Unification Movement

The Unification Church () is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists or sometimes informally Moonies. It was founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon in Seoul, South Korea, as the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC; ); in 1994, the organization changed its name to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU; ). It has a presence in approximately 100 countries around the world. Its leaders are Moon (prior to his death) and his wife, Hak Ja Han, whom their followers honor with the title "True Parents".

Moon's book, ''The Divine Principle'', informs the beliefs of the Unification Church. Moon considered himself the Second Coming of Christ, claiming to complete the mission Jesus Christ was unable to because of his crucifixion: beginning a new ideal family, and a larger human lineage, free from sin. The Unification Church is well known for its mass weddings, known as ''Blessing'' ceremonies. It has been criticized for its teachings and for its social and political influence, with critics calling it a dangerous cult,Barker, Eileen, ''The Making of a Moonie: Choice Or Brainwashing? Modern Revivals in Sociology,'' illustrated, reprint, revised ed. (Gregg Revivals, 1993) a political powerhouse and a business empire. The group has been accused of excessive financial exploitation of its members. Its involvement in politics includes anti-communism and support for Korean reunification.Kent, Stephen A., ''From Slogans to Mantras: Social Protest and Religious Conversion in the Late Vietnam War Era'' (Syracuse University Press, 2001), 168. Its members have founded, owned and supported related organizations in business, education,Yamamoto, J. I., 1995, ''Unification Church'', Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House
Excerpt:
politicsSun Myung Moon forms new political party to merge divided Koreas
Church and State, May 2003 and more.

Popular terminologies

Moon did not originally intend to found a separate organization or denomination, and did not give his group of followers its official name, Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (), until 1954. The informal name "Unification Church" () has been commonly used by members, the public and the news media. By 2018, the term "Unification Movement" was also widely used.

''Moonie'', the colloquial term for members, was first used in 1974 by some American media outlets. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Unification Church of the United States undertook an extensive public relations campaign against the use of the word by the news media.

Many Unification Church members consider the word "Moonie" derogatory, despite originally being received neutrally. In other contexts, it is not always considered pejorative, as Unification Church members have used the word – including the president of the Unification Theological Seminary David Kim, Bo Hi Pak, Moon's aide and president of Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea, and Moon himself.

Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han, are regarded by Unificationists as "True Father" and "True Mother," respectively, and as "True Parents" collectively.

History

Background and origins

On February 25, 1920, Moon was born Mun Yong-myeong in Sangsa-ri (), Deogun-myon (), Jeongju-gun, North P'yŏng'an Province, at a time when Korea was under Japanese rule. His birthday was recorded as January 6 by the traditional lunar calendar (February 25, 1920, according to the Gregorian Calendar). Around 1930, his family, who followed traditional Confucianist beliefs, converted to Christianity and joined a Presbyterian Church, where he later taught Sunday school.

In 1945, Moon attended the Israel Monastery (Israel Jesus Church near Seoul) with his wife, Choi Sun-Kil (; ''Choe Seon-gil''), to learn the teachings of , including his book ''The Fundamental Principles of Christianity'' (基督敎根本原理 drafted March 2, 1946, published March 2, 1958). After World War II and the Japanese rule ended in 1945, Moon began preaching. In 1946, Moon traveled alone to Pyongyang in Communist-ruled North Korea. He was arrested on allegations of spying for South Korea and given a five-year sentence to the Hŭngnam labor camp.

Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (1954–1994)

Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC) in Seoul on May 1, 1954. It expanded rapidly in South Korea and, by the end of 1955, had 30 centers nationwide. The HSA-UWC expanded throughout the world, with most members living in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and other nations in East Asia. In the 1970s, American HSA-UWC members were noted for raising money for Unification Church projects.

In 1955 the HSA-UWC founded The Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP; ). According to CARP's website, its goal is to promote "intercultural, interracial, and international cooperation through the Unification world view". J. Isamu Yamamoto states in ''Unification Church'': "At times, CARP has been very subtle about its association with the Unification Church; however, the link between the two has always been strong since the purpose of both is to spread Moon's teachings."

The HSA-UWC also sent missionaries to Europe. They entered Czechoslovakia in 1968 and remained underground until the 1990s."Czechs, Now "Naively" Seeking Direction, See Dangers in Cults"
, ''The New York Times'', February 14, 1996 Unification movement activity in South America began in the 1970s with missionary work. Later, the HSA-UWC made large investments in civic organizations and business projects, including an international newspaper."Unification Church Gains Respect in Latin America"
''The New York Times'', November 24, 1996

Starting in the 1990s, the HSA-UWC expanded in Russia and other former communist nations. Hak Ja Han, Moon's wife, made a radio broadcast to the nation from the State Kremlin Palace. As of 1994, the HSA-UWC had about 5,000 members in Russia.A Less Secular Approach
, ''The Saint Petersburg Times'', June 7, 2002 About 500 Russian students had been sent to the US to participate in 40-day workshops.

Moon moved to the United States in 1971, although he remained a citizen of the Republic of Korea. In the 1970s, he gave a series of public speeches in the United States, including one in Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1974; two in 1976 in Yankee Stadium in New York City; and one on the grounds of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., where he spoke on "God's Hope for America" to 300,000 people. In 1975, the HSA-UWC held one of the largest peaceful gatherings in history, with 1.2 million people in Yeouido, South Korea.

In the 1970s, the Unification Church, along with some other new religious movements, became a target of the anti-cult movement. Activists have accused the movement of having "brainwashed" its members. In 1976, American Unification Church president Neil Albert Salonen met with Senator Bob Dole to defend the HSA-UWC against charges made by its critics, including the parents of some members.

The Unification Church's involvement in the seafood industry began at the direction of Moon, who ordered an expansion into "the oceanic providence". In 1976 and 1977 the Church invested nearly a million dollars into the United States seafood industry.Sushi and Rev. Moon: How Americans' growing appetite for sushi is helping to support his controversial church
Chicago Tribune, April 11, 2006 Moon delivered a speech in 1980 entitled "The Way of Tuna," in which he claimed that "After we build the boats, we catch the fish and process them for the market, and then have a distribution network. This is not just on the drawing board; I have already done it." and declared himself the "king of the ocean." He also suggested that they could get around the recently imposed 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone by marrying American and Japanese members, allowing the Japanese ones to become American citizens, because once married, "we are not foreigners; therefore Japanese brothers, particularly those matched to Americans, are becoming ..... leaders for fishing and distribution." He also declared that "Gloucester is almost a Moonie town now!"

In 1976 UC members founded News World Communications, an international news media corporation. Its first two newspapers, ''The News World'' (later renamed the '' New York City Tribune'') and the Spanish-language ''Noticias del Mundo,'' were published in New York from 1976 until the early 1990s. In 1982 ''The New York Times'' described ''News World'' as "the newspaper unit of the Unification Church". Moon's son, Hyun Jin Moon, is its chairman of the board. News World Communications owns United Press International, ''The World and I'', ''Tiempos del Mundo'' (Latin America), ''The Segye Ilbo'' (South Korea), ''The Sekai Nippo'' (Japan), the ''Zambezi Times'' (South Africa), ''The Middle East Times'' (Egypt). Until 2008 it published the Washington, D.C.–based newsmagazine ''Insight on the News''. Until 2010, it owned ''The Washington Times''. On November 2, 2010, Sun Myung Moon and a group of former ''Times'' editors purchased the paper from News World.

Starting in the 1980s, Moon instructed HSA-UWC members to take part in a program called "Home Church" in which they reached out to neighbors and community members through public service.

In April 1990, Moon visited the Soviet Union and met with President Mikhail Gorbachev. Moon expressed support for the political and economic transformations underway in the Soviet Union. At the same time, the movement was expanding into formerly communist nations.EVOLUTION IN EUROPE; New Flock for Moon Church: The Changing Soviet Student
from ''The New York Times''

The Women's Federation for World Peace(세계평화여성연합, WFWP) was founded in 1992 by Hak Ja Han. Its stated purpose is to encourage women to work more actively to promote peace in their communities and society. It has members in 143 countries.

Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (1994–present)

On May 1, 1994 (the 40th anniversary of the founding of the HSA-UWC), Moon declared that the era of the HSA-UWC had ended and inaugurated a new organization: the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) would include HSA-UWC members and members of other religious organizations working toward common goals, especially on issues of sexual morality and reconciliation between people of different religions, nations and races. The FFWPU co-sponsored Blessing ceremonies in which thousands of couples from other churches and religions were given the marriage blessing previously given only to HSA-UWC members.Stymied in U.S., Moon's Church Sounds a Retreat
, Marc Fisher and Jeff Leen, The Washington Post, November 24, 1997

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Church's businesses expanded greatly and encountered significant success, leading to it becoming wealthy despite its declining number of members. In 1991 Moon announced that members should return to their hometowns, to undertake apostolic work there. Massimo Introvigne, who has studied the Unification Church and other new religious movements, said that this confirmed that full-time membership was no longer considered crucial to church members.

In 1994, ''The New York Times'' recognized the movement's political influence, saying it was "a theocratic powerhouse that is pouring foreign fortunes into conservative causes in the United States". In 1998, the Egyptian newspaper ''Al-Ahram'' criticized Moon's "ultra-right leanings" and suggested a personal relationship with conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In 1995, former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush, spoke at an FFWPU event in the Tokyo Dome. Bush told the gathering: "If as president I could have done one thing to have helped the country more, it would have been to do a better job in finding a way, either through speaking out or through raising a moral standard, to strengthen the American family." Hak Ja Han, the main speaker, credited her husband with bringing about the Fall of Communism and declared that he must save America from "the destruction of the family and moral decay."

In 2000, Moon founded the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO), which describes itself as "a global organization whose mission is to serve its member organizations, strengthen and encourage the non-governmental sector as a whole, increase public understanding of the non-governmental community, and provide the mechanism and support needed for NGOs to connect, partner and multiply their contributions to solve humanity's basic problems." It has been criticized for promoting conservatism in contrast to some of the ideals of the United Nations.Rev. Moon and the United Nations: A Challenge for the NGO Community
, Harold Paine and Birgit Gratzer, Global Policy Forum
Inner City Press, June 5, 2007

In 2003, Korean FFWPU members started a political party in South Korea, "The Party for God, Peace, Unification, and Home" (). An inauguration declaration stated the new party would focus on preparing for Korean reunification by educating the public about God and peace. An FFWPU official said that similar political parties would be started in Japan and the United States."Moonies" launch a political party in S Korea
''The Independent'' (South Africa), March 10, 2003 Since 2003, the FFWPU-related Universal Peace Federation's Middle East Peace Initiative has been organizing group tours of Israel and Palestine to promote understanding, respect and reconciliation among Jews, Muslims and Christians.

Moon's death and divisions within the Unification Church

On August 15, 2012, Moon was reported to be gravely ill and was put on a respirator at the intensive care unit of St. Mary's Hospital at The Catholic University of Korea in Seoul. He was admitted on August 14, 2012, after suffering from pneumonia earlier in the month. He died there on September 3.Unification Church founder dies
, ''The Korea Herald'', September 3, 2012

Soon after Moon's death the Global Peace Foundation, which had been founded in 2009 by Moon and Han's son Hyun Jin Moon and church leader Chung Hwan Kwak, distanced itself from the FFWPU, which is led by Han. In 2017 they also founded the Family Peace Association.

In 2014 Moon and Han's younger sons Hyung Jin Moon and Kook-jin Moon founded the Rod of Iron Ministries (also known as the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church). It has been controversial for its advocacy of private ownership of firearms and for its support of the January 6 United States Capitol protest. The Unification Church has been struggling with severe financial difficulties following the death of Sun Myung Moon.

Beliefs

Moon's book, ''The Divine Principle'', was, he claimed, revealed to him over a period of nine years after he claimed Jesus appeared to him on Easter Sunday 1936 on the mountainside and asked him to continue the work that he could not finish while he was on earth, due to the "tragedy" of his crucifixion. It was first published as (, ) in 1945. The earliest manuscript was lost in North Korea during the Korean War. A second, expanded version, (), or ''Explanation of the Divine Principle'', was published in 1957. The or ''Exposition of the Divine Principle'' () is the main theological textbook of the movement. It was co-written by Sun Myung Moon and early disciple Hyo Won'eu and first published in 1966. A translation entitled ''Divine Principle'' was published in English in 1973. The ''Divine Principle'' lays out the core of Unification Church theology and is held by its believers to have the status of holy scripture. Following the format of systematic theology, it includes God's purpose in creating human beings, the fall of man and restorationthe process through history by which God is working to remove the ill effects of the fall and restore humanity back to the relationship and position that God originally intended. David Václavík and Dušan Lužný described the details of those three points as follows:

# Principle of Creation: This first principle states that God created the world in his image. All of reality is then composed of bipolarities. The basic bipolarity is expressed by the terms (, – the inner, invisible aspect of the created world) and (, – the outer, visible aspect of the created world). In addition to this, there is another bipolarity, denoted by the terms ''yin'' and ''yang''. The first-mentioned bipolarity of and reflects the relationship between soul (mind) and matter (body), while yin-yang reflects the relationship between femininity and masculinity. Hierarchy, described by the first principle (the basis of the four positions) then guarantees order in the world – God or higher purpose is placed highest, in the middle are man and woman, and finally, children are placed as the result. As Václavík and Lužný further characterize the doctrine, "God is an absolute reality transcending time and space. The fundamental energy of God's being is also eternal. By the action of this energy, entities enter into a relationship with each other, the basis of which is the activity of giving and receiving. The goal is to achieve a balanced and harmonious relationship of giving and receiving, i.e., love." According to the teachings of the Church, the highest level of relationship is the relationship with God. By properly developing the relationship of giving and receiving, it should be possible to achieve union with God. The goal of creation is then the realization of the kingdom of heaven, which can be achieved by fulfilling the three biblical blessings. Principle describes three blessings as follows. The first blessing concerns the nature of man: God created man in his own image. The second blessing was to be fulfilled through Adam and Eve by establishing an ideal family that was pure and loving, but they failed to do so. The third blessing concerns man's position as a mediator between God and nature. Man is to master nature in order to perfect himself and nature itself and thus create the kingdom of heaven. Principle then describes three stages of growth of everything including man, namely, origin (formation), growth, and completion.
# The Fall of Man: according to the teaching of the Church, there was no fulfillment of God's plan. God endowed man with free will and responsibility. Like everything in the universe, Adam and Eve went through three phases of development (origin, growth, and completion). This part describes that, before completion could occur, the orientation of the give-and-take relationship was reversed when Eve established a sexual relationship with Satan. Thus occurred the fall of man and the creation of a world "with Satan at the center, and all men have become children of Satan." According to this belief, the world is from that time dominated by Satan's lineage through the human race, and men with evil natures transmit evil. Through their children, they then create evil families and thus an evil world.
# The principle of restoration: According to the teaching of the Church, the primary purpose of creation was to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. This means that God will eventually save this sinful world and restore it to its original, sinless state. This is the basis of the principle of restoration. This is the perspective through which the Unification Church views the entire history of humanity. For the church, history is the history of restoration and of God's efforts to save fallen men. At the end of this history, the Last Days are to come. Restoration teaches, that God has tried to end the sinful world and restore the original good world several times in human history. However, men have failed in their responsibility and thwarted God's will. Doctrine claims that God made several such attempts: in the case of Noah, God first destroyed the sinful world with a flood, yet Noah's second-born son Ham sinned again. Another attempt to restore the original sinless world was the coming of Jesus Christ when God sent the Messiah to establish the perfect family and thus create the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Jesus did not fulfill this mission because he was crucified. Václavík and Lužný summarize: "According to the doctrine of the Unification Church, we are currently living in the period of the Last Days, that is, the period of the Second Coming of Christ. However, today's situation is very different from previous ones. For Christ will be successful at His Second Coming – God will send the 'True Parents of humanity' and through them fulfill the purpose of creation. During the previous two thousand years, God has prepared, according to the principle of restoration, a suitable democratic, social, and legal environment that will protect Christ at the Second Coming."

Followers take as a starting point the truth of the Christian Old and New Testaments, with the ''Divine Principle'' an additional text that intends to interpret and "fulfill" the purpose of those older texts.Korean Moon: Waxing of Waning?
, Leo Sandon Jr., ''Theology Today'', Vol 35, No 2, July 1978. Moon was intent on replacing worldwide forms of Christianity with his new unified vision of it, Moon being a self-declared messiah. Moon's followers regard him as a separate person from Jesus but with a mission to basically continue and complete Jesus's work in a new way, according to the ''Principle''.Moon At Twilight: Amid scandal, the Unification Church has a strange new mission
, Peter Maass ''New Yorker Magazine'', September 14, 1998. The Unification Church regards a person's destination after death as being dependent on how much one's work during this life corresponds to its teachings. Moon's followers believe in Apocatastasis, that everyone will eventually receive salvation.

In 1977, Frederick Sontag analyzed the teachings of the Divine Principle and summarized it in 12 concise points:

# God: Divine Principle teaches, that there is one living, eternal, and true God, a person beyond space and time, who has a perfect reason, emotion, and will, whose deepest heart essence is love, which includes both masculinity and femininity, a person who is the source of all truth, beauty, and goodness, and who is the creator and sustainer of man, the universe and all things visible and invisible. Man and the universe reflect his personality, character, and purpose.
# Man: Man was then created by God as a unique creature, made in his image as his children, like him in personality and character, and created with the capacity to respond to his love, to be a source of his joy, and to share his creativity.
# God's desire for man and creation: To the relationship between God and Man, teaching states that God's desire for man and creation is eternal and unchanging, God wants men and women to fulfill three things: First, each should grow to perfection so as to become one with God in heart, will, and action, so that their mind and body are united in perfect harmony centered on God's love; second, to be united with God as husband and wife and give birth to God's sinless children, thereby establishing a sinless family and ultimately a sinless world; third, to become masters of the created world, establishing loving dominion with him in a mutual relationship of giving and receiving. None of this happened because of human sin. Therefore, God's present desire is to solve the sin problem and restore all these things, which will bring about the earthly and heavenly kingdom of God.
# Sin: The ''Divine Principle'' describes the origin of sin and the process of the fall of man. The first man and woman (Adam and Eve), before they became perfect, were tempted by the archangel Lucifer to illicit love. Because of this, Adam and Eve willfully turned away from God's will and purpose, bringing spiritual death to themselves and the human race. As a result of this Fall, Satan usurped the position of the true father of mankind, so that all humans since then have been born in sin both physically and spiritually and have sinful tendencies. Therefore, human beings tend to resist God and his will and live in ignorance as to their true nature and parentage and all that they have lost thereby. Thus God suffers for lost children and a lost world and has had to constantly struggle to restore them to himself. Creation groans to give birth while waiting to be reunited through the true children of God.
# Christology: According to the ''Divine Principle'', fallen humanity can only be restored to God through Christ (the Messiah) who comes as the new Adam to become the new head of the human race through whom humanity can be reborn into the family of God. In order for God to send the Messiah, mankind must fulfill certain conditions that restore, what was lost because of the Fall.
# History: The ''Divine Principle'' describes, that restoration is accomplished through the payment of the indemnity for a sin. Human history is then a record of God's and man's efforts to make this indemnity over time so that the conditions can be met and God can send the Messiah who comes to begin the final process of restoration. If some efforts fail in fulfilling the conditions of indemnity, they must be repeated, usually by another person after a period of time. This, according to the ''Divine Principle'', is why history shows cyclical patterns. History culminates with the coming of the Messiah, which ends the old age and begins a new age.
# Resurrection: The ''Divine Principle'' explains resurrection as the process of restoration to spiritual life and spiritual maturity, ultimately uniting a person with God. It is the transition from spiritual death to spiritual life. This should be accomplished in part by human effort (through prayer, good works, etc.) with the help of the saints in the spirit world and completed by God's effort to bring man to new birth through Christ (the Messiah).
# Predestination: According to the ''Divine Principle'', God has predestined absolutely that all men will be restored to him and has chosen all men for salvation, but he has also given man a portion of responsibility (to be fulfilled by man's free will) for the fulfillment of his original will and his will to bring about restoration. This responsibility remains permanently with man. God has predestined and called certain persons and groups of people to certain responsibilities. If these fail, others must fill their role and greater compensation must be made.
# Jesus: The ''Divine Principle'' teaches that Jesus of Nazareth came as the Christ, the second Adam, the only begotten Son of God. He became one with God, spoke God's words, and did God's works, thus showing God to men. However, people eventually rejected and crucified him, preventing him from building God's kingdom on earth. The ''Divine Principle'' teaches that Jesus overcame Satan in the crucifixion and resurrection, making spiritual salvation possible for those who are born again through him and the Holy Spirit. The restoration of the Kingdom of God on earth awaits the Second Coming of Christ.
# The Bible: The ''Divine Principle'' offers an explanation of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Both should be the record of God's progressive revelation to mankind. The purpose of the Bible, according to the Divine Principle, is to bring humanity to Christ and reveal to mankind the heart of God. The ''Divine Principle'' supports the Bible, as the truth is unique, eternal, and unchanging, so any new messages from God will be consistent with the Bible and will contain deeper explanations. The ''Divine Principle'' describes the current time as the last days when the new truth must be communicated by God (in the book 'God's Principle') so that mankind will be able to finish what is still unfinished.
# The ultimate renewal: According to the ''Divine Principle'', a proper understanding of theology focuses simultaneously on man's relationship with God (vertical) and man's relationship with his neighbor (horizontal). Man's sin has disrupted both of these relationships and thus caused all the problems in the world. These problems will be solved through the restoration of man to God through Christ, as well as through such measures as establishing appropriate moral standards and practices, forming true families uniting all peoples and races (Oriental, Western, and African), resolving the tension between science and religion, correcting economic, racial, political, and educational injustices, and overcoming God-denying ideologies such as Communism.
# The Second Coming (Eschatology): The ''Divine Principle'' teaches that Christ's Second Coming will occur in this age, which would be similar to the time of his First Coming. Christ should come as before, that is, as a man in the flesh. By marrying his bride in the flesh, he will establish a family and thus become the True Parents of all mankind. Through accepting the 'True Parents' () (the Second Coming of Christ), obeying them, and following them, the original sin of mankind would be removed and people can eventually become perfect. In this way, true families fulfilling God's ideal will begin, and the Kingdom of God's will should be established both on earth and in heaven. According to the Divine Principle, this day is now at hand in the person of Sun Myung Moon.

Traditions

Blessing ceremony

The Unification Church is well known for its Blessing tradition: a mass wedding ceremony () and wedding vow renewal ceremony. It is given to engaged or married couples. According to the Church's belief in a serpent seed interpretation of original sin and the Fall of Man, Eve was sexually seduced by Satan (the serpent) and thus the human bloodline is sinful due to being directly descended from Satan. Through the Blessing, members believe, the couple is removed from the lineage of sinful humanity and restored back into God's sinless lineage.

The first Blessing ceremony was held in 1961 for 36 couples in Seoul, South Korea by the Moons shortly after their own marriage in 1960. All the couples were members of the church. Moon matched all of the couples except 12 who were already married to each other before joining the church. This was Moon's second marriage. In 1945 he married Sun Kil Choi. They had a son in 1946 and divorced in 1954.

Later Blessing ceremonies were larger in scale but followed the same pattern. All participants were HSA-UWC members and Moon matched most of the couples. In 1982 the first large-scale Blessing (of 2,000 couples) outside of Korea took place in Madison Square Garden, New York City. In 1988, Moon matched 2,500 Korean members with Japanese members for a Blessing ceremony held in Korea, partly in order to promote unity between the two nations.

Moon's practice of matching couples was very unusual in both Christian tradition and modern Western culture and attracted much attention and controversy. The Blessing ceremonies have attracted a lot of attention in the press and in the public imagination, often being labeled "mass weddings." However, in most cases, the Blessing ceremony is not a legal wedding ceremony. Some couples are already married and those that are engaged are later legally married according to the laws of their own countries. ''The New York Times'' referred to a 1997 ceremony for 28,000 couples as a "marriage affirmation ceremony," adding: "The real weddings were held later in separate legal ceremonies."

Mary Farrell Bednarowski says that marriage is "really the only sacrament" in the Unification movement. Unificationists therefore view singleness as "not a state to be sought or cultivated" but as preparation for marriage. Pre-marital celibacy and marital faithfulness are emphasized. Adherents may be taught to "abstain from intimate relations for a specified time after marriage." The church does not give its marriage blessing to same-sex couples.
Moon has emphasized the similarity between Unification views of sexuality and evangelical Christianity, "reaching out to conservative Christians in this country in the last few years by emphasizing shared goals like support for sexual abstinence outside of marriage, and opposition to homosexuality." Since 2001 couples Blessed by Moon have been able to arrange marriages for their own children, without his direct guidance. Also, some Unification Church members have married partners who are not church members.

Holy days

Holy Days of the Unification Church:

* True God's Day (하나님의 날, established January 1, 1968) – always January 1 until 2009, then according to the lunar calendar – January 23, 2012
* True Parents' Birthday (참부모성탄 or 기원절, January 6, 1920 – January 6, 1943) – Anniversary of the Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God (2001), January 6, until 2009, then according to the lunar calendar – January 28, 2012
* True Parents' Day (참부모의 날, established March 1, 1960, according to the lunar calendar) – January 28, 2012
* Day of All True Things (참만물의날, established May 1, 1963, according to the lunar calendar) – June 20, 2012
* Chil Il Jeol () – Declaration Day of God's Eternal Blessing(하나님 축복영원 선포일, Founded July 1, 1991) – always July 1 until 2009, then according to the lunar calendar – August 18, 2012
* Chil Pal Cheol () or Declaration of the Realm of the Cosmic Sabbath for the Parents of Heaven and Earth () – founded July 7, 1997, according to the lunar calendar – August 24, 2012
* True Children's Day (참자녀의 날, established on October 1, 1960, according to the lunar calendar) – November 14, 2012
* Foundation Day for the Nation of Heaven and Earth (천주통일국 개천일, founded October 3, 1988) – always October 3 until 2009, then November 16, 2012, according to the lunar calendar

Scholarly studies

In the early 1960s, John Lofland lived with HSA-UWC missionary Young Oon Kim and a small group of American members and studied their promotional and proselytization activities. Lofland noted that most of their efforts were ineffective and that most of the people who joined did so because of personal relationships with other membersoften family relationships. Lofland published his findings in 1964 as a doctoral thesis entitled "The World Savers: A Field Study of Cult Processes," and in a 1966 book by Prentice-Hall, '' Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith.''

In 1977, Frederick Sontag, a professor of philosophy at Pomona College and a minister in the United Church of Christ,Frederick E. Sontag dies at 84; Pomona College philosophy professor
, ''Los Angeles Times'', June 20, 2009 spent 10 months visiting HSA-UWC members in North America, Europe and Asia, as well as interviewing Moon at his home in New York State. He reported his findings and observations in '' Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church'', published by Abingdon Press. The book also provides an overview of the ''Divine Principle''.Who is this Pied Piper of Religion?
, '' St. Petersburg Times'', February 4, 1978 In an interview with UPI, Sontag compared the HSA-UWC with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and said that he expects its practices to conform more to mainstream American society as its members become more mature. He added that he did not want to be considered an apologist but that a close look at HSA-UWC's theology is important: "They raise some incredibly interesting issues."Moon: an objective look at his theology
, ''Boca Raton News'', November 25, 1977

In 1984, Eileen Barker published '' The Making of a Moonie'' based on her seven-year study of HSA-UWC members in the United Kingdom and the United States.Review
William Rusher, ''National Review'', December 19, 1986. In 2006, Laurence Iannaccone of George Mason University, a specialist in the economics of religion, wrote that ''The Making of a Moonie'' was "one of the most comprehensive and influential studies" of the process of conversion to new religious movements. Australian psychologist Len Oakes and British psychiatry professor Anthony Storr, who have written rather critically about cults, gurus, new religious movements, and their leaders have praised ''The Making of a Moonie''. It was given the Distinguished Book Award in 1985 by the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. In 1997 Barker reported that Unificationists had mostly undergone a transformation in their worldview from millennialism to utopianism.

In 1998, Irving Louis Horowitz, a sociologist, questioned the relationship between the HSA-UWC and scholars whom it paid to conduct research on its behalf.

Relations with other religions

Judaism

Unificationism holds that the Jewish people as a whole were prepared by God to receive the Messiah in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, with John the Baptist tasked from birth with the mission to lead the Jewish people to Jesus, but failed in his mission. According to the '' Divine Principle'', the Jews went through a "course of indemnity" due to the failure of John the Baptist to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, in spite of publicly testifying to him at the Jordan River, whilst receiving the baptism.

In 1976, the American Jewish Committee released a report by Rabbi A. James Rudin which stated that the ''Divine Principle'' contained "pejorative language, stereotyped imagery, and accusations of collective sin and guilt".Rudin, A. James, 197
A View of the Unification Church
, American Jewish Committee Archives In a news conference that was presented by the AJC and representatives of Catholic and Protestant churches, panelists stated that the text "contained over 125 anti-Jewish references". They also cited Moon's recent and public 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 the ''Divine Principle'' as a demonstration of good faith.Sun Myung Moon Is Criticized by Religious Leaders; Jewish Patrons Enraged
, David F. White, ''The New York Times'', December 29, 1976

In 1977, the HSA-UWC issued a rebuttal to the report, stating that it was neither comprehensive nor reconciliatory, instead, it had a "hateful tone" and it was filled with "sweeping denunciations". It denied that the ''Divine Principle'' teaches antisemitism and gave detailed responses to 17 specific allegations which were contained in the AJC's report, stating that the allegations were distortions of teachings and obscurations of the real content of passages or the passages were accurate summaries of Jewish scriptures or New Testament passages.Response to A. James Rudin's Report
, Unification Church Department of Public Affairs, Daniel C. Holdgeiwe, Johnny Sonneborn, March 1977.

In 1984, Mose Durst, then the president of the Unification Church of the United States as well as a convert from Judaism, said that the Jewish community had been "hateful" in its response to the growth of the Unification movement and he also placed blame on the community's "insecurity" and Unification Church members' "youthful zeal and ignorance". Rudin, then the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee, said that Durst's remarks were inaccurate and unfair and he also said that "hateful is a harsh word to use.""Unification Church seen as persecuted", ''The Milwaukee Sentinel'', September 15, 1984, p. 4 In the same year, Durst wrote in his autobiography: "Our relations with the Jewish community have been the most painful to me personally. I say this with a heavy heart since I was raised in the Jewish faith and am proud of my heritage."

In 1989, Unification Church leaders Peter Ross and Andrew Wilson issued "Guidelines for Members of The Unification Church in Relations with the Jewish People" which stated: "In the past there have been serious misunderstandings between Judaism and the Unification Church. In order to clarify these difficulties and guide Unification Church members in their relations with Jews, the Unification Church suggests the following guidelines."Guidelines for Members of The Unification Church in Relations with the Jewish People
, Peter Ross and Andrew Wilson, March 15, 1989. In 2008, the ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' described the statements and guidelines arising from mutual contacts as "excellent".

Christianity

Protestant commentators have criticized Unification Church teachings as being contrary to the Protestant doctrine of salvation by faith alone. In their influential book ''The Kingdom of the Cults'' (first published in 1965), Walter Ralston Martin and Ravi K. Zacharias disagreed with the ''Divine Principle'' on the issues of Christology, the virgin birth of Jesus, the movement's belief that Jesus should have married, the necessity of the crucifixion of Jesus, and a literal resurrection of Jesus, as well as a literal Second Coming.

In 1974 Moon founded the Unification Theological Seminary, in Barrytown, New York, in part to improve relations of the movement with other churches. Professors from other denominations, including a Methodist minister, a Presbyterian and a Roman Catholic priest, as well as a rabbi, were hired to teach religious studies to the students, who were being trained as leaders in the movement.Korean Moon: Waxing or Waning
Leo Sandon Jr. ''Theology Today'', July 1978, "The Unification Church purchased the estate and now administers a growing seminary where approximately 110 Moonies engage in a two-year curriculum which includes biblical studies, church history, philosophy, theology, religious education, and which leads to a Master of Religious Education degree."
Rodney Sawatsky, ''Theology Today'', April 1978. "Only a minority of their teachers are Unification devotees; a Jew teaches Old Testament, a Christian instructs in church history and a Presbyterian lectures in theology, and so on. Typical sectarian fears of the outsider are not found among Moonies; truth is one or at least must become one, and understanding can be delivered even by the uninitiated."

In 1977, Unification member Jonathan Wells, who later became well known as the author of the popular Intelligent Design book '' Icons of Evolution'', defended Unification theology against what he said were unfair criticisms by the National Council of Churches. That same year Frederick Sontag, a professor of philosophy at Pomona College and a minister in the United Church of Christ, published '' Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church'' which gave an overview of the movement and urged Christians to take it more seriously.

In the 1980s the Unification Church sent thousands of American ministers from other churches on trips to Japan and South Korea to inform them about Unification teachings. At least one minister was dismissed by his congregation for taking part. In 1994 the church had about 5,000 members in Russia and came under criticism from the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1997, the Russian government passed a law requiring the movement and other non-Russian religions to register their congregations and submit to tight controls.

In 1982, Moon was imprisoned in the United States after being found guilty by a jury of willfully filing false Federal income tax returns and conspiracy. (See: '' United States v. Sun Myung Moon'') HSA-UWC members launched a public relations campaign. Booklets, letters and videotapes were mailed to approximately 300,000 Christian leaders in the United States. Many of them signed petitions protesting the government's case.The Unification Church Aims a Major Public Relations Effort at Christian Leaders
Christianity Today April 19, 1985. The American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., the National Council of Churches, the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference filed briefs in support of Moon.Raspberry, William, "Did Unpopular Moonie Get a Fair Trial?", ''The Washington Post'', April 19, 1984

In 1995 the Unification Movement related organization the Women's Federation for World Peace indirectly contributed to help Baptist Liberty University which at that time was in financial difficulty. This was reported in the United States news media as an example of closer relationships between the movement and conservative Christian congregations. "Also in 1995, the Women's Federation made another donation that illustrates how Moon supports fellow conservatives. It gave a $3.5 million grant to the Christian Heritage Foundation, which later bought a large portion of Liberty University's debt, rescuing the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Lynchburg, Va., religious school from the brink of bankruptcy."

Islam

The ''Divine Principle'' lists the Muslim world as one of the world's four major divisions (the others being East Asia, Hindu and Christendom). Unification movement support for Islamist anti-communists came to public attention in 1987 when church member Lee Shapiro was killed in Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War while filming a documentary.Afghanistan: eight years of Soviet occupation
, United States Department of State, March 1988, The campaign to target foreign journalists had more tragic results. Two American filmmakers, Lee Shapiro and Jim Lindelof, were apparently killed by a regime attack while traveling with the mujahidin. In 1986, Lindelof had been named paramedic of the year for his efforts training Afghan medical workers. In response to protests, Kabul stated it could not "guarantee the security of foreign subjects" who enter illegally, whose presence it views as "evidence" of "external interference".2 Americans killed in ambush
''Pacific Stars and Stripes'', October 29, 1987 The resistance group they were traveling with reported that they had been ambushed by military forces of the Soviet Union or the Afghan government. However, the details have been questioned, partly because of the poor reputation of the group's leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

The Muslim advocacy group Council on American–Islamic Relations listed ''The Washington Times'' among media outlets it said "regularly demonstrates or supports Islamophobic themes." In 1998, the Egyptian newspaper ''Al-Ahram'' wrote that its editorial policy was "rabidly anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and pro-Israel." In 1997, the ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

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