Word: religion
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...charges religious leaders have made against the government. Moon himself sounded the call to rhetoric when he stood on the steps of the United States Court House after his indictment in 1981 and declared "I would not be standing here today if' my skin were white and my religion were Presbyterian. I am here today only because my skin is yellow and my religion is Unification Church...
...government began investigating Moon in 1975, shortly after Senator Robert Dole (R-Kansas) wrote his "Many Kansans" letter to Donald Alexander, then Commissioner of the IRS, Dole requested an audit of the Unification Church's finances, and questioned whether the Church was "based on a bona fide religion or mind-control techniques." Dole offered as evidence the claborately phrased hearsay, "Many Kansans have advised me that a major purpose of the organization is the accumulation of wealth and power and not the practice or furtherance of a religion...
Moon's Unification Church has become the first popular "echo" religion, or eastern reflection of western Christianity, according to Harvey Cox. It emphasizes filial piety, family values (Moon will suggest marriage partners to church members who seek his advice), and respect for the holy man. Moon preaches that contrary to traditional Christian theology, Christ was not meant to be crucified but to marry and father a race to supplant the fallen descendants of Adam...
Gordon Kauffman, Mallinckrodt Professor of Divinity, points out that conversion to any religion involves a change of mind, but says that the Unification Church does "seem to have a much stronger control of their believers than most religions in America now." He is careful to add that "this is not to say that they are much stronger thean most religions in the world now, or in the past...
...many ironies pervading the case, the government had to ensure that the trial itself dealt only with arcane questions of implied trust relationships, and entirely excluded the issue which was getting all the publicity: religion. Government prosecutors couldn't afford to raise the sorts of questions Bob Dole raised in 1976, because they knew what the answers would...