Nov. 27, 2018: 'Extreme & Dangerous' Brainwashing, Abuse & Forced Child Labour – Inside America's Most Terrifying Cults Active Today (https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7754065/brainwashing-abuse-forced-child-labour-inside-americas-most-terrifying-cults/) (Teddy Hose via The Sun)
QuoteAnother former extreme group member Teddy Hose, who was born into the Unification or "Moonie" church, told how his brother shot and paralysed his mother in an accident he blamed on the group and the Moon family they followed. Teddy told how he grew up with Sean Moon, who (now) runs a gun-obsessed splinter group of the church called the Sanctuary Church, which encourages members to arm themselves with AR-15 rifles and devote themselves to the Moon family ahead of their own.
"The Moons were always into guns," he said. "Sean's older brother, Steve Moon, he loved guns and would often go hunting in the woods around our house, so I think my brother saw that. "I remember I was just doing my homework at my desk and my brother came in and said I got to tell you something: 'Mom was shot'.
"My mom was pruning some trees in the woods and my brother must have thought it was deer or something and he just took two shots in the dark.
"I didn't believe him and then I saw my younger brother behind him and he had tears in his eyes. I was like 'Oh my God'. She had two bullets in the stomach that reached her spine. She's paralysed from the waist down. "Just one shot changed everything, all because the local church boys thought guns were cool."
Teddy left the church with his family aged 22, after they realised how wealthy the Moon family were and how poor its members were.
"The Sanctuary Church (Splinter group led by Sean Moon) - it speaks the language of Christian values - but people need to know that this is not a Christian organisation," Teddy explained.
"They have someone who has guns who believes the world is trying to attack them. You're putting guns into kids' hands and giving them a religious reason to use them."
March 17, 2019: Growing Up "Moonie" (https://thenib.com/moon-child/) (Teddy Hose for The Nib)
Feb. 8, 2022: Why I Left the Moonies (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=696845684643854) (Teddy Hose on Facebook)
The above Facebook video is very heart-felt and touching. Teddy knew Young-jin Moon, the son who committed suicide at the age of 21, and it was Moon's reaction to his son's death that resulted in him leaving. I wasn't familiar with Teddy before I came across the above video, but he's been very active and vocal about sharing his experiences and educating about cults. Here are some more, the second video has a rather misleading title, there's very little talk of guns in the video. Instead, some very interesting accounts of growing up as a second generation member of the Moonies; plus, a little dig at the Moonie-owned Washington Times:
March 10 Facebook Post: (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AnwnY5tB8/) refering to the article posted below:
QuoteIt was not easy to read this as someone who grew up in the Unification Church. Especially being a kid going to school in Irvington, NY where the Moons lived, and always afraid the locals might find out I was in "that cult," my only refuge besides home was seeing friends at their houses or church properties.
I just hope current members and their children can develop trust and find grace in people outside the UC, who may help provide or connect them to available resources as a means of survival, in this time of heavy withdrawal. I am speaking from experience with my family recognizing the UC's abuse over time, and eventually stepping away.
Those first few years were a lot of helpless outreach to the larger society we were conditioned to view as the "fallen world." We had to retrain our hardwired brains that it was safe out there—a reality those of us born into the UC may always live with as a work in progress. But it does get better over time
March 10: Ex-UC Branches closed, Followers Left Adrift (https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16410258) (Asahi Shimbun)