Stranger Things

I have links saved, but for some reason I never posted links here or on earlier sites, but I remember following the story closely and the feeling of horror when I read the news of the deaths:

2007 South Korean hostage crisis in Afghanistan (Wikipedia)

QuoteOn July 19, 2007, a group of 23 South Korean missionaries were captured and held hostage by members of the Taliban while passing through Ghazni Province of Afghanistan. The group, composed of sixteen women and seven men, was captured while traveling from Kandahar to Kabul by bus on a mission sponsored by the Saemmul Presbyterian Church. The crisis began when two local men, who the driver had allowed to board, started shooting to bring the bus to a halt. Over the next month, the hostages were kept in cellars and farmhouses and regularly moved in groups of three to four.

The Taliban killed two of the abducted South Koreans, Bae Hyeong-gyu, a 42-year-old South Korean the pastor of Saemmul Church, and Shim Seong-min, a 29-year-old South Korean man, on July 25 and 30, respectively. Later, with negotiations making progress, two women, Kim Gyeong-ja and Kim Ji-na, were released on August 13, and the remaining 19 hostages on August 29 and 30.

July 1, 2004: Slain Iraq Missionary is Mourned in South Korea (Taipei Times)

QuoteThousands of South Koreans turned out yesterday for the emotional funeral of Kim Sun-il, a young interpreter who was beheaded by Islamic militants in Iraq last week. A 33-year-old Arabic interpreter and devout Christian who dreamed of missionary work in the Arab world, Kim was killed after Seoul rejected demands to pull 670 military medics and engineers out of Iraq and drop plans to send 3,000 troops there.

July 27, 2007: Spirits Sag in South Korea at Death of Hostage (The New York Times)

QuoteFor South Koreans, this new crisis represents the cost of the aid and evangelical operations that its Christian churches conduct in some of the world's most dangerous places. In 2004, a South Korean interpreter and aspiring Christian missionary was beheaded by militants in Iraq.

Several South Korean missionaries have served time in or remain in Chinese prisons, accused of trying to convert North Korean refugees or for smuggling them to South Korea. One missionary, who was kidnapped by North Korean agents in 2000, is believed to have died in the North.

With 12,000 to 17,000 evangelists in more than 160 countries, South Korea has one of the most aggressive armies of Christian missionaries on earth. Only the United States sends out more — 46,000 by some estimates.

A conservative association of Protestant churches in South Korea has called for dispatching 100,000 missionaries by 2030. Along with those full-time missionaries, South Korean churches dispatch numerous evangelical, educational and medical missions. Saemmul Church has stressed that Mr. Bae's group was not engaged in evangelism, but was doing only relief work at hospitals and kindergartens.

Aug. 29, 2007: Korean Bishop Expresses Joy for Hostages, Sense of Humiliation for Taliban Deal

QuoteMgr Lazarus You Heung-sik, bishop of Taejŏn and chairman of Caritas Corea, talks to AsiaNews about the "dangerous precedent" set by the South Korean authorities in dealing directly with Islamic fundamentalists. People in South Korea feel joy that human lives were spared, but also humiliation about Protestant Churches, which have come under intense criticism in South Korean society.

This article featuring new reserch was just published on the effects of sleep deprivation in the context of the questioning of suspects:

March 7, 2026: Exhaustion Loophole: How Sleep Deprivation Compromises Justice (Neuroscience News)

Jan. 22, 2026: Escaping a Cult: Leaving the Moonies Unification Church with @FaithY3n (The Truth That Heals Podcast)


Interesting section from 16:45

Oct. 25, 1979: The Heavenly Deception (Francine du Plessix Gray for The New York Review)

QuoteHe'd just graduated from Yale with straight A's in philosophy but his girl-friend left him for an Iraqi Marxist. His career at college was academically brilliant and emotionally arid. He was "searching desperately for community." Walking through the streets of Berkeley in the summer of 1975, Chris Edwards was approached by a young man his age who invited him to have dinner with "the family" he lived with, "a very loving, very idealistic group of young people." He went to dinner. He was a little perplexed by his hosts' affectionate, constant smiling; but their passionate interest in him seemed like an oasis after "the verbal jousts, the endless mocking and scorning" of his Ivy League life. He was touched by the affectionate way they piled brownies on his plate. They called themselves the Family. They had a country place in Boonville, ninety miles north of SanFrancisco.

"Since you enjoyed this evening so much, Chris, why don't you join us for the weekend?" ...

There is more at the link, but the complete piece is behind a paywall... well, it's only $1.

A much more detail account:

Nov. 2010: Escape from the Unification Church (Paul Morantz)

QuoteOn Sunday, January 21 (1979) Moonies approached Molko as he waited at a SF bus stop and said they were socially conscious people living in an "international community" in order to discuss important issues. They invited Molko to come to dinner. Molko asked if they had a "religious connection." They said "no" and did not reveal to Molko that they were members of the Unification Church, or that their purpose was to recruit him into the Church.

Molko attended the dinner, which included a number of other targets. He was kept apart from the other guests, and held in constant conversation with group members. After dinner there was a lecture on general social problems, followed by a slide show on "Boonville" — a "farm" a few hours to the north, owned by the group at the house. The slide show depicted Boonville as a rural getaway where people from the house went for relaxation and pleasure. When the presentation was concluded, all the targets were invited to visit. The group members assured Molko they would provide for all his needs. Impressed by this hospitality and enthusiasm, Molko agreed to go, not knowing his destination was an indoctrination facility for the Unification Church.

Molko was given a sleeping bag and a shelter where others were already sleeping. He awoke the next morning finding more than just the 12 from the van were sleeping in the room. When he walked to the bathroom, a group member arose and walked with him. Wherever he went, a group member attached.

Molko day's schedule left him no individual time. There were group calisthenics, then group breakfast, then a group lecture on moral and ethics. After lunch was, more exercise and more lectures. After dinner, there were"testimonials," group singing and more group discussion. At the end of the day Molko was exhausted.

Molko asked the name of the group, and was told it was the "Creative Community Project." He was told it associated with no religious organizations. By the end of Tuesday, Molko, tired amd uncomfortable, informed he desired to return to San Francisco. They told him he was free to leave but the bus departed at three o'clock in the morning. They strongly urged him to stay and hear the important information that would be discussed. Molko agreed to stay a little longer.

The days that followed were the same: lectures were repeated verbatim. They spoke of brotherly love and social problems, and included references to God and prayer. On Wednesday, Molko was informed the group's teachings derived from many philosophical sources, including Aristotle, Jefferson, and Reverend Sun Myung Moon. It was not disclosed that Reverend Moon was the group's spiritual leader.

On Friday night, Molko was told the group was about to leave Boonville for "Camp K" — another group-owned retreat used on weekends. Molko said he wanted to return to San Francisco, but again was urged to give the group a few more days. He agreed and made the trip to Camp K, still oblivious of his involvement with the Unification Church.

A weekend of exercises and -lectures continued at Camp K and then he was back at Boonville, during which Molko became increasingly disoriented and despairing of his future. On his 12th day of continuous group activity Molko was told for the first time the group was part of the Unification Church. While confused he was told the deception was necessary because of all the bad stories about the Church. He agreed to stay and try to work out his confusion.

Allen Tate Wood's website
Author of Moonstruck: A M<emoir of my Life in a Cult

1985, Summer: Allen Tate Wood on Sun Myung Moon & the UC (North Texas State Interview/Tragedy Of the Six Marys)

QuoteHello I'm Tom Waldren and with me today I have Allen Tate Wood, former chief political officer and former state leader of the Unification Church, commonly known as the Moonies. He has been working to inform the public about the dangers of destructive cults since 1975.

ATW: Well, I would say that the basis of his power is two things: deception and service. I think that people today are deceived into joining the Unification Church – this is the rank and file members who join as people who are serious, people who believe that they have had a serious religious experience or that they have met God. But in fact they are inducted into a situation which is taking control of them. But in addition to the rank and file member who joins essentially in good faith, you have many, many fellow-travelers, or people that Mr Moon is wooing. He is trying to gain influence over them, and he woos them with service.

TW: Such as?

ATW: So, politicians for instance. Mr Moon will provide services to a politician, or he will provide backing to a candidate, or one of his front groups will provide money to a political candidate to help him carry out his campaign.

TW: Which he himself gets through donations.

ATW: Yes, the Unification Church raises money through a whole host of organizations but its principal fundraising activity in the United States is done by young converts who are on the streets 16 hours a day selling peanuts, flowers, candy, whatever. That money goes to the Unification Church headquarters and is spent on a wide variety of Unification Church projects.

TW: He claims to derive some of his ideas, his ideology, from Christianity. On the other hand he also claims he is the messiah. Now that is kind of a contradiction. How did you deal with that at the time when you were approached?

ATW: Well, of course when I was approached I wasn't told that Mr Moon was the messiah. When I was approached I was told that I was going to be meeting some people who were involved in a religious commune, that their philosophy was essentially Christian, or Christian based. It was only after a certain amount of time that I found out they believed that Mr Moon was the messiah. Of course their teaching explains and justifies this and says that it is completely coherent and congruent with the bible. But if one goes deeply into the Unification Church you find out that in fact it is anti-Christian. It repudiates the essential tenets of Christianity.

TW: OK. Now when you discovered that there was contradiction in there, how long had you been in the cult itself?

ATW: Hmm... Well, I think that you begin imbibing contradictions as you go in, and the longer you're in, the deeper the contradictions are. So for instance when I first me the Unification Church I was told that Mr Moon was a virgin at the age of 40 when he married his present wife. After I'd been in the church for a year or so I found out that actually there had been an earlier wife. After I'd been in for two years I found out now that there had been an earlier wife than that, and in fact in 1970 in Japan, I met Mr Moon's eldest son, [Sung Jin Moon] who at that stage was 24 years old. So he was born in 1946. So Mr Moon was not a pure virgin in 1960 when he married his present wife. Yet when I joined the Unification Church, that was part of the doctrine. We were taught that he was a pure virgin until the age of 40, and that was part of the basis upon which I made my commitment to the church.

The interview continues and is as enlightening as it is long

July 2, 2008: The Social Impact of Cult Groups (The New Statesman/The Internet Archive)

I have a lot of links to add here, and I have a soft spot for Gordon as his memoir Heartbreak and Rage: 10 Years Under Sun-myung Moon was the first memoir of any cult that I read, and I had the brief pleasure of meeting him in 2014 at ICSA conference held in Washington DC.

March 1, 2008: Where Have All the Moonies Gone? (K. Gordon Neufeld)

QuoteBut on the second day of a visit to San Francisco, I encountered two members of Moon's Unification Church on Fisherman's Wharf, and my resistance to religious-sounding messages was neatly circumvented. The strangers told me of a free dinner sponsored by the "Creative Community Project" where, supposedly, I could meet people from all backgrounds and dispositions. Having no other plans, I went.

At the dinner, I was invited to a weekend on a farm in northern California, near the town of Boonville. Although they told me there would be discussions about their ideals, as well as games and recreation, my hosts made no mention of the Unification Church or Moon. (In fact, as I later learned, they went out of their way to conceal this connection).

Jan. 24, 2014: K. Gordon Neufeld : On the Moonies & Their True Parents (The Mind Renewed Podcast - 66 Minutes)

Jan. 18, 2019: K. Gordon Neufeld : Stories of Extreme Beliefs (The Mind Renewed Podcast - 60 Minutes)

Winning Writers: K. Gordon Neufeld

QuoteHe studied Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, but after graduating with a B.A. in English in 1976, he travelled to California for what he expected to be a two-week trip.

That two-week trip turned into a 10-year episode in his life. While in San Francisco, he was recruited into the Unification Church of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon (the "Moonies"). He remained in the Moonies for a decade, and even participated in the mass wedding in Madison Square Garden on July 1, 1982. However, he never actually got to live with the woman he was "blessed" to in that ceremony, and by 1986, he knew he was going nowhere in his life and that he would have to make the difficult transition back to his old life. He returned to Canada and went back to the University of British Columbia, from which he obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing in 1997. While at the university, he resolved to write a book-length memoir of his experiences in the Moonies, which he later published under the title, Heartbreak and Rage:  Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon, A Cult Survivor's Memoir ...

After publishing his first book, Mr. Neufeld was contacted by a woman who was also a former member of the Unification Church.  He began visiting her, and in 2009, he married her and became a permanent resident of the United States.  He now lives with his wife and stepdaughter in upstate New York.

I was just exploring Sarah Steel's most excellent podcast: "Let's Talk About Sects". I came across it just last night - March 30, 2026. I was immediately impressed with the quality and quantity of her guests, some of whom I have met or interacted with online at various times.

In deciding what podcast to listen to first, I chose Dr. Lalich's, and I has happy to discover that she talks about this very issue at the beginning of the podcast. She mentions Margaret Singer, whose book I quote above, the CESNUR organization - she also attended their conferences, and the background and history of how the issue of cult apologists came into being.

Oct. 26, 2022:: Janja Lalich Inteview (Let's Talk About Sects Podcast)

QuoteDr Janja Lalich is a Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico. She has written multiple world-renowned books on cultic studies, and is soon to launch the non-profit Lalich Center on Cults and Coercion. Dr Lalich offers resources to help survivors of coercive groups, as well as courses for therapists and social workers to help them understand the issues involved in treatment. She was once a member of a cult herself, and rose to a leadership rank. She has spent her life since trying to use her experiences to assist others.

It is also interesting how apologists and journalists cover the same event. Some selected quotes from both sides, and links are provided for further reading/context:

Nov. 22: Sayuri Ogawa Confronts The UC - and Her Parents – During a Day of Drama at the FCCJ (Karyn Nishimura/Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan)

QuoteAnd on July 29, the president of the church's Japan branch, Tomohiro Tanaka, put up a stout defence of the body, leaving little time for questions from the FCCJ audience. But it was Sayuri Ogawa who taught us most about the church and its methods.

The 26-year-old is a so-called second-generation follower of the Unification church, the daughter of parents who were both members when she was born. Her mother got involved in the church at the age of 20 and later married a man at one of its infamous mass weddings. Ogawa, who goes by a pseudonym, was raised as a "child of god".

Ogawa, who left the church six years ago, is now happily married and has a young child. She had expected to lead a relatively normal life until Abe's assassination and its dramatic political fallout prompted her to go public with her experiences.

I first met her during a hearing with opposition Diet members in July. I was impressed by her detailed knowledge of the church and her willingness to discuss her parents and the toll their membership of the organization had taken on their family.

I later saw her make several TV appearances, and had no hesitation in accepting an offer to emcee her press conference at the FCCJ. ...

 "Since my childhood, no matter what my convictions, I was forced to obey the rules of the church and if I did not respect its instructions, they told me I would go to hell," she said. "I grew up in poverty. At school, I was mistreated because I looked poor. My parents insulted and abused my grandmother, who required nursing care. I also experienced sexual harassment by a church official. The contradictions I witnessed led me to be hospitalized for mental health reasons."

Ogawa also provided comments from other people who had suffered because their relatives were involved in the church. She described how the church functions in Japan, and how it works to ensure that huge amounts of money are sent to its headquarters in South Korea every month.

And then something incredible happened. About 50 minutes into her press conference, I was told that two faxes had arrived at the club. One, in Japanese, had been sent by a lawyer for the church; the other, in English, was from her parents. Both contained more or less the same message. Ogawa, they said, was suffering from "serious mental health disorders, including dissociative identity disorder" that had worsened since Abe's death. This, they continued, had prompted her to make inaccurate statements to the media. The messages warned that Ogawa was at risk of committing crimes such as defamation - hence their determination to silence her. They demanded an immediate end to the FCCJ press conference.

I was shocked by their words. I could not imagine why any parent would want to talk about their own daughter in this way. I never even considered bowing to their demands and halting the press conference. (I learned later that the faxes had been sent before the FCCJ event had started, but that they had not been noticed until later.)

As a journalist, I knew the press conference had to continue. But ultimately, that was not my decision – this was not only a question of freedom of the press and freedom of expression, but a serious personal matter on which only Ogawa could decide. She had been criticized and threatened not only by the church, but also by her own parents. Seated nearby, her very supportive husband offered to explain to the audience the contents of the faxes. I thought, though, that we also needed her agreement before he did so. After a short discussion, she agreed.

After Ogawa told me she would like to continue, I asked another question related to her experiences. By then in tears, she said: "If you believe that I am telling the truth, please dissolve the Unification church. That is all."

I generally try to remain neutral during press conferences, but this time I applauded Ogawa and her brave words. I was also impressed by her commitment - she had not only recounted her own experiences but had also gathered data and testimonials from other people affected by the Unification church.

Nov. 14, 2022: The Great Witch Hunt Against the UC in Japan 1: Bearing False Witness (Massimo Introvigne for Bitter Winter)

Quote"Victims" tell their stories to politicians and the media. But their relatives claim (and prove) they are not true.

The witch hunt continues, supported by fake news and, as usual in these case, by apostate ex-members. Japanese media have reported that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida himself will meet with one such apostate, a woman who uses the pseudonym of "Sayuri Ogawa." She spoke against the Unification Church after the Abe assassination, including at a meeting organized by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on August 23 and at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on October 7, telling a story that in many point is demonstrably false....

In a nutshell, Ogawa claimed that she grew up in the Unification Church, in which her father served as a minister and her mother as a staff member, and suffered poverty because of their donations to the religious organization.

She was systematically bullied in school. She was also terrorized about sex by her puritanical parents, who broke with her when she decided to live with a man who was not a member of the Unification Church.

She attended events of the Unification Church, she said, both in Japan and Korea and, as a consequence of the absurdity of the doctrines she was exposed to and of the rituals, developed mental problems and had to be hospitalized. Her parents had confiscated the money she had made through her part-time work while she was a student, and took advantage of her hospitalization to withdraw what she had kept in a bank account. They used this money for further donating to the Unification Church. She is now persuaded that the Unification Church/FFWPU is an evil organization, she said. She called for its dissolution and for the introduction in Japan of an anti-cult law modeled on the one that exists in France.

The latter request proves that Ogawa is being coached by the anti-cult movement.

Her mother has never heard that she was bullied in school. The mother can prove she won awards and was sent to participate in national competitions for gifted students, which is hardly compatible with the picture of a marginalized and bullied pupil. The mother does admit that the daughter was taught about the ideal of remaining pure until marriage, but claims that it is not true that the parents broke with her after she decided to marry outside of the Unification Church. Photographs show both parents smiling and celebrating at her wedding. ...

I believe Ogawa, with her story of mental health problems, is only partially responsible for the falsehoods she has spread to the media. Much more responsible are those who take advantage of her condition and use her as a weapon in their campaigns against the Unification Church/FFWPU.

July 2020: Profiles In Conscience: Nansook Hong (Former Member Sansu The Cat/Medium)

By the same cat:

Jan. 26, 2022: Cult Fiction, Writing, & Healing: Seven Questions for Kenneth Gordon Neufeld (Former Member Sansu The Cat/Medium)

Feb 15, 2022: Why I Am Not A Moonie: Six Reasons Why I am no Longer a Member of the UC (Former Member Sansu The Cat/Medium)

From the staunchest non-member supporter of the UC:

From the Unification Church to the Unification Movement, 1994-1999: Five Years of Dramatic Changes (Massimo Introvigne/CESNUR)

QuoteThrough the Chung Pyung Workshops, a new type of "blessing" has been initiated. The "Heaven and Earth Blessing" is said to allow the spirit of a spouse who has died to return to live with the widower who remains on the earth. According to speeches by Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak and Mrs. Hyo Nam Kim, the liberation of resentful spirits has been followed by their education and then "blessing" in the spiritual world. Billions of spirits are said to have been "blessed." The spirit world seems paramount among the Reverend Moon's most recent concerns. The messages of deceased Unificationist leader San Hung Lee from the spirit world (see Sang Hun Lee, Life in the Spirit World and on Earth, recorded by Young Soon Kim, New York: Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, 1998) - texts which has achieved a quasi-canonical status in the Unification movement - are, in this respect, "integral to a providential event. The fifth chapter of the book containing Lee's messages is a record of Lee's interviews, at Rev. Moon's request, with mostly infamous personages--Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, etc. Within a month of that communication, at the blessing of 120 million couples on June 30, 1998, these same personages were blessed as the representatives of all wicked people, thereby opening the gate for the 'liberation of Hell'" (Andrew Wilson, "Visions of the Spirit World: Sang Hun Lee's `Life in the Spirit World and on Earth' Compared with Other Spiritualist Accounts," Journal of Unification Studies 2 (1998): 123-47, at 123).

March 17, 1994: Death of Pseudoreligion Critic Focuses Attention (UCA News)

QuoteAn estimated 300-400 sects or cults are currently thriving outside established religious structures in Korea, according to scholars of religions. Some scholars refer to these groups as "new religions." ...

Since the turn of the century, a large number of sects or new religions have taken root in this country, leading one sociologist to label generally homogeneous South Korea "the supermarket of world religions." About 1.5 million people adhere to these new religions, according to Lee Kwang-ho, professor emeritus at Chonbuk University in the southern provincial capital of Chonju. Some put the figure at 2 million.

In his 1992 book "General Guide to New Religions in Korea," Lee identifies 390 pseudo-religious sects. He says 78 are associated with Buddhism, 76 with Christianity and 36 are cults for Tangun, the founding father of Korea. Of the latter, 10 are of foreign origin, according to the book.

June 12, 2008: Cult Worship (Andrei Lankov for The Korea Times)

QuoteIn East Asian countries, the 20th century was a golden age of the so-called ``new religions,'' a large array of strange, often bizarre ideological constructs. The ``new religions'' emerged in all countries from Korea to Japan to China.

It is easy to explain why such religious movements briefly enjoyed success in East Asia. For two millennia these countries safely, and generally quite successfully, existed in the ideological space defined by Confucianism ― not quite a religion in the Western sense, but a rather close approximation to it. ...

2009: The Religious Situation in East Asia Joachim Gentz/The University of Edinburgh)


To Japan:
April 10, 2014: Japanese Religion Comes Full Circle: Millennials in Search of Their Spiritual Roots (Nippon)

Aug. 11, 2022: Asian Cults & Castes, Where New Religions Meet Power Politics (World Crunch)

QuoteAccording to Eileen Barker, a sociologist of religion, in 1999 there were already around 2,000 emerging religious movements in Europe, between 800 and 1,000 in Japan, and perhaps 10,000 in the United States, Asia, Africa and Oceania combined, for a total of over 12 million adherents.

But these new religions are often associated with negative portrayals, with ideas of cults, money laundering and brainwashing.

Such assumptions are not hard to make, as new religious movements were behind some of the most horrific mass killings and suicides in the second half of the 20th century. For example, the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ and Heaven's Gate committed mass suicides in the 1970s and 1990s respectively, and there was also Aum Shinrikyo, which masterminded the Tokyo underground sarin gas attack in 1995.

As scholars have pointed out, post-war Japan experienced unprecedented and intense pain: the economic collapse, the hardship of livelihood, and the sense of disorientation were the defining elements of Japan's society during this period, which became a good ground for promoting emerging religions. Against this backdrop, new religious groups sprang up, with the number of groups rising rapidly from 34 during wartime to over 700 nowadays...

Jan. 10, 2025: Why Are There So Many Cults in Japan? (Japan Today)

QuoteSocietal upheaval and social turmoil have played major roles in the development of cults in Japan. A few major cults originated in the 1860s during the violent Bakumatsu period, right before the Meiji restoration. However, the past century has seen a major development in the number of new religions, or "cults," in Japan.

Experts suggest that the end of emperor worship and the abolition of State Shinto after WWII created a spiritual vacuum in Japan. The Allied occupation also reshaped Japan's government, lifting censorship on religious organizations and granting them tax exemptions. During the economic boom of the 1970s and 1980s, growing alienation from an increasingly materialistic society drove many Japanese people toward new religions, leading to the rise of more cults and gurus.

In recent years, the number of new members joining these new religions has increased while attendance at traditional places of worship like Buddhist temples has declined. Today, there are about 183,000 officially registered religions in Japan, and about 2,000 of them have a substantial following. Some are not even religions at all but cover for organized crime or tax evasion. It is estimated that 10 to 20 percent of Japan's population is connected to one of these new religions.