I think this is worth saving, and I've highlighted language that I found disturbing and ridiculous.
First some personal thoughts and sentences:
There's a correlation coefficient of one between the amount of shit the Moonies are in and the inflammatory vocabulary of their propagandists.
If aone of my students - I teach English at a university in Seoul - had submitted something like this, I would first commend her on her investment in and impressive use of a thesauraus: assassination, extermination, crucification, liquidation, annihilation, purge, destroy, and - my favorite: decapitate. It's quite an achievement to use all of those in a relatively short piece.
However, I would also ask her to write it as though she were a normal person not perhaps trying to incite violence with that "beware the persecutors" comment, for example. And wrong word by the way. The correct word is "prosecutors", and you really shouldn't be telling them to beware.
Sept. 20: Religiocide in Korea: The Attempted Assassination of a Faith (https://tinyurl.com/religiocide) (Bitter Winter - Massimo Introvigne)
QuoteI came to Korea not to observe only but to stand. The assault on the Family Federation should be called for what it is: religious persecution.
by Massimo Introvigne
Let us speak plainly. If Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon is arrested, it will not be the arrest of a woman—it will be the attempted crucifixion of a religion. The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, formerly known as the Unification Church, is not merely under scrutiny. It is under siege. And the name for what is happening is religiocide—the deliberate attempt to kill a religion, a term coined by scholars who have seen this pattern before.
This is not about bribery. It is not about political donations. It is not about legal technicalities. It is about extermination.
What we see in Korea did not start there. It started in Japan. In March, the Tokyo District Court ordered the dissolution of the Family Federation, citing decades-old civil cases and vague notions of "social appropriateness." This is not justice—it is liquidation. If upheld, the ruling (which is under appeal) will strip the movement of its legal status, confiscate its assets, and silence its voice. Japan, the country where the Family Federation achieved its greatest missionary success, now seeks to erase it from public life. The assassination of Shinzo Abe, a friend of the movement, was seized upon as a pretext, though the assassin was never a member. The real motive lies deeper: a decades-long campaign by leftist lawyers, anti-cult activists, and Protestant deprogrammers who have found common cause in hatred.
The campaign, the same, has now extended to Korea, where the assault is more visceral. The special prosecutor has requested the arrest of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, accusing her of bribing the disgraced former First Lady Kim Keon-hee with luxury gifts. Twenty witnesses say otherwise: that these were the rogue actions of a single Church executive. The idea that Dr. Moon—whose initiatives have drawn presidents and prime ministers, including Donald Trump—would need to bribe a Korean leader for small favors and ceremonial seats at a presidential inauguration is not just implausible. It is insulting.
The second charge? That Dr. Moon supported the conservative People Power Party (PPP) through donations, help in the elections, and church devotees who became party members. Even if true, it is not a crime. It is a constitutional right. Yet the Korean government now seeks to criminalize religious political engagement, targeting not only the Family Federation but jailing other religious leaders who supported former President Yoon or the PPP. This is not law—it is purge.
Who are the architects of this religiocide? Three forces converge in Korea as they did in Japan. First, Protestant fundamentalists, who see the Family Federation as heretical and sheep-stealing. Second, leftist intellectuals and politicians, who loathe its anti-Communist and pro-family stance. Third, Chinese Communist Party operatives, who covertly support anti-cult campaigns to destabilize anti-Communist religious movements in Korea and Japan.
The irony is grotesque. Evangelicals who claim to be anti-Communist now collaborate with pro-China activists to destroy a fellow religious movement. They have entered a pact with the Devil, and in Korea, it has backfired. Evangelical leaders who cheered the persecution of the Family Federation, but supported the conservative PPP, now find themselves behind bars.
Make no mistake: this is not a scandal. It is a scandalization. It is not a prosecution. It is a persecution. The charges against Dr. Moon are not about justice—they are about annihilation. The goal is to decapitate the movement in Korea and bankrupt it in Japan, while media campaigns abroad amplify the narrative.
But history teaches us: religiocide fails. From the catacombs of Rome to the gulags of Siberia, persecuted religions do not die. They rise. They grow. They endure.
I am in Korea in these days; not to observe only, but to stand. To bring comfort to the afflicted, and to remind them: this is not the end. It may be the beginning. The Family Federation has weathered storms before. It will weather this one. The Roman persecutions taught emperors more powerful than a controversial Korean president that the blood of martyrs is the seed of faith. And the fire of persecution often forges the steel of conviction.
Let the persecutors beware. You may dissolve an organization. You may jail a leader. But you cannot kill a faith that lives in the hearts of its believers.
You cannot kill a religion.
And there is at least an admission that a crime has been committed.
QuoteTwenty witnesses say otherwise: that these were the rogue actions of a single Church executive.
I believe he previously wrote that there was no evidence of any crime. I'll look for that later.
Much more to unpack!
Cult Apologists/Cult Defenders (https://www.apologeticsindex.org/c11.html) (Apologetics Index)
1998: When Scholars Know Sin: Alternative Religions and Their Academic Supporters (https://skent.ualberta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/popular-press-When-Scholars-Know-Sin.pdf) (University of Alberta - Dr Stephen Kent)
(Undated): Lawyer Massimo Introvigne Whines About My Professional Fees (https://skent.ualberta.ca/current/massimo/) (University of Alberta - Dr Stephen Kent)
Dec. 4. 2000: Hurray!! Like the Germans, Massimo Introvigne Takes Me Seriously!! He Put Me on Cesnur's Website! (https://skent.ualberta.ca/current/massimo2/)! (University of Alberta - Dr Stephen Kent)
April 11, 2018: A New Academic Book Takes Apart Scientology & Pop Culture, & The Apologists Hate It (https://tonyortega.org/2018/04/11/a-new-academic-book-takes-apart-scientology-and-pop-culture-and-the-apologists-hate-it/) (Tony Ortega - The Underground Bunker)
A lot of mentions of Massimo in the above piece. Here's a quote and please explore the article for context:
QuoteAnd our favorite example of Introvigne being either dishonest or clueless (or both) was this passage when he slams Susan Raine's chapter on the connections between Hubbard's science fiction and Scientology....Well, that's pretty rich, since Introvigne apparently has no idea what he's talking about.
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August 13, 2020: The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology, No. 23: The Apologist Academics (https://tonyortega.org/2020/08/13/the-top-25-people-enabling-scientology-no-23-the-apologist-academics/) (Tony Ortega - The Underground Bunker)
QuoteBut apologist academics can be a real pain for legitimate researchers who come under attack from these Scientology cheerleaders.
A good example that happened recently was the time and effort that the best academic in the business, Stephen Kent of the University of Alberta, had to spend cleaning up the mess created by a fake academic publication, CESNUR (founded by Massino), which stands for "pro-Scientology flapdoodle published in Italy for some reason."
CESNUR had got a lot of Hubbardists excited by claiming that critics of Scientology had never, ever produced evidence that L. Ron Hubbard had ever actually claimed, under his own signature, that he was the recipient of a civil engineering college degree. The notion that Hubbard had falsely claimed to be a college graduate was an impression created by sloppy researchers and some of Hubbard's own employees, CESNUR claimed.
Kent was attacked in the piece, and so he took it upon himself to produce a lengthy and thorough piece utterly destroying the CESNUR claim. In fact, this very website has published two letters written by Hubbard claiming to be a civil engineering graduate.
Anyway, that's just one example of how these apologist types not only muddy the record to benefit Scientology, but then create a lot of work for those of us trying to get out the truth about Hubbard and his creation.
Aug. 13, 2022: The Cult of Cult Apologists: Massimo Introvigne Part 1 (https://scientologymoneyproject.com/2022/08/13/the-cult-of-cult-apologists-massimo-introvigne-part-1/)
Note: This is the best critique of cult apologists I have read. I'll just quote the one paragraph for a simple reason I explain below.
QuoteCult apologist Dr. Eileen Barker, for example, had her "research" into the Unification Church paid for by the Unification Church. Indeed, Reverend Moon paid her expenses paid to attend 18 conferences held by the Unification Church. This is a clear conflict of interest by any standard. It is no different than Big Tobacco paying scientists in the 1950's to write studies proving that cigarettes were not harmful. Dr. Barker wrote a letter of support for Reverend Sun Myung Moon when he was seeking to move to the UK. How is this not being a paid cult apologist? There is no academic distance whatsoever. Rather, there is direct personal involvement with, and support for, the cult leader from an NRM scholar.
I had been thinking of that very same cigarette company doctor analogy when someone I knew mentioned their understanding of "New Religious Movements" was solidified by Massimo. That person does have some connection to the UC, which may or may not have influenced their thinking. I'll let any interested reader explore the full article at its source, and as far as I know, a part 2 has not been published.
May 21, 2023: Solidarity With Japanese Ex-Moonies & Responce to Cult Apologists (https://medium.com/politics-discourse/solidarity-with-japanese-ex-moonies-be7e97d172ca) (Medium - Former American Member)
Sept. 25, 2024: The Spy Who Loved Me: CESNUR Betrayed by Pro-Russian Subversive Group (https://www.luigicorvaglia.com/en/post/the-spy-who-loved-me-cesnur-betrayed-by-pro-russian-subversive-group) (Luigi Corvaglia (https://www.luigicorvaglia.com/en/about))
Aug. 24, 2025: Meet the Shadowy Scholars Supporting England's Doomsday Cult (https://www.gurumag.com/meet-the-shadowy-scholars-supporting-englands-doomsday-cult/) (The GuruMag - Be Scofield)
And have some more links to post...