Sun Myung Moon is the founder of the Unification Church (established on May 1, 1954, in Seoul, South Korea). With his wife Hak Ja Han, he is co-leader of the Unification Movement.

Moon's followers see him as a new Messiah, the second coming of Christ, commissioned by Jesus Christ to complete the divine mission of establishing the Kingdom of God on earth. In 2004, members of Congress crowned him the "King of Peace" in ceremonies on Capitol Hill.

But when he first came to the United States, Rev. Moon met with enormous opposition, not the least from a Congressional probe accusing him of ties to the 1976 "Koreagate" influence-peddling scandal.

Unable to convict him of political malfeasance, the probe landed him in court on charges of tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Moon's defenders describe the ensuing 18 months in Danbury Federal Prison as an act of bigotry. Today Moon's Unification Church International controls industries all over the world, ranging from a third of the U.S. fishing industry to $300 million in cultural and political enterprises in the Washington, D.C. area alone, as the Washington Post has reported.

Moon has been denounced for "brainwashing" his followers to extract money from them (see mind control). Critics also have described him as a billionaire businessman and cult leader who uses his followers as political footsoldiers. Liberals denounce conservative figures like Jerry Falwell for compromising their stated beliefs to take his millions (Moon lent Falwell $3.5 million for his strugglilng Liberty University.) His followers love him in spite of the criticisms, which they have often portrayed as an organized smear campaign.

The American press began using the term "Moonies" in the 1970s (short for "Moon children"), and the church wore the term as a badge of pride for nearly 20 years until publically rejecting the term as a pejorative intended to tarnish their image. And while the movement is out of the public eye, it has risen as an influential force in American civic life.

Shunned as a convicted felon by Japan and the European Union, Moon has come to be seen as a martyr by his followers and even by some outside conservatives. By 2003, Unificationist missionaries were working for their longtime goal of sex purity in New Jersey public schools, on a government abstinence-based sex education grant.

Source from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Myung_Moon

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A campaign to put the cross in the dumpster concludes in a Senate Ballroom
Faith no more: In response to Rev. Moon's teachings on the cross, pastor John Kingara of Worcester, MA puts the symbol of Christianity out with the trash during the 2003 "cross for a crown" roadshow. Preachers were given gold watches manufactured by Moon's jewelry firm (Source: Moon's Family Federation Web site before being scrubbed in July 2004 by cult members)

"My enemies are America and Christianity." --Sun Myung Moon in 1993.

Few accounts of the Mar. 23 event have explained that it was the culmination of a Moon roadshow that would strike most Christian voters as an open expression of blasphemy. How blasphemous? We're talking "The Omen IV." The slogan: "Tear Down the Cross/Who is Rev. Moon?" Moon's pastors called for preachers in as many as 300 American churches to strip walls of the cross, replacing it with the symbol of a crown. Congressmen gave Moon a crown Mar. 23. Get it?

On Moon's Web site, Kingara (pictured above) says:

The fact that the Cross is a symbol of division, shame, suffering and bloodshed prove that it is not of God but Satan. On this 18th day of April 2003, we are beginning a new history. Pastors, please, help me to bring the cross down, because it is not of God but the devil."

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Moon's Seduction of the Black Community

News Advisory:

-- Inner-City D.C. Boys Capture Gold Medal for Basketball at International Sports Meet
-- Program Helps Youths Reject Gangs, Violence, Drugs
-- Medallists to Put on A Demonstration Game!

Former guard Leon got shot in the neck two months ago. Forward Rufus has been shot at, and at one point lived on the streets for three months after being burned out of his home. Guard Diamond, last year's star player and an ardent church worker, was shot to death on his doorstep in October.

Fourteen young men and six young women, most of them from D.C., cast aside their violence- and tragedy-filled lives for 7 days late last month to compete at the Interreligious Peace Sports Festival (IPSF) in Seoul, South Korea. Guided by their zeal for basketball and (for some) a newfound faith in God, the men beat an array of talented semiprofessional teams at the tournament to capture the gold medal in basketball. In the final, the Americans nipped the powerful Polish team by 2 points in overtime. And the women won the bronze after losing (by 6 points) only to the dominant Russian team.

"There is still strength in communities where violence is rampant," said Pastor Greg Thomas, pastor of Second St. James Baptist Church in Southeast D.C. and the team's spiritual director. "We just have to tap in to that. And the partnership between my church's inner-city ministry and the American Clergy Leadership Conference is doing just that - restoring hope and a sense of purity to the minds of these young people through the basketball program."

The ACLC, founded by Korean religious leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, helped sponsor the men's team with both funds and support personnel.

The youths, some had never before been on an airplane or left the District, not only played well but grew greatly in their vision and self-concept as they talked with other athletes from over a score of countries and many religions, including Islam, Confucianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

The team coach, spiritual director, and players (wearing their tournament uniforms and gold medals) will be on hand for statements to the press and interviews.

Sources from: http://www.ambassadorsforpeace.info/news/2004/0702.htm
http://www.gorenfeld.net/blog/
http://www.usnewswire.com/