Unification Church

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Unification Church
Hangul 통일교회
Hanja 統一敎會
Revised Romanization Tongil Gyohoe
McCune–Reischauer T'ongil Kyohoe

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

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

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

Contents

[edit] History

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 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 Church teachings. At least one minister was dismissed by his congregation for taking part.[20]

In 1991 Moon announced that church members should return to their hometowns in order to undertake apostolic work there. Massimo Introvigne, who has studied the Unification Church and other new religious movements, has said that this confirms that full-time membership is no longer considered crucial to church members.[21]

Starting in the 1990s the Unification Church expanded its operations into Russia and other formerly communist nations. Moon's wife, Hak Ja Han, made a radio broadcast to the nation from the Kremlin Palace of Congresses.[22] In 1994 the church had about 5,000 members in Russia and came under criticism from the Russian Orthodox Church.[23] In 1997, the Russian government passed a law requiring the Unification Church and other non-Russian religions to register their congregations and submit to tight controls.[24] Starting in 1992 the church established business ties with still communist North Korea and owns a automobile manufacturer (Pyeonghwa Motors), a hotel, and other properties there. In 2007 it founded a "World Peace Center" in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital city.[25]

In 2000, the Unification Church was one of the co-sponsors of the Million Family March in Washington, D.C., along with Louis Farrakhan the leader of The Nation of Islam.[26] Starting in 2007 the church sponsored a series of public events in various nations under the title Global Peace Festival.[27][28][29][30]

In 2003 Moon began his "tear down"[31], or "take down the cross"[32] campaign. The campaign was begun in the belief that the cross is a reminder of Jesus' pain and has been a source of division between people of different faiths. The campaign included a burial ceremony for the cross and a crown to be put in its place. The American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), an interfaith group founded by Moon, spearheaded the effort, calling the cross a symbol of oppression and superiority.[33]

In April 2008, Sun Myung Moon, then 88 years old, appointed his youngest son, Hyung Jin Moon, to be the new leader of the Unification Church and the worldwide Unification Movement, saying, "I hope everyone helps him so that he may fulfil his duty as the successor of the True Parents." [34]

In January 2009, Unification Church missionary Elizaveta Drenicheva was sentenced to two years in jail in Kazakhstan for "propagating harmful religious teachings." She was freed and allowed to leave the country after international human rights organizations expressed their concern over her case.[35][36]

[edit] Beliefs

See also: Divine Principle

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

A brief overview with 12 theological statements about these teachings was written by thirty eight seminary students.[37]

1. God. There is one living, eternal, and true God, a Person beyond space and time, who possesses perfect intellect, emotion and will, whose deepest nature is heart and love, who combines both masculinity and femininity, who is the source of all truth, beauty, and goodness, and who is the creator and sustainer of man and the universe and of all things visible and invisible. Man and the universe reflect His personality, nature, and purpose.

2. Man. Man was made by God as a special creation, made in His image as His children, like Him in personality and nature, and created to respond to His love, to be the source of His joy, and to share His creativity.

3. God's Desire for Man and Creation. God's desire for man and creation is eternal and unchanging; God wants men and women to fulfill three things: first, each to grow to perfection so as to be one in heart, will, and action with God, having their bodies and minds united together in perfect harmony centering on God's love; second, to he united by God as husband and wife and give birth to sinless children of God, thereby establishing a sinless family and ultimately a sinless world; and third, to become lords of the created world by establishing a loving dominion of reciprocal give-and-take with it. Because of man's sin, however, none of these happened. Therefore God's present desire is that the problem of sin be solved and that all these things be restored, thus bringing about the earthly and heavenly kingdom of God.

4. Sin. The first man and woman (Adam and Eve), before they had become perfected, were tempted by the archangel Lucifer into illicit and forbidden love. Through this, Adam and Eve willfully turned away from God's will and purpose for them, thus bringing themselves and the human race into spiritual death. As a result of this Fall, Satan usurped the position of mankind's true father so that thereafter all people are born in sin both physically and spiritually and have a sinful propensity. Human beings therefore tend to oppose God and His will, and live in ignorance of their true nature and parentage and of all that they have lost. God too, grieves for His lost children and lost world, and has had to struggle incessantly to restore them to Himself. Creation groans in travail, waiting to be united through the true children of God.

5. Christology. Fallen mankind can be restored to God only through Christ (the Messiah), who comes as a new Adam to become the new head of the human race (replacing the sinful parents), through whom mankind can be reborn into God's family. In order for God to send the Messiah, mankind must fulfill certain conditions which restore what was lost through the Fall.

6. History. Restoration takes place through the paying of indemnity for (making reparations for) sin. Human history is the record of God's and Man's efforts to make these reparations over time in order that conditions can be fulfilled so that God can send the Messiah, who comes to initiate the complete restoration process. When some effort at fulfilling some reparation condition fails, it must be repeated, usually by someone else after some intervening time-period; history therefore exhibits a cyclic pattern. History culminates in the coming of the Messiah, and at that time the old age ends and a new age begins.

7. Resurrection. The process of resurrection is the process of restoration to spiritual life and spiritual maturity, ultimately uniting man with God; it is passing from spiritual death into spiritual life. This is accomplished in part by man's effort (through prayer, good deeds, etc.) with the help of the saints in the spiritual world, and completed by God's activity of bringing man to rebirth through Christ (the Messiah).

8. Predestination. God's will that all people be restored to Him is predestined absolutely, and He has elected all people to salvation, but He has also given man part of the responsibility (to be accomplished through man's free will) for the accomplishment of both His original will and His will for the accomplishment of restoration; that responsibility remains man's permanently. God has predestined and called certain persons and groups of people for certain responsibilities; if they fail, others must take up their roles and greater reparations must be made.

9. Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth came as the Christ, the Second Adam, the only begotten Son of God. He became one with God, speaking the words of God and doing the works of God, and revealing God to the people. The people, however, rejected and crucified him, thereby preventing his building the Kingdom of God on earth. Jesus, however, was victorious over Satan in his crucifixion and resurrection, and thus made possible spiritual salvation for those who are reborn through him and the Holy Spirit. The restoration of the Kingdom of God on earth awaits the Second Coming of Christ.

10. The Bible. The Old and New Testament Scriptures are the record of God's progressive revelation to mankind. The purpose of the Bible is to bring us to Christ, and to reveal God's heart. Truth is unique, eternal, and unchanging, so any new message from God will be in conformity with the Bible and will illuminate it more deeply. Yet, in these last days, new truth must come from God in order that mankind be able to accomplish what is, yet, undone.

11. Complete Restoration. A proper understanding of theology concentrates simultaneously on man's relationship with God (vertical) and on man's relationship with his fellowman (horizontal). Man's sin disrupted both these relationships, and all the problems of our world result from this. These problems will be solved through restoration of man to God through Christ, and also through such measures as initiating proper moral standards and practices, forming true families, uniting all peoples and races (such as Orient, Occident and Negro), resolving the tension between science and religion, righting economic, racial, political, and educational injustices, and overcoming God-denying ideologies such as Communism.

12. Second Coming or Eschatology. The Second Coming of Christ will occur in our age, an age much like that of the First Advent. Christ will come as before, as a man in the flesh, and he will establish a family through marriage to his Bride, a woman in the flesh, and they will become the True Parents of all mankind. Through our accepting the True Parents (the Second Coming of Christ), obeying them and following them, our original sin will be eliminated and we will eventually become perfect. True families fulfilling God's ideal will be begun, and the Kingdom of God will be established both on earth and in heaven. That day is now at hand.

God is viewed as the creator,[37] whose nature combines both masculinity and femininity,[37] and is the source of all truth, beauty, and goodness. Human beings and the universe reflect God's personality, nature, and purpose.[37]

"Give-and-take action" (reciprocal interaction) and "subject and object position" (initiator and responder) are "key interpretive concepts",[38] and the self is designed to be God's object.[38] The purpose of human existence is to return joy to God.[39] The "four-position foundation" is "another important and interpretive concept",[39] and explains in part the emphasis on the family.[39]

[edit] The Principle of Indemnity

Main article: Indemnity (Unification Church)

Indemnity, as explained in the Divine Principle, is a part of the process by which human beings and the world are restored back to God's ideal.[40][41][42][43][44]

[edit] Spiritualism

The Unification Church upholds a belief in spiritualism, that is communication with the spirits of deceased persons. Moon and early church members associated with spiritualists, including the famous Arthur Ford.[45][46] The Divine Principle says about Moon:

"For several decades he wandered through the spirit world so vast as to be beyond imagining. He trod a bloody path of suffering in search of the truth, passing through tribulations that God alone remembers. Since he understood that no one can find the ultimate truth to save humanity without first passing through the bitterest of trials, he fought alone against millions of devils, both in the spiritual and physical worlds, and triumphed over them all. Through intimate spiritual communion with God and by meeting with Jesus and many saints in Paradise, he brought to light all the secrets of Heaven."[47]

The ancestor liberation ceremony is a ceremony of the Unification Church intended to allow the spirits of deceased ancestors of participants to improve their situations in the spirit world through liberation, education, and blessing. The ceremonies are conducted by Hyo Nam Kim, a woman who church members believe is channeling the spirit of Soon Ae Hong, the mother of Hak Ja Han (church founder Sun Myung Moon's wife). They have taken place mainly in Cheongpyeong, South Korea, but also in various places around the world.[48][49][50]

In the 1990s and 2000s the Unification Church has made public statements claiming communications with the spirits of religious leaders such as Confucius, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and Augustine, as well as political leaders such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Mao Zedong, and many more. This has distanced the church further from mainstream Christianity as well as from Islam.[45]

[edit] Sex and marriage

Main article: Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church

The Unification Church is well-known for its marriage or marriage rededication ceremony, which is sometimes referred to by the news media and others as a "mass wedding." The Blessing ceremony was first held 1961 for 36 couples in Seoul, South Korea by Reverend and Mrs. Moon shortly after their own marriage in 1960. All the couples were members of the Unification Church. Rev. Moon matched all of the couples except 12 who were already married to each other before joining the church.[51]

Later Blessing ceremonies were larger in scale but followed the same pattern with all participants Unification Church members and Rev. Moon matching most of the couples. In 1982 the first large scale Blessing held outside of Korea took place in Madison Square Garden in New York City. In 1988, Moon matched 2,500 Korean members with Japanese members for a Blessing ceremony held in Korea, partly in order to promote unity between the two nations.[52]

The Blessing ceremonies have attracted a lot of attention in the press and in the public imagination, often being labeled "mass weddings".[53] However, in most cases the Blessing ceremony is not a legal wedding ceremony. Some couples are already married and those that are engaged are later legally married according to the laws of their own countries.[54]

Several church-related groups are working to promote sexual abstinence until marriage and fidelity in marriage, both among church members and the general public.[55]

The church does not give its marriage blessing to same-sex couples.[56] Moon has spoken vehemently against "free sex" and homosexual activity. In talks to church members, he has compared people involved in free sex, including gay people, to "dirty dung-eating dogs"[57] and prophesied that "gays will be eliminated" in a "purge on God's orders." These statements were criticized by gay rights groups.[58]

[edit] South America

Unification Church activity in South America began in the 1970s with missionary work. Later the church made large investments in civic organizations and business projects, including an international newspaper. In 1996, a group of Catholic bishops in Uruguay issued a strong statement warning Catholics not to take part in any groups or activities associated with the Unification Church, saying:

Deceptive proselytizing by institutions linked to the Unification Church are hurting the good faith of Christians of our country and other countries across Latin America. These organizations promote fundamental human values, but in reality they attempt to convert believers to their religious movement.[59]

In the 1990s Moon directed church members to buy land in the Mato Grosso do Sul region of Brazil, which he compared to the Garden of Eden. 200,000 acres of farmland was purchased and building projects started.[60] In 2000 the church purchased 300,000 hectares of land in Paraguay for the purpose of logging and timber exportation to Asia. The land is the ancestral territory of the indigenous Chamacoco (Ishir) people, who live in northern Paraguay. They have told local anthropologists that they wish to purchase the land back, because it is considered a sacred area in their shamanic belief system, but they do not have the capital to purchase the huge tracts back from the Unification Church members. This loss of land has been devastating to the Chamacoco people, who are traditional hunter-gatherers, and in return the church members have financed the construction of schools for them. [61]

In May 2002, federal police in Brazil conducted a number of raids on organizations linked to Sun Myung Moon. In a statement, the police stated that the raids were part of a broad investigation into allegations of tax evasion and immigration violations by church members. Moon's support of the government of Argentina during the Falklands War was also mentioned by commentators as a possible issue.[62]

In 2009, the church gave 30,000 acres of land back to residents of Puerto Casado after a series of land disputes came before Paraguayan courts. It had acquired more than 1.48 million acres of land in 2000 for an environmental and tourism project in northern Paraguay.[63]

[edit] Related organizations

See also: List of Unification Church affiliated organizations

There are a number of organizations founded, run, or backed by church founder Sun Myung Moon. Among them are interfaith, educational, arts, sports, and political organizations as well as profit-making businesses.[64] Commentators have mentioned Moon's belief in a literal Kingdom of Heaven on earth to be brought about by human effort as a motivation for his establishment of groups that are not strictly religious in their purposes.[65][66] Others have said that one purpose of these groups is to pursue social respectability for the church.[67]

[edit] Political activities

See: Unification Church political activities

The Unification Church has been noted for its political activities, especially its support for United States president Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal[68], its support for anti-communism during the Cold War[69][70], and its ownership of various news media outlets through News World Communications, an international news media conglomerate which publishes Washington Times newspaper in Washington D.C. and newspapers in South Korea, Japan, and South America, which tend to support conservatism.[71]

[edit] Controversy

 This article's Criticism or Controversy section(s) may mean the article does not present a neutral point of view of the subject. It may be better to integrate the material in those sections into the article as a whole. (May 2009)

[edit] Current Status

The Unification Church is among the most controversial religious organizations in the world today.[citation needed] In response to doubt regarding the organization's religious origins, Frederick Sontag, a professor of philosophy, concluded that "one thing is sure: the church has a genuine spiritual basis" after an 11-month study of the worldwide Unification Church.[72][Need quotation to verify] A German court made a similar finding.[73][self-published source?][dead link]

[edit] Use of money

Critics also allege irregularities in the use of money and claim that the church has enriched Moon personally.[74] The Moon family situation is described as one of "luxury and privilege"[75] and has been referred to as "lavish."[76]

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

"The Japanese had no trouble bringing the cash into the United States; they would tell customs agents that they were in America to gamble at Atlantic City. In addition, many businesses run by the church were cash operations, including several Japanese restaurants in New York City. I saw deliveries of cash from church headquarters that went directly into the wall safe in Mrs. Moon's closet."[76]

[edit] Allegations of fraud

In the 1990s, thousands of Japanese elderly people claimed to have been defrauded of their life savings by church members.[77] The Unification Church was the subject of the largest consumer fraud investigation in Japan's history in 1997 and number of subsequent court decisions awarded hundreds of millions of yen in judgments, including 37.6 million yen ($300,000) to two women coerced into donating their assets to the Unification Church.[78] In 2009 the president of the Unification Church of Japan, Eiji Tokuno, resigned after the church was raided, and some church members were arrested and indicted, for a scam involving selling expensive personal seals, telling people that failure to buy would bring bad fortune.[79]

[edit] Recruitment and allegations of brainwashing

In the United States in the 1970s, the media reported on the high-pressure recruitment methods of Unificationists and said that the church separated vulnerable young people from their families through the use of brainwashing or mind control.[citation needed] In 1979, Dr. Byron Lambert, in a foreword to a book highly critical of Unification Church beliefs, wrote that accusations of brainwashing were extremely dangerous to the religious freedom of other religious groups, which used some of the same recruitment techniques as the Unification Church.[80] Eileen Barker, a sociologist specializing in religious topics, studied church members in England and in 1984 published her findings in her book The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? Observing Unificationists' approach to prospective new members, Barker came to reject a strict interpretation of the "brainwashing" theory as an explanation for conversion to the Unification Church. Nor did she find the Unification Church's methods of recruiting members to be very effective.[81] In 1985 Anson Shupe, a sociologist who is considered a leading expert on cults and new religious movements, told Time: "What the Moonies do is ludicrous. Most people who go through that experience with them walk away later." [82]

[edit] Reports of children conceived out of wedlock

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

In 1993, Chung Hwa Pak released the book Roku Maria no Higeki (Tragedy of the Six Marys) through the Koyu Publishing Co. of Japan. The book contained allegations that Moon conducted sex rituals amongst six married female disciples ("The Six Marys") who were to have prepared the way for the virgin who would marry Moon and become the True Mother. Chung Hwa Pak had left the movement when the book was published and later withdrew the book from print when he rejoined the Unification Church. Before his death Chung Hwa Pak published a second book, The Apostate, and recanted all allegations made in Roku Maria no Higeki.[83]

[edit] Accusations of antisemitism

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) released a report of Rabbi A. James Rudin on antisemitism in 1976 which centered on passages found in Divine Principle stating that it contained "pejorative language, stereotyped imagery, and accusations of collective sin and guilt."[84] In a news conference consisting of the AJC, and representatives of Catholic and Protestant churches, panelists stated that the text 'contained over 125 anti-Jewish references.' The panelists noted Moon's public recent condemnation of "antisemitic and anti-Christian attitudes", and called upon him to make a "comprehensive and systematic removal" of antisemitic and anti-Christian references in Divine Principle as a demonstration of good faith.[85] Soon after the Jewish Defense League said that it had "declared war" on the Unification Church and "vowed that no Moon missionaries would walk the streets safely."[86]

In 1977 the Unification Church issued a rebuttal to the report, stating that it was neither comprehensive nor reconciliatory, but was rather had a "hateful tone" and was filled with "sweeping denunciations." It denied that Divine Principle teaches antisemitism and gave detailed responses to 17 specific allegations contained in the AJC's report, showing that allegations as distortion of teaching and obscuration of real passage content or as accurate summaries of Jewish scripture or New Testament passages.[87]

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 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." This was followed by nine "guidelines" and a "conclusion."[88]

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

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

[edit] Use of term 'Moonie'

Main article: Moonie (Unification Church)

Moonie (plural Moonies) is a term which refers to members of the Unification Church; it is derived from the name of church founder Sun Myung Moon.[92] Some dictionaries call it offensive or derogatory;[93][94] others do not.[95][96] It has been used by critics of the church since the 1970s.[97] In a 1982 report sponsored in part by Auburn University, P. Nelson Reid and Paul D. Starr noted: "In informal interviews with U.C. members have indicated that they do not consider the term 'Moonie' derogatory."[98]

[edit] Future church leadership

Observers of the Unification Church, as well as some church members, have speculated about the issue of Unification Church leadership after Moon's death. Among those sometimes mentioned are his wife Hak Ja Han Moon, and their sons Hyun Jin Moon[99] and Hyung Jin Moon.[34][100][101] In 2008 Moon appointed Hyung Jin Moon as the international president of the church.[102][103] At the same time he appointed his daughter In Jin Moon as the president of the Unification Church of the United States.[104] [105]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Introvigne, Massimo, 2000, The Unification Church Studies in Contemporary Religion, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7, excerpt
  2. ^ Unification Church International Directory lists contact information for 56 countries.
  3. ^ Sun Myung Moon "They now have a presence in over 150 countries, with concentrations in Korea, Japan and the United States."
  4. ^ Membership estimates from the Unification Church (i.e., UC fact sheet) have been variously 1-3 million followers worldwide, but some sociologists of religion who have studied the church believe this number is greatly inflated. The Adherents.com site specializes in religious demographics; it gives direct and indirect reports of estimates of members in the 1-3 million range as well as one source estimating 250,000, and another estimating "hundreds of thousands."
  5. ^ excerpt The Unification Church Studies in Contemporary Religion, Massimo Introvigne, 2000, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7 This book mentions 250,000 as the best guess of scholars.
  6. ^ Oxford English Dictionary
  7. ^ WordNet 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University
  8. ^ Von Dehsen, Christian D. (1999). Philosophers and Religious Leaders. Greenwood. p. 136. ISBN 1573561525. 
  9. ^ Jenkins, Philip (2000). Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History. Oxford University Press. pp. 28, 200. ISBN 0195127447. 
  10. ^ Lasseter, Don (2006). If I Can't Have You, No One Can. Pinnacle. p. 111. ISBN 0786018208. 
  11. ^ Exposition of the Divine Principle, HSA-UWC, 1996 (ISBN 0-910621-80-2).
  12. ^ Moon has said he is the Second Coming of Christ, the "Savior", "returning Lord", and "True Parent". He teaches that all people should become perfected like Jesus and like himself, and that as such he "appears in the world as the substantial body of God Himself."
  13. ^ excerpt The Unification Church Studies in Contemporary Religion, Massimo Introvigne, 2000, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7
  14. ^ a b c Introvigne, 2000
  15. ^ McGrandle, Piers (June 8, 1997). "Cult explosion threatens to bury Christianity". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/cult-explosion-threatens-to-bury-christianity-1254757.html. 
  16. ^ Beyond the dark side of the Moonies, The Independent, November 2, 1995
  17. ^ Irving Louis Horowitz, Science, Sin, and Society: The Politics or Reverend Moon and the Unification Church, 1980, MIT Press
  18. ^ The Eclipse of Sun Myung Moon New York Magazine By Chris Welles Sep 27, 1976
  19. ^ Investigation of Korean-American Relations; Report of the Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives
  20. ^ Clear Lake Journal; Congregation Dismisses Its Minister Over Trip, New York Times, May 25, 1988
  21. ^ [Introvigne, 2000
  22. ^ The Moonies in Moscow: a second coming?, Green Left Weekly, May 28, 1997. "With the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moon's anticommunism lost much of its camouflage value. There was, however, the compensating possibility of being able to expand his operations into Russia -- both with the bible, and with business. One of Moon's schemes in Russia during the early 1990s was reportedly to rent Red Square for a mass wedding ceremony of the type practised by his sect in many cities around the world, in which scores and perhaps hundreds of couples -- selected for one another by church leaders, and introduced only a few days previously --are married simultaneously. This plan came to nothing. The most that was achieved was that Moon's wife was allowed to broadcast from the stage of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses."
  23. ^ A Less Secular Approach, The Saint Petersburg Times, June 7, 2002
  24. ^ Russian unorthodox The Globe and Mail February 8, 2008.
  25. ^ Dubai Tycoon Scouts Pyongyang Forbes, September 9, 2006
  26. ^ Million Family March reaches out to all
  27. ^ "Moonies" stage festival in Mongolia Mongolia Web August 23, 2008
  28. ^ Kenya asked to back world peace forum Daily Nation, August 31, 2008
  29. ^ Moonie peace group to hold biggest UK event The Guardian November 21, 2008
  30. ^ Global Peace Festival This Saturday Solomon Times, November 25, 2008
  31. ^ "Tear down the Cross" Ceremony - Bronx, New York
  32. ^ Quotes from Sun Myung Moon relevant to the May 2003 Pilgrimage to Israel (Take Down the Cross)
  33. ^ Rome and Israel Pilgrim Tour - Burying of the Cross.
  34. ^ a b Son of Moonies founder takes over as church leader The Guardian, 2008-04-28
  35. ^ http://www.rferl.org/content/Right_Defenders_Demand_Release_Of_Missionary_In_Kazakhstan/1370910.html Right Defenders Demand Release Of Missionary In Kazakhstan], Radio Free Europe, January 16, 2009
  36. ^ Liza Drenicheva Freed
  37. ^ a b c d Sontag, Fredrick (1977). Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Abingdon. pp. 102–105. ISBN 0687406226. 
  38. ^ a b Sontag, Fredrick (1977). Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Abingdon. p. 107. ISBN 0687406226. 
  39. ^ a b c Sontag, Fredrick (1977). Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Abingdon. p. 108. ISBN 0687406226. 
  40. ^ Daske, D. and Ashcraft, W. 2005, New Religious Movements, New York: New York University Press, ISBN 0-8147-0702-5 "To restart the process toward perfection, God has sent messiahs to earth who could restore the true state of humanity's relationship with God. Before that can happen, however, humans must perform good deeds that cancel the bad effects of sin. Unificationists call this "indemnity". Showing love and devotion to one's fellow humans, especially within families, helps pay this indemnity." p142
  41. ^ Yamamoto, J. 1995, Unification Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Press, ISBN 0-310-70381-6 "The doctrine of indemnity. Indemnity is that which people do to restore themselves to God's kingdom. Young Oon Kim describes it this way: 'We atone for our sins through specific acts of penance.' Kwang-Yol Yoo, a Unification teacher, even goes so far as to say that by following the Divine Principle, 'man's perfection must be accomplished by his own effort without God's help.' God does most of the work, but people must still do their part in order to achieve God's plan of salvation: 'Five percent is only to say that man's responsibility is extremely small compared to God's.' "p35 "The doctrine of indemnity is not biblical. 'In simple language.' states Ruth Tucker, 'indemnity is salvation by works.' Bob Larson makes a distinction between Moon's doctrine and biblical theology, saying, 'Moon's doctrine of sinless perfection by "indemnity [forgiveness of sin by works on Moon's behalf], which can apply even to deceased ancestors, is a denial of the salvation by grace offering through Jesus Christ.' 'Farewell,' said John Calvin. 'to the dream of those who think up a righteousness flowing together out of faith and works.'" p40
  42. ^ Tingle, D. and Fordyce, R. 1979, The Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and Its Principles, Hicksville, New York: Exposition Press p53-55 "In short, indemnity is anything you want to make it, since you establish the conditions. The zeal and enthusiasm of the Unification Church members is not so much based on love for God as it is compulsion to indemnify one's own sins."
  43. ^ The Power of the Principle: Whence it Came; Where it Went, Richard Quebedeaux
  44. ^ Exposition of the Divine Principle, The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, 1996 Translation, p. 176. ISBN 0-910621-80-2
  45. ^ a b Unifying or Dividing? Sun Myung Moon and the Origins of the Unification Church George D. Chryssides, University of Wolverhampton, U.K. 2003
  46. ^ Unification Church of America History by Lloyd Pumphrey
  47. ^ Introduction Exposition of the Divine Principle, 1996 Translation
  48. ^ The Unification Church (Studies in Contemporary Religion), Massimo Introvigne, 2000, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7 p29-30
  49. ^ lengthy description of UC ancestor liberation ceremony
  50. ^ still photos of ancestor liberation ceremony - low quality JPGS, mostly
  51. ^ Duddy, Neil Interview: Dr. Mose Durst
  52. ^ MARRIAGE BY THE NUMBERS; MOON PRESIDES AS 6,500 COUPLES WED IN S. KOREA Peter Maass Washington Post October 31, 1988
  53. ^ Despite controversy, Moon and his church moving into mainstream Chicago Tribune, April 11, 2006. 'The church's most spectacular rite remains mass weddings, which the church calls the way "fallen men and women can be engrafted into the true lineage of God."'
  54. ^ At RFK, Moon Presides Over Mass Wedding, Washington Post, November 3, 1997, "Church and stadium officials estimated that more than 40,000 people, mostly couples, attended the event, including the Moon-matched couples who took their marriage vows on the football field and exchanged gold rings displaying the church symbol. Those couples, however, must still fulfill whatever requirements exist where they live to be considered legally married."
  55. ^ Rosenthal, Elisabeth (2000-09-12). "Group Founded by Sun Myung Moon Preaches Sexual Abstinence in China". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E5DA1638F931A2575AC0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-02-22. 
  56. ^ Unification Church pres sees smaller mass weddings, The Monitor (Uganda), 2008-12-30, "Moon said the church does not give its wedding blessing to same sex couples.”
  57. ^ The Family Federation for Cosmic Peace and Unification and the Cosmic Era of Blessed Family. Retrieved on 04-11-2007.
  58. ^ [http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_uni.htm THE UNIFICATION CHURCH AND HOMOSEXUALITY] B.A. Robinson, Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance 2005
  59. ^ Unification Church Gains Respect in Latin America, New York Times, November 24, 1996
  60. ^ Moonies build a new Garden of Eden in Brazil's fertile cowboy country , The Independent, November 28, 1999
  61. ^ The land is the ancestral territory of the indigenous Chamacoco (Ishir) people, who live in Northern Paraguay. They have told local anthropologists that they wish to purchase the land back, because it is considered a sacred area in their shamanic belief system, but they do not have the capital to purchase the huge tracts back from the Moon followers. This loss of land has been devastating to the Chamacoco people, who are traditional hunter-gatherers. However, the Chamacocos do benefit from the presence of the Moon followers because the latter have built schools for them.Uproar after Moonies buy town, BBC, October 14, 2000
  62. ^ The Unification Church in South America Australian Broadcasting Corporation May 15, 2002
  63. ^ Paraguayans Protest to Reclaim Moonie Land
  64. ^ For a partial list, see Projects and Activities Founded by Unificationists. Nearly all of these were founded by Sun Myung Moon.
  65. ^ Tingle, D. and Fordyce, R. 1979, Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and its Principles, Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press ISBN 0-682-49264-7 p86-87
  66. ^ 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 Mellen Press ISBN 0-88946-710-2 p173
  67. ^ Helm, S. Divine Principle and the Second Advent Christian Century May 11, 1977 "In fact Moon’s adherents differ from previous fringe groups in their quite early and expensive pursuit of respectability, as evidenced by the scientific conventions they have sponsored in England and the U.S. and the seminary they have established in Barrytown, New York, whose faculty is composed not of their own group members but rather of respected Christian scholars."
  68. ^ Introvigne, Massimo, 2000, The Unification Church Studies in Contemporary Religion, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7, excerpt page 16
  69. ^ [1] San Francisco Chronicle September 3, 1983
  70. ^ How to Read the Reagan Administration: The Miskito Case
  71. ^ See
  72. ^ Frederick Sontag. (1977). Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church. Abingdon Press.
  73. ^ Fefferman, Dan (December 31, 2001). "ICRF White Paper: The Schengen Treaty and the Case of Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon". http://www.religiousfreedom.com/Whatsnew/whitepaper.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-29.  Moon, who was born and grew up in a Japan-occupied Korea, started to preach his religious teachings back in 1945 or 1946 before he personally encountered difficulties with communism. Following Moon's torture and imprisonment by the North Korean communists from 1947 to 1950 he was not reported to have engaged primarily in political agitation, but rather in daily worship. Furthermore, he was barred from the Presbyterian Church as early as 1948 owing to his different religious teachings.
  74. ^ These criticisms have been repeated hundreds of times in media reports, though Reverend Sun Myung Moon was asked by the media why "He lived a luxurious Life" and he has been criticized about his a lot, but he has taken in a lot of members in his movement in his house and has also spent a lot of money keeping his News Paper Business Up "The Washington Times" which has been losing a lot of money ever since it started. A lot of the use of the money have also been used to bring the "Lovin Life Ministries" into ManHatten Center and also bringing the lectures life from Reverend Sun Myung Moons Daughter In Jin Nim. One such example is "Cults, Deprogrammers, and the Necessity Defense," Michigan Law Review, Vol. 80, No. 2 (Dec., 1981), pp. 271–311
  75. ^ "Money, Guns, and God" by Christopher S. Stewart, Conde Nast Portfolio, October 2007
  76. ^ a b Hong, Nansook. (1998). In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family. Little, Brown. (ISBN 0-316-34816-3).
  77. ^ http://www1k.mesh.ne.jp/reikan/english/active/active.htm
  78. ^ The Activities of Unification Church in Japan, National Network of Lawyers Against the Spiritual Sales, Tokyo, Japan.
  79. ^ Unification Church head to step down, The Japan Times, July 14, 2009
  80. ^ Lambert, B. in Tingle, D. and Fordyce, R. 1979, Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and its Principles, Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press ISBN 0-682-49264-7 "The point is this: almost all of the attacks in the media are directed against their so-called brain-washing techniques and the horror of life going on in the inner sanctum of Moon's church. The furor and pressure created by the media are extremely dangerous, not just to the partisan of the Divine Principle, but to any group zealous to promote a religious cause. The accusations cast a kind of slander on a young person's right to change his religious faith or to work in an unpopular or not quite traditional religious body, or to call door to door and distribute tracts, or to hold camps and religious retreats and congregate with others in any "exclusive" way. The Moon followers, in my estimation, are guilty of no more than Jehovah's Witnesses, or Mormons, or (do I need to say it) people of the Christian churches, when they seek to convert others to their way."
  81. ^ Barker, Eileen, The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? (1984) Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK ISBN 0-631-13246-5.
  82. ^ Religion: Sun Myung Moon's Goodwill Blitz, Time (magazine), April 22, 1985
  83. ^ A speech made by Pak titled "Retraction of The Tragedy of the Six Marys" can be found at www.tparents.org.
  84. ^ Rudin, A. James, 1978 A View of the Unification Church, American Jewish Committee Archives
  85. ^ Sun Myung Moon Is Criticized by Religious Leaders; Jewish Patrons Enraged, David F. White, New York Times, December 29, 1976
  86. ^ Backgrounder:The Jewish Defense League, Anti-Defamation League official website, accessed 2009-09-10
  87. ^ Response to A. James Rudin's Report, Unification Church Department of Public Affairs, Daniel C. Holdgeiwe, Johnny Sonneborn, March 1977.
  88. ^ Guidelines for Members of The Unification Church in Relations with the Jewish People, Peter Ross and Andrew Wilson, March 15, 1989.
  89. ^ Reports include:
    • Jewish currents, Volume 30, 1976, p5
    • Parliamentary debates: Official report, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, 23 February 1977, vol 926 p1593 THE UNIFICATION CHURCH (Hansard, 23 February 1977)
    • Religious education, Volume 73, 1978, p356
    • Cults in America: programmed for paradise‎, Willa Appel, 1983, p171
    • Anti-cult movements in cross-cultural perspective, Anson D. Shupe, David G. Bromley, 1994, p42
    • Feher, Shoshanah. Passing over Easter: constructing the boundaries of Messianic Judaism, Rowman Altamira, 1998, p. 36.
    • Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon, Gordon Neufeld, 2002, p173
    • Sun Myung Moon forms new political party to merge divided Koreas, Church & State, May 01, 2003
    • Bad Moon on the rise, John Gorenfeld, Salon Magazine, Sep 24, 2003
    • False dawn, Lee Penn, 2004, p121
  90. ^ Anti-cult movements in cross-cultural perspective, Anson D. Shupe, David G. Bromley, 1994, p42; Feher, Shoshanah. Passing over Easter: constructing the boundaries of Messianic Judaism, Rowman Altamira, 1998, p. 36.
  91. ^ Bad Moon on the rise, John Gorenfeld, Salon Magazine, Sep 24, 2003
  92. ^ Miller, Timothy (1995). America's Alternative Religions. State University of New York Press. pp. 223, 414. ISBN 0791423980. 
  93. ^ Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009 (2009). "moonie". Dictionary.com. dictionary.reference.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moonie. Retrieved 2009-09-28. 
  94. ^ Compact Oxford English Dictionary (2009). "Moonie". AskOxford. www.askoxford.com. http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/moonie?view=uk. Retrieved 2009-09-28. 
  95. ^ World Book Encyclopedia (2002). The World Book Dictionary: L-Z. World Book, Inc. p. 1348. ISBN 0716602997. 
  96. ^ Editors of Webster's II Dictionaries (1999). Webster's II New College Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 711. ISBN 0395962145. 
  97. ^ BBC News staff (July 19, 2008). "'Moonies' founder hurt in crash". BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7515435.stm. Retrieved 2009-09-28. 
  98. ^ Reid, P. Nelson; Paul D. Starr (November 1982). "The Social Impact of Unification Church Investments in Bayou La Batre, Alabama; A Socio-Ecologic Study Prepared for the Missippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium". Missippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. www.masgc.org. p. 21, Footnote: 16. http://www.masgc.org/pdf/masgp/82-016.pdf. Retrieved 2009-09-28. 
  99. ^ "The mantle is passing to Hyun Jin Nim."
  100. ^ Unification Church pres sees smaller mass weddings, Daily Monitor, 2008-12-30
  101. ^ Massimo Introvigne, From the Unification Church to the Unification Movement, 1994–1999: Five Years of Dramatic Changes, 1999, Center for Studies on New Religions, "The issue of succession is now of fundamental importance. The Reverend Moon will be eighty years old (by Korean age calculations, he turned eighty in 1999) in 2000. Mrs. Moon is fifty-seven years old. Since 1992 she has taken a more visible role, particularly in three world speaking tours in 1992, 1993, and 1999. Mrs. Moon has also spoken on Capitol Hill, at the United Nations, and in other parliaments around the world. Her relative youth and the respect with which she is held by the membership may be a point of stability for the Unification movement. The ceremony to inaugurate the Reverend and Mrs. Moon's third son, Hyun Jin Moon, as vice president of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International (FFWPUI) on July 19, 1998, as well as his responsibility to educate the "second generation," denotes him as the successor. Hyun Jin Moon had represented the Republic of Korea in the Olympic equestrian event in 1988 and 1992. He graduated from the Harvard Business School with an M.B.A. in 1998. The Reverend Moon joked during his address that he is criticized for having "failed in business ventures, but now I have a son with an M.B.A. who will be successful in business." Hyun Jin Moon's blessing to Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak's (the Reverend Moon's assistant and former president of the FFWPUI) daughter, Jun Sook Kwak, is also a significant point of continuity"
  102. ^ Latest News Pictures Reuters.com
  103. ^ Sons Rise in a Moon Shadow, Forbes, April 12, 2010
  104. ^ Unification Church Woos A Second Generation, National Public Radio, June 23, 2010
  105. ^ http://www.familyfed.org/truefamily/main.php?id=23

[edit] See also

[edit] Annotated bibliography

[edit] External links

Find more about Unification Church on Wikipedia's sister projects:
Definitions from Wiktionary
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from Commons
News stories from Wikinews
Learning resources from Wikiversity
Official sites
Supportive sites
Critical sites
Mixed sites
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_Church"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages