full length classical story ballets, together with shorter contemporary works and original full-length Korean ballets created especially for the company. It is supported by UC members with Moon's daughter-in-law Julia Moon
Julia H. Moon also known as Hoon Sook Moon (born Hoon Sook Pak, January 1, 1963) is the General Director of Universal Ballet in South Korea, and daughter-in-law of Sun Myung Moon, founder of the ballet company. She was the prima ballerina of the ...
, who was the company's prima ballerina
A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...
until 2001, now serving as General Director.
Sports organizations
* Centro Esportivo Nova Esperança
Centro may refer to:
Places Brazil
*Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...
, Clube Atlético Sorocaba
Clube Atlético Sorocaba, usually known as Atlético Sorocaba, is a currently inactive Brazilian football club from Sorocaba.
The club competed in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C several times.
The club is owned by Rev. Moon's Unification ...
, Brazilian football teams.
* Peace Cup
The Peace Cup was an invitational pre-season friendly football tournament for club teams which was held every two years by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. It was usually contested by eight clubs from several continents, though 12 teams pa ...
[South Korea to host global peace cup in July](_blank)
ports Illustrated May 6, 2003 International football (soccer) tournament.
* Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
Seongnam () is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. Seongnam is a satellite city of Seoul. It is largely a residential city ...
, South Korean football team.
* The Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation founded by the UC in 2003 sponsors the Peace Cup
The Peace Cup was an invitational pre-season friendly football tournament for club teams which was held every two years by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. It was usually contested by eight clubs from several continents, though 12 teams pa ...
, an invitational preseason friendly association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
tournament for club teams, currently held every two years. It is contested by the eight clubs from several continents, though 12 teams participated in 2009. The first three competitions were held in South Korea, and the 2009 Peace Cup
The 2009 Peace Cup Andalucia was an invitational friendly football tournament. It was the fourth edition of Peace Cup and was held in Spain from 24 July to 2 August in the cities of Madrid, Seville, Málaga, Jerez and Huelva. It was the first ...
Andalucia was held in Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
and Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...
, Spain. In 1989, Moon founded Seongnam FC
Seongnam () is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. Seongnam is a satellite city of Seoul. It is largely a residential cit ...
, a South Korean football team.
Political organizations
* Freedom Leadership Foundation, an anti-communist organization in the United States active in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
* Peace United Family Party, a South Korean political party founded by the Sun Myung Moon, one of whose main goals is the reunification of Korea
Korean reunification () is the potential reunification of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea into a single Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification was started by the June 15th North–South Joi ...
.
* The International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP) works to promote peace and understanding between potentially hostile nations. More than a hundred parliamentarians from about 40 countries of the world announced a resolution on the establishment of the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace IAPP in the National Assembly of South Korea in February 2016 at an international conference. Since its foundation, IAPP has spread to all continents of the world. In Uganda, the IAPP was established in 2017 in the national parliament with the participation of several legislators. The Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, Mr. Bagbin, supported the establishment of the International Association of Parliamentary Members for Peace, IAPP, in May 2021. The establishment of the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP) in Liberia 2018 was supported by Dr. Roland of the Parliamentary Committee on Peace, Religion and National Reconciliation.
* Podgorica
Podgorica (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; Literal translation, lit. 'under the hill') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd ...
club was founded at the beginning of 2019 in Podgorica, Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
. Members of the Podgorica club are former presidents and prime ministers of the countries of the Balkan
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
region, such as former Montenegrin president Vujanovic, former Bosnian prime minister Lagumdja, former Slovenian president Turk, former Croatian president Mesic, former Serbian president Micic, former Albanian president Moisiu and other prominent politicians from the Balkans area. The founding of the Podgorica Club followed the world summits in South Korea, organized by the Universal Peace Federation, which were attended by politicians from the Balkans, such as former President Vujanovic and former Albanian President Moisiu.
* TheConservatives.com, a former political website in partnership with the Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...
.
* The Summit Council for World Peace is an international group active in Moon's effort to unite North and South Korea.
* Coalition for a Free World, anti-Soviet group active in the 1980s.
* Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy
* CAUSA International
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...
is an anti-communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
educational organization created in New York City in 1980 by members of the Unification movement. In the 1980s it was active in 21 countries. In the United States it sponsored educational conferences for evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
and fundamentalist
Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...
Christian leaders[ as well as seminars and conferences for ]Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
staffers, Hispanic Americans
Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spaniards, Spanish and/or Latin Americans, Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include a ...
and conservative activists. In 1986 it produced the anti-Communist documentary film '' Nicaragua Was Our Home''.
* The International Coalition for Religious Freedom is an activist organization based in Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, the United States. Its president is Dan Fefferman, who has held several leadership positions within the Unification Church of the United States
The Unification Church of the United States is a religious movement in the United States of America. It began in the 1950s and 1960s when missionaries from Japan and South Korea were sent to the United States by the international Unification Churc ...
. Founded in the 1980s, it has been active in protesting what it considers to be threats to religious freedom
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
by governmental agencies.
* International Federation for Victory over Communism (IFVOC)
* Korean Culture and Freedom Foundation
The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or "Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Spi ...
, a nonprofit organization which in the 1970s staged a public diplomacy
In international relations, public diplomacy or people's diplomacy, broadly speaking, is any of the various government-sponsored efforts aimed at communicating directly with foreign publics to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influen ...
campaign in the United States for South Korea When it was founded in 1964, former U.S. Presidents Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
and Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
were named as honorary presidents and former Vice President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
(then practicing corporate law) was named as a director.
* National Committee Against Religious Bigotry and Racism
* National Prayer and Fast Committee, which supported President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
.
* Radio Free Asia.
* Think Tank 2022, launched in May 2022, is a global network that brings together thousands of experts with the aim of seeking solutions for achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
. The initiative was supported by many world leaders such as former UN Secretary General Ki-Moon
Ki-moon, also spelled Gi-mun, is a Korean masculine given name. Its meaning differs based on the hanja used to write each syllable of the name. There are 68 hanja with the reading "ki" and 14 hanja with the reading "moon" on the South Korean gover ...
, former US Vice President
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Feder ...
Pence
A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is th ...
, former US Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Pompeo
Pompeo is both a masculine Italian given name and a surname, derived from the Roman "Pompeius". Notable people with the name include:
Given name:
*Pompeo Aldrovandi (1668–1752), Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
* Pompeo Aldrovandini ...
, Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
n Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Hun Sen
Hun Sen (; km, ហ៊ុន សែន, ; born 5 August 1952) is a Cambodian politician and former military commander who has served as the prime minister of Cambodia since 1985. He is the longest-serving head of government of Cambodia, and o ...
, former U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
Gingrich and others. Think Tank 2022 operates through expert groups and in cooperation with international UPF associations.
* The World Summit is a UPF project that aims to bring together the heads of state, who with their vast experience and wisdom can help build a world of mutual understanding, sustainable peace and prosperity for all. Former Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...
President Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...
delivered the opening speech at the 2019 International Peace Summit in Sao Tome and Principe
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U. ...
. The conference was attended by several current and former African leaders, such as the president and prime minister of Sao Tome, the former president of Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages[Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...](_blank)
. Peace, security and human development were discussed at the 2020 World Summit in South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
. The Summit was attended by the Prime Minister of Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
Hun Sen
Hun Sen (; km, ហ៊ុន សែន, ; born 5 August 1952) is a Cambodian politician and former military commander who has served as the prime minister of Cambodia since 1985. He is the longest-serving head of government of Cambodia, and o ...
, former UN Secretary General
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
Ban Ki Moon
Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
, former President of Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
Goodluck Jonathan, Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...
, former President of the US Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washingto ...
and many other world leaders. In February 2022, a global forum was held to discuss the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
. This forum is part of the World Peace Summit 2022 in South Korea. The UPF and the Royal Government of Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
have convened the World Summit for Peace on the Korean Peninsula 2022 in South Korea. Former US President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
Trump
Trump most commonly refers to:
* Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021)
* Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank
Trump may also refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Donald J. T ...
, Sall, President of Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...
, former US Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
Pompeo
Pompeo is both a masculine Italian given name and a surname, derived from the Roman "Pompeius". Notable people with the name include:
Given name:
*Pompeo Aldrovandi (1668–1752), Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
* Pompeo Aldrovandini ...
, former US Congress President Gingrich, former European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
President Barroso, and numerous other world leaders took part in the summit, live or via video. UPF organized a world summit for peace in August 2022 in South Korea. The summit was attended by several world leaders such as former Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Prime Minister Harper
Harper may refer to:
Names
* Harper (name), a surname and given name
Places
;in Canada
* Harper Islands, Nunavut
*Harper, Prince Edward Island
;In the United States
*Harper, former name of Costa Mesa, California in Orange County
* Harper, Il ...
, former President of the US Congress Gingrich, former US Secretary of State Pompeo and others. The participants of the summit gave their support to building peace in the world, especially on the Korean Peninsula. Religious freedom was also discussed at the Summit and support was given to the education of young people in Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
.
* The International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP) was launched in 2019 in South Korea with the aim of bringing together former and current heads of government and state. Among the participants of the inaugural meeting were former US Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
Cheney, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
Gingrich, former President of Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
Moisiu, former President of Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
Gómez and other former and current presidents. ISCP continues to work on the foundations of the World Peace Summit, established in 1987. Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...
, the former president of Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, became the chairman of the ISCP-Africa International Summit Council for Peace, an organization made up of former African presidents. At the opening ceremony of the Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...
Summit 2019, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen
Hun Sen (; km, ហ៊ុន សែន, ; born 5 August 1952) is a Cambodian politician and former military commander who has served as the prime minister of Cambodia since 1985. He is the longest-serving head of government of Cambodia, and o ...
signed the Resolution on the launch of the International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP). The Prime Minister of Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
, Hun Sen, delivered the keynote speech at the International Summit Council for Peace Council (ISCP) in 2022. Hun Sen proposed that the two Koreas should begin to cooperate through UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
, to cooperate culturally and to change the demilitarized zone
A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or bounda ...
into a zone of peace. The International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP)-Africa discussed the issue of COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
in Africa and pledged support for the efforts of African countries in curbing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. They called on the international community to help people in Africa fight against COVID-19 with medical supplies. ICSP Africa stands for good governance on the African continent and the organization gathers former African presidents. At the Sao Tome
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U. ...
Peace Summit 2019, Goodluck Jonathan stated that the goals of the International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP) coincided with his personal goals and ideals of strengthening democracy, peace and stability by supporting the youth of Africa. The former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, at the 2020 world summit in South Korea, led the session of the International Summit Council for Peace (ISCP), where former and current heads of governments discussed current problems in the world.
Businesses
The Unification Church controls a large number of businesses around the world. In 1997 David Bromley, a sociologist at Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...
, said: "The corporate section is understood to be the engine that funds the mission of the church. The wealth base is fairly substantial. But if you were to compare it to the LDS Church
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
or the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
or other churches that have massive landholdings, this doesn't look on a global scale like a massive operation."[A Church in Flux Is Flush With Cash](_blank)
The lines between the Church's charities, businesses, religious activities, and related organizations is blurred with money and goods flowing between them. Money is in general believed to flow from East Asia to the United States although these flows are opaque. In the 1990s One Up Enterprises Inc. was the Church's primary American holding company. Business are owned by the Church through arcane corporate structures with many ultimately controlled by the holding company Unification Church International Inc.
Automotive
Pyeonghwa Motors
Pyeonghwa Motors (Hangul : 평화자동차) ( Hancha : 平和自動車), a Korean language word for "peace", also spelled Pyonghwa, is one of the two car manufacturers and dealers in the North Korean automotive industry, alongside Sungri Motor ...
is an automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
manufacturer based in Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, South Korea, and owned by the movement. It is involved in a joint-venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
with the North Korean Ryonbong General Corp. The joint venture produces two small cars under license from Fiat
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
, and a pick-up truck
A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...
and an SUV
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...
using complete knock down
A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, then exported to another country or region ...
kits from Chinese manufacturer Dandong Shuguang. Pyeonghwa has the exclusive rights to car production, purchase, and sale of used cars in North Korea. However, most North Koreans are unable to afford a car. Because of the very small market for cars in the country, Pyeonghwa's output is reportedly very low. In 2003, only 314 cars were produced even though the factory had the facilities to produce up to 10,000 cars a year. Erik van Ingen Schenau, author of the book ''Automobiles Made in North Korea'', has estimated the company's total production in 2005 at not more than around 400 units.
Health care
* Cheongshim Hospital, Korean hospital.
* Ilhwa Company, South Korean based producer of ginseng
Ginseng () is the root of plants in the genus ''Panax'', such as Korean ginseng ('' P. ginseng''), South China ginseng ('' P. notoginseng''), and American ginseng ('' P. quinquefolius''), typically characterized by the presence of ginsenosides an ...
and related products.
* Isshin Hospital, Church sponsored hospital in Japan which practices both modern and traditional Asian medicine.
Manufacturing
In South Korea the Tongil Group
Tongil Group ( ko, 통일그룹) is a Korean business group ( chaebol) associated with the Unification Church (UC). (“Tongil” is Korean for “unification,” the name of the Unification Church in Korean is “Tongilgyo.”) It was founded in ...
was founded in 1963 by Sun Myung Moon as a nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
organization which would provide revenue for the movement. Its core focus was manufacturing but in the 1970s and 1980s it expanded by founding or acquiring businesses in pharmaceuticals, tourism, and publishing. In the 1990s Tongil Group suffered as a result of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis
The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...
. By 2004 it was losing money and was $3.6 billion in debt. In 2005 Sun Myung Moon's son, Kook-jin Moon was appointed chairman of Tongil Group. Among Tongil Group's chief holdings are: The Ilwha Company, which produces ginseng
Ginseng () is the root of plants in the genus ''Panax'', such as Korean ginseng ('' P. ginseng''), South China ginseng ('' P. notoginseng''), and American ginseng ('' P. quinquefolius''), typically characterized by the presence of ginsenosides an ...
and related products; Ilshin Stone, building materials; and Tongil Heavy Industries, machine parts including hardware for the South Korean military. The Tongil Group funds the Tongil Foundation which supports Unification movement projects including schools and the Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea
The Little Angels Children’s Folk Ballet of Korea is a Korean traditional art and dance troupe made up of elementary and middle school children, founded in 1962 by Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, to project a positive image ...
.
Shipbuilding
The Church owns Master Marine, a shipbuilding and fishing company in Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
; International Seafood of Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak (Alutiiq: , russian: Кадьяк), formerly Paul's Harbor, is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside wo ...
; In 2011 Master Marine opened a factory in Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, to manufacture a 27-foot pleasure boat designed by Moon.
Seafood
The Church owns True World Foods
True World Foods is an American food service company. It is controlled by the Unification Church.
History
The Unification Church's foray into the seafood industry began at the direction of Reverend Moon who delivered a speech in 1980 entitled " ...
, which controls a major portion of the sushi trade in the US.[Sushi and Rev. Moon: How Americans' growing appetite for sushi is helping to support his controversial church]
Chicago Tribune, April 11, 2006 True World Foods parent company is the corporate conglomerate True World Group which operates restaurants and markets.
The Church's foray into the seafood industry began at the direction of Reverend Moon who ordered an expansion into "the oceanic providence." In 1976 and 1977 the Church invested nearly a million dollars into the American seafood industry. Moon delivered a speech in 1980 entitled "The Way of Tuna" in which he claimed that "After we build the boats, we catch the fish and process them for the market, and then have a distribution network. This is not just on the drawing board; I have already done it." and declared himself the "king of the ocean." He also suggested that they could get around the recently imposed 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone by marrying American and Japanese members allowing the Japanese ones to become American citizens, because once married "we are not foreigners; therefore Japanese brothers, particularly those matched to Americans, are becoming ..... leaders for fishing and distribution." He also declared that "Gloucester, Massachusetts, Gloucester is almost a Moonie town now!"
Later in 1980 Moon gave a sermon in which he said that "This ocean business is really reserved for Unification Church. How much income would this business generate? Roughly speaking, enough money to buy the entire world. That's true! It has unlimited potential." In 1986 he advised his followers to open a thousand restaurants in America.
Agriculture
The Church owns a Chinchilla farm named One Mind Farms.
Media
News World Communications
News World Communications Inc. is an American international news media corporation.
Background
It was founded in New York City, in 1976, by Unification movement founder and leader Sun Myung Moon. Its first two newspapers, ''The News World'' (l ...
is an international news media
The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...
corporation. It was founded in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, in 1976, by Sun Myung Moon. Its first two newspapers, ''The News World'' (later renamed the ''New York City Tribune'') and the Spanish-language ''Noticias del Mundo,'' were published in New York from 1976 until the early 1990s. In 1982 ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' described ''News World'' as "the newspaper unit of the Unification Church." Moon's son Hyun Jin Moon is its chairman of the board. News World Communications owns United Press International, ''The World and I'', ''Tiempos del Mundo'' (Latin America), ''The Segye Ilbo'' (South Korea), ''The Sekai Nippo'' (Japan), the ''Zambezi Times'' (South Africa), ''The Middle East Times'' (Egypt). Until 2008 it published the Washington, D.C.-based newsmagazine ''Insight on the News''. Until 2010, it owned ''The Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
''. On November 2, 2010, Sun Myung Moon and a group of former ''Times'' editors purchased the paper from News World.
* AmericanLife TV cable television network formerly owned by the Unification movement.
Real estate
In the 1970s the Unification Church of the United States
The Unification Church of the United States is a religious movement in the United States of America. It began in the 1950s and 1960s when missionaries from Japan and South Korea were sent to the United States by the international Unification Churc ...
began making major real estate investments. Church buildings were purchased around the nation. In New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
the Belvedere Estate, the Unification Theological Seminary
Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) is a private Unification Church-affiliated graduate seminary headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. The seminary was granted an absolute charter from the State of New York in January 198 ...
, and the New Yorker Hotel were purchased. The international headquarters of the church was established in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. In Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, the church purchased a church building from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
, and in Seattle the historic Rolland Denny mansion for $175,000 in 1977. In 1991 Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
criticized Unification Church real estate investments as possibly disruptive to communities. As of December 1994, Unification Church had invested $150 million in Uruguay. Members own the country's largest hotel, one of its leading banks, the second-largest newspaper and two of the largest printing plants. In 2008 church related real estate investment partnership USP Rockets LLC was active in Richmond, Virginia. In 2011 the church related National Hospitality Corporation sold the Sheraton National Hotel. U.S. Property Development Corporation, real estate investment
Yongpyong Resort, which hosted the alpine skiing events for the Alpine skiing at the 2018 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics and 2018 Winter Paralympics, Paralympics.[Finance Today](_blank)
/ref>
United Nations-related non-governmental organizations
From 2000 until his death in 2012, Moon promoted the creation of an interreligious council at the United Nations as a check and balance to its political-only structure. Since then King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and King Juan Carlos I of Spain hosted officially a program to promote the proposal. Moon's Universal Peace Federation is in ''special consultative status'' with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and a member of the Commission on Sustainable Development, UN Commission on Sustainable Development, a member of the United Nations Division for Palestinian Rights, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, a member of the UNHRC, a member of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Three of Moon's non-governmental organizations (NGOs)Universal Peace Federation, Women's Federation for World Peace and Service for Peaceare in Consultative status#United Nations Charter, consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Other organizations
* International Relief Friendship Foundation (IRFF)
* Joshua House Children's Centre in Georgetown, Guyana helps homeless and victimized children.
* Korean War 60th Anniversary Memorial Committee
* National Committee Against Religious Bigotry and Racism
* The New Hope East Garden Project, agricultural project in Brazil.
* Ocean Church
* Summit Council for World Peace
* Tongil Foundation
* World Media Association, sponsors trips for American journalists to Asian countries.
Organizations which are supported by the members of the Unification Movement
* American Conference on Religious Movements, a Rockville, Maryland-based group that fights discrimination against new religions. The group is funded by the Church of Scientology, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Hare Krishna organization, as well as by Unificationists, who give it $3,000 a month.
* American Freedom Coalition (AFC), a group which seeks to unite American conservatives on the state level to work toward common goals. The coalition, while independent, receives support from the Unification movement. ''American Freedom Journal'' was a publication of the AFC published by Robert Grant (Christian leader), Robert Grant. The journal was started in 1988 and suspended publication sometime before 1994. Contributors included Pat Buchanan, Ed Meese, Ben Wattenberg and Jeane Kirkpatrick.
* Christian Heritage Foundation, a private, independent charitable foundation based in Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
that distributes Bibles and Christian literature to Communist and Third World nations. In 1995 it was given $3.5 million by the Women's Federation for World Peace.
* Empowerment Network, a pro-faith political action group supported by United States Senator Joe Lieberman.
* New Cult Awareness Network, Foundation for Religious Freedom (Also known as the New Cult Awareness Network), an organization affiliated with the Church of Scientology which states its purpose as "Educating the public as to religious rights, freedoms and responsibilities."
* George Bush Presidential Library. In June 2006 the ''Houston Chronicle'' reported that in 2004 Moon's Washington Times Foundation gave a $1 million donation to the George Bush Presidential Library.
Geneva Interfaith and Intercultural Alliance
a Swiss association founded in 2008 under the patronage of the UN Mission of the Republic of the Philippines and the UN Mission of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Universal Peace Federation, offering programmes and intercultural training for diplomats, based on the Universal Peace Federation Ambassador for peace curriculum.
* Liberty University
Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...
. Sun Myung Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han
Hak Ja Han (Korean: 한학자, Hanja: 韓鶴子) (born January 6, 1943, lunar calendar which is February 10, 1943, Gregorian) is a Korean religious leader. Her late husband Sun Myung Moon was the founder of the Unification movement, also known ...
helped to financially stabilize the university through two organizations: News World Communications, which provided a $400,000 loan to the University at 6% interest; and the Women's Federation for World Peace, which indirectly contributed $3.5 million toward the school's debt.
* Married Priests Now!, is an advocacy group headed by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who was himself married by Moon. MPN is a liberal Catholicism, Catholic organization calling for relaxing the rules concerning marriage in the Latin Rite Holy Orders, Catholic priesthood.
* Million Family March
The Million Family March was a rally in Washington D.C. to celebrate family unity and racial and religious harmony; as well as to address other issues, including abortion, capital punishment, health care, education, welfare and Social Security ref ...
, 2000 rally in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the FFWPU and The Nation of Islam.
* National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC), was given $500,000 by CAUSA International to finance an anticommunist lobbying campaign.
* University of Bridgeport
The University of Bridgeport (UB) is a private university in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. In 2021, the university was purchased by Goodwin University; it retain its own n ...
of Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1992, following the longest faculty strike in United States academic history, the University of Bridgeport agreed to an arrangement with the Professors World Peace Academy whereby the university would be subsidized by PWPA in exchange for control of the university. The initial agreement was for $50 million, and a majority of board members were to be PWPA members. The next University of Bridgeport president was PWPA president and Holocaust theologian Richard L. Rubenstein
Richard Lowell Rubenstein (January 8, 1924 – May 16, 2021) was a theologian, educator, and writer, noted particularly for his path-breaking contributions to post-Holocaust theology and his socio-political analyses of surplus populations an ...
(from 1995 to 1999), and subsequently former U.S. HSA-UWC president Neil Albert Salonen Neil Albert Salonen (born 1946) served as the ninth president of the University of Bridgeport, a private university in Bridgeport, Connecticut from 1999 to 2018. He is a member of the Unification Church and became the president of the Unification ...
(2000–2018).
* World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO)The Words of the Milingo Family
Statement of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification On the Recent Publication of "The Fish Rescued from the Mud" by Archbishop Emanuel Milingo and Michele Zanzucchi
See also
* Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church
* List of Unification movement people
* Unification Church of the United States
The Unification Church of the United States is a religious movement in the United States of America. It began in the 1950s and 1960s when missionaries from Japan and South Korea were sent to the United States by the international Unification Churc ...
* Millennialism
* Theocracy
* Utopianism
Bibliography
* Frederick Sontag, Sontag, Frederick. 1977. ''Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church
''Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church'' is a nonfiction book about the Unification Church and its founder and leader, Sun Myung Moon. It was written by Frederick Sontag, a professor of philosophy at Pomona College and a minister in the Unit ...
'', Abingdon Press.
* Bryant, M. Darrol, and Herbert Warren Richardson. 1978. ''A Time for consideration: a scholarly appraisal of the Unification Church''. New York: E. Mellen Press.
* 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
* Young Oon Kim, Kim, Young Oon, 1980
Unification Theology
Barrytown, NY: Unification Theological Seminary
Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) is a private Unification Church-affiliated graduate seminary headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. The seminary was granted an absolute charter from the State of New York in January 198 ...
,
* Matczak, Sebastian, ''Unificationism: A New Philosophy and World View'' (Philosophical Questions Series, No 11) (1982) New York: Louvain.
* Eileen Barker, Barker, Eileen, ''The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing?'' (1984) Blackwell's, Oxford, UK .
* Bjornstad, James. 1984. Sun Myung & the Unification Church. Rev. ed. Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers. 57 p. N.B.: Rev. ed. of The Moon Is Not the Sun, which had been published in 1976.
* Mose Durst, Durst, Mose. 1984
''To bigotry, no sanction: Reverend Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church''
Chicago: Regnery Gateway.
*
* Fichter, Joseph Henry. 1985. ''The holy family of father Moon''. Kansas City, Mo: Leaven Press.
* Gullery, Jonathan. 1986. ''The Path of a pioneer: the early days of Reverend Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church''. New York: HSA Publications.
* 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
* Carlton Sherwood, Sherwood, Carlton. 1991. ''Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon''. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway.
* George D. Chryssides, 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.
* Yamamoto, J. Isamu, 1995, ''Unification Church'', Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan
* Nansook Hong, Hong, Nansook, ''In the Shadow of the Moons, In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family''. Little Brown & Company; , 1998.
* Introvigne, M., 2000, ''The Unification Church'', Signature Books,
* 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.
* Patrick Hickey (politician), Hickey, Patrick 2009, ''Tahoe Boy: A journey back home''. John, Maryland: Seven Locks Press.
* Moon, Sun Myung, 2009, ''As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen''. Gimm-Young Publishers
References
External links
UPF website
www.Tparents.org
Universal Peace Federation
Family Federation for World Peace and Unification USA
{{Authority control
Unification Church,
1954 establishments in South Korea
Anti-communism
Anti-communism in South Korea
Anti-Marxism
Antisemitism
Christian new religious movements
Far-right politics in South Korea