[15] Moon did not originally intend to found a separate organization or denomination,[16] and did not give his group of followers its official name, Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (세계 기독교 통일 신령 협회; Segye Gidoggyo Tong-il Sinryeong Hyeobhoe), until 1954.

On February 25, 1920, Moon was born Mun Yong-myeong in Sangsa-ri (상사리; 上思里), Deogun-myon (덕언면), Jeongju-gun, North P'yŏng'an Province, at a time when Korea was under Japanese rule.

[48][49] 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.

[66] 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.

"[67] 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.

[76][77] 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.

By early October, demonstrations spread to major Unification Church sites, including Cheongshim Peace World Center in Gyeonggi's Gapyeong and Cheonwon Temple in Yongsan, Seoul, demanding Jung's resignation.

[103] Holy Days of the Unification Church:[104] 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.

[105][106][107][108] In 1977, Frederick Sontag, a professor of philosophy at Pomona College and a minister in the United Church of Christ,[109] 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.

[110] 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.

[112] 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.

[113] 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.

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.

[119] 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.

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.

[140] In 1995 the Unification Movement related organization the Women's Federation for World Peace indirectly contributed $3.5 million to help Baptist Liberty University which at that time was in financial difficulty.

[198][199][200][201] At this time CAUSA International also directly assisted the United States Central Intelligence Agency in supplying the Contras, in addition to paying for flights by rebel leaders.

According to contemporary CIA reports, supplies for the anti-Sandinista forces and their families came from a variety of sources in the US ranging from Moon's Unification Church to U.S. politicians, evangelical groups and former military officers.

[215] In 1992, Kim gave his first and only interview with the Western news media to Washington Times reporter Josette Sheeran, who later became executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme.

[233] In 2016, a study sponsored by the Unification Theological Seminary found that American members were divided in their choices in the 2016 United States presidential election, with the largest bloc supporting Senator Bernie Sanders.

[253] In 1998, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram criticized Moon's possible relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and wrote that the Washington Times editorial policy was "rabidly anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and pro-Israel.

"[256][257] Central to Unification teachings is the concept that the Fall of Man was caused by the literal mating of Eve and Satan in the Garden of Eden, which contaminated the whole human race with sin.

Jesus' goal was to restore the Garden of Eden, a place of joy and beauty in which true families of perfected parents would dwell with God in a full relationship of reciprocal love.

Moon's teachings and the Unification movement is that the messiah will part complete Jesus' work by marrying and raising the "ideal" and "sinless" family as an example for others to follow and so restore God's original plan for humanity.

However, in 2022, reports from Shukan Bunshun and TBS News revealed that according to transaction records compiled between 2008 and 2011 by MGM Resorts International, Hak Ja Han, and 11 church executives lost approximately $6.52 million in Las Vegas casinos.

[293] The jury of the original case not only awarded Associated Newspapers costs, but it and the judge requested that the Attorney General re-examine the Unification Church's charitable status, which after a lengthy investigation from 1986 to 1988 was not removed.

Key organizers of the event included George Augustus Stallings Jr., a former Roman Catholic priest who had been married by Moon and Michael Jenkins, the president of the Unification Church of the United States at that time.

[302] The Unification Church in Japan has faced several controversies: According to Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reports in August and September 1994, Moon donated 450 billion yen to Kim Il Sung during his stay in North Korea from November 30, 1991, to December 7, 1992.

Attempts failed and 33 people heard the verdict on the crimes of conspiracy, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and grand larceny.

[5] Moon believed in the literal Kingdom of God on earth to be brought about by human effort, motivating his establishment of numerous groups, some that are not strictly religious in their purposes.