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| Unification Church | |
|---|---|
| Korean Name | |
| Revised Romanization | |
| McCune-Reischauer | |
| Hangul | 통일교회 |
| Hanja | 統一敎會 |
The Unification Church was founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, a Korean minister who fled from North Korea during the Korean War.
The full original name of the church is The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, but in the 1980s and 1990s it began to change its name to The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (nickname: "family fed"). The umbrella organization for Rev. Moon's religious, business and political enterprises is Unification Church International.
The Unification Church is among the more controversial religions of the world. Although the US government recognized it as a bona fide religion entitled to organize as tax exempt status, it has attracted a huge number of opponents who denounce it as a money-laundering "cult", including the Japanese Supreme Court, which in 1997 upheld a conviction for fraud against Moon's group.
Members of the Unification Church generally consider Rev. Moon to be the new Messiah. Many outside of the Unification Church consider it 'non-Christian' because of this belief.
In 2002, the church published a message which it says describes a conference at which all the historical founders of all other religions have recently, in heaven, proclaimed Moon's messiahship (see Clouds of Witnesses).
The church differentiates itself from traditional Christianity through its novel view of the Trinity and by its strong denial that Jesus' death was a preordained necessity. Like other traditional Christians, however, they do believe that his death serves as a redemption of our sins and that his resurrection was a victory over death for all eternity.
The church further teaches that:
The church's understanding of the role of Elijah is important in terms of Jesus and his claim to be the Messiah.
Based on biblical texts (especially in Matthew), the church believes that Jesus was appointed by God to be the Messiah, not only for the Jewish people but for all of humanity. Elijah, understood to come before the Messiah, had the role of harbinger or forerunner. He was to reveal to Israel and the world the identity of the Messiah and work with him to usher in the kingdom of Heaven.
In particular, John the Baptist was to play the role of Elijah in relation to his kinsman Jesus. The prophecies concerning his birth ("spirit and power of Elijah" and "make ready for the Lord a people prepared") are held by the church to support this view. Indeed, John's perceived failure to provide active support for Jesus is seen as the primary reason that the Jewish people did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
According to Unification Church (UC) tradition, Jesus appeared to a 15-year-old Korean boy named Moon Yong-myung at Easter time in 1935. He asked the boy to help him with the accomplishment of the work left unaccomplished after his crucifixion. After a period of prayer and consideration the boy accepted the mission, later changing his name to Moon Sun-myung (i.e., Sun Myung Moon).
The authenticity of this encounter has been vigourously challenged by Christian theologians and church leaders. Some of these challengers interpret the UC view as a claim that Jesus "failed" and take great umbrage at this claim. The UC call this interpretation a misunderstanding and insists that Jesus did not "fail" (see Jesus and John the Baptist).
The Unification Church uses the term "absolute sex" to refer to its teaching about sexual morality, which is essentially abstinence before marriage and fidelity thereafter.
During the church's period of early growth (1970-1985 in America), most church members lived in intentional communities, dubbed "co-ed monasteries" by Frederick Sontag.
During the 20th century, members of the Unification Church could marry only another member of the church. With few exceptions, marriage with a non-member was not recognized as valid by the church, and all members' marriages were arranged by Rev. Moon personally. In 2001, the church relaxed this rule somewhat, allowing parents to arrange (or approve) their children's choice of spouses.
Many members considered it the ultimate test of their faith to accept a match arranged by Moon, and the church's increasingly large marriage blessings, the famous "mass weddings", attracted much notice. Many of the arranged marriages paired people from different countries. The church has been accused of doing so because of immigration rules.
Some members consider the church poorly understood by outsiders, who have found it hard to imagine how people could marry strangers under the direction of the church leader. The passionate and sudden dedication of thousands of American young people, whom critics referred disparagingly to as "Moonies", to this new religious movement led to accusations, government investigations and a negative press image.
Rev. Moon responded by apparently courting more controversy. He took a full-page ad in major newspapers defending Nixon at the height of the Watergate Controversy. His message of "Forgive, Love, Unite" was predictably not well received, and Rev. Moon sent out missionaries to 120 countries to act in part as "lightning rods" to receive persecution.
A little-known church teaching is that by willingly enduring mistreatment (the principle of Indemnity), one can receive God's blessing. The principle apparently bore fruit in the 1980s, after Rev. Moon served 11 months of an 18-month sentence for what the church considers trumped-up charges of tax evasion. Christian ministers, particularly from the black community, rallied around Rev. Moon.
In 1976, the American Jewish Committee accused Reverend Moon of anti-Semitism, based on his writings. Members of the Unification Church stoutly reject such accusations, and feel they have no merit. They felt the issue was so important that they issued a statement making their pro-Judaism and pro-Israeli position clear. See Unification Church and anti-Semitism.
theology, principle of creation, fall of man, restoration, theory of education, love, God's Message to the United Nations
The Unification Church (and Rev. Moon personally) has accumulated an enormous quantity of money, invested much of it, and consequently has a controlling interest in many companies, including Pyonghwa Motors. It is considered to be among the strongest forces in South Korean politics, among other causes in favor of a closer relationship with North Korea.
The UC is also something of a force in American politics. It established and continues to own and fund the right-wing Washington Times and also UPI newswire, and has also established many prominent groups to advocate sexual abstinence. In general the positions supported by the UC are similar to those of more mainstream conservative Christians.
The church also runs a variety of other business including commercial fisheries, Atlantic Video, a Massachusetts Avenue video post-production facility, and a cable television channel called the Goodlife TV Network.
See also: ICUS.
Some critics of the Unification Church have complained about Moon declaring himself to be the Messiah, which they consider just as outrageous in the face of contemporary church teachings as Jesus calling himself the "Son of Man" was in the eyes of Jews 2,000 years ago.
tax case, imprisonment, U.S. Congressional Report.
Authorities in Brazil and Paraguay have expressed concerns over the Church's purchases in rececent years of enormous amounts of land in South America, ranging in the hundreds of thousands of acres.
In May of 2002, federal police in Brazil conducted a number of raids on organizations linked to Sun Myung Moon. In a statement, the police stated that the raids were part of a broad investigation into allegations of tax evasion and immigration violations by Moon's organization. The Moon-funded Association of Families for Unification and World Peace was the target of the raids, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and the personal residence of Moon's primary representative in Brazil, Reverend Kim Yoon-sang.
In the United States in the 1970s Unificationists gained a reputation for high-pressure recruitment, and critics charged that they separated vulnerable college students from their families via "brainwashing" or "mind control".
Rev. Moon called these criticisms nonsense and claimed in 1976 that he had received many thank-you letters from parents whose children became closer to them after joining the movement. (In 1977, Moon had a notice posted in all Unification Churches in America, mandating that all members write their families no less than once every 10 days.)
Europe and Japan have been less welcoming. Moon and his wife remain banned from entry into Germany and the other 14 Schengen treaty countries, on the grounds that they are leaders of a "sect" that endangered the personal and social development of young people. Japan refuses to issue a visa on the grounds that Rev. Moon is a "felon" (see Moon tax case).
The Unification Church has been a major financial backer of the World Anti-Communist League, an extremist group which includes a number of fascists and Nazi sympathisers along with members and former members of various authoritarian regimes, particularly in Latin America and Asia. See also: List of Unificationists
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