Sun Myung Moon (
Korean 문선명; born Mun Yong-myeong;
25 February 1920 --
3 September 2012) was a Korean religious leader, business magnate and media mogul. A self-proclaimed messiah,
Moon was the founder of the
Unification Church and of its widely noted "
Blessing" or mass wedding ceremony. Moon's extensive business interests included
News World Communications, an international news media corporation which founded
The Washington Times and owns other media in several countries, and
Tongil Group, a
South Korean business group (chaebol) active in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, tourism, and publishing.
Born in what is now
North Korea, Moon and his family converted to
Christianity when he was a child. In 1954, he founded the Unification Church in
Seoul, South Korea based on conservative, family-oriented teachings from new interpretations of the
Bible. Moon outlined these principles in his book, Explanation of the
Divine Principle. In the 1960s and
1970s, Moon was a leading figure in a wave of new religious movements that raised controversy on several issues.
Followers, who were then sometimes called "
Moonies", considered Moon their
True Father while critics labeled him a cult leader.
NYC 1976
By
Gordon Neufeld
On June 1, 1976, Korean evangelist
Reverend Sun Myung Moon stood before a half-filled
Yankee Stadium and declared, "
The world has lost faith in
America, and
New York has become a jungle of immorality and depravity." He went on to nominate himself as the cure: "
Ladies and gentlemen, if there is illness in your home, do you not need a doctor from outside?"
The atmosphere was chaotic. "Youths hurled programs and decorations, let loose balloons from an upper tier and ran through the corridors shouting and laughing," the
New York Times reported the next day. "Firecrackers and what appeared to be a smoke bomb added to the confusion."
The rally was the culmination of an intense promotional campaign which included the acquisition of a massive hotel, the
New Yorker, as the impromptu headquarters. Renamed the "
World Mission Center," the hotel went on to play a central role in the Unification Church for many years.
Meanwhile, Moon's "
God Bless America" campaign rolled on into
Washington, D.C. Speaking from the base of the
Washington Monument on
Sept. 18, 1976, with his covetous eyes on the
Capitol building just one mile distant, Moon proclaimed the supreme importance of his Unification Church: "Judaism was God's first central religion, and Christianity was the second.
The Unification Church is the third, coming with the new revelation that will fulfil the final chapter of God's
Providence." However, he warned: "The menace of communism is everywhere." If America did not quickly embrace God's new revelation, he implied, that great nation would also be engulfed.
For their part, Moon's followers believed the Washington Monument rally was just the beginning of a sudden transformation of America, and millions would flock to study Moon's new revelation. Ultimately, they prayed for the election of a president who would be totally obedient to the religious leader.
This had been Moon's goal from the beginning. In a speech given to church leaders on May 17,
1973, he declared, "But in our age, we must have an automatic theocracy to rule the world.
Separation between religion and politics is what
Satan likes most." (
Church members now claim that this is a poor translation of Moon's words; more likely it was just uncomfortably frank).
16mm film to digital transfer by
Gerald Santana
- published: 13 Jan 2014
- views: 4514