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    "True Parents" of Humankind
 
 

On the ptoto: Sun Myung Moon
Unification Movement is an association of numerous religious, public political and cul-tural organizations and unions founded by Sun Myung Moon for world-wide spread of his teaching. The core and power source of the Movement is Holy Spirit Association for World Christian Unification (HSA/WCU) more known as Unification Church (UC). Other major entities founded by Sun Myung Moon include:
· Inter-university Association for Principle Study. 
· International Education Fund (IEF) (publisher of "My World and Myself" courses).
· Inter-religious Federation for Peace throughout the World. 
· International Religious Fund.
· International Women’s Federation for Peace throughout the World. 
Along with the above-mentioned, dozens funds, federations and associations are affiliated to the Unification Movement.In addition, the Movement owns machine-building and ship-building companies, fisheries and advanced technology manufacturers, including working under military contracts; two universities, periodicals, including Washington Times; Little Angels art school, and other businesses.
Unification Movement addresses everyone in spiritual need, though the major concern of the Movement are persons of high public standing in or wide popularity either on national or international scale. Through eminent persons, the Movement builds its worldwide influence and deployment of True Parents religion which implies total control or, in other words, world-wide dominance of moonies thinking and values. Most Unification movement’s captive organizations mentioned above were instituted with the single purpose — to attract people and form social layers sympathetic to Movement’s goals.
On the other hand, the core Unification Church is sceptic about building up its membership through easy admissions procedures. To become a member of the UC, it takes much more than simply apply for it. Practically complete self-denial is the most preclusive criterion to applicants, and those few who meet it and become church members are reliable followers: they always go wherever S. M. Moon has directed and do whatever he has ordered.

Moonies Faith

Sun Myung Moon is a central person of the religion confessed by members of the Unification Church, and his words are deemed divine revelations. This facts are enough grounds to designate S. M. Moon followers as moonies and classify Moonism as a re-ligion. HSA/WCU members believe that Moon is God’s Messiah, and it is this belief that rules over entire life of every moonies and the whole Church.
Sun Myung Moon, the Founder, was born in 1920, in northern part of Korea. His family converted to Christ when Moon was in his early teens. A few years later, as Moon claims, "Jesus revealed himself" to him. Soon after, Moon embarked into his spiritual quest, studying the Scripture. At the same time, he was demonstrating wonderful aptness for earthly affairs: graduated college and then Vaseda university, Japan; was employed as a specialist electric installations; married; divorced when his first son was two months old; probably, had other (unregistered) wives and children; was sentenced to jail; regularly changed residences. After ten years of vagabond life, Moon started his teaching. In 1954, he officially established the Unification Church. In 1960, Moon married his present wife Hak Ja Han Moon who bore him thirteen children.
Most Moon’s writings stay not translated from Korean into any of European languages. This fact makes comprehensive analysis of his philosophy an attainable thing. However, basics of his teaching were published world-wide under the titles of Divine Prin-ciple and Unification Principle Outlines. Additional data is collectable from numberless speeches and messages by the Founder.
Moonism is strictly monotheistic religion. They believe in a single personified live God who incorporates and unifies dual qualities, such as external and internal, male and female, etc. At the same time, moonies God is not self-sufficient: he created the universe and, in particular, humankind as objects necessary to complete his longing for love; as long as objects of his love are imperfect, God remains imperfect and incomplete himself. to become perfect, according to Moon, humans must, first, attain personal exactness; second, make ideal family; and, finally, come into rightful possession of the entire Creation. This was Cod’s plan for Adam and Eve, who would then become "true parents" of humankind living in a perfect world of virtue. Unfortunately, they were seduced by Lucifer, and entered premature and therefore forbidden marital relations, which Moon and his followers believe to be the essence of the original sin. Due to this sin, "Adam and Eve became false parents embodying false Satan’s love. They formed false family to multiply evil instead of good and leave their descendants with false life and false pedigree. Therefore, all further human history is the history of false evolution of false individuals and false nations in the false world." Moon promulgates the idea that the only way to save the humanity is to originate it anew from True Parents newly begotten, who, being in a position as if before original sin, would bear forth new humans — God’s descendants. This moonies concept implies understanding of Messiah as a man whom God has chosen to be a new father, in literal biological sense, of new humanity. Moonies believe that it was exactly the mission of Jesus Christ. "God had created Adam and Eve for heavenly marriage in the garden of Eden. Since they had failed to carry out their mission, in due time God sent Jesus to accomplish holy marriage on earth. And Jesus failed, too, moonies believe. So far, the mission of Jesus Christ have been incomplete." For this reason, Jesus commissioned Sun Myung Moon to accomplish the task and finally save humanity. Reverend Moon was successful in his mission: he has achieved personal perfection, created perfect family, and today the world witnesses "True Parents" with potential to resurrect the fallen world and turn it into the Kingdom of God.

Religious Life of Moonies

Moonies’ religious practice is centered around the act of "blessing" that includes ceremonials of "holy wine" and "wedding". It is through this ceremony that moonies are born again for new life, cleansed of original sin, and at the same time enter "sanctified marriage". Whereas "blessing" ceremonies may be ministered to many couples at once and Unification Church membership is continuously growing, this ceremonies has eventually grown to become mass rites. Wedding is preceded by engagement procedure. Initially it was Sun Myung Moon who personally chose matching couples among his followers. Consequently, as their number grew, he either made his choice by photos or delegated this function to regional UC leaders and prominent members of the Church. Today it often happens that a groom and a bride see each other for the first time right at the wedding ceremonial, and sometimes — after it, for sometimes future spouses’ photos are wed.
Preceding "holy wine" ritual is even more significant from moonies viewpoint, for it is the rite of changing one’s genealogy. Through partaking of a special drink, individuals participating in the ceremony change their blood and become members of Moon’s family. Here is what S. M. Moon writes about blessing ceremonies: "This hallowed weddings symbolize inoculation against Satanic world and grafting into the family of True Parents ... whereof couples share Holy Parents’ blood."
Wine ceremony, therefore, is essentially cleansing "muddy blood" of Satanic influences, for which purpose "wine of twenty one material element and also blood of Father and Mother" is used." At the same moment, taking this wine means that a person practically refuses his physical ancestors and denies his relatedness to them in favour of Moon’s family.
In accordance with Moon’s teaching, the highest manifestation of God’s love to a human is opportunity to become a blood relative of Moon himself, for he is the only truly empowered God’s representative on earth. God, however, loves not everyone, but only those who experience deep faith into Moon as Savior of the world and with certain actions redeem their own sin and the aggregated sin of entire humankind. This postulation forces moonies to be continuously involved in a number of redemptive practices. Prerequisites to Moon’s blessing include active involvement of UC members in "fundraising" and "witnessing" the Divine Principle. Ideally, it takes three years and a half of either activity to deserve "blessing". Now, how does moonies’ life look from practical viewpoint?

Moonies Centers

Most of UC younger members live in special centers — hostels, in order to seclude themselves from "Satanic world" influence and entirely consecrate themselves to serving their True Family. (in Moscow, for instance, from six to eight moonies centers operate on regular basis.) The theory is that fresh members of the Church must completely remold their individuality and give up all their former habits and attachments. Modification of the entire human being is largely facilitated by centers’ organization, for inhabitants of moonies centers are practically never left all alone by them-selves and thus lack privacy required to think over what is being going on either inside or around.
Once an individual has applied for membership in UC, he is strongly recommended to minimize contacts with his parents, relatives and friends, unless they are members of the Church or adhere to Moon’s teachings. Though, having been somewhat frightened and discouraged by a number of law suits in the West, moonies are much more cau-tious today with enforcing this rule, the underlying idea is the same. In his Message to the Freshly Blessed (published in Russian in 1995), Moon says, "Before you think of yourselves as your physical parents’ offspring, you must remember that you are of True Parents kind, you must remember that you are a branch sawed off the dead old tree and implanted to a new tree which is true and live. Therefore, beware your past and any thoughts that may restore your connectedness to it "
However, among Moon’s sayings about how UC members must treat their earthly mothers and fathers we find much more unequivocal instructions: "And what about your physical parents? What are they after all? Being children of heaven, we must consume others — be they children of earth or parents of earth who take semblance of Satan’s children and parents of Satan’s children — all them we must con-sume, take in as nourishing and fertilizing elements."
In fact, UC members are addressed with a fiery call to consumption of whatever outer world has in it. Despite the ideal of "living for others" publicly proclaimed by moonies, their philosophy in relation to those "others" is limited to bringing them into the Movement of Moon’s worshipers by any means. Efforts aimed at public benefit and charity are acknowledged only if they are intended to glorify the Name of Movements Founder an "Father".
Another characteristic of the Unification Church is its explicitly hierarchical organization with Moon as supreme and unrestricted authority, theoretically grounded in moonies teaching. Any activity of the Church is directed by a leader who is designated as a "central person", while subordinates must act in unconditional obedience, "love and servitude". Therefore, complete consensus in practically every question is guaranteed.

Fundraising

Younger members of the UC are obliged to participate in fundraising. They have to either sell moonies CDs, pictures, books, magazines, flowers, candles, zingseng, etc., or collect offerings. In both cases, moonies never disclose their relatedness to Moon’s Church, but rather act under auspice of any of multiple associate members of the Unification Movement and claim to be collecting money for purposes of "charity", "spiritual education programs at schools", "environmental protection", etc., while Uni-fication Church is never named. Funds raised in this manner are spent to cover costs of "Reverend Moon’s Divine Principle" workshops, disciples’ accommodation at moonies centers, and open-up of new centers.
Many UC members form so-called "mobile fundraising teams" around ten members each. A team moves from town to town staying at each site so long as local residents charitable budget would endure. Moscow, however, is cash cow number one in fundraisers’ rating and their continuous station; most often they are observed at McDonalds’ fast-food dispensaries, in GUM and other frequented Moscow downtown locations.
Mobile team members’ life is strictly ruled by discipline: get-up before dawn; unlimited workday; physical and psychological overload; books and music strictly prohibited; the same with telephone calls and other communications with families; strict compliance with captain’s orders; continuous memorizing of the Principle... Along with unsanitary living quarters, moral and physical overloads usually result in various physical and mental disorders, epidemic spread of infectious diseases which sometimes result in irretrievable loss of health by moonies.

Moonies’ Vision of Russia

Russian people, to Moon’s opinion, are "[spiritually] ready and hungry. Opportunity is at hand, and now it’s time for action ... Russia is broad and fertile land. It presents golden opportunities."
By no means could moonies have left "fertile Russian land" non-inseminated with their spirit. In 1992 alone, the Unification Church held hundreds of workshops on the "Divine Principle" attended by (according to HSA/WCU data) "over 60,000 university, college and school teachers and students, along with their parents." The main focus, however, was made on teachers. It is teachers who are in position to produce powerful impact upon the nearest future of the nation by shaping thousands young minds of their students who will soon become the most active and energetic part of the society. Ideas and images being planted in their minds today will blossom in national-scale values of tomorrow. In 1992, on approval by the Ministry of Education, the Unification Church held "Spiritual Renewal and School Education in Russia" series of workshops in Crimea which were attended by public education heads of all 88 territories of the Russian Federation. Soon after that, My World and Myself course was developed and approved for public school, while both authors and independent experts acknowledged S. M. Moon’s "Divine Principle" to be the conceptual basis of this course. In this connection, Moon expressed his satisfaction: "High-standing officials of the former Soviet Union understand high values inherent in my teaching and plan to introduce it to their high-school curriculum." Today "My World and Myself" is taught in over 2,000 Russian schools (data of International Education Fund). Thus, moonies vision of the world is disseminated and forced upon teenagers who have no idea (and their parents, as well) that what is taught to them is propaganda of disputable (if not hazardous) values of Moon and his followers.
The ultimate goal of moonies in Russia is to replace our national tradition with some "Heavenly tradition". However, "how can you aspire to be honored as inheritors of heavenly tradition, while being strangers to True Parents’ habits, culture and lan-guage? The one who does not speak the native language has neither power nor entitlement to inherit. The Divine Principle is clear about it." Thence, Korean language should become the only universal language in the world. S. M. Moon empha-sizes this point in his every speech, for his position is that "learning it is happiness beyond regret, for Korean is the most developed, descriptive and eloquent language that ever existed in the world."

Unification Church Attractions

What features make Unification Movement so attractive in eyes of people? First, moonism makes marriage and family a cornerstone of their teaching; divorce rate in moonies families is almost zero, unlike the situation in the rest of the world. Unification Church members’ belief in sanctity and finality of marriage and children as God’s gift — all this produces unique air of love and mutual respect in their homes. Members of the Unification Church are consistent partisans of chastity — fornication is the most dreadful sin for them. Family-oriented ideals professed the Unification Church are indisputably attractive.
Second, moonies constitute a kind of "society within society". Members of the "true family" prefer to consort with each others, rather than hold on outer relations. Moonies' families like to meet not only at UC programs and actions, but also to on holidays or simply to enjoy their off-duty hours; they use to help each other through swapping household duties, mutual financial support and so on. Moonies'’ children are welcome guests in other moonies’ homes, attend summer camps and schools, and right from the beginning are brought up in understanding of being exclusive members of spiritual elite. Spirit of communion, religious fellowship and mutual support create unique warm air among members of the Unification Church and make it attractive for unbiased newcomers.
Third, various religious, social, educational and other programs of the Unification Movement, while their true purposes remain obscure for outsiders, win their understanding and approval. Realities of modern world include wide spread of uncertainty about what exactly people believe in, and while very few follow spiritual path of some clear-cut religious tradition, most humans are satisfied with vague belief in broadly understood ideals of humanism. It is these non-specific comprehensive ideas what Unification Movement projects are based upon and what they seem to preach.

Deeper Insight

Everyone is entitled to confess whatever religion might appeal to his conscience; this is as true as that nobody may have right to intrude into the innermost part of human soul where faith resides. However, Unification Church members — besides ministering their religious rites among themselves — engage in eager activities to promote their religion in our country. This type of activities certainly may and must be subjected to critical scrutiny.
The same is true of tools and methods they practice to achieve this goal. Moonies use to conceal their true ultimate goals and incentives behind their actions from outsiders. Covering with slogans of building friendship and improving understanding between nations, equal value of all cultures and freedom of conscience, moonies deploy as stealthy and secret, as continuous and far-reaching program to prepare and turn people to belief in True Parents as the only authentic religion in the universe, to make them absorb specific values of moonies culture, including Korean language as native, unconditional worship of Moon and his family, and adoring acceptance of whatever their "Father" says and does.
Another fact worth consideration is that moonies philosophy understands religion as in-separable from political life. For this reason, moonies continuously practice influencing politicians and statesmen, actively involve in economic relations, culture and science. It means that as soon as moonies’ plans of dominating religious influence will have been accomplished, they will be in position to exercise comprehensive control over all sides of public life of the nation and eventually subdue the entire populace.
Based on T. N. Kuznetsova.
"Unification Church as the Core Element of Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Movement",
in Moscow: Nations and Religions. Ethnology and Anthropology Institute.

 
 

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