Back

Criticism of Unification Church in Japan

This article is of a series on
Criticism of religion
By religion
By religious figure
By text
Religious violence
Bibliographies
Related topics

The Unification Church in Japan was criticized by the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales for being involved in several controversies including “Spiritual sales”,[1] unlawful adoption practices[2] and a change of name to mask its purposes, according to reports.[3] The Unification Church was founded by Reverend Sun Myung Moon in 1954 in South Korea. Moon claimed to have had a vision of Jesus at age 16, prompting him to preach a new doctrine starting in 1946 in North Korea. After fleeing to South Korea, he established the church.[4]  It expanded to Japan in 1958, helped by the Cold War's anti-communist climate, connecting with Japanese politicians and establishing the Asian People's Anti-Communist League. The reunification of Korea and anti-communism were the main goals of the Unification Church.[5]

  1. ^ "WashingtonPost.com: The Cult Controversy". web.archive.org. 1997-05-06. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
  2. ^ "Editorial: Japan gov't needs to uncover Unification Church's murky adoption practice". Mainichi Daily News. 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
  3. ^ "Name change by Unification Church a baffling issue years later". The Asahi Shimbun. August 3, 2022.
  4. ^ "Unification Church | History & Beliefs | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2024-07-12. Retrieved 2024-07-25.
  5. ^ NURCAN and DOĞRUL, Elif Sercen and Mürsel (2022). UNIFICATION CHURCH AND JAPAN: A HISTORICAL REVIEW. pp. 553–554.

Developed by StudentB