2 of 2

Discussing the mass mailing, Garratt cited charges against the Unification Church that she said needed to be answered. One of the charges, she said, "is that we teach [that] Rev. Moon is God. We don't. We don't believe the messiah is God. Where we differ from certain denominations in Christianity is we don't believe that Jesus is God himself. He's a man who made the choice to give his life utterly to God."

The nickname "Moonies" also is a sore spot. "You should properly call us Unificationists," Garratt said. "Christianity Today doesn't call Jews 'kikes,' it doesn't call blacks 'niggers,' and it shouldn't call us 'Moonies.'"

To distribute the books and video tapes, the organization purchased a mailing list that Garratt said "wasn't such an accurate list." An associate pastor in Little Rock received the package, for example, but Simon Kistemaker, chairman of the New Testament department at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, and secretary-treasurer of the Evangelical Theological Society, did not.

Moon's organization claims 3 million members in more than 120 countries. Garratt said the Unification Church's U.S. membership runs between 40,000 and 45,000. However Bromley, author of six books on new religions, estimates the movement's U.S. membership at 3,500. Its best foothold is in Japan where the group places its membership at 300,000. However, Yoshikazu Socjima, former editor of the organization's newspaper in Tokyo and the highest Unification Church leader to defect, pals Japanese membership at 8,000.

Soejima said Japanese adherents have forwarded at (cast $800,000 to the United States during the past nine years. He said most of the money came from the profits of the Tokyo-based Happy World, Inc., a Unification Church-related wholesaler and retailer of consumer products. Moon's organization invests in a wide range of businesses in several states and foreign countries. In Uruguay, the Unification Church owns a daily newspaper, the nation's fourth largest bank, and its largest luxury hotel.

Observers say the largest consumer of Unification funds in the United Stales is the Washington Times, a newspaper that has lost more than $150 million since Moon started it in 1982. "He [Moon] may be willing to incur fairly large losses … to project his conservative views on a national level," Bromley said. In addition to deficits in its newspaper publishing, Bromley said Moon's organization has lost money in its boat-making and fishing operations, on the anti-Communist Korean War movie Inchon, and on a New York City office building that was poorly renovated and will require additional work.

Chris Elkins, a former Unification Church operative who serves on the staff of First Baptist Church in Little Rock, said Christians should try to evangelize Moon's followers. "People join the Unification Church looking for truth and love, but 60 to 70 percent of them left one of our churches—a Christian church. The Unification Church is a real message to the [Christian] church to become what we ought to be … to build disciples.

"We make a false assumption that all of Moon's followers are 100 percent sold out. That's not true," he said. "They're individuals, they question, they doubt. I think they're still very reachable."

This article originally appeared in the April 19, 1985, issue of Christianity Today.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

In Perspective: Why Are Pastors Flying to Moon | Recent black clergy firings are only the latest chapter in Unification Church's efforts to court Christian leaders.

CT Classic: Unification Church Ties Haunt New Coalition | Are followers of Sun Myung Moon expanding their influence among conservative Christians? (Feb. 5, 1998)

CT Classic: Sun Myung Moon's Followers Recruit Christians to Assist in Battle Against Communism | Funded by the Unification Church, CAUSA seeks an interfaith effort based on Moon's theology. (June 14, 1985)

CT Classic: With Their Leader in Prison, Moonies Pursue Legitimacy | Tim LaHaye and other Christians are helping the Unification Church battle the perceived threat of government intrusion. (September 7, 1984)

first page |  2 of 2

share this page

August (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45