by VorJack
NPR has a story about the Unification Church of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the problems it’s having with losing members and the attempts it’s making to win them back. The text and a link to the audio are here.
Basically, the American wing of the church has always been modest in number, and those numbers have been declining:
No one knows how many Unificationists there are worldwide. In the U.S., estimates range from 15,000 to 25,000. But the numbers have dropped since the 1970s, in part because many “blessed” children have left the fold. Jason Agress left when he was 14, after he began dating a girl over his parents’ objections.
“Everything was a system of control,” he says. “That’s what it seemed to me like. They were kind of breeding us to be a certain way. And if you weren’t that way, there was something wrong with you.”
D.F. Spratt agrees. She asked that her full name not be used because she worries the stigma of being once associated with the church could hurt her career. Spratt says she used to have nightmares about being married in a mass blessing to someone she didn’t know. The pressure of being blessed, and so different from her peers, drove her away — though with some trepidation.
“Back then, if you left the church, you fell off the face of the earth,” she says. “It’s the worst thing you could do. One person told us at Sunday school once that blessed children who fall out of the church go to a box underneath of hell.”
The decline isn’t surprising in a country were more and more young people are drifting away from religion. The Unification Church in particular must be suffering from the reputation brought on by the antics of its founder – the famous NYT ad announcing his status as Messiah, the bizarre coronation ceremony at the Capitol. Then there’s his status as the crazy uncle of the Republican party, which has become increasingly unpopular after the war … come to think of it, how does the Unification Church still exist?
Anyway, the church seems to recognize its problems and is not currently focused on finding new members. Instead, it hopes to win back the young members who have dropped out. To do this, it’s emulating the flashy, rock-n-roll style of the modern mega-church. Music and technology, bells and whistles, all geared towards bringing back those kids of today with their internets and their tweeter and their starbucks coffee.
However, last word goes to one of the apostates from above, who has a wonderfully practical view of the situation:
For her part, D.F. Spratt, who is happily married to a non-Unification member, sees no reason to return.
“I don’t believe in the theology,” she says. “And I don’t think there’s necessarily anything missing or wrong in my present life. So if I felt there was a void and I needed to fill it, maybe that would help. But I don’t.”
Agree with everything except one minor clause: “after the war” Our Dear Leader Hopey Changey is expanding the war.
Pretty sure, “after the war” meant “after beginning the war,” not “after the war ended.”
At least from the context that seems to be the case.
Lots of politicians in both parties played games with this guy, as long as there was money to be made. Some of this had to do with the Unification Church’s ownership of a major arms manufacturing company in Korea. I think there was some dim idea that he would be able to spread his crusade into North Korea.
Does Rev. Moonie still own the Washington Times?
Oh this is so embarrassing… as a Korean myself I can tell you that he’s not taken very seriously in Korea, although rampant Evangelism/Pentecostal/Protestantism is a huge problem…, which just worries me as there aren’t many atheist outlets in Asia.
His religion will probably die out when he dies. Too bad that didn’t happen with Christianity and Islam
I think most people argue to reinforce their emotions, those who pronounce they argue from reason even more so. While one can talk of many bad things done in the name of religion, I believe more disinterested good has come from ‘believers’ than ‘non believers’. The emotive words antics, bizarre and crazy merely seem to stem from superficial judgements. Ms Spratt’s first ‘last word’ is that she doesn’t ‘believe’. Time will tell.
“I believe more disinterested good has come from ‘believers’ than ‘non believers’.”
Why?
Do you mean why do I belive or why is it so? Re. the first question, that is my impression from what I see – and, re. the second, I think it is because religion teaches more about moral responsibility than does ‘non religion’. It seems pretty obvious. Many talk of the terrible things done in the name of religion, but I think more terrible things came out of the atheistic ‘terror’ of the French Revolution than what came before, and even more terror out of Communism. It can be distasteful to criticize individuals, but brilliant as he was, Bertrand Russell’s atheism didn’t seem to help him in his personal relationships and search for happiness. But if Ms. Spratt feels there anything missing or wrong in my present life, good luch to her (of course, she may still be a believer).
I was asking why you believe that more disinterested good has come from believers than from non-believers. Your answer cites no sources nor anything that really seems like disinterested good done by believers. You have merely blamed atheism for the negative aspects of the French Terror and Communism, and pointed out that being an atheist didn’t help one particular individual in personal relationships. You are making the classic mistake of thinking that atheism is a belief system. It’s a lack of belief. Any atheist who does good is by definition not doing it because they think it will lead to a reward in the afterlife, or help them avoid a punishment. Believers could do that as well, but they are steeped in a system which predisposes them to act based on what might happen to them later. You haven’t shown me where believers have done “disinterested” good over the centuries.
“I think it is because religion teaches more about moral responsibility than does ‘non religion’.”
That is an interesting take on the idea of morals. So are you saying Christianity makes you more moral? I don’t think that Christianity gives you any more morals than you get through society. Either way you have to make a choice: follow the rules, or don’t. Regardless of religion there are a million other factors that shape how a person acts and thinks. I know many Christians who I would consider very moral, and others that should be silently launched into the sun to stop them from hurting everyone around them. So many people abuse this amazing religious moral system to do a propagate VERY evil things.
I think overall that people who do good things out of the kindness of their hearts are a million times more virtuous than people who do good things to score points so maybe their God will let them into paradise.
This article seems to only focus on america but i think the unification church is still existing well. It’s said in america it’s the hardest but i know many faithful people from there :) . I think this only concentrates on some bad things, so it’s obviously going to look bad but it’s not. not at all.