What is the Unification Church?

The Unification Church is what kind of organization, though?

To learn more about this organization, we had a conversation with a former Unification Church member. 

The “Family Federation for World Peace and Unification,” also known as the Unification Church, is a religious institution that developed on the Korean Peninsula’s Christian soil. The organization’s name was changed from “World Christian Association for the Unification of Spirituality” in May 1954. The organization’s name, which was translated from English, means “the church that spiritually links all Christian congregations.” It is a new Christian religion.

The acronym “Unification Association” was changed to “United Families for World Peace and Unification” in May 1994 to better reflect the organization’s emphasis on “the role of the family in society.” To avoid misunderstanding, it is listed as “Unification Association” on the Christian church side. This religious organization was established in the year 1954, founded by Moon Sung-myung. 

Unification Association, Korea Unification, World Peace

*Tomihiro Tanaka, Chairman

The headquarters of the Unification Church is located in Seoul, Korea. It has distinctively spread outside of the Korean peninsula to the rest of the world unlike many minor religious organizations in Korea and is believed to have branches in 193 different nations On July 16, 1964, it was granted legal status as a religious corporation in Japan. The International Union for Victory and Co-operation was founded in Japan by its creator, Moon Myung Moon, in April 1968 with the assistance of Nobusuke Kishi, the grandfather of Japanese Prime Minister Abe, and other individuals.

The Horror of the Unification Church

The Unification Church is said to be a cult, but why is it said to be dangerous? The following is an easy-to-understand summary of the reasons why it is said to be dangerous; its problems, incidents, and the amount of questionable donations.

Inspirational Business

The Unification Church is said to have caused approximately 122.4 billion yen in damage through psychic sales from 1987 to 2019, and some arrests have actually been made. It was reported that they obtained large amounts of money through so-called psychic sales, in which they sold ginseng, jars, and other items at prices several times higher than usual, claiming their efficacy to “open the spiritual world” and “purify the blood.” The believers who are forced to buy products at exorbitant prices are victims of the psychic sales method, but the believers who sell the psychic products are also mind-controlled and are forced to sell the products for free under a quota.

 Since the Unification Church’s psychic sales methods do not mention the name “Unification Church” but use familiar names such as “Happy Family Lecture” to attract customers, many victims purchase the products without realizing that they are being solicited.

Joint Wedding Ceremony

The Unification Church claims that believers can receive blessings and be happy by marrying each other jointly with a spouse chosen by the inspiration of Oyasama. Furthermore, for a certain period of time after the joint wedding, sexual intercourse between the spouses is forbidden, and even the positions and order of sexual intercourse are determined.

There are also many problems caused by joint weddings. Although the name has been changed to “Blessed Marriage” instead of “joint wedding,” similar problems are still occurring. The suffering of the Nisei, especially those who are forced to have a blessed marriage not of their own volition but because their parents are believers, is considerable.

 Conflicts of the Nisei

As mentioned above, the Unification Church encourages marriage between believers, and the children of such marriages are called “Blessed Second Generation” and are cherished by the church. Furthermore, since abortion is prohibited in the Unification Church, many families have many children. The so-called Nisei are forced to believe in the Unification Church simply because their parents are Unification Church members.

Some families are forced by their parents to believe in the church, not of their own volition, and some families collapse because they spend money on the church, and many Nisei suffer from mental disorders and anxiety.

Collusion with politicians

Former Prime Minister Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, founded the International Union of Victory Communities, an anti-conspiracy political organization in Japan, in cooperation with Unification Church founder Moon Myung Moon, in 1968. Former Prime Minister Abe and other Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers have been questioned about their participation in Unification Church-related lectures and events.

Since the Unification Church supports the LDP, it is not surprising that the Japanese government cannot come out strongly against the Unification Church, despite the fact that it has caused many victims. At a press conference on July 11, 2022, a former Unification Church official admitted that the mother of the gunman who shot former Prime Minister Abe was a member of the Unification Church. The media, on the other hand, was afraid to mention the name of the “religious group” or the “Unification Church,”. At the press conference, Unification Church officials stated that they had not made any donations to the LDP, but there is suspicion that they were involved in no small way.

Methods of Recruitment

The Unification Church is also seen as a problem because it targets university students and others who have just entered the world and recruits them as dummy members, cleverly concealing the fact that they are a religious organization. In particular, they target pure students and people who are easily gullible, so there are many cases of people being mind-controlled without knowing it.

Cases of defection by relatives

In order to get members of the Unification Church to leave the church, the anti-cult side of the church has often been the subject of lawsuits for persecution of religious freedom, claiming that the kidnapping and confinement of members by relatives to attend forced exit counseling, forced persuasion, and other problems on the anti-cult side are violations of human rights.

A former member of the Unification Church stated 

The doctrine of the Unification Church overly emphasizes that “even if you don’t understand, you must be willing to do what is right for you, even if you don’t understand, you must obey absolutely, even if it means canceling your own will”. For those who have come to recognize the existence of God, the failure of mankind is that at every turn they have disobeyed and disobeyed the leaders God has sent. And having ruined God’s wishes and His plan, he teaches that mankind must follow God and believe in the leaders He has sent, even if it means abandoning its own wishes and plans, in order to overturn its failures. They are told that if they do not do so, God will abandon them. This is repeated over and over again. Then, after watching such a lecture video, a Unification Church member follows up. They say, “XXX-san, God did not abandon you, but picked you up and chose you for a special mission.” Good for you. Let’s respond to that love of God.

If such things continue for 40 days and you are told that at this time, God has sent Wenming as a messiah, you will believe in him even if you deny your own will. If they think something is “wrong,” they question themselves and think, “I am wrong for thinking it is wrong,” and they somehow try to make themselves conform to what Moon Myung Moon and the Unification Church say. If you go that far, you are putting mind control on yourself. And you become more and more separated from the general society.

If this is true, they are dangerous.

Donations to the Unification Church

“Donation” means asking people to spend money for a certain purpose.

According to one theory, the founder, Moon Myung Moon, taught that 1/10 of one’s income should be donated. At the Unification Church’s press conference on July 11, 2022, he said that donations are not mandatory. However, we heard that second-generation Unification Church members are pressured to donate or they will go to hell. Instead of donations, they are sometimes said to collect money in the form of psychic sales, such as by selling Bunshun’s teaching books at the high price of 30 million yen per book.

On December 26, 2017, a former Unification Church member sought damages of about 43 million yen against the church and the state, claiming that she was forced to make large donations and was ordered to pay 11.4 million yen in compensation. With the Unification Church’s cozy relationship with the Liberal Democratic Party rumored to be in the spotlight along with the shooting of former Prime Minister Abe, we wonder what the future holds for the church.