[1][2] A messiah claimant, he was the founder of the Unification Church, whose members consider him and his wife Hak Ja Han to be their "True Parents",[3] and of its widely noted "Blessing" or mass wedding ceremonies.

The author of the Unification Church's religious scripture, the Divine Principle,[4][5][6] was an anti-communist and an advocate for Korean reunification, for which he was recognized by the governments of both North and South Korea.

[17] The Unification Church teaches conservative, heterosexual family-oriented values from new interpretations of the Christian Bible mixed with theology from Moon's own text, the Divine Principle.

[23] His wedding ceremonies drew criticism, specifically after members of other churches took part, including the excommunicated Roman Catholic archbishop Emmanuel Milingo.

[36] In the 1940s, Sun Myung Moon attended a church led by Kim Baek-moon, who influentially taught that he had been given by Jesus the mission to spread the message of a "new Israel" throughout the world.

[37] Around this time, Moon changed his given name to Sun Myung in an effort to quell the increased resentment of other Christians against him, as he gradually began gathering his own group of followers.

[38] Following World War II, Korea was divided (South and North) along the 38th parallel into two trusteeships: the United States and the Soviet Union.

[41] From the late 1940s, hundreds of Korean Christian religious figures were killed or disappeared in concentration camps, including Francis Hong Yong-ho, Catholic bishop of Pyongyang,[42] and all monks of Tokwon Abbey.

[43][44] When Moon started his own movement (an early version of the Unification Church) in Pyongyang in 1946,[45] the Soviet-controlled North Korean government imprisoned and, he claims, tortured him.

[48] His religious practices during this time may have included unorthodox sexual rituals with multiple women,[48] a claim the Unification Church denies and some scholars have doubted.

[47][49] Arrested again in 1948, he was sentenced to five years at Hungnam labor camp,[47][48] though in 1950, during the Korean War, he was liberated by United Nations troops and allegedly traveled by foot to Busan, (South) Korea.

[16] His teachings viewed the Cold War between capitalism and communism as the final conflict between God and Satan, with divided Korea as its primary front line.

[54][46] In 1954, Moon formally founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity in Seoul and fathered an illegitimate child[1] (who died in 1969).

[68] Moon said that he matched couples from differing races and nationalities because of his belief that all of humanity should be united: "International and intercultural marriages are the quickest way to bring about an ideal world of peace.

[82] Prof. Laurence H. Tribe of the Harvard University Law School argued that the trial by jury had "doomed (Moon) to conviction based on religious prejudice.

[84] Many notable clergy, including Jerry Falwell and Joseph Lowery, signed petitions protesting the government's case and spoke out in defense of Moon.

[85][86] Carlton Sherwood, in his book Inquisition, stated that the conviction of Reverend Moon was viewed by Protestant pastors to be a humiliation of religious liberty.

On 15 September, after a funeral service attended by tens of thousands of Unification Church followers, Moon was buried at a church-owned mansion in Gapyeong.

[21] In a later controversy over the use of the word "Moonie" (which was said to be offensive) by the American news media, Moon's position was supported by civil rights activists Ralph Abernathy[156][157][158] and James Bevel.

[159] In 2000, Moon and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan got together to sponsor the Million Family March,[160] a rally in Washington, D.C. to celebrate family unity and racial and religious harmony as well as to address other issues, including abortion, capital punishment, health care, education, welfare, Social Security reform, substance abuse prevention, and overhaul of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

[166] 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.

[179][180] Several months after his death, an award named after him and his wife (the Sunhak Peace Prize) was proposed, inheriting his will to "recognize and empower innovations in human development, conflict resolution, and ecological conservation."

"[184] In 2013, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai stated: "I remain greatly inspired by people like Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon, whose work and life across continents continue to impact positively on the lives of millions of others in the world.

Following his marriage, the archbishop was called to the Vatican by Pope John Paul II, where he was asked not to see his wife anymore and to move to a Capuchin monastery.

[201] 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.

"[202][203] In 2000, Moon was criticized, including by some members of his church, for his support of controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan's Million Family March.

Since he understood that no one can find the ultimate truth to save humanity without first passing through the bitterest of trials, he fought alone against millions of devils, both in the spiritual and physical worlds, and triumphed over them all.

In this sense the concept underwriting the Unification Church is apt, for its primary drive and appeal is unity, urging a paradigm of the essence in an overly complicated world of existence.

"[213] In 1998, investigative journalist Peter Maass wrote in an article in The New Yorker: "There are, certainly, differing degrees of devotion among Moon's followers; the fact that they bow at the right moment or shout Mansei!

"[214] In his 2004 book The New Religious Movement Experience in America, Eugene V. Gallagher wrote: "The Divine Principle's analysis of the Fall sets the stage for the mission of Rev.