The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, June 10, 1976, Page Page 4, Image 4
Unification Chu
of prescribed materials (individual thinking
is forbidden by Moon'. Stamper says the UC encourages
the individual's guilt complex, fear (death and eternal
damnation are consequences of quitting), conditioning for
self-sacrifice, and complete control of the individual.
"With these techniques." Stamper says, "physical force
is not necessary to prevent defection. Leaving the
movement of their own volition is almost impossible, for
the mind-control and security precautions are so complete
."
According to Stamper. Moon followers are told anyone
outside the l*C. including parents, families, and friends, is
working for Satan, and followers believe this
wholeheartedly, afraid to leave the UC. Followers do not
think for themselves at all: they do not trust their own
minds and believe what their leaders tell them, says
Stamper. UC members justify lying to outsiders. Stamper
says, because, to them, they are only deceiving Satan's
children as Satan deceived God's children. "This belief is
called 'heavenly deception.'."
Psychology Today reports UC collects about $10 million
a jtrtir uuin lunu-riiiMii^ ai?u coniriuuiions, wnue nis
followers share spartan food, clothing, and shelter, the
Rev. Moon, since settling in the U.S., has lived at
Barrytown, N.Y., in a $620,000. 25-room mansion (purchased
by his followers) overlooking the Hudson River,
with his wife, seven children, and a personal staff of 35
followers.
At the estate in Barrytown a 40- and 120-day program
covering Moon's teaching is offered. In addition to the
training center 'purchased for $1.5 million>. the facility
houses the Unification Theological Seminary, where
Religious a
throughout the United States.
One would be naive to think that
the Unification Church (UC) has
not reached Columbia; UC has a Bjj
center at 1919 Gadsden Street, near
the Governor's Mansion. It j
not a product of Berkeley or
Haight-Asbury. It is a product of '
the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a 56- BpSI
year-old South Korean multi- ?j|
millionaire evengelistindustrialist,
and many young
people are buying it.
UC members, often called
"MrvAnioc ' hoxrck r>An/4u/?fi^
**iwuivo, 11a VC \,v/liuuvvt\i lliCH
activities of fund-raising and
recruiting new members in
1973 until it was suspended in April.
Dean nf Stnripnts Rnhort "1
I
Alexander announced that CARP
had violated four university in cities across the co
regulations: soliciting funds on least one center in ev<
campus; soliciting membership in sends recruiting tea
residence halls, consistently than 150 college cam
failing to register off-campus Since moving to th<
speakers, and operating under the (because he claims it
leadership of non-student officers, chosen land"), the R
CARP will be permitted to proclaimed his n
recharter in the snrinp nf 1977 r*?1?
D ? . . V/iu laiiaiiiiy di icviui
The Unification Church (the and mass rallies in
official name is the Holy Spirit U.S. city.
.Association for the Unification of However, the
World Christianity) is one of the remains unfamilia
mo6t controversial cults today in Americans. He s
terms of growth, wealth, English, grants all
organization, and discipline, terviews, and mak<
Founded in South Korea in 19f?4 hv nnhlir ?nrwarann
the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the surrounded by kx
Unification Church claims a
worldwide membership of 500,000 During Thanksgivii
to 2 million, based mainly in Korea International Cultura
and Japan, with a modest following a UC front organizati
in Europe. The Fourth Intern
Starting with only a few hundred ference on the Unit>
u i firm iir /vliimp ? u?l ,1 t kt \r i
inCIIIUCJ ?> Ul *3?w, viauiia a ikhu ctl hew I or
following in the U.S. of 10,000 to Astoria Hotel. Ovei
30,000, with a core of 2,000 to 10,000 world's top sci<
AwJtutttliwfli, members. lJ&Meeaies humanists w*oara*U
more than 120 communal centers on "the nature o
irch policies que
several students are working toward master degrees in
religious education.
Psychology Today also reports the UC has purchased
for $8 million the 47-acre Belvedere estate in Tarry town.
N.Y., along with 300 nearby acres, which is to become the
site of a church university. Last year, the UC bought the
Columbia I'nivprsifv Cluh huildinP in Manhattan for SI 9
million and recently paid $5.5 million for the 42-story,
2.000-room New Yorker Hotel on New York's Madison
Avenue, to be used for its world headquarters.
UC plans are going forward for seven more centers like
the Barrytown seminary. Newsweek reports another goal
is the purchase of the Empire State Building. When that
happens, UC President Neil A. Salonensavs. "People will
realize we are not a fly-by-night operation."
% J: a _ A 1 x* l_ fiv i in i ..
m;curuing 10 me .>fvs 1 or*. limes, uv. owns properly in
many states, including more than $15 million in New York
alone. As an investor in real estate, the Church has a
significant advantage over commercial competitors: its
religious status exempts it from property taxes; and most
repairs, renovations, and maintenance on the buildings
are performed free by willing Moon followers.
Last week. The New York Times reported Rep. Peter A.
Peyser. R-N.Y., had announced that the IRS is investigating
the tax-exempt status of the UC. He said
several obvious questions were involved, particularly
those focusing on the church's political activities, fund
lUIMIIg, dliu piupei l> rftXjUlMllUIIb.
In New York, officials have already begun investigations
on the activities of the UC. In Tarrytown,
Newsweek reports, officials revoked UC's religious taxexempt
status. (UC President Neil Salonen says the order
jit's doctrine
iTB W 01
H^^Hi\n3SlB9HHBldBUB^9^'' I
*fl
^ Wlrff TUl Tm tfr itTlf-^iMr^" ^ ilTl I' Mn THIWW null
he Unification Church in Columl
untry with at knowledge and to discuss the protest
?ry state, and relation of science to a standard of peacefull;
rnK In mnro
...w ?W. V V uiuv. UI UlAlUj
ipuses. Many scientists and humanists the Bicen
? U.S. in 1973 who had been invited, however, One of
to be "God's became skeptical about the con- the Collej
ev. Moon has ference and its sponsorship and Research
ew age of therefore declined to accept their to recru
es, banquets, invitations. (Moon did not mention college c
every major on the invitations the sponsor or country. ]
that he would address the con- college c?
Rev. Moon ference.) Many of those invited follower
ir to most refused to lend their names to the register j
peaks little conference. Nevertheless, names and chart
nost no in- of those invited were highly which tin
is infrequent publicized, although many of tJiose "Their
es, usually invited had refused to attend. lie says.
xJyguards. Last week, the Kev. Moon represenl
presided at the much publicized of getting
ig in 1975, the Bicentennial God Bless America purpose
1 Foundation, Festival at New York's Yankee centers."
on, sponsored Stadium. Publicity for the event Accord
nti/?.nl n? Iko. ?i . :??:? -1??:
auuiiai vruii- tuoi uic muun m ?<llll/xlllUII UCdllllgS 1
r of Sciences, million, which included a two-page his birth
k's Waldorf- advertisement in the New YoPk critics rc
r 300 of the Times. According to the New York followers
intists and Times, street toughs preyed on clairvovs
?Uo. ."reflect ? M^.follp.w^sivS
>f scientific stadium, and a variety of when he
stioned r-=^will
be fought in court.) The New York Times reports the
New York City Tax Commission is questioning UC's right
to its tax exemption, and the New York City Council of
Churches has rejected UC's request for membership. The
N Y. State Board of Regents has held up recognizing the
new seminary at Barrytown.
i.iVinm Hnnc fVio ITnifipatinn rhnrrh DPt mnph nf itc
OU VVlICi t UWO VIIV Vliuivwvivti VKVI. V.I - va ?vv;
money? Selling peanuts? That is part of it. During much
of their life in the Church, Psychology Today reports,
followers put in grueling dawn-to-dusk days peddling
peanuts, candles, candy, flowers, religious literature or
anything else UC feels will inspire donations. Often they
tell prospective customers they are collecting for
"Christian youth work," "a poor children's education
fund," or "a drug-abuse program." Followers rarely
mention UC or the Rev. Moon.
Psychology Today reports success at fund raising
becomes a test of devotion to the church. Team leaders
send groups off in the morning with songs, prayers, and
pep talks, encouraging competition among each other and
with other teams. "No matter what the weather is like,"
Stamper says, "whether raining or snowing, Moonies
must hit the streets and collect money for the Church."
Many women raising funds "are under so much pressure
that they quit menstruating," he adds.
Stamper, who performed fund-raising duties for three
months in the Unification Church, says each fund-raiser is
expected to collect from $80 to $100 a day. Specialized
fund-raising groups, known as Mobile Fund-Raising
Teams, are expected to collect $400 daily. "Those who fail
to meet a respectable amount of funds often spend the
evening praying for God's help the following day."
t spreoas
must have caught God's attention.
^Sn^SnfiBB an faster morning when Moon
was 16, he says he had a vision in
which Jesus appeared and told him
years ago, and told him to go to
^hBIiI America before it is too late."
Korean critics also say Moon
B-?yNES PrePared for his divine
K?* m mission by carrying on visionary
BP rl ^jSS prominent Biblical figures and by
' & *4aS\ studying religious sects and cults
?pV then popular in Japan and Korea.
In 1946, he began preaching his
; C 4tr<3 own version of Messianic
? Ej^jdr Christianity and gradually attracted
a small, devoted
following. He also changed his
h ~v5b! name from Yong Myung (Shining
I; ^ Dragon) Moon to a more celestial
Bltf Sun Myung (Shining Sun) Moon.
fewAs ^is sect 8rew' Moon ran afoul
of the authorities. He was ex
iMnnAai r%anr\ rv\ nn i ^ n i r\?^ k?r f Vi o
-bmhmiwi ""bw ^uiuiiiuiiiluicu uy mv
^ Presbyterian Church in 1948 and
<'"! was arrested various times by the
police?for conducting group sex
DIQ orgies, according to his Korean
critics; for anticommunist acers
demonstrated tivities, according to Moon.
y outside, accusing Moon
rtion and defamation of Psychology Today reports UC
tenniaL legend tells how Moon was imjnany
UC organizations, prisoned, tortured, and starved,
giaie Association tor the yet shared his faith and his food
of Principle, is designed with fellow inmates. Upon his
it new members from escape or release in 1950, he led a
ampuses throughout the band of followers on the mounVIoon
followers are sent to tainous trek to South Korea. He
impuses, reports ex-Moon demonstrated his supernatural
Stamper, where they strength by caiTying a crippled
as students and organize comrade on his bicycle?400 miles
er Moon organizations, of on t llf> hnr?rtlnKo?p I r\
? _ f -- v uunuituaiD, aci>ui unig i"
serve as presidents. one account; 600 miles on his back,
tuition is paid by the UC," according to another.
"As students, CARP
tatives have no intentions According to former convert
[ an education. Their sole Stamper, the Unification Church
is to set up recruiting bases its teachings on "Divine
Principle," a book compiled by the
ing to the Rev. Moon, his Rev. Moon. Sometimes called
with God began soon after "Thn ( 'nmnlotn^ T/vitnim/inf " W>ic
_ - ..v, i covauiciii, i "'10
in North Korea. Korean book is considered by Moon as the
'port Moon once told his "new, ultimate, final truth" to
, "From childhood, I was complete the Word of God and
int. 1 could see through provide the proper slant to the