Introduction
Unification church also commonly known as the Unification movement is a religious movement that was established in 1954 by a Korean spiritual leader Sun Myung Moon. Moon was notably known to have greatly indulged in political and social causes as well as venturing in various business activities. Ideally, the followers of this religion base their beliefs on Moon’s book entitled “Divine Principle”. The teachings contained in this books regarding Jesus are ultimately different from those illustrated by the Nicene Christianity (Quebedeaux, 1982). Although such principles also try to establish the theory of indemnity, the entire movement embarks on teaching its members about the importance of mass wedding and funeral ceremonies.
Nevertheless, the strong criticism that this religion has continued to receive is what have extensively attracted several controversies to the extent of it being perceived as being a dangerous sect or cult. For instance, regardless of the criticisms of the Christian and the Jewish scholars about this religious movement, there have also a number of controversies regarding its continuous participation in political matters, including anticommunism as well as supporting Korean reunification (Daschke et al., 2005). Therefore, the reason for selecting this topic is to try and illustrate some of the religious controversies surrounding the Unification Church as well as some of the religious teachings that its followers abide with.
Historical background
Sun Myung Moon, founder of this church was born in the late 1920 when Korea was being colonized by Japan. His birthday was documented on January 6th according to the conventional lunar calendar. Around 1930s, his family was engulfed by the conventional confucianist beliefs before converting to Christianity. This is what gave Moon the chance to be taught regularly during Sunday school. After that, the members of the Unification Church believe that Jesus had appeared to him and requested him to accomplish the work He did not accomplish because of His crucifixion. After taking time to pray, Moon ended up accepting that mission. Although he accepted to spread those news, he faced extensive government prosecution before founding the Unification Church.
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In the year 1940 onwards, Moon managed to spread the church further to the West before it was perceived as being a cult in the late 1970s. As a result of that, the majority of the parents protested the membership of their children with the church with the views that it had the potential of damaging their careers or family relationship. They decided to seek help from deprogrammers as well as filling civil lawsuits against the church (Quebedeaux, 1982). Finally, the controversies surrounding the Unification Movement made Moon to be accused of tax evasion after the congressional hearing in 1982. Despite of the intense criticism, in 1990s, the church emerged and spread further as a result of using various expansive international programs.
Description of the tradition
How do they envision the divine?
According to the teachings of the Unification Church, the three Adams consist of the ultimate earthly plans that God had on His people. The first Adam as well as his wife Eve were given the responsibility of establishing the kingdom of heaven here on earth through procreation. But because of the sin they committed, it ended up thwarting God’s plan on earth. To retrieve His power from the Roman Empire, Jesus Christ-the second Adam- was supposed to have married a perfect companion. Unfortunately, God’s plans were distracted again because Satan managed to invade Christ’s body before killing Him. According to the views of Moon, Jesus is not God but rather a perfect man who clearly understood all that God wanted from Him. The third Adam, normally termed as the Lord of the Second Advent by the Unification Church will take the opportunity of marrying a perfect couple, make a perfect family, as well as bring spiritual and physical salvation to His people (Beversluis, 2000).
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Unique characteristics of the tradition (myths, rituals, sacred art, etc)
The teachings of the Unification Church are basically based on the Divine Principles. The followers believe that the teachings contained in the Devine Principles are intended to interpret as well as fulfill the purpose of both the Old and the New Testament. It outlines the foundation of the Unification Church theology which in return highlights the various status of the Holy Scripture. Basically, it includes the reason as to why God decided to create human beings, what made man to sin, and restoration of humanity back to the relationship they had with God as well as to their original purpose (Yamamoto, 1994).
Furthermore, Moon is indentified by his followers to be the messiah who will assist to implant God’s love to them and also complete the unfinished work of Jesus Christ. The followers of the Unification Church also acknowledge the fact that it is through accepting their marriage blessings during mass wedding ceremonies is what can enable them establish the kingdom of God on earth. The followers of this movement also believe that the world was originally created as a result of the inner nature of God. The main reason as to why God created human beings was to experience the importance of love. Unfortunately, after Adam and Eve misused love (fornicated), selfish love ended up dominating humanity (Sidhu, 2015).
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How the religion is integrated and practiced in daily life
Moral code followed by practitioners
The moral code of its practitioners is based on the Devine Principles. Ideally, the reason as to why God created human beings was to make them to be the center of harmony. In order to experience and enjoy God’s love, the followers are supposed to participate in various religious activities, such as funeral services, blessing ceremonies, and so on. The reason for that is because it will enable them abandon selfish love, live a sinless life, and accomplish God’s original purpose for creating them (Daschke et al., 2005).
Daily practices that are part of the religion
Some of the daily activities that the members of the Unification Church do engage in include mass weeding ceremonies, funeral ceremonies, and heavenly deception. To the followers, mass weeding ceremonies are important because it has the potential to remove the couples from the roots of sinful humankind and engraft them sinless family of God. The funeral ceremonies consist of farewell prayers, public ceremony to celebrate the life of the deceased and finally burial services. Followers do engage in heavenly deception practices to entice people to give donations to the church (Lee, 2009). Furthermore, oriental deprivation methods are used to brainwash or lure teenagers to be members of the church.
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Religion’s path towards transformation and eschatology (understanding of the end or goal of the religion)
According to the teachings of the Unification Church, the path towards transformation entail first understanding the purpose god created mankind. To do so, it is important for the followers to ensure that they have exercised God’s love accordingly mass weeding ceremonies, and so on. This is vital because it will give them the opportunity to fulfill the unaccomplished work of Jesus Christ (Beversluis, 2000). Moreover, the followers are taught that God does not decide whether the spirit of a person will go to hell or heaven after death. Although it is the spirit that decides, human beings were created to enjoy or breathe God’s love after reaching perfection. Those who could have indulged in sinful acts end up becoming crippled spirits who cannot be in the position of breathing God’s love.
Conclusion
The basic text for the Unification movement is the Divine Principle. Creation and restoration are the two main set of guidelines of this text. One of the significance of these teachings is that it assists to teach human beings about the importance of performing good deeds which can in return assist in cancelling the side effects of bad deeds or sin. Moreover, such teachings are important to humans because it enables them to understand the need of shoving devotion and love to others. Despite that, one of the weaknesses that come as a result of this religion is the luring young generation to be followers through the use of oriental deprivation tactics. Another weakness arises from the heavenly deception tactics used by its followers make people make donations to their church. Therefore, the question that rises is whether it is true that Jesus Christ had to marry so as to fulfill God’s purpose of creation? Are the tactics used to raise finances by the followers morally correct?
References
Beversluis, J. D. (2000). Sourcebook of the world's religions: An interfaith guide to religion and spirituality. Novato, Calif: New World Library.
Daschke, D., Ashcraft, W. M., & New York University Press. (2005). New religious movements: A documentary reader. New York: New York University Press.
Lee, Y.-H. (2009). The Holy Spirit Movement in Korea: Its historical and theological development. Oxford University Press
Quebedeaux, R. (1982). Lifestyle, conversations with members of the Unification Church. Barrytown, N.Y: Unification Theological Seminary.
Sidhu, R. D. S. (2015). Christian Denominations : Their Faith And History. Authorhouse.
Yamamoto, J. I. (1994). Unification Church. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Zondervan San Francisco, Calif. : HarperSanFrancisco
