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[tr]Unification Church[/tr] | The Unification Church is a new religious movement started by Sun Myung Moon in Korea in the 1940s.
The beliefs of the church are explained in the book Divine Principle and draw from the Bible as well as Asian traditions and include belief in a universal God; in the creation of a literal Kingdom of Heaven on earth; in the universal salvation of all people, good and evil as well as living and dead; that Jesus did not come to die; and that the Lord of the Second Coming must be a man born in Korea early in the 20th century who must marry and have children.
In 1954, the group was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC), reflecting Moon's original vision as an ecumenicalmovement. In the face of opposition by established churches, however,it developed not as a movement, but as a separate organization orreligion and became known as the Unification Church.
Members are found in over 50 countries, with the majority living in South Korea or Japan.[1] Estimates of the number of its members range from 250,000 to 3,000,000.[2] In the English speaking world church members are sometimes referred to as Moonies, although they consider this pejorative.
In the 1990s, Moon began to establish various peace organizations, including the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification,which took over many of the spiritual and organizational functions ofthe church. In many parts of the world, the movement was incorporatedas HSA-UWC, and that name is found on legal documents.
The Unification Church (UC) believes that Jesus appeared to Mun Yong-myong (his birth name) on April 17, 1935, when Moon was 15 years old (in his 16th year in Korean age reckoning),and asked him to accomplish the work left unaccomplished after hiscrucifixion. After a period of prayer and consideration, Moon acceptedthe mission, later changing his name to Mun Son-myong (Sun Myung Moon).
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 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.
Moon formally founded his organization in Seoul, Korea, on May 1, 1954,calling it "The Holy Spirit(ual) Association for the Unification ofWorld Christianity." The name alludes to Moon's stated intention forhis organization to be a unifying force for all Christiandenominations. The phrase "Holy Spirit Association" has the sense inthe original Korean of "Heavenly Spirits" and not the "Holy Spirit" ofChristianity. "Unification" has political as well as religiousconnotations, in keeping with the church's teaching that restorationmust be complete, both spiritual and physical.
In 1958, Moon sent missionaries to Japan, and in 1959, to America.
Moon himself moved to the United States in 1971. UC missionariesfound success in San Francisco first, where it expanded in both Berkeley and San Francisco as Creative Community Project. By 1973 missions had spread to most of the nation's most populous cities.
Moon took full-page ads in major newspapers defending President Richard M. Nixon at the height of the WatergateControversy, based on the principle that God works through designatedcentral figures throughout history, and that America played a crucialcentral role in the ongoing Providence of God on the world level.
In 1975, Moon sent out missionaries to 120 countries to spread theUnification Church around the world and also in part, he said, to actas "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."
A few books have been written about the Unification Church. In 1976 Christian writer James Bjornstad wrote The Moon Is Not the Son, which criticized Unification Church theology. In 1979 Canadian writer Josh Freed wrote Moonwebs: Journey into the Mind of a Cult, which was the basis for the film Ticket to Heaven. Eileen Barker,a sociologist specializing in religious topics, studied church membersin England and in 1984 published her findings in her book The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing?Barker wrote that she rejected the "brainwashing" theory as anexplanation for conversion to the Unification Church. In the 1980sreporter Carlton Sherwood wrote Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. This book was partly sponsored by the church.
In 1978, a Congressional subcommitteeissued a report that included the results of its investigation into theUC, and into other organizations associated with Moon. Among its otherconclusions, the subcommittee's report stated that "Among the goals ofthe Moon Organization is the establishment of a worldwide government inwhich the separation of church and state would be abolished and whichwould be governed by Moon and his followers."[3]
[edit] BeliefsMain article: Unification theology
(See also: Divine Principle)
[edit] Principles underlying God's creationGod is viewed as the creator in Unification Theology. God has polarcharacteristics corresponding to (but more subtle or "internal" than)the attributes we see expressed in his creation: masculinity andfemininity, internal character and external form, subject and object.God is referred to as "he" for simplicity and because "masculinity" isassociated with "subject." God is omniscient and omnipotent, thoughbound by his own principles and the logical consequences of humanfreedom; in order to experience a relationship of love, he createdhuman beings as his children and gave them freedom to love him or notas they chose.
[edit] The fall of humanityUnificationists believe that the Fall of Man was an actual historical event (rather than an allegory) involving an original human couple, who are called Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis in the Bible. The elements in the story, however, such as the Tree of Life, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the forbidden fruit, the serpent, etc., are interpreted to be symbolic metaphors for ideal man, ideal woman, sexual love, and Satan, respectively. The essence of the fall is that Eve was seduced by an angelic being (Lucifer).Eve then seduced Adam. So love was consummated through sexualintercourse between Adam and Eve apart from the plan of God, and beforeAdam and Eve were spiritually mature. Unificationists believe there wasa "spiritual (sexual) fall," between Eve and the angel, and a "physical(sexual) fall" between Eve and Adam. They also regard Adam and Eve'sson Cain killing his brother Abelas a literal event which contributed to humankind's fallen state.Unificationists teach that since the "fall of humanity," all of humanhistory has been a constant struggle between the forces of God andSatan to correct this original sin (cf. Augustine and lust, concupiscence).This belief contributes to their strict moral code of "absolute love"and sexual purity, and the need for "indemnity" or reparations.
[edit] Restoration of God's original idealA fundamental teaching of the church is that God possesses both maleand female attributes and that the most perfect substantial expressionof God is to be found in a "true love" relationship between a fullyperfected man and a fully perfected woman, living in accordance withthe will of God. This love can then grow between parents and children."True love" is understood to mean a sacrificial love that it isunconditional, unchanging, and eternal. The love that was lost at theFall of Man must be restored. The history of religion, especially thatof the central Providence of Judeo-Christianity, is the story of Divineand human effort to rebuild God's original ideal world. A messiah comesin the position of Adam as a starting point for a new sinless Eden, theKingdom of God on Earth. Jesus provided spiritual salvation but couldnot achieve the complete elimination of evil and the establishment of aperfect society on earth. The Lord of the Second Advent comes as TrueParents (Sun Myung Moon and Hakja Han Moon) to complete thisrestoration work by adopting all people into the True Family, cleansingthem of Original Sin, and laying the foundation for the Kingdom of Godon earth and in the spirit world.
[edit] Celibacy and marriageThe Unification Church uses the term "absolute love" to refer to itsteaching about sexual morality, which is essentially abstinence beforemarriage and fidelity thereafter.
During the church's period of early growth (1970–85 in America), most church members lived in intentional communities.The majority of members' marriages were arranged by Moon personally. Inrecent years this rule was relaxed, with parents often helping toarrange their children's choice of spouse and church leaders suggestingmatches for members.
Many members considered it the ultimate test of their faith toaccept a match arranged by Moon, and the church's increasingly large marriage blessingshave attracted much notice. These ceremonies, dubbed "mass marriage" bythe press, constitute the feature of the Church that is perhaps themost unusual to Westerners. Moon has presided over marriages of groupsof hundreds, thousands, or even of tens of thousands of couples atonce. Many of the arranged marriages paired people from differentcountries, races, and cultures. Moon teaches that such "exchangemarriages" will help build connections among the divided human family,as people stretch their hearts to love spouse, in-laws, and children.
Several church-related groups are working to promote sexual abstinence until marriage and fidelity in marriage, both among church members and the general public.
[edit] Related organizationsThe Unification Theological Seminary in Barrytown, New York was founded in 1975.
News World Communications is their international media arm. It includes the Washington Times newspaper in Washington D. C., United Press International (UPI), Insight Magazine, The World & I, the Middle East Times, Tiempos del Mundo, Segye Ilbo, Segye Times USA, Chongyohak Shinmun, Sekai Nippo, GolfStyles, and the World Peace Herald. [1]
The Professors World Peace Academy was founded on May 6, 1973, in Korea, by Moon declaring its intent to "contributeto the solutions of urgent problems facing our modern civilization andto help resolve the cultural divide between East and West". PWPA now has chapters in over one hundred countries.
In the United States the church and church members own fishinginterests, which are for-profit businesses and pay taxes. The biggestare in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Alaska and Alabama. In Kodiak, Alaska the church "runs a fleet of fishing boats ... [and is] the largest private employer" in Kodiak. [2] True World Foods runs a major portion of the sushi trade. [3] A May 2007 investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper into fish species substitution, using DNA testing, included the company. [4]
The church itself or members also play roles in a variety of otherbusiness including Atlantic Video, a Massachusetts Avenue videopost-production facility; the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut; a cable television channel called the AmericanLife TV Network, the firearms manufacturer Kahr Arms, and the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan. Church members in other nations have also founded and been employed in many businesses.
In the United States the church was instrumental in the formation ofthe American Clergy Leadership Council (ACLC), an association of mainlyAfrican American Baptist and Pentecostal clergy.
The Unification Church was a major financial backer of the World Anti-Communist League.
In the 1980s church members in South America, following Moon's direction, founded the anti-communist organization CAUSA.
The Sun Moon University in South Korea is the movement's principal institution of higher learning in Asia.
In 2004 the church founded the Cheongshim Graduate School of Theology in South Korea.
Also, in 2006, Cheongshim International Academy was founded rightnext to the Graduate School. It admits both church members andnon-members as students. Cheongshim International Middle School, whichis a part of the school, is recongnized in South Korea as the mostprestigious middle school. In 2007 admissions, the competition rate forthis school recorded 54 : 1.
[edit] ControversyThe Unification Church is among the most controversial religiousorganizations in the world today. Governments of most countries haverecognized it as a bona fide religion entitled to tax exempt status. A number of opponents denounce it as a cult. [citation needed]
[edit] Cult statusA frequently heard criticism of the Unification Church (UC) is that it's not really a church at all but a cult.By the sociological definition of "cult", the UC may no longer qualify(has grown too big, is less in tension with the larger society than inthe 70s, or may in fact have always had too many beliefs in common withmainstream Christianity), in spite of its reputation for having somebizarre features, as emphasized by numerous media reports [5].Some detractors have claimed the church's main purpose is to enrichMoon personally or to advance his political aspirations, such as theformation of a one world government.
The Japanese Supreme Court upheld a 1997 fraud charge against the Unification Church of Japanwith regard to certain fundraising practices, but it has also upheldthe church's status as a religion whose members have a right topractice their beliefs.
[edit] Recruitment and brainwashingIn the United States in the 1970s, the media reported on thehigh-pressure recruitment methods of Unificationists and said that thechurch separated vulnerable college students from their familiesthrough the use of brainwashing or mind control.[4]
Moon dismissed these criticisms, stating in 1976 that he hadreceived many thank-you letters from parents whose children becamecloser to them after joining the movement. (In 1977, Moon had a noticeposted in all Unification Churches in America, mandating that allmembers write to their families no less than once every 10 days.)
Moon and his wife were banned from entry into Germany and the other 14 Schengen treatycountries, on the grounds that they are leaders of a sect thatendangered the personal and social development of young people. TheNetherlands and a few other Schengen states let Moon and his wife entertheir countries in 2005. In 2006 the German Supreme Court overturnedthe ban. [5]
[edit] Political activitiesSee: Politics and the Unification Church, Unification Church political views
Critics of the Unification Church have accused the organization of being closely involved with covert CIA-authoredoperations against communism in Korea during the 1960s, largely due tosimilarity in names of the actual Korean CIA director and Won Pil Kim,the teenage follower who accompanied Sun Myung Moon on his journey fromNorth Korea to the safety of Pusan during the Korean War, and whobecame the first long-time member. The Church is known to have beeninvolved with weapon and munitions manufacturing in Korea since the1960s, as documented in a 1978 United States Congressional Report on the Unification Church.The explanation given by Korean Unification Church members is that allmanufacturers seeking to do business in South Korea were required tosupply the military, and the actual products made were shell casings.
From 1977 to 1978, Moon's group was the subject of an investigation by the Subcommittee on International Organizations of the United States House of Representatives' Committee on International Relations, chaired by Rep. Donald Fraser of Minnesota. The report issued by the subcommittee alleged widespread fraud as well as ties to the Koreagateinfluence-peddling scandal. The report asserted that the UnificationChurch and other related groups constituted a single, monolithic "MoonOrganization". Like-minded critics accuse the church of working tofurther a political agenda in both the Far East and in the UnitedStates. Sun Myung Moon's controversial religious and political Unification Movement, which includes not only the Unification Church but an enormous constellation of civic organizations, including the Washington Times Foundation, is allied politically with evangelical Christians such as Jerry Falwell and Tim LaHaye.Advocates adhering to this point of view have challenged the church'stax-exempt status in the US, arguing that the political activities ofchurch-related groups comprise an impermissible intrusion of the churchinto political areas.
Defenders of the church dismiss this argument, on the grounds that the Unification movementis properly divided into distinct organizations, each of which shouldbe judged by the laws relating to its type. Thus, church-ownedbusinesses pay taxes, while the church itself largely need not. Churchmissionaries who decided to campaign for Ronald Reagan,had to resign from church leadership positions (at least on paper)while conducting their non-church political activities (privatecommunication from Dan Peterson and Tom Carter). Moon has said that hisorder to Unification Church members to support Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign in New York City helped Reagan win the presidential election that year.
The church-related Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles(CARP), which has a different type of tax-exempt charter, has morefreedom than the church itself to engage in political speech and holddemonstrations on political topics.
[edit] South AmericaAuthorities in Brazil and Paraguayhave expressed concerns over the Church's purchases in recent years oflarge tracts of land in South America, ranging in the hundreds ofthousands of acres.
In May 2002, federal police in Brazilconducted a number of raids on organizations linked to Sun Myung Moon.In a statement, the police stated that the raids were part of a broadinvestigation into allegations of tax evasion and immigrationviolations by Moon's organization. The Association of Families forUnification and World Peace was the target of the raids, which tookplace in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and the personal residence of Moon's primary representative in Brazil, Reverend Kim Yoon-sang. As of 2007 no legal action has been taken by the Brazilian government resulting from their investigations.
[edit] Accusations of anti-SemitismSee Unification Church and anti-Semitism.
[edit] Anti-gay opinionsMoon has spoken vehemently against homosexual activity. He stated that "homosexuals... are like dirty dung eating dogs"[6] and prophesied that "gays will be eliminated" in a "purge on God's orders".[7] This was met with vocal dissent from gay rights groups.
[edit] The Tragedy of the Six MarysIn 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 containedallegations that Moon conducted sex rituals amongst six married femaledisciples ("The Six Marys") who were to have prepared the way for thevirgin who would marry Moon and become the True Mother. Chung Hwa Pakhad left the movement when the book was published and later withdrewthe book from print when he rejoined the Unification Church. Before hisdeath Chung Hwa Pak published a second book, The Apostate, and recanted all allegations made in Roku Maria no Higeki.[8]
[edit] References- ^ A Unification Church International Directory lists contact information for 56 countries.
- ^ This fact sheetpasses along the Unification Church's claim that it has approximately 3million followers worldwide, but sociologists of religion who havestudied the church believe this number is greatly inflated. The Adherents.com sitespecializes in religious demographics; it also gives direct andindirect reports of the numbers originating from Unification Churchsources (1-3 million), as well as one source estimating 250,000, andanother estimating "hundreds of thousands."
- ^ Investigationof Korean-American Relations; Report of the Subcommittee onInternational Organizations of the Committee on InternationalRelations, U.S. House of Representatives
- ^ See Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, 1900- . New York: Wilson, 1905- . v.1- .
- ^ Report released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. State Dept.
- ^ The Family Federation for Cosmic Peace and Unification and the Cosmic Era of Blessed Family. Retrieved on 04-11-2007.
- ^ http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_uni.htm
- ^ A speech made by Pak titled "Retraction of The Tragedy of the Six Marys" can be found at www.tparents.org.
[edit] See also
[edit] Annotated bibliography- Barker, Eileen, The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? (1984) Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK ISBN 0-631-13246-5.
- Chryssides, George D., The Advent of Sun Myung Moon: The Origins, Beliefs and Practices of the Unification Church(1991) London, Macmillan Professional and Academic Ltd. The author isprofessor of religious studies at the University of Wolverhampton,United Kingdom.
- Fichter, Joseph H., The Holy Family of Father Moon (1985).
- Hong, Nansook, In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family. Little Brown & Company; ISBN 0-316-34816-3; (August 1998). The book is written by the ex-wife of Hyo Jin Moon,Reverend Moon's son (to whom she was married, handpicked by Moon, at 15years of age) and details various abuses she says she suffered frommembers of the Moon family.
- Lofland, John, Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith first published Prentice Hall, c/o Pearson Ed, 1966. Reprinted Ardent Media, U.S. ISBN 0-8290-0095-X
- Matczak, Sebastian, Unificationism: A New Philosophy and World View(Philosophical Questions Series, No 11) (1982) New York: Louvain. Theauthor is a professor of philosophy and a Catholic priest. He taught atthe Unification Theological Seminary.
- Wright, Stuart A., Leaving Cults: The Dynamics of Defection, published by the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion: Monograph Series nr. 7 1987 ISBN 0-932566-06-5 (Contains interviews with ex-members of three groups, among others the Unification Church)
[edit] External links
[edit] Official links
[edit] Supportive views
[edit] Opposing views
[edit] Balanced views
[edit] NewsRetrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_Church"
Categories: Articles needing additional references from December 2006 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since July 2007 | Religious organizations established in 1954 | New religious movements | Unification Church | Conservatism in the United States | Conservative organizations in the United States | Religion in South Korea | Christianity in South Korea
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