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Unification Church

The Unification Church (or the Holy Spirit Association for Unification of World Christianity) is a religious movement founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon (also known as Reverend Moon).

The Unification Church is sometimes called a sect ;

by its detractors in the sense of religious, closed on itself and created in opposition to ideas and practices prevailing religious;
by the Moonies who, based on the definition that a cult is a group of people professing the same doctrine ( philosophical , religious , etc..) accept the designation of a sect, adding that the Unification Church is a cult just like all other churches in existence. However, they denounced the comparison of their movement to a cult as described above, because they indicate that the church is open to anyone, whatever their philosophical or religious beliefs. They indicate that it was created not in opposition but in the continuation of all previously established religions ( Christianity , Islam , Judaism , Buddhism , etc.)..

History

Sun Myung Moon said he received his mission of Jesus at the age of 16 years in his native village near Pyongyang ( North Korea ). He asked him to continue the task of building the kingdom of heaven on earth. He defines himself as the new Messiah , the True Parent, the only one who can truly understand and reveal the secrets of the Bible. The Unification Church was founded by him in Korea in 1954 under the name "Holy Spirit Association for Unification of World Christianity.

During the Cold War , the Sun Myung Moon is positioned against the communism (with close links with the far right in South Korea). Sun Myung Moon moves into the suburbs of New York. The headquarters of the movement is at the New Yorker Hotel in New York.

There would be 180 000 members of the Unification Church in the world, especially Korea, Japan and the United States. The church is banned in Singapore. Today the Reverend Moon is on good terms with the communist North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il. He hopes to play a positive role in promoting dialogue between the two Koreas.

Sun Myung Moon has founded several organizations in the fields of media, arts, education, health. He also started several businesses including an auto plant (Panda) and a company called Tong II. His wife is the founder and president of the Women's Federation for World Peace, WfWP.

Sun Myung Moon has worked through the movement Causa to denounce the communist ideology. He met with Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife in Moscow in 1990 and 1991 in Pyongyang, North Korea, Kim Il Sung North Korean leader. In France and Belgium, some members have had, personally, in the 80's, close links with various right-wing political parties like the French Front National or Belgian. In particular, in 1984 and 1989 Gustave Pordea then Ceyrac Pierre , were elected to Parliament on the list of French National Front.

Today an association of more than 300 lawyers worldwide (Lawyer Connection Society) advocates for alleged victims of the Moonies. Japan in 7 years (1980-1987), the sale of sacred objects told by members of the movement would have earned 3 billion euros.

In France, the Unification Church is now legally registered as a 1901 law.