76-9 Position Paper on the UNIFICATION CHURCH
Sun Myung Moon was born in 1920 in northern Korea. Moon claims to have received a vision in 1936 on Easter Sunday of Jesus calling him “to carry out my unfinished task.” He was imprisoned in North Korea during the years 1946-1950 on either anti-Communist activities (as Moon claims) or bigamy and adultery (as others claim noting that his anti-Communities activities did not begin until 1962). Soon after this Moon began writing the “Divine Principle” which was the book of revelation for the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, founded by Moon in 1954. According to the “Divine Principle” Adam and Eve would have achieved the “Perfect Family” had not Satan seduced Even. Then Jesus, the second “Adam,” was sent By God to redeem mankind by marrying the second “Eve” and achieve the “Perfect Family.” Jesus failed in his mission because he was crucified by the Jews (according to Moon). Shortly after WWI, “The Lord of the Second Advent,” or the third Adam, was to be born in Korea. This new messiah would have the task of building the “Perfect Family.” The obvious implication is that Moon is this new messiah.
In 1973, Moon came into nationwide prominence in the U.S. when he started a campaign to garner support for President Nixon. Full page ads were taken out in newspapers across the nation calling for Americans to “love and forgive” Nixon. Many political figures not knowing Moon’s true philosophy welcomed him into our country. Governor Wendell Anderson of Minnesota and Mayors Charles Stenvig and Larry Cohen of Minneapolis and St. Paul, respectively, issued proclamations saluting Moon when he visited the Twin Cities in December of 1973.
Moon claims that followers of the Unification Church can be found in 123 nations including 30,000 in the U.S., 300,000 in South Korea, 210,000 in Japan, and 6,000 in West Germany. Time magazine estimates that followers from the U.S. take more than 10 million dollars a year in donations and sales from solicitations. Moon claims his Korean enterprises are worth 30 million dollars. The church invests a large portion of its funds in real estate with 15 million dollars spent in New York alone. One of its recent purchases was Manhattan’s Hotel New Yorker for 5 million dollars. The IRS is currently reviewing the tax exempt status of the Unification Church and the U.S. Immigration Service has ordered the deportation of 600 Moonies, mostly from Japan, for illegal soliciting.
The recruitment practices of the Unification Church are very well planned although flexible enough to meet individual needs. Pamphlets promising chances to broader one’s spiritual understanding at retreats are sent or given to prospects without revealing any connection with the Moon organization. The Moonies themselves often use a lecture, a study club, a rap session, or even an offer of employment as an opening wedge for potential converts. The youths who continue their contact with the Moonies beyond this point are usually disenchanted young: those who are turned off by the institutionalized establishment, who are looking for commitment and community, who want something to believe in and who want unequivocal answers. According to Time magazine, one of the first follows ups with those showing interest is a weekend retreat where there is a warm experience of shared hopes, quiet flattery and an encouragement to return for a week. Neither the church nor Moon is mentioned. The second phase becomes more intense: the recruit is put through rounds of physical education and exhaustion, alternate bouts of positive and negative ego reinforcement, and a gradual unfolding of deprecation of parents, religion and other so-called Satanic institutions of the world.
The lifestyle of the Moonies is usually characterized by a total dedication to Moon in everything they do. They work long hours during the day peddling flowers, candy, candles, peanuts and other such items. The Moonies will often claim to be gathering donations for drug addiction aid, orphans, youth organizations or whatever may suit their purpose best. Member think of this as “heavenly deceit.” Moonies generally live in communes that have been set up in most major U.S. cities and live with only basic amounts of food and clothing. They strongly oppose free love, alcohol and drugs. Although they may earl several hundreds of dollars every week, they faithfully turn every cent in to their superiors. Many ex-Moonies have complained that this total dedication to Moon causes an intellectual void among Unification members. Cynthia Slaughter told Time magazine of her adjustment to the outside world after breaking from the Unification Church:
It took a long time to fill the vacuum that had been created inside me. It was like drawing from a drug.
The most ardent foes of the Unification Church are the parents of Moonies and ex-Moonies. The national organization Citizens Engaged in Reuniting Families was formed by parents anguished by the loss of their children to Moon. Because Moonies are taught that Moon and his wife are their only “true” parents, parents of members are only physically related to their Moonie children.
The International Federation for Individual Freedom was founded to fight the Unification Church and other religious cults. Some of the founders and most of the members are ex-Moonies who have dedicated themselves to protecting youth from the religious cults.
The tremendous wealth and power of Sun Myung Moon must not be underestimated. It has enormous control over 30,000 devoted follower in the U.S. It is known that many fanatical members would kill for Moon, believing he is God. He had been quoted: “The whole world is in my hand, and I will conquer and subjugate the world.”
It is also becoming increasingly obvious that the Unification Church is involved with the activities of the Korean CIA in the United States (NY Times, May 30, 1976) and indeed with the entire “Korean Lobby” in Washington, DC whose stated purpose is to increase American military and foreign aid to, and discredit the criticism of the repressive Park governments in the Republic of Korea (Christians and Crisis, July 19, 1976). The Park government, which Sun Myung Moon unreservedly supports, has denied basic human rights to its people including the right to free speech and to worship in the manner of their own choice. It is the government, which has recently arrested Christians for aiding and organizing dwellers in Seoul and has arbitrarily closed the offices of the Korean Student Christian Federation, that is oppressing our sisters and brother in south Korea (see Japan Christian Activity News, Jun 25, 1976 published by the National Council of Churches of Japan).
In Mark 13:5-6, Jesus said to his disciples, “Take heed that no one lead you astray. Many will come in my names, saying, I am He! and they will lead many astray.”
Recognizing the fact of religious pluralism and freedom in the U.S., and the subsequent responsibilities of all religious groups to set forth a thorough and open statement of their positions,
It is recommended that the LSM-USA:
1. Encourage local groups to provide accurate theological information (i.e., education) concerning the Lutheran Church, the Gospel and the Unification Church to their students.
2. Encourage local groups to be aware and wary of the activities of the Unification Church in their community and their connection in supporting the oppressive dictatorial government of the Republic of Korea.
3. Encourage local groups to make strong efforts to minister to the needs of those susceptible to the Unification Church recruitment tactics.
Sources: Time, June 14, 1976; Newsweek, June 14, 1976; N.Y. Times Magazine, May 30, 1976; Christian Century, October 15, 1975; Christianity Today, March 12, 1976; Time, November 10, 1975
ACTIONS TAKEN:
AS SUGGESTED BY THE ABOVE POSITION THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES HAVE OCCURRED…..
..Interest groups at regional retreats to inform participants of the Unification Church and its practices.
..An interest group will be offered at this national conference concerning the Unification Church
..An article was printed in the MALSM regional newsletter
..Several campus ministries have sponsored special speakers often ex-Moonies to speak to students during the year as a part of their ministry program.
..Nathan Kvinge of the University of North Dakota spent over five months researching and putting together a two-hour taped radio presentation on the Unification Church that was aired in the Grand Forks area.
RELATED ARTICLES:
The following is an article from “Focus on Governmental Affairs,” Office for Government Affairs, Lutheran Council in the USA.
Possible links between the Unification Church in the United States and its affiliated organizations and the Korean Central Intelligence Agency are reportedly being investigated by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Lieut. Col. Pak Bo Hi, chief aide and interpreter for the church’s spiritual leader, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, is a former military attaché for the South Korean embassy in Washington and is alleged to have been the KCIA’s top representative in the USA. Mr. Pak has denied any past or present link or employment with the KCIA.
One of the church’s affiliated groups, the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation (KCFF), is alleged to have raised millions of dollars in the USA in direct mail appeals through projects just as Radio Free Asia, the Children’s Relief Fun and the Little Angels of Korea. The KCFF is alleged to have then used the funds to purchase gifts for U.S. government officials and make contributions to Congressional campaigns.
The Unification Church’s commitment includes work for a God-centered world and preservation of South Korea in opposition to the Communist government of North Korea. The South Korean government led by President Park Chung Hee is a military dictatorship ruled by martial law. The alleged activities of the Unification Church affiliates are viewed as a channel for the South Korean government to influence favorably U.S. officials.
The House International Relations Subcommittee on International Organizations began an investigation of the KCIA activities in the USA in 1975 and held hearings on the possible link between the agency and the church last spring and summer.
At one point last summer as staff member of the subcommittee attempted to serve a subpoena of the president of the Unification Church in the U.S., Mr. Neil Salonen, to testify before the subcommittee. However, before the subpoena was served, Mr. Salonen agreed to appear before the subcommittee in executive session. This precluded the possibility of a dispute over the subcommittee’s ability to compel a church employee to testify.
These investigations plus effort by “deprogrammers” to detain adherents of the Unification Church and pressure them to renounce their new-found religious beliefs have raised serious questions about the proper relationship between church and state. Deprogrammers have also been active in efforts against converts to the Hare Krishna branch of Hinduism.
Although some religious groups to employ unfair proselytizing practices and other high pressure techniques to win converts, deprogramming may pose a serious threat to individual rights against personal search and seizure and for the free exercise of religious beliefs. Disputes between parents and their children who have become converts may result in government nonintervention or intervention, such as ignoring alleged kidnappers, and this calls into question who shall determine the sincerity of one’s beliefs. Christian churches need to find a noncoercive way to counsel their members who suddenly concert to splinter sects, rather than resort to similar high pressure tactics.
Another question raised here is the unwarranted and perhaps unconstitutional intrusion into the confidentiality of church activities and consultations, especially with respect to counseling.
Similar investigations into the related business interests of the Unification Church may result in closer scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service of the taxation of the unrelated business income of all churches and possibly more regulation of various types of church activities. The current Justice Department investigation may have an indirect affect on the IRS’s proposed regulation which seeks to define what a church’s “integrated auxiliaries” are, thereby implying what a church is and is not.
(Dennis Frado)
RESOURCES AVAILABLE:
REV. SUN MYUNG MOON’S UNIFICATION CHURCH: RELIGION, CULT, OR WHAT? A Two hour taped documentary produced by Nathan Kvinge of the University of North Dakota. A set of the tapes will be available for loan from the LSM-USA office beginning September 1, 1977. The cassettes are available by writing the LSM-USA office, 35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 1847, Chicago, IL 60601.
RELIGION ON THE RIGHT IN SOUTH KOREA: SUN MYUNG MOON, ETC. This selected bibliography is compiled by the Institute on the Church in Urban-Industrial Society. (ICUIS). 5700 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637. Cost: $.50. The bibliography covers the following:
A. Fundamentalist Religion and South Korea Politics
B. Moon Sun Myung and the Unification Church
C. Political Role of Moon Sun Myung
D. Critiques of Moon by Other Religious Groups
E. Moon Sect and Young People
CULTS RESOURCE PACKET contains the initial work of a task force on cults appointed in fall, 1976. Also included are articles reprints and a discussion monograph in religious cults published by the American Lutheran Church. The task force material has reviews of several general resources on cults, a definition of cults and sects, advice for parents of children who join these groups, an article discussing the threat to the mental health of the converts, a pamphlet describing several of the many cults, and article about programming and a list of reasons why people join cults. The packet will be expanded as the task force produces more materials. Cost: $1.00. Available from: Campus Ministry Communications, Division of Campus Ministry and Educational Services, 35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 1847, Chicago, IL 60601. Prepaid orders preferred.
