Unification Church of the United States
It began in the late 1950s and early 1960s when missionaries from South Korea were sent to America by the international Unification Church's founder and leader Sun Myung Moon.
Since then, it has been involved in many areas of American society and has established businesses, news media, projects in education and the arts, as well as taking part in political and social activism, and has itself gone through substantial changes.
[6][7][8] Scholars have attributed the Unification Church's relative success in the United States, as compared to other Western nations, to its support of patriotism and capitalist values, and to its multi-racial membership.
[9][10][11][12] Some commentators have also noted that this period of Unification Church growth in the United States took place just as the "hippie" era of the late 1960s and early 1970s was ending, when many American young people were looking for a sense of higher purpose or community in their lives.
"Mobile fundraising teams" (often called MFT) were set up to raise money for church projects, sometimes giving candy or flowers in exchange for donations.
Although never a financial success, The Washington Times was well-read in conservative and anti-communist circles and was credited by President Ronald Reagan, who acknowledged reading the paper daily, with helping to win the Cold War.
[46] The word "Moonie" was first used by the American news media in the 1970s when Sun Myung Moon moved to the United States and came to public notice.
"[55] In the 1995 book America's Alternative Religions, published by the State University of New York Press, Baker wrote: "Although they prefer to be called Unificationists, they are referred to in the media and popularly known as 'Moonies'.
"[56] In the same book, sociologists Anson Shupe and David Bromley, both noted for their studies of new religious movements, also use the word "Moonies" to refer to members of the Unification Church.
[56] In his 1998 book Religion, Mobilization, and Social Action, Shupe notes that Barker, Bromley, and he himself had used the term in other publications, "and meant no offense".
[53] In a 1996 article for The Independent about a talk former Prime Minister Edward Heath gave at a Unification Church sponsored conference, Andrew Brown commented: "The term 'Moonie' has entered the language as meaning a brainwashed, bright-eyed zombie."
Brown also quoted William Shaw, a broadcaster who was presenting the Cult Fiction series on BBC Radio 5 Live: "Most Moonies embrace a morality which would make them acceptable in the most genteel Anglican social circle.
[59] In 1985, the president of the Unification Church of the United States, Mose Durst, said: "In one year, we moved from being a pariah to being part of the mainstream.
[63][64] Moon directed minister and civil rights leader James Bevel to form a protest by religious officials against the Chicago Tribune because of the newspaper's use of the word.
"[65] In 1992, Michael Jenkins (who later became president of the Unification Church of the United States[66]) commented: "Why, after so many years, should we now be taking such a stand to eliminate the term 'Moonie?'
... We are now entering a period of our history where our Church development and family orientation are strong enough that we can turn our attention toward ending the widespread misunderstanding about our founder and the Unification movement.
"[53] In 1992, Unification movement member Kristopher Esplin told Reuters what is normally done if the word is seen in media sources: "If it's printed in newspapers, we will respond, write to the editor, that sort of thing.
[73] In 1975 Steven Hassan, who had held a leadership position in the Unification Church in the United States, left it and later became an outspoken critic.
"[81] In 1978 and 1979, the Unification Church's support for the South Korean government was investigated by a Congressional subcommittee led by Democratic Representative Donald M. Fraser of Minnesota.
In 1984 and 1985, while he was serving his sentence in Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury, Connecticut, American Unification Church members launched a public-relations campaign claiming that the charges against him were unjust and politically motivated.
[86] Michael Tori, a professor at Marist College (Poughkeepsie, New York) suggested that Moon's conviction helped the Unification Church gain more acceptance in mainstream American society, since it showed that he was financially accountable to the government and the public.
[88] Moon's practice of matching couples was very unusual in both Christian tradition and in modern Western culture and attracted much attention and controversy.
[89] Thousands of couples have been placed in marriages by religious leaders with people they had barely met, since Moon taught that romantic love led to sexual promiscuity.
Church-owned businesses in the United States include media and entertainment, fishing and sea food distribution, hotels and real estate, and many others.
[97][98] In 1984, Eileen Barker, a British sociologist specializing in religious topics, published The Making of a Moonie which disputed much of the negative characterization of Unification Church members by the news media.
The FFWPU included members of various religious organizations working toward common goals, especially on issues of sexual morality and reconciliation between people of different religions, nations, and races.
[106][108][109] In 2001, the United States Army, in a handbook for chaplains, reported that "the Unification Church emphasizes the responsibility of citizenship but sets no official rules as to military service."
[111] Following Sun Myung Moon's death in 2012, his widow Hak Ja Han took leadership responsibility for the international Unification Church, including its activities in the United States.
