News about Unificationists

Unification Church car company in North Korea makes profit

2009-07-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

An advertising board for Pyeonghwa Motors in Pyongyang

From www.nasdaq.com (July 15)

"A South Korean auto company operating in impoverished North Korea has made a profit for the first time since it opened there 11 years ago, officials said Wednesday. Pyonghwa Motors, owned by the Unification Church, said it posted a net profit of $700,000 last year."

Read more

Pyeonghwa is the Korean word for peace

See also

This long article in North Korean Economy Watch
Pyeonghwa Sells in North Korea - Wall Street Journal
Wikipedia article about Pyeonghwa Motors
Pyeonghwa Motors website (Korean language)

Libertarian Party members UK raise questions about the Universal Peace Federation

2009-07-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

.
Libertarian Party UK leader Ian Parker-Joseph spoke about monetary reform in the House of Lords last Monday at a conference organized jointly by Global Vision 2000 and the Universal Peace Federation UK. His speech was generally well received but got objection from the Universal Peace Federation.

Members of the Libertarian Party UK, who apparently were only partly aware of the identity of the Univeral Peace Federation, later discussed the discrepancies between Libertarian thought and Unificationists views in this blog.

The writer of this blog summarized the position of Global Vision 2000:

"Global Vision 2000 aims to rise to the challenge by seeking answers to pressing questions such as
• Who really runs the country, the world? Is it our democratically elected governments or unelected banking and financial oligarchs?
• Who really creates and controls credit and the money supply? Is it central banks or private banks?
• Why is usury taken for granted despite the fact that everyone is drowning in debt?
• Do we need to go beyond framing the debate in terms of regulation and reform and advocate rejection of the status quo?
• Why have our institutions, from the government, to political parties, to the media, to the unions been emasculated, and what are the new mediums for social and political transformation and new models of governance?
• Does the Bretton Woods global financial architecture and the military-industrial complex need to be dismantled?"

According to the author of this blog, Global Vision 2000 are pan-islamists with a broadly libertarian view. These views don't seem very much in alignment with those of the Universal Peace Federation.

Why did the UPF and Global Vision 2000 cooperate in organizing this conference?

The writer of the Libertarian Party members blog, answering this question, put it this way:

"As for the event: inter-faith dialogue. Or trying to form a cartel in other words; but they really don't seem compatible. No doubt they'll find some things they can agree upon: such as the stoning to death of sinners. "

Japan Unification Church offers prayers to stop abductions

2009-07-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

.
UPIAsia.com reported yesterday:

Tokyo, Japan — In the early summer heat, some 500 people gathered in a public park located within the government quarters of Tokyo last week, to offer quiet prayers for freedom of faith in Japan.

At this outdoor meeting, chairman of its organizing committee and president of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity in Japan, Rev. Eiji Tokuno, pointed out, "Over the past 40 years, more than 4,000 followers of our church were abducted and/or detained" by their relatives in order to change the members' minds.

The church bases the number on its own statistics. But a dozen books have recorded victims' accounts of how they were kidnapped, detained and deprogrammed by Christian pastors, professional deprogrammers and lawyers who were hired by the victims' kin, including their own parents.

Unification Church head of Japan steps down after scandal

2009-07-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

Image by Jason Michael via Flickr

Hanko, Japanese signature of 1258

The Japan Times reports today:

"The head of the Unification Church said Monday he will resign after some church members were arrested and indicted for allegedly selling expensive personal "hanko" seals by telling people they would suffer bad fortune if they did not buy them."

"Gentaro Kajikuri, a 72-year-old executive member of the church, will succeed him, Tokuno said."

In Japan hanko tends to refer to seals used in less important documents. According to this Wikipedia article:

"A Seal, in an East Asian context, is a general name for printing stamps and impressions thereof that are used in lieu of signatures in personal documents, office paperwork, contracts, art, or any item requiring acknowledgment or authorship."

Robert A. Schuller purchases Unification Church AmericanLife Network

2009-07-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

.
Entertainment News reports:
HTML clipboard

Robert A. Schuller, the minister who formerly co-hosted the weekly show “The Hour of Power,” is part of the team that has acquired the independent AmericanLife TV Network in an effort to change the face of “family friendly” programing. ALN, formerly owned by the Unification Church, has more than 12.7 million cable subscribers and a library of 700-plus hours of programing.

Read more here

Robert A. Schuller has appeared in this video endorsing the Universal Peace Federation of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Other related news articles
HTML clipboard

Robert Schuller taps his daughter to lead ministry's grand comeback - Los Angeles Times - June 22, 2009

The making of a mega-ministry - Los Angeles Times - June 22, 2009

Change of guard at the Crystal Cathedral - abc7.com - June 24, 2009
HTML clipboard
Robert Schuller's daughter hopes to salvage the Crystal Cathedral - Kansas City Star - Jul 3, 2009

The Crystal Cathedral of Robert Schuller, father of Robert A. Schuller

Video: Recent activities of the Universal Peace Federation

2009-07-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

The video lower down was posted on April 13, 2009 and lists some recent activities of the Universal Peace Federation. The video shows as a who's who of worldwide politicians attending to Moon's organization.
Don't these people realize they are submitting them to a new 'king of the world?' He may bring peace allright but what about those who don't want to bow down for him?
Rev. Moon himself made friendwhip with the Kim Il Sung, the late Korean dictator. Rev. Moon brought much money to North Korea, a nation that now is threatening the West with its secretly built nuclear arsenal. Is that the kind of peace we are wishing?

Sun Myung Moon meets Kim Il Sung in 1991
Screenshot from
http://www.reverendsunmyungmoon.org/life_biography.html

According to this article on Consortiumnews "The Rev. Sun Myung Moon's business empire, which includes the conservative Washington Times, paid millions of dollars to North Korea's communist leaders in the early 1990s when the hard-line government needed foreign currency to finance its weapons programs, according to U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency documents."

Go to the video on YouTube

Refreshing ideas about food posted on familyfed.org

2009-06-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

TML clipboard

An article by Holistic Health Counselor ChiYun Breland emphasizes the importance of the energetic qualities of food. The article is posted on the web site of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

She writes: "Why is it that in the summer we crave sweet, juicy fruit? Not only does fruit’s cooling properties help us feel refreshed, but the energetics of fruit is also very uplifting. Many fruits grow high up on trees close to the sun, soaking up the rays all day long. When we eat them, it’s like taking a bite of sunshine. Compare that with taking a vitamin C tablet. The tablet was created in a laboratory and produced in a factory. The energy in a tablet isn’t alive the way the energy in an orange is. The orange spent its lifetime absorbing the sun during the day and the moon and stars at night."

Read the entire article here

Read more of ChiYun Breland on her web site

Video: Gomer Pyle joins the Moonies

2009-06-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what to think of this video. Is this a joke or is this a serious 'Moonie?' See for yourself. The video is from The Defining Moment TV, which is a front group of Unificationists.

Frederick E. Sontag died at age 84

2009-06-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

Frederick E. Sontag, biographer of Sun Myung Moon, died at age 84

“Moonies” – Biographer of Unification Church Founder Sun Myung Moon, Frederick E. Sontag, 1924-2009
By Douglas Burton
June 26, 2009

"Just days prior to his retirement at Pomona, College where he had served as teacher and mentor to three generations of students, Frederick E. Sontag, author of the first fair and informative biography of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, died in Claremont, California. He was 84.

Sontag, the author of 30 books on philosophy and religion, and a distinguished professor of philosophy for 57 years at Pomona, College, was in the news nine years ago when he survived a knife attack by a delusional student, and then forgave him; according to the L.A. Times, he went on to testify for the student and assisted him to get legal counsel.

Sontag was an ordained minister with the United Church of Christ who never pastored a congregation but who found his calling in teaching and mentoring students over 57 years. He had a reputation for defending students who were on probation or at risk of expulsion, and in some cases he bailed them out of jail."
Read the entire article at NeatArticles.com

See also

Frederick E. Sontag dies at 84; Pomona College philosophy professor - Los Angeles Times - Elaine Woo- ‎Jun 19, 2009‎
Forgiving professor Frederick E. Sontag, 84, Dies - San Jose - Forgiving professor Frederick E. Sontag, 84, Dies. Associated Press.
Frederick E. Sontag dies at 84; Pomona College - Philosophy professor Frederick E. Sontag, who was to retire this month after 57 years of teaching, was Pomona College's longest-serving faculty member.

The marriage practice of Unificationists

2009-06-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

The following article is a review of two articles recently written about the marriage practice of Unificationists

"Moonie" Word Absent From Latest Features on Unification-Church Arranged Marriages

By Douglas Burton

"The Baltimore Sun is the second major daily newspaper to do a respectful feature article on the track record of arranged marriages of members of the Unification Church, or more properly, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. The Sun's story, by reporter Joseph Burris, was more than three months in production, according to sources in the FFWPU, but the resulting feature, in both the online edition and on the print edition of June 19, 2009 was the fairest and most revealing study yet of the Marriage-Blessing tradition of Rev. Sun Myung Moon. To his credit, Mr. Burris did not refer to the followers of Rev. Moon as "Moonies," a pejorative and a slur to church members."

Read the entire article on Ezine Articles