Stranger Things

General George Washington Supports Hyung-jin Moon in Moonie Power Struggle - The Internet Archive of Awake Into Freedom, an early official site:

QuoteGood Morning,

This is General George Washington.

Thank you for having a framed picture of me in your living room. It means a great deal to me.

I am coming to you at this hour of urgent desperation and urgent need.

We need a new Army of righteousness. There has been a coup. The Providence of God has been hijacked. There has been a quiet usurpation of authority and power, away from the rightful, official and legal authority. The rightful, official and legal authority in the nation of United States of America and throughout God's prepared lands belongs to the heir of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Mr. Hyung Jin Moon, along with his wife who effectuates as a proxy to True Mother at this time.

The citizens of the United States and people of the world need true leadership. This leadership and authority has been missing recently particularly after the Reverend Sun Myung Moon ascended to the spiritual world as a Glorious Victor of All Cosmic Victories. There has been a lack of leadership. There has been a void. There has been an hour of darkness that has descended on the country I love. Now things are dramatically changing and dramatically developing. But just like during the Revolutionary War, the battle is not easy. There will be bad feelings. There will be shocking twists and turns. There will even be some setbacks, but there must be a final victory, and there will be a final victory, if we remain steadfast, and if we remain true to our beliefs and convictions, and if we do not waiver.

Citizens of the United States!
The citizens of the world!

You have been ruled by a false authority. True Mother's authority has been recently usurped by entities other than Heaven's power.

My brothers and sisters of faith!
Please realize this urgent and disastrous circumstance that we are in. There is corruption at the highest levels. This cannot and must not stand.

Why did I fight?
Why did I lead a revolution?
To separate from corruption at the highest levels! We need to carry through the same exact accomplishment and we need to perform the duties of revolutionaries at this hour. We cannot be lukewarm. We cannot be mild. We cannot be placid. We cannot be complaisant. We cannot be half-hearted. We cannot be nonchalant. We cannot be bystanders. We cannot be observers. We cannot be on the sidelines.

Brothers and sisters. My brethren.

I am General George Washington. I know what you need. You need courage! You need conviction. You need to pound your chests and join the battle for righteousness. I am of course speaking in metaphorical terms. You need to have that conviction in your minds, and I am not saying that an armed insurrection is called for. But this time is serious and the times are grave.

The darkness had fallen over this country I love. So much division and hatred. Citizens! You must love! You must show charity! You must be pure in heart! And pure in mind! Do not follow false Gods. Follow truth. Follow the righteous path.

There is a young man now in the United States who is fighting the good fight. He is in Newfoundland, PA in a small church. Everyone who loves the United States must listen to this young preacher. He is vocalizing the nature of our threat. And he is explaining our predicament that affects my county and all countries.

We need to heed his words.
We need to heed them now. Not later.

I am George Washington, the General of the Revolutionary Army, and the first President of the United States. Do I not care about my country still? I cry for my country. So many things have gone wrong. But there is still hope. A new dawn is beginning. It begins with faith. Politics will follow later. Please have faith first.

You have to demonstrate that those who have ears to hear, need to understand that when the returning Lord–the Rev. Sun Myung Moon–stated that he has instituted an heir, he meant what he stated and wrote. There is no equivocation. It is plain and clear.

Because his authority was challenged and darkness fell on the land, we have had all types of instability and calamities in our political and geopolitical world. We have had beheadings of Christians and civilians. This has to stop by all means. But the cause of external conflicts is the lack of internal faith that drives the balance of the universe.

I am George Washington, brothers and sisters of Unification faith and Christian faith. The Lord returned to Earth. He won a victory over darkness. But his efforts are being usurped and hijacked. You need to stand strong and reject falsehood and abrogation.

You need to follow a man named Hyung Jin Moon.

This is my command to you.

General George Washington

The "origins" of that and other messages is "explained" on the site's first capture courtesy of The Internet Archive.

QuoteAn English speaking individual who resides in a western nation, wrote down the first one of the originally pen on paper written messages on April 17, 2015. This message, and the subsequent messages, were written via a mode of writing that is called "automatic writing." This means that while the person writing experiences that the writing was done with their own hand, the message originated from another.

The individual who wrote down the messages, the transcriber, has no doubt that for whatever reason, the first message from April 17, 2015 and the subsequent messages from their respective dates, are a communication from Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a religious figure born in Korea in 1920 who passed onto the afterlife (invisible substantial world) on September 3, 2012.
         
It should be stated that the transcriber was more than very surprised by the content of the first message.

Regarding the other messages, the transcriber has no doubt that the other communications from the other individuals are attributable as stated in the contents of each written down message.

As the message from April 17, 2015 states, the transcriber of the messages should not be considered great because of this transcribing ability, and therefore is not interested in calling attention to the transcriber, but instead to the contents of the messages. The messages are presented as received, for the information of all those who have an interest in what the legacy of Rev. Sun Myung Moon will be in the years to come.

Need to update links...

2018


Feb. 9: Anti-LGBT Cult Leader Calls on Followers to Purchase Assault Rifles (Southern Poverty Law Center)

Feb. 20: Pennsylvania Church Plans to Bless Worshipers' Assault Rifles (Fox2 Now)
Church Encourages Couples to Bring AR-15 Rifles to be Blessed (New York Post)

Feb. 21: Church Asks Worshippers To Bring AR-15 Rifles For Blessing Ceremony Near Elementary School (Newsweek)
Church Run by Son of Moonies Founder Invites Worshippers to Bring Assault Weapons to Service (Independent)
Local Church to Hold Four-Day Celebration of Assault Rifles (Advertser News South)
Poconos Church to Bless Couples Toting AR-15 Rifles; National Church Leader Wears Crown, Keeps Rifle on Desk (The Morning Call)
PA Church Plans to Bless Assault Rifles, Associates Them With Return of Christ (The Hill)
Church Associates AR-15 Rifles With 'Rod Of Iron,' Encourages To Carry Weapon (International Business Times)
Pennsylvania Church to Bless Couples Toting AR-15 Rifles (AP News)

Feb. 23: Outrage After Church Invites Parishioners to Bring in their AR-15 Assault Rifles to be Blessed Amid Gun Control Debate After Florida Shooting (The Sun)

Feb. 24: Blessing of AR-15-Bearing, Crowned Couples Expected to Draw 600 to PA (Lehigh Valley Live)
Hundreds Attend Gun Rights Dinner Thanking President (WNEP)

Feb. 27: School to Close Due to Nearby Church's AR-15 Rifle Event (BBC News)

Feb. 28: Worshippers Clutching AR-15 Rifles Hold Commitment Ceremony (CTV News)
Couples Lug AR-15 Assault Rifles to Pennsylvania Church Blessing (Yahoo News)
Church Blesses Members & Their Guns (CBS News)

March 1: In Pictures: US Gun-Blessing Ceremony (BBC)

May 21: Locked & Loaded For The Lord (The Washington Post - Very Detailed)

QuoteHe had a compelling reason to go off in search of himself. Sean was in college in October 1999 when his brother Young Jin "Phillip" Moon jumped out the 17th-floor window of a Las Vegas hotel. He was 21, a year older than Sean. They had been inseparable growing up. "For most of our lives we shared the same room, the same video games, and the same Doritos chips," Sean wrote in his memoir.

In January 2015, Sean publicly renounced his mother for hijacking the Unification Church and rewriting and editing his father's religious texts. He has since taken to calling her the "whore of Babylon." Last September, Sanctuary Church shunted Hak Ja Han aside, and a posthumous wedding was thrown for the Rev. Moon. He (well, his spirit) married 90-year-old Hyun Shil Kang, supposedly the first person to join his ministry in the early 1950s. She moved to Pennsylvania to live with Sean and his family.

2020

July 29:

2021

October 30: A Gun Church that Glorifies the AR-15 and is Led by the Son of the 'Moonies' Founder Making Alliances with Far-Right Figures (Business Insider)

2022

Aug. 18: Inside the Bizarre & Dangerous Rod of Iron Ministries (Rolling Stone Magazine/Internet Archive)

QuoteDays after the insurrection at the Capitol — where he'd been close enough to the rioting to get tear-gassed — Pastor Sean Moon posted an incendiary rant to Instagram. Wearing his trademark crown of bullets and speaking to the camera from behind a golden AR-15 assault rifle, Moon declared Jan. 6 had been the "Boston Tea Party of the Second American Revolution."

Far from condemning the day's violence, Moon praised the insurrectionists who "took dominion of the Satanic Temple" — that is to say, the U.S. Capitol building — and sent "the most powerful people on the planet scurrying away, like rats, in total fear, total panic, in tunnels."

"God was victorious that day," Moon insisted. "The criminals," the pastor added — referring to America's elected representatives who refused to back Donald Trump's coup attempt — "can never take that image out of their mind. Now they realize, 'Oh crap, if that happens again, the cops may stand down.'"

Moon is the leader of Rod of Iron Ministries, a breakaway militant sect of the Unification Church. The pastor, 42, is the son of the late global religious leader Sun Myung Moon, revered as the second coming of Christ by his followers, known colloquially as the "Moonies." The younger Moon's church has gained infamy by glorifying the AR-15 assault rifle as the biblical "rod of iron," an instrument of God's justice.

Headquartered outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Rod of Iron Ministries has stirred alarm with ceremonies in which its faithful bring their weapons to church. Moon preaches an end-times theology that's intertwined with earthly politics. And along with his brother Justin — who, in a nifty twist, owns a gun company that sells assault weapons — Sean Moon has sought to build political power in MAGA world, by cultivating connections to the Trump sons, hosting an annual Freedom Festival that has attracted Steve Bannon to speak, and even forging ties to the NRA board member who put his name at the top of the list of the fake slate of 2020 Electoral College voters from Pennsylvania. Moon calls Teddy Daniels, a Jan. 6 participant who ran as Doug Mastriano's preferred candidate for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor, "our great friend and brother in Christ." ...

Aug. 21: Slow to Anger, Great In Power: Short Response to Rolling Stone & Sermon(Sean Moon via  His Enemy's Site: True Parents)

QuoteSome things happened this week that I'm sure everybody is familiar with: The crazy far Left democratic DNC propaganda magazine Rolling Stone had a big article on us.

2022

Oct. 21: A Christian Gun Cult Holds a Trump Festival (The Nation)

Just a collection of unusual and interesting (in my opinion) articles related to Moon and the UC:

Dec. 3, 2006: British UC Pastor Behind Worldwide Shark Smuggling Racket (Independent)

June 28, 2010: Michael Jackson: Moonies Want Millions From His Parents (Shobiz 411)

QuoteThe Moonies wanted to underwrite a Jacksons tour of South Korea with Michael. According to sources, they contacted Joseph and Katherine Jackson and members of the Jackson family. They gave them all gifts and cash, ranging from Rolex watches to luxury cars. At one point, the group's representative went to Frank DiLeo, Michael's manager and brought two casher's checks for $500,000 apiece. DiLeo refused to accept the money. He said, "If Michael wants to tour South Korea, we'll call you." The truth was, DiLeo and Jackson did not want to be involved with the Unification Church.

The Moonies meantime made a deal with Joseph Jackson and the ever astute Jermaine for the tour. When it didn't materialize, they sued for their money and gifts to be returned.

March 12, 2011: Moonie Ballet Starts Epic Overseas Tour (The Chosun Daily)

February 18, 2016: Empty Coca-Cola Can & Other Religious 'Relics' of a Modern-Day Messiah in S. Korea (Malay Mail - Internet Archive)

Shinzu Abe was not the first person to be killed due to frustration and anger at the Unification Church's thirst for money.

August 22, 2013: Unification Church Member Sets Self on Fire, Injures Others

August 22: Three 'Moonies' Set Themselves Ablaze in S. Korea (Fox News - Inaccurate Headline)

August 22: Unification Church Member Inflames Self, 2 Others (Associated Press)

From UC Member Tim Elder, who started this Facebook group to help get answers and come to terms with the tragedy.

QuoteHere's a summary of how I understand the story so far:

Controversy over a Japanese member's request for the church to refund a donation led to a vicious attack Thursday that so far has two members fighting for their lives.
According to Korean media reports, Atsuko Kumon and Rev. Masahiro Ono were in the lobby of Cheongshim Village, along with a large group of Japanese members waiting for their room assignments. The members had just arrived from Japan to attend the ceremonies scheduled for Friday.

Kumon doused Ono and herself with flammable liquid, thought to be paint thinner, using a five-liter container. She then set fire to the liquid using a cigarette lighter. A third person was also splashed with the liquid and caught fire as she tried to get away.

The fire set off the sprinkler system in the lobby, preventing the fire from spreading to others or to the building itself.
The three who caught fire panicked and ran out of the building, away from the water coming from the sprinkler system. Fire extinguishers had to be used to put out the fires on their bodies. Witnesses said this took about five minutes.

The three were transported initially to Cheongshim Hospital, where Kumon and Ono were found to be in critical condition with third degree burns over much of their bodies. The two were transferred to the Hallym University Medical Center in Seoul for specialized treatment. The third victim remained in Cheongshim Hospital, because her injury was not as severe.
As she was being admitted to HUMC, Kumon told hospital staff that she had no money, and that she "did it because I want to die."
An earlier report that Kumon had died as s a result of her injury now appears to have been wrong. An updated report says she continues in a critical condition HUMC. Ono remains at HUMC in critical condition.

Information on Kumon's motive in the attack is sketchy, but it appears related to her efforts to help another member, her spiritual child, secure a refund of a 20-million-yen donation made sometime previously to the Hyogo region of the Japanese church, where Ono serves as regional leader.

Sources within the church told blogger Kazuhiro Yonemoto that an agreement was made with the spiritual child to make the refund in installments, and that about 1.5 million yen had been paid out. This, however, appears not to have satisfied the spiritual child or Kumon.

Kumon appears to have traveled to Cheongpyeong for the purpose of confronting Ono about the donation refund.
on Friday

Despite reporting on the incident, there don't seem to be any follow-up articles. Tim himself ran into a brickwall searching for more details:


The most extensive piece on this is on The Tragedy of the Six Marys site, operated by former members

Here is a similar post on How Well Do You Know Your Moon - I think operated by the same former members.

1974: Moon's followers Poured a Pot of Urine and Feces on the Head of a Seoul University Professor of Religion (How Well Do You Know Your Moon blog - Operated by Former Members)

Well, I hadn't come across that before! Here's a PDF with a long Washington Post article that mentions the piss and poo attack:


2006

August 22: Moon's Church Protests Unflattering Coverage (Korea JoongAng Daily)

August 24: An Attack on Dong-A Ilbo (Editorial) (The Dong-A Ilbo)

August 23: What Made 700 Moonists Smash up a Newsroom? (Narkive Newsgroup Archive) Note: Earlier Date Probably Due to Time Difference - Refers to the Following Piece...)

QuoteThe incident where 700 worshippers of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) broke into the office building of this newspaper company in Chungjeong-ro the day before yesterday and damaged the property is a serious threat to the freedom of press and the right of the nation to know. ...

The FFWPU worshippers destroyed the computers and office fixtures of the Shindonga journalists and stole the coverage documents of journalist Cho Seong-sik, the one who wrote the report concerned. They threatened to  throw sand on the rotary press of Dong-A Ilbo and even sent more than 200 text messages to Cho's cell phone, saying: "We'll kill you".Also, a photojournalist Gang Byeong-gi and a CBS reporter Kim Jae-pyeong were attacked with violence and threats by the worshippers.

Two photos are available here on the How Well Do You Know Your Moon blog, which is operated by former members.

2016

April 5: Five Followers of Moon Sect Arrested for Rape (Cult News 101 - Translation/Original Article)

QuoteFive members of the Moon sect, accused of raping a university student in 2014 during an initiation rite in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, were pretrial detained in the Palmasola prison

Ewha Scandal as Told in 1955 Newspapers (The Tragedy of the Six Marys Blog - Operated by Former Members)

Mention of this in a long Washington Post piece from 1974

1982 Matching Ceremony - This is quite different from the usual images of later and larger ceremonies. In this video, Moon walks around seperated male and female members and selects some couples:


Dec. 16, 1983: What's Behind the Moonie Mass Marriages (Christianity Today/Internet Archive)

Nov. 15, 2010: Just Like Old Times at the Washington Times? (Washington City Paper)

QuoteIf the Unification Church were launching The Washington Times today, the first thing media blogs would seize upon would be the Rev. Moon's weird micromanagement of Moonie sex lives. Following their group weddings to random strangers, Moonieweds follow a three-day instruction manual to consummate their unions. It works something like a military operation. The manual dictates which sexual positions are used each day, the positioning of cushions and the obligatory photograph of the Rev. Moon during the various acts, the direction from which "holy salt" must be sprinkled in order to properly "sanctify" the room. There's also an elaborate process by which the couple cleanses their sexual organs afterwards, using an official church-supplied "holy handkerchief" sprinkled with a mysterious fluid that is supposed to contain the "essence" of Moon himself. Moon preaches that sex that deviates from this rigorous regimen is sullied by a spiritual sort of venereal disease first passed to Adam by Eve after she cheated on him with the archangel Lucifer.

Sept. 5, 2012: I Got Married in a Moonie Mass Wedding (Daily Mail)

April 16, 2014: Unification Church Mass Wedding: From Strangers to 'I Do' (ABC News)



Interesting quote from 5:00 above

September, 2015: True Story: My Marriage Was Arranged By The Unification Church (Yes & Yes)
Note: A really fascinating and touching story.

May 4, 2017: When Truth is Complex - On Telling the Story of My Upbringing in the Unification Church (Huffington Post)

May 30, 2017: The Danger of A Single Story: On Telling the Story of My Upbringing in the Unification Church Part 2 (Huffington Post)

June 5, 2017: At age 20, I was Married by the Unification Church. Here's How I broke Away (The Washington Post)

Sept. 7, 2017: Thousands of 'Moonies' Marry at Unification Church mass wedding in South Korea (Sky News)

Sept. 8, 2017: Thousands Exchange Wedding Vows in Mass Ceremony in South Korea

Sept. 10, 2017: Mass Wedding: 4,000 Couples Exchange Vows at Same Time, Same Place (The Korea Times)

Feb. 7, 2020: South Korean Mass Wedding Defies Virus Fears – In Pictures (The Guardian)

Feb. 7, 2020: In Sickness & In Health: Mass Wedding in South Korea Defies Coronavirus Fears (The Straits Times)

Quote"I am overwhelmed that I am getting married today," said Ms Choi Ji-young, who met her husband - matched by the church - only two months ago. "It would be a lie if I said I was not concerned at all about the infection," said the 21-year-old university student. "But I feel like I will be protected from the virus today."

Festivals, graduation ceremonies, and K-pop concerts have been cancelled over fears large events could facilitate virus transmission, and the authorities have asked religious groups to cooperate in preventing it spreading. The church went ahead with the event because it had been "four years in the making", as part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Moon's birth, said official Jang Young-chul.

Aug. 28, 2018: Thousands of Couples Marry in Mass Ceremony in South Korea (News.Com.Au)

Oct. 22, 2021: Inside The Moonies: 'Perfect' Cult Celebrates Mass Weddings, Sex Rituals (Yahoo News)

March 5, 2023: 'I Married A Stranger At A Mass Wedding': Life Inside The Unification Church (SBS Dateline)

April 25, 2025: Unification Church in South Korea Holds Mass Wedding for 5,000 Couples (Associated Press Video)

First up, I just cannot believe that a Korean group, even a cult, would use as its symbol something so reminiscent of Japan's Rising Sun flag.

QuoteThe flag is controversial in some Asian countries, mainly in South Korea, North Korea and China, as well as among Allied World War II veterans (mainly in Australia), where it is associated with Japanese war crimes, the Axis powers, and Japanese militarism and imperialism.

The Unification Church symbol - scroll down. You can see it below the Moonie crossword puzzle.


Second up, some history regarding the related matter of large "donations":

September 16, 1984: Moon's Japanese Profits Bolster Efforts in US (The Washington Post)

QuoteThe Japanese branch of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church has transferred at least $800 million over the past nine years into the United States to finance the church's political activities and business operations, including The Washington Times newspaper, according to two former high-ranking church officials. This money is generated in Japan, primarily through a Tokyo-based business operation that uses church members to sell marble vases, miniature treasure pagodas and other religious icons that are represented as having supernatural powers, the former officials said. ...

More than 2,600 complaints about the sale of marble vases, ivory seals and minature pagodas of the kind that are often sold by church members were lodged with the Japan Consumer Information Center between 1976 and 1982, according to a report made by the goverment-funded agency. Hundreds of these complaints involved reported cases of intimidation, threats or misrepresentations in which salesmen preyed on the "religious anxieties" of consumers, according to the center's report. The small objects often were portrayed as having mystical powers that could save unhappy marriages, cure illnesses or purge the evil spirits of samurai ancestors, the report said.

The center has published pamphlets to warn consumers about the sales of these items. In one case cited in a center pamphlet, a woman whose husband had just died in an auto accident was being sold one of the objects. The salesman told her the evil spirit of a samurai ancestor who had killed with his sword was tormenting the family. The sale would solve that. "If you don't buy it, the same evil spirit will continue with your children and they will meet the same fate," the salesmen said, according to the pamphlet.

Consumer Center officials cannot directly link such incidents with the church's operations here. The salesmen, Soejima and Inoue said, are instructed never to identify themselves as being with the Unification Church or Happy World."We had orders that, when engaging in economic activity, never say you are a member of the church," Inoue said.

Note to Self: Long, detailed & worth rereading.

August 4, 1996: Widow Pays Church to End Husband's 'Suffering in Hell' (The Washington Post)

QuoteTwo months later, the church member told Nakajima that a "very famous teacher" would be speaking nearby and invited her to come hear him. When the widow met the teacher, he began crying and trembling. "Your husband is descending. I can see your husband's body suffering in hell. I cannot stop myself from shaking. Your husband is saying he wants you to donate" $50,000.

This next link, an academic paper, is a very good place to start an exploration of the UC in Japan written 18 years before its practices made headlines following the murder of Shinzo Abe. This calls to mind the title of a fantasy novel by fellow Austalian James Islington that I read a couple of years ago: An Echo Of Things to Come ...

2004: An Illegal Missionary Work Lawsuit and Exit Counseling for Unification Church Members (Dr. Yoshihide Sakurai -Hokkaido University)

QuoteIn the 1970s the Unification Church of Japan extended its activities to politics, academia, and the economy. The International Federation for Victory over Communism was established in 1968 to cooperate with Japanese conservative politicians. This group utilized the manpower of Unification Church members for political and election campaigns, and in exchange some politicians helped defend the Unification Church against social criticism.

The Professors World Peace Academy, established in 1973, also encouraged the mass media and academics to endorse the aims and activities of the Unification Church. At that time the headquarters of the Unification Church and Sun-myung Moon's family moved to the United States and initiated a propaganda campaign. The cost of these activities was supported by the Unification Church of Japan, which began business activities, such as the wellknown selling of flowers and miscellaneous goods.

April 9, 2008: Unification Church Agrees to Pay Woman 230 Million Yen (Religion News Blog)

QuoteThe woman, 70, from Chiba Prefecture, had demanded about 260 million yen in compensation, claiming the group pushed her to make contributions. She said she was told the reason her husband died of an illness was "because of his fate caused by ancestors' actions." The sum is a record for an out-of-court settlement involving the Unification Church and an individual, the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales said.

Representatives of the Unification Church, a religious group founded in South Korea by the Rev. Sun-myung Moon, initially offered 130 million yen to the woman. But they added about 100 million yen to the sum after the woman indicated she would pursue the responsibility of the education ministry, which oversees religious corporations.

Hiroshi Yamaguchi, a lawyer with the network against spiritual sales, said the Unification Church likely increased the sum out of fear of the ministry. "The Unification Church must be hoping to avoid a possible suspension and other punitive measures," he said.

Spring, 2008: The Next Aum: Religious Violence & New Religious Movements in Twenty-First Century Japan Greg Wilkonson, Doctor of Philosophy / University of Iowa) - 236-Page PDF
Confession: I haven't explored this in full yet, but I quote below the abstract, a related tidbit of information about cult apologists, and a couple of paragraphs about the work of lawyers that support victims of cults. All relevent to the Moonies and recent events.

Quote

ABSTRACT (Partial)

The violence of Aum Shinrikyō has had four observable consequences for new religious movements in Japan: a change in posture by the Japanese government toward new religious movements, stricter laws and regulations regarding new religious movements and tighter enforcement of those laws, a growing skepticism by the media and scholars towards new religious movements, and increasing skepticism about new religions movements among community groups and the public at large. ...

In 1995, after the subway attack, Aum appealed to the Association of World Academics for Religious Education (AWARE), claiming it was being unfairly targeted by both the government and media. AWARE had often served as a defender of the religious freedom and human rights of individual believers and religious groups around the world. Several U.S. scholars traveled to Japan, under the auspices of AWARE, to investigate possible civil rights violations of arrested Aum adherents. These scholars focused on possible civil rights violations independently of the issue of the guilt or innocence of the Aum leadership for their crimes. The emotionally-charged atmosphere led to further claims that scholars of religious studies were ignorant of Aum's violent nature and would support Aum regardless of the evidence linking it to terrorist attacks. This further damaged the reputation and perceived legitimacy ofreligious scholars, both Western and Japanese. ...

In 1998, the anti-cult movement in Japan created a legal group called the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales 全国霊感商法対策弁護士連絡会 (Zenkoku reikan shōhō taisaku bengoshi renrakukai), and this group of 300 lawyers from across Japan is focused solely on the activities of the Unification Church in Japan. ...

In 2008, this legal group represented a former member of the Unification Church. The network claimed that the church had defrauded the member by convincing her that only by making large donations to the church would the sins of her ancestors be redeemed. The suit is similar to suits brought against several other new religious movements in the post-Aum era. The significant outcome of this suit is that the Unification Church chose to settle for 230 million yen (approximately 2.3 million U.S. dollars, well above the amount the former member made in donations to the group). The settlement was allegedly carried out in order to keep the former member and the network of lawyers from registering complaints or filing suits with the Ministry of Education, the government agency that has oversight over religious groups and decides who gains and keeps religious corporation status.

Related:
Aug. 25, 2025: Meet the Shadowy Scholars Supporting England's Doomsday Cult (Be Scofield)

QuoteAnother key cult apologist who defended AROPL at their "Supremacy of God" conference was Gordon Melton. In 1995 he and James Lewis had expenses paid by the Aum Shinrokyo cult to fly to Japan and defend them after the sarin gas subway attack that killed 13 people. They told the press they investigated and that the cult couldn't have produced the sarin gas. They chastised the government for "religious persecution." Just days later, however, the group's poison stockpile that was used was found, leaving the men with proverbial egg on their face.

I met both James and Gordon at a conference organized by the main subject of the above article, Massimo Introvigne. And I also met Holly Folk and Eileen Barker. Gordon and Holly, I quite liked. They were friendly and warm and seem to know their stuff. I can't quite equate my memories of Holly with her comments discrediting former members of cults. Gordon gave a very un-apologist presentation about China's Eastern Lightening cult and numerous instances of violence, which later Massimo, as mentioned on the murder victim's wikipedia, came to the defense of. James I thought had that annoying mix of arrogance and ignorance. He asked a question at my presentation that absolutely stunned me. The kind of question I would respond with "that's a good question" if it had been asked by an 8-year-old. Eileen, well she just seemed like a friendly English grandmother, but it was clear she was friendly with the Moonie leadership, as was Massimo.

2010: Geopolitical Mission Strategy: The Case of the Unification Church in Japan & Korea (Dr. Yoshihide Sakurai for the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies)

QuoteAs Figure 1 indicates, severe criticism from attorneys and the mass media has made UC members change their methods of fundraising spiritual goods sales since the beginning of the 1990s. Because the UC received the rulings in several courts to compensate the purchasers for damages, they simply asked for more donations and borrowed money from their members and their families. Exploitation was shifted from the general public to their own members. ...

Moreover, the Public Safety Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department searched camouflaged voluntary groups affiliated with the UC on suspicion of fraudulently-obtained contributions on 18 February 2008. In the same year the prefectural police of Fukuoka and Nagano also searched UC-affiliated companies that were suspected of extorsionary sales of signet and crystal by using the threat of a curse. 

First up, a very in-depth exploration of Moon's UC. Well, the times they are a changing:

October 15, 2022: The Dark Shadow Cast by Moon Sun Myung's Unification Church & Abe Shinzo (Asia Pacific Journal)

QuoteRemarkably, in South Korea there is no sign of any similar upheaval. South Korean media dutifully covered the intense controversy in Japan over the Unification Church's ties to Abe and Japanese politicians, although some of their reporting was perfunctory at best. However, the tumult in Tokyo has stirred no corresponding debate or soul-searching in Seoul over the morality of a Korean religion partly financed through bilking Japanese victims. Neither has there been any domestic probing of a curiously indulgent relationship with the South Korean state.

And a reminder that the UC has a bit of a history mixing religion and politics.

• The Unification Church & Japanese Politics/The Murder of Shinzo Abe
• The Unification Church & American Politics

Another piece for some background information:

June 9, 2009: Moon's Ever-Changing Face-Lift (J. Isamu Yamamoto for The Christian Research Institue)

QuoteThis shift in focus to the Family Federation and away from the Unification Church has been effective in attracting prominent and respected political leaders and celebrities to the movement's public functions, thus drawing more attention from the news media. In fact, the Women's Federation for World Peace, a sister organization of the Family Federation, paid former president George Bush and his wife, Barbara, about $1 million to speak about family values at several Moon events in the United States and Asia. Bush, Gerald Ford, Jack Kemp, and other notable public figures have addressed Moon-sponsored conferences under the assumption they were affirming conservative views of the family yet not endorsing the theology of Moon.

Nevertheless, the press has had a field day in subtly scoffing at Moon's marriage ceremonies and his association with high-profile conservative politicians and entertainers. For that reason, Unificationists, as well as Moon himself, often claim that the American press has been on a relentless campaign to persecute him and his movement. In fact, they believe such persecution led to his unjust 13-month imprisonment in the Danbury Federal Penitentiary for tax evasion from 1984 to 1985. Some followers of Moon also admit that Unificationists purchased the Washington Times newspaper in 1982 in order to provide a positive portrait of Moon and his political conservatism.

The name J. Isamu Yamamoto, the writer of the above piece sounded familiar. Low and behold, I bought his book about the UC 19 years ago. I think it's in my office.

Nov. 21, 2018: Mnangagwa Hosts Korea Cult Leader as Zimbabwe Churches Denounce Visit (Zim Live)
Note: Interesting tidbits about Moon's children and the power struggles following Moon's death. I really like the word "tidbit".

QuoteHer husband, Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the cult, died in 2012. Before his death, the cult announced that "True Mother was elevated to True Father's level horizontally."

She was supposed to be the "True Mother" who would reverse the fall of man by bearing children from a sin-free bloodline and lifting the curse of Adam and Eve. But, after marrying the 40-year-old Moon in 1960 at just 17 and giving birth to seven sons and seven daughters, Han would be the one to take control of her husband's church, along with his multibillion-dollar global empire and his spiritual legacy. ...

The cult claims to have three million members worldwide, including 100,000 in the United States.

Dec. 17, 2022: Suspicion of "Casino Entertainment" in Las Vegas, Independent Acquisition of Internal Materials of the UC (TBS News DIG)


Video link and the following partial ChatGPT translation courtesy of a friend and former member:

QuoteThis is a document obtained by Report Special, created by a company that runs casinos in Las Vegas. The recipient: "To Ms. Hak Ja Han." It detailed the amounts of money and records of play by Han Hak Ja and 11 senior church officials at the casino over a four-year period from 2008 to 2011. A long-time church member in Korea agreed to be interviewed:

"This money wasn't used for the Providence at all. Under the name of the Las Vegas Providence, President Han Hak Ja and the leadership used it for gambling. These were donations offered with the sweat and tears of the believers."

According to the documents, the total sum was about 42.8 million dollars. At the 2011 exchange rate, that amounted to around 3.4 billion yen. The overall balance was negative: about 6.52 million dollars in losses — more than 520 million yen.

A witness comments: "To use that much money in a casino... in Las Vegas, they must have had an incredible, lavish time. They were treated as VVIPs. I even heard they had their own dedicated vault inside the VIP room." A former follower who had served as a household worker for the Moon family in America testified: "Mrs. Han frequently went to casinos. She had a favorite game she liked to play..." So where did the casino funds come from? "The source of funds was donations from Japanese believers."

And I thought this was worth posting as it is recent, and it again sheds light onto certain aspects of the Moonies.

Jan. 2025: The Narcissistic Messiah: Personality Disorder, Sun-myung Moon, and its Legacy in the Unification Church (Dr. Stephen Kent & Dr. Robin Willey).

QuoteAbstract: In recent years, several scholars have been re-examining the lives of numerous sect and cult leaders through the lens of current psychiatric personality disorders and mental health classifications. Narcissism is a frequently applied disorder used to evaluate the behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs of these leaders, but no one has yet used this personality disorder to examine the life of Sun Myung Moon ( founder of the Unification Church) and its significance for a multitude of connected organizations. Using analyses of Moon's talks and speeches in conjunction with other primary documents from the Unification Church itself (along with court materials and accounts from former members), we argue that Moon likely suffered from narcissistic personality disorder, which (paradoxically) helps to explain much of the devotion that members felt toward him during his life (and now after his death). Moon's probable narcissism also helps to explain some of the group's theology and practices that have continued posthumously.

2024

October 15: A Christian 'Doomsday Cult' is Targeting Australian University Campuses. Former Members Want Them Stopped (The Guardian)

October 16: Inside the Bizarre Recruitment Tactics of the Shincheonji 'Doomsday' Church (The Guardian)

Nov. 29: Shincheonji: The Korean Cult Attempting to Infiltrate Ballarat (The Courier)