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(This article originally appeared in the Feb. 5, 1988 issue of Christianity Today.)

Efforts to form a new political coalition targeted at conservatives and evangelical Christians are raising questions about the nature of political alliances and the growing influence of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. Called the American Freedom Coalition (AFC), the group seeks to unite conservatives to work toward common goals, such as traditional values, the sanctity of life, and anticommunism.

Supporters say political coalitions with all groups are necessary to achieve desired goals, but some political observers advise caution. "What the American Freedom Coalition is trying to do is sign up evangelical Christians for a wide variety of broadly stated goals which could have unforeseen applications in the years to come," said Robert Dugan, director of the National Association of Evangelicals' Washington Office on Public Affairs. "I'd have no trouble at all cooperating with the American Freedom Coalition, or for that matter the Unification Church, on a specific piece of legislation we supported, but to join a coalition of which they are a major partner, for a future agenda of political input which is unspecified, I think is extremely dangerous and plays into their hands," he said.

A supra-coalition
According to its promotional booklet, AFC is a "supra-coalition with a higher and more comprehensive goal than the sum total of its parts." It "serves as a catalyst to unite a vast array of groups, activists, churches and community organizations in cooperative and effective action." More than 300,000 individuals in all 50 states have joined AFC since its inception in April 1987.

AFC leadership comes from a five-person national board of directors with Robert Grant, founder and chairman of the lobby group Christian Voice, acting as president and national spokesman. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Ralph Abernathy is AFC vice-president, and former Congressmen Richard Ichord (D-Mo.) and Bob Wilson (R-Calif.) are cochairmen of the board. Conservative fund raiser Richard Viguerie serves as secretary.

The CAUSA connection
A major problem for the group has been continuing rumors of association with the Unification Church. Grant, a graduate of Wheaton College and Fuller Theological Seminary, refused to be directly interviewed by Christianity Today, but agreed to respond on paper to submitted questions. Grant acknowledged that he looked to "recruit a broad base" from his contacts with CAUSA, a political organization that was founded by Sun Myung Moon, which receives funds from "business interests connected with the Unification Church," and is led by Unification official and Moon associate Bo Hi Pak.

Grant said that upon his direct solicitation, CAUSA USA president Philip Sanchez and CAUSA International president Bo Hi Pak agreed to help AFC in several ways:

• Time on the program agenda of all CAUSA conferences in order to enable AFC board members to present the goals of the AFC and to solicit members.
• Access to the names of thousands of attendees who have participated in previous CAUSA conferences.
• The services of one staff member per state to help in reaching out to the CAUSA "graduates" and to encourage them to join the AFC, as well as the services of several others to help the new AFC Office in Washington, D.C.

State directors for Christian Voice and the American Constitution Committee (ACC), a CAUSA project, lead the state AFC organizations. Grant said the AFC has approximately 65 CAUSA/ACC employees nationwide. According to information provided to Christianity Today by current and former AFC members, the majority of AFC administrative officers, including the executive director, administrative director, and publications editor are members of the Unification Church and have been officials of CAUSA and ACC.

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