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ausetkmt · 1 year

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Diane Benscoter, former member of the Unification Church cult and founder of Antidote.ngo, joins Reliable Sources to explain the similarities between cult leaders and former President Donald Trump.

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Comments:

Shawn The Great:

It is a cult when your leaders says “Don’t believe what you are hearing or seeing” I [have] never been in a cult but that seems like a cult to me.

teeohpee:

The only thing I remember from high school, beside the bullying, was a 2 hour special assembly about how not to get trapped in a cult. I’m so happy I paid attention that day. I actually used the tactics I learned at the don’t-get-trapped-in-a-cult assembly a few years later when the Moonies tried to get me while I was sitting by myself in Washington Square Park. Every school in the nation should be holding Don’t Get Trapped In A Cult assemblies.

B Bodziak:

[Trump’s] first wife wrote in her book that came out around 2001 said Trump only had 2 hobbies: Golfing and repeatedly watching Hitler’s speeches for hours and hours. She wrote this long before he decided to run for office. So, the similarities between the two wasn’t necessarily coincidental.

Comment: Sun Myung Moon also studied Hitler and other dictators. Moon repeatedly watched the Nazi propaganda film, “Triumph of the Will” and it showed in his mannerism at his September 1974 Madison Square Garden speech.

▲ Sun Myung Moon in 1974

AllyC890:

[Trump] also must have studied some about Mussolini because he copies his facial expressions–specifically jutting his jaw out and raising his face up, just as Mussolini did.

Anthony Lagunas:

Don’t forget Donnie himself has said “ If you tell a lie enough times people will believe it”.

Golgotha_Mythos69:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”

~Hannah Arendt

TheBioExplorer:

I’ve been saying this ever since he kept doing the rallies even after winning his first term. Presidents have done speeches and stuff but these rallies were different. I watched some of his closer. From the choices of music that target his demographic to the carnival like atmosphere and repeated phrases to get repeated responses. It’s purely psychological manipulation. This is why even after being sworn in he immediately started scheduling more even though he should have been figuring out how to govern. He put off appointing people and other critical things…. but he kept up the rallies. Presidents don’t need to do rallies within a month of taking office and keep them up all through their term. They might go back on the campaign trail at some point in the 2nd half of their term but not like him.

Comment: Sun Myung Moon kept doing rallies, which the members had to support, even flying from country to country to fill the halls. Moon was so unpopular in Korea that his first rallies were held in the US. Only then did he return to Korea, claiming he was loved in the US. He did have photos of himself with Richard Nixon, and others, to wave around. The UC was always prepared for every photo-op and used the images for maximum leverage.

▲ Sun Myung Moon at his September 18, 1974, Madison Square Gardens rally. He used to practice in front of a mirror.

Joni Beehive:

I’ve lost dear old close friends of 30-40 years in the past 6 years over political beliefs. The current state of affairs in the United States is so heartbreaking and terrifying.

andan04:

An obvious trait of a cult is the pressure to conform to the leader and group. This is accomplished by suppressing independent thought with the threat of ostracization. Ask Liz Cheney if she knows anything about that.

M L.:

When lies have no consequences a democracy cannot exist.

David J.:

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, who taught at Harvard Medical School, wrote a paper titled Cult Formation in the early 1980s. He delineated primary characteristics, which are the most common features shared by destructive cults like Trumpism.

1. A charismatic leader, who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose power. That is a living leader, who has no meaningful accountability and becomes the single most defining element of the group and its source of power and authority.

2. A process of indoctrination or education is in use that can be seen as coercive persuasion or thought reform commonly called “brainwashing”.

The culmination of this process can be seen by members of the group often doing things that are not in their own best interest, but consistently in the best interest of its leader.

3. The exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling members.

Here are some warning signs of a potentially unsafe group or leader.

• Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.

• No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.

• No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget or expenses, such as an independently audited financial statement.

• Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.

• Former followers are always wrong for leaving, negative or even evil.

• The group/leader is always right.

• The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth” or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is acceptable or credible.

“This man is a genius at every level! Why can’t we all be like him? He must be something special, and we are clearly not. Ergo, let’s listen to him since he knows best.” — Trump supporters

Mark Green:

Attempting to use empathetic discussion with those who have fallen into a cult is perhaps the only way to slowly help them extract themselves from their delusion. This is not an easy process and it is especially difficult when they also keep getting cult supporting messages every day from other cult members as well as media sources such as Fox, OAN, Newsmax, etc. There is a small part of them, however, that knows they have accepted lies as truth and it is important to try to reach that part of themselves so they can work on themselves when they’re alone.

QueenFae21:

As a former cult member myself, i agree the first place you gotta get to is empathy for the people in there. Understand that they aren’t idiots or evil they were simply misled into a really deep hole and now they can’t even see daylight anymore, yet they think they are being bathed in the sunlight of truth. It’s unproductive to argue with them since they won’t accept anything that doesn’t align with dear leader’s word.

Nancy Chace:

Good interview. More like this is needed in the national discussion. What are the “tools of communication” she mentioned that can help diffuse this? She is a good example of the young people that were recruited by the “Unification church” back in the 70s. Apparently this happened all over the country shortly after the Vietnam war. There was a lot of it on the west coast. Glad she was one of the ones who got out if it. Thanks for your report.

David J:

“I have a chapter in the book on malignant narcissism as a characteristic of destructive cult leaders. These are people who have a deep need for grandiosity, to be the center of attention, who need to control others, and who lack empathy and lie without hesitation. These are psychological traits perfectly attuned to manipulation and projection.

But the malignant part is about sociopathic tendencies. Almost every cult leader thinks he’s above the law, which is why he’s allowed to persecute and harass or harm anyone he wants. When someone really believes this, they can rationalize all kinds of destructive behavior.” — Steven Hassan, The Cult of Trump

Narcissistic cult leaders like Trump thrive on chaos. They’ll create crisis situations. When they walk in the room, you never know if they’re going to be good and kind-hearted or be mean and call someone out or create some kind of dangerous situation.

A cult leader is also a master of manipulating information, so that his followers will only trust details that come from him. This is what Trump accomplishes every time he cries “fake news” or discredits a reporter as “terrible” or “nasty.” He knows that Americans have access to all sorts of information, so he has to make his followers distrust other sources.

A cult environment like “Q” and Trumpism discourages critical thinking, making it hard to voice doubts, when everyone around you is displaying dogmatic faith and obedience to their leader. A process of indoctrination is in use that can be seen as coercive persuasion, or thought reform, commonly called “brainwashing”. The resulting internal conflict, known as cognitive dissonance, keeps them trapped, as each compromise makes it more painful to admit that you’ve been deceived..

Steven Hassan, is an expert in cults and an ex-Moonie cult member (as in the Unification Church, founded by a Korean businessman, Sun Myung Moon), published “The Cult of Trump” last spring. When polled, Trump cultists come across as having abandoned their commitment to libertarianism, family values or simple logic in favor of Trump worship. They’re lost to paranoia and farcical talking points, just the way Hassan was lost to Sun Myung Moon..

Hassan remembers, during his Moonie days, shouting, “I don’t care if Moon is like Adolf-H. I’ve chosen to follow him, and I’ll follow him to the end.“ Hassan finally broke free, and became an expert on cults and how to leave them. He has spent his career proving it’s possible.

#cults #lies #brain manipulation #trump #trump cult #qanon #q #cult of trump #brain washing #white supremacy #white lies #religious games #religion

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whatisonthemoon · 2 years

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“Rather than berating a loved one who references QAnon, she said people have to focus on rebuilding their relationships and bridging the ideological divide respectfully.“

#qanon #diane benscoter #unification church #moonies

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gatheringbones · 3 years

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[“It’s work to think, especially about things you don’t want to think about,” confessed Diane Benscoter, an ex-member of the Unification Church (aka the Moonies, an infamous ’70s-era religious movement). “It’s a relief not to have to.” Thought-terminating clichés provide that temporary psychological sedative. Jones had a whole repertoire of these phrases, which he’d whip out whenever a follower’s question or concern needed silencing. “It’s all the media’s fault—don’t believe them” was a go-to whenever someone brought up a piece of news that challenged him. On the day of the tragedy, he delivered phrases like “It’s out of our hands,” “[The] choice is not ours now,” and “Everybody dies” to shut down dissenters like Christine Miller.

In Heaven’s Gate, Ti and Do frequently repeated rote sayings like “Every religion is less than the Truth” to halt consideration of other belief systems. To muzzle accusations that their theories were illogical, they argued that if “the TRUTH about the Evolutionary Level Above Human” was not yet clear to you, it wasn’t their fault. You simply hadn’t been “bestowed the gift of recognition.”* Having thought-terminating clichés like these meant that whenever difficult queries arose—like, how can Jonestown be our only good option if we’re all starving? Or, is there a way to achieve enlightenment without killing ourselves?—you had a simple, catchily packaged answer telling you not to worry about it. Digging for more information is poison to a power abuser; thought-terminating clichés squash independent thinking. This simultaneously puts the follower in their place and lets them off the hook. If “It’s all the media’s fault” is burned into your brain, you quickly learn to use the media as a scapegoat and not consider any other causes for your suffering. If raising too many questions means you simply don’t have the gift of recognition, then eventually you’re going to stop asking, because the gift of recognition is what you want more than anything in the world.

(…) I can think of so many motives explaining why someone might enter a community like the Peoples Temple or Heaven’s Gate. Maybe it’s because life is hard and they want to make it better. Because someone promised they could help. Maybe they want their time on Earth to feel more meaningful. Maybe they’re sick of feeling so alone. Maybe they want new friends. Or a new family. Or a change of scenery. Maybe someone they love is joining. Maybe everybody is joining. Maybe it just seems like an adventure. The majority leave before things get deadly, but the reasons some don’t might also sound familiar. They’re the same reasons you might put off a necessary breakup: denial, listlessness, social stresses, fear they might seek revenge, lack of money, lack of outside support, doubt that you’ll be able to find something better, and the sheer hope that your current situation will improve—go back to how it was at the start—if only you hold on a few more months, commit a fraction more.

The behavioral economic theory of loss aversion says that human beings generally feel losses (of time, money, pride, etc.) much more acutely than gains; so psychologically, we’re willing to do a lot of work to avoid looking defeats in the eye. Irrationally, we tend to stay in negative situations, from crappy relationships to lousy investments to cults, telling ourselves that a win is just around the corner, so we don’t have to admit to ourselves that things just didn’t work out and we should cut our losses. It’s an emotional example of the sunk cost fallacy, or people’s tendency to think that resources already spent justify spending even more. We’ve been in it this long, we might as well keep going.

As with confirmation bias, not even the smartest, most judicious people are immune to loss aversion. It’s deeply embedded. I’ve been in my fair share of toxic one-on-one relationships, and noticing the similarities between abusive partners and cultish leaders has been, to say the least, humbling. So while power abuse can look like poisoned punch and purple shrouds, the linchpin is what it sounds like. If a form of language cues you to have an instant emotional response while also halting you from asking further questions, or makes you feel “chosen” just for showing up, or allows you to morally divorce yourself from some one-dimensionally inferior other, it’s language worth challenging. The labels and euphemisms probably won’t kill you, but if you’re after more than just basic survival, surely the most fulfilling life is the one you narrate yourself.”]

Amanda Montell, Cultish

#amanda montell #currently reading

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themirthofanation · 2 years

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jessica-rea-blog · 7 years

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Blog 7

“AT LEAST THREE YEARS ago, my fathers God stopped being my God. His church stopped being my church. And yet, today, because I’m a coward, I let myself be initiated into that church. I let my father baptize me in all three names of that God who isn’t mine any more. My God has another name.”

At lot of the time people get attached to the religion of their parents and keep going and follow their tradition for the sake of their parents feelings. In a personal testimony, I am a confirmed but I did not do it because I wanted to become an adult in the Catholic church, but rather because I knew that it would make my Irish Catholic mother happy. My brother who was raised in the same household did not end up getting confirmed regardless of going through all of the years of religious education.

The difference between my brother and I relates to the parable of the sower, in that I did what was easy, what would appease my mother, I was the seeds that grew where they fell, but did not plant their roots deep. My brother on the other hand spent his time and made a decision about religion and gained more knowledge and truth about himself by not being confirmed, he is the seeds the took longer to be properly planted but grew plentifully.

The parable breaks down believers and non-believers in a way that people can understand and know how each person is treating the word of the Lord.

“19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.”

“20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.”

“22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

“23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Though Lauren is not a christian, she often categorizes people in the same what that this parable does when they learn about Earthseed. People like Travis would be considered to be a seed that falls on good soil, someone who has hear the word of Earthseed, understands, and is willing to participate. Grayson is someone who has joined the group for his daughter, and this makes Lauren trust him less because he is not there for religious reasons. Grayson would be the seed falling among thorns, the worries of his life and of his daughters life make him follow Earthseed for not the best reasons, making it not fruitful.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ex_moonie_diane_benscoter_how_cults_think?language=en

(it wont let me embed the video) :(

This tedTalk by Diane Benscoter is a talk through how she got involved in a cult, and it reminds me very much of Earthseed and how it got started, this was her mentality when she joined said cult, “I was young, I was naive, and I was pretty lost in my world. I was really idealistic. These easy ideas to complex questions are very appealing when you are emotionally vulnerable. What happens is that circular logic takes over.” This kind of emotional playing field reminds me of what some of the members of Earthseed were feelings. Lost in their world, a world that has betrayed them, so they look for answers where they can make sense of what is going on.

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 3 years

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Born into a Religious Cult – Reclaiming Life

youtube

Ray and Sonya Pearson are sisters who were born into the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon

_______________________________

What Own Your Brain Is About? – Diane Benscoter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjH9Tl6spB0

Understanding how mental manipulation works can empower you and those you love. The more we share this information, the more we can take power away from those who use mental manipulation to feed their addiction to power and money.

#Unification Church #Sun Myung Moon #Pearson #Diane Benscoter

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twerking-class-citizen · 10 years

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I was just watching a TedTalk (Head Games S. 1 Ep. 13) and this is what I heard:

"For those of you who aren't familiar with memetics, a meme has been defined as an idea that replicates in the human brain and moves from brain to brain like a virus."

There you have it. Memes are a mental sickness.

#memes #tedtalks #Diane Benscoter #cults

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thetrichotomousexploration-blog · 12 years

Video

youtube

Diane Benscoter talks about how she joined the Moonies -- and stayed for five long years. She shares an insider's perspective on cults and extremist movements, and proposes a new way to think about today's most troubling conflicts.

#Moonies #Unification Church #Diane Benscoter #Cults

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 2 years

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Former UC cult member: Trump used techniques and tactics exactly the same as a cult

youtube

Diane Benscoter, former member of the Unification Church cult and founder of Antidote.ngo, joins Reliable Sources to explain the similarities between cult leaders and former President Donald Trump.

_________________________________

Comments:

Shawn The Great:

It is a cult when your leaders says “Don’t believe what you are hearing or seeing” I [have] never been in a cult but that seems like a cult to me.

teeohpee:

B Bodziak:

[Trump’s] first wife wrote in her book that came out around 2001 said Trump only had 2 hobbies: Golfing and repeatedly watching Hitler's speeches for hours and hours. She wrote this long before he decided to run for office. So, the similarities between the two wasn't necessarily coincidental.

▲ Sun Myung Moon in 1974

AllyC890:

[Trump] also must have studied some about Mussolini because he copies his facial expressions--specifically jutting his jaw out and raising his face up, just as Mussolini did.

Anthony Lagunas:

Don't forget Donnie himself has said " If you tell a lie enough times people will believe it".

Golgotha_Mythos69:

"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists."

~Hannah Arendt

TheBioExplorer:

I've been saying this ever since he kept doing the rallies even after winning his first term. Presidents have done speeches and stuff but these rallies were different. I watched some of his closer. From the choices of music that target his demographic to the carnival like atmosphere and repeated phrases to get repeated responses. It's purely psychological manipulation. This is why even after being sworn in he immediately started scheduling more even though he should have been figuring out how to govern. He put off appointing people and other critical things.... but he kept up the rallies. Presidents don't need to do rallies within a month of taking office and keep them up all through their term. They might go back on the campaign trail at some point in the 2nd half of their term but not like him.

▲ Sun Myung Moon at his September 18, 1974, Madison Square Gardens rally. He used to practice in front of a mirror.

Joni Beehive:

I’ve lost dear old close friends of 30-40 years in the past 6 years over political beliefs. The current state of affairs in the United States is so heartbreaking and terrifying.

andan04:

M L.:

When lies have no consequences a democracy cannot exist.

David J.:

2. A process of indoctrination or education is in use that can be seen as coercive persuasion or thought reform commonly called "brainwashing".

The culmination of this process can be seen by members of the group often doing things that are not in their own best interest, but consistently in the best interest of its leader.

3. The exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling members.

Here are some warning signs of a potentially unsafe group or leader.

• Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.

• No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.

• No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget or expenses, such as an independently audited financial statement.

• Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.

• Former followers are always wrong for leaving, negative or even evil.

• The group/leader is always right.

• The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is acceptable or credible.

"This man is a genius at every level! Why can't we all be like him? He must be something special, and we are clearly not. Ergo, let's listen to him since he knows best." — Trump supporters

Mark Green:

QueenFae21:

As a former cult member myself, i agree the first place you gotta get to is empathy for the people in there. Understand that they aren't idiots or evil they were simply misled into a really deep hole and now they can't even see daylight anymore, yet they think they are being bathed in the sunlight of truth. It's unproductive to argue with them since they won't accept anything that doesn't align with dear leader's word.

Nancy Chace:

Good interview. More like this is needed in the national discussion. What are the "tools of communication" she mentioned that can help diffuse this? She is a good example of the young people that were recruited by the "Unification church" back in the 70s. Apparently this happened all over the country shortly after the Vietnam war. There was a lot of it on the west coast. Glad she was one of the ones who got out if it. Thanks for your report.

David J:

"I have a chapter in the book on malignant narcissism as a characteristic of destructive cult leaders. These are people who have a deep need for grandiosity, to be the center of attention, who need to control others, and who lack empathy and lie without hesitation. These are psychological traits perfectly attuned to manipulation and projection.

Narcissistic cult leaders like Trump thrive on chaos. They'll create crisis situations. When they walk in the room, you never know if they're going to be good and kind-hearted or be mean and call someone out or create some kind of dangerous situation.

A cult leader is also a master of manipulating information, so that his followers will only trust details that come from him. This is what Trump accomplishes every time he cries "fake news" or discredits a reporter as "terrible" or "nasty." He knows that Americans have access to all sorts of information, so he has to make his followers distrust other sources.

A cult environment like "Q" and Trumpism discourages critical thinking, making it hard to voice doubts, when everyone around you is displaying dogmatic faith and obedience to their leader. A process of indoctrination is in use that can be seen as coercive persuasion, or thought reform, commonly called "brainwashing". The resulting internal conflict, known as cognitive dissonance, keeps them trapped, as each compromise makes it more painful to admit that you've been deceived..

Hassan remembers, during his Moonie days, shouting, “I don’t care if Moon is like Adolf-H. I’ve chosen to follow him, and I’ll follow him to the end." Hassan finally broke free, and became an expert on cults and how to leave them. He has spent his career proving it’s possible.

______________________________

Public speaking is an ancient art, wired deeply into our minds. And music goes deep.

#Donald Trump #cults #Moonies #Sun Myung Moon #Unification Church #rallies #Madison Square Garden

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 7 years

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Former members share their experiences

Updated August 4, 2020

These testimonies, articles or reports are all from former members of FFWPU (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) / Unification Church.

KOREAN former members

‘Ashamed to be Korean’ Shock: “Ashamed to be Korean” gives a report on the Moon scam Laser on the Moon family scam

Papasan Choi aka Nishikawa Masaru aka Choi Sang-ik January 15, 1987 testimony given in Japan on why he left the FFWPU / UC (in Japanese) 統一教会問題と私、及びその未来 – 西川勝氏

Syn-duk Choi 崔信德 1921-2016 Choi Syn-duk (Ch’oe Sin-dok) was an Associate Professor of Sociology at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul. She received her undergraduate education in Korea at Ewha and did graduate work in social science at the University of Chicago where she received an M.A. degree in 1957. After her return she served as Advisor in the Education Division of USOM, and in 1961 accepted an assistant professorship at Tanguk University. In 1963 she joined the faculty of Ewha University. Professor Choi has written books and reports on Korean-American subjects and on the dating attitudes of Korean college students. She is now engaged in an anthropological study of Korean village life. She was once an active member of the Tong-il church [Unification Church] and was closely associated with Moon Sun-myung. She had a son named Yoo who held, or holds, a senior position in the UC / FFWPU. Choi Syn-duk: Korea’s Tong-il Movement. XLIII: pages 101-113. in the magazine Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society No. 43 (1967). This issue has other well researched articles about religions in Korea. A PDF file of Volume XLIII (No. 43) can be downloaded here: http://www.raskb.com/transactions/VOL43/KORS0749D_VOL43.pdf

Kenneth Suhr I am Kenneth Suhr and a Korean 2nd gen of the UC Forming a Local 2nd Generation Group An Open Question about the UC Second Generation – Kenneth Suhr Blame v. Responsibility in the Fall-out from the FFWPU and Sun Myung Moon

Sam Park 朴進慶 (Park Jin-kyung) Sam Park testimony 2014 Sam Park 2015 response to feedback

Annie Soon-wha Choi 催淳華 Interview with Mother Jones magazine: Meet the Love Child Rev. Sun Myung Moon Desperately Tried to Hide

“The entire movement was built on a lie” Annie Choi http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/reverend-moon-unification-church-washington-times-secret-son PDF of Mother Jones article The New Republic – The Fall of The House of Moon

Chong-hwa Kim 金鍾和 / 金鐘華 Sun Myung Moon lived with her during 1946 – February 22, 1948 when they were both arrested and jailed. Both were married to others at the time. Moon had one son, Sung Jin Moon, and she had three children. 1946 Moon’s ‘second wife’, Chong-hwa Kim in North Korea 1948 The tears and anger of Mrs. Chong-hwa Kim Sun Myung Moon was a repeat bigamist, in 1948 and again in 1964

Kyong-rae Kim 金景来 Was a member in the 1950s Book: 社會悪과邪教運動 Social wickedness and the cults movement (1957)

Myung-hui Kim (male) 김명희 (金明熙) Book: 문선명의 정체 (1987, 1989) The Identity of Sun Myung Moon (1) by Myung-hui Kim

Chong-hwa Pak 朴正華 1913-1997 Book: 「六マリアの悲劇真のサタンは、文鮮明だ!!」(November 1993) Tragedy of the Six Marys – the real Satan is Sun Myung Moon!!

Book: 野錄統一敎會史 (세계기독교 통일신령협회사) (March 1996) An Unofficial History of the Unification Church (A History of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity)

The Tragedy of the Six Marys book (English) The Tragedy of the Six Marys Japanese video (English subtitles) The Tragedy of the Six Marys Japanese video transcript (Japanese) The Tragedy of the Six Marys Japanese video transcript (English) Pak interviewed by a Japanese member of parliament Did Chong-hwa Pak write the I Am A Traitor a book? (published by the UC)

創立同志が告発する統一教会文鮮明の正体

Hyo-min Eu, his sister Shin-hee Eu, Chong-hwa Pak and Deok-jin Kim on Japanese TV

Hyo-min Eu 劉孝敏 “Moon’s ‘Gigantic white lie’” Hyo-min Eu, one of the 36 couples, gives his testimony: exploited by Moon, then shunned by Moon. He was arrested, along with Sun Myung Moon, in 1955 and sent to jail

Shin-hee Eu 劉信姫 Interview

Deok-jin Kim 金徳振 Someone who actually practised Moon’s sex relay

文鮮明教祖の「血分け儀式」内容全告白 – 元側近・金徳振牧師

Park Jun-Cheol 박준철 Was a member for 30 years and wrote a book 빼앗긴 30년 잃어버린 30년 (문선명 통일교 집단의 정체를 폭로한다) (2002)

Nansook Hong 洪蘭淑 홍난숙 Book: In The Shadow Of The Moons: My Life In The Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Family. (1998) For Korean viewers, this is the infamous 60 minutes interview with Nansook Hong (as well as Un Jin Moon and Donna Orme Collins).

Transcript of Nansook Hong on ‘60 minutes’

A review of Nansook Hong’s revealing book

Nansook Hong radio interview with Rachael Kohn

Nansook Hong – [C-Span] Book Discussion

Robert Parry reviews Nansook Hong’s book ‘In the Shadow of the Moons’

Smurfing in the Unification Church

Nansook Hong – In The Shadow Of The Moons, part 1

Nansook Hong – In The Shadow Of The Moons, part 2

Nansook Hong – In The Shadow Of The Moons, part 3

Nansook Hong – In The Shadow Of The Moons, part 4

French:

J’ai arraché mes enfants à Moon – Nansook Hong

« L’ombre de Moon » par Nansook Hong, partie 1 (French)

« L’ombre de Moon » par Nansook Hong, partie 2 (French)

« L’ombre de Moon » par Nansook Hong, partie 3 (French)

« L’ombre de Moon » par Nansook Hong, partie 4 (French)

German In the Shadow of the Moons book: Ich schaue nicht zurück – 14 Jahre Hölle: Ein Opfer der Mun-Sekte berichtet, Tiel 1

Nansook Hong – Ich schaue nicht zurück, Teil 2 (German)

Nansook Hong – Ich schaue nicht zurück, Teil 3 (German)

Nansook Hong – Ich schaue nicht zurück, Tiel 4 (German)

WBZ News and Mike Wallace interview Nansook Hong

Japanese:

Nansook Hong’s interview on ‘60 minutes’ translated into Japanese

TV番組「60分」で洪蘭淑インタビュー

わが父文鮮明の正体 – 洪蘭淑

文鮮明「聖家族」の仮面を剥ぐ – 洪蘭淑

Korean:

홍난숙은 1998년에 미국 CBS TV 60분 프로그램에 출연하기도 하였다.

JAPANESE former members

Miyuki Park ボクミユキ Why did a Japanese UC member kill her Korean husband?

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Yoshikazu Soejima 副島嘉和 The case of the assault on Mr Soejima 副島さん襲撃事件

副島嘉和 Yoshikazu Soejima and 井上博明 Hiroaki Inoue 『文藝春秋』 1984年7月号に「これが『統一教会』の秘部だ ― 世界日報事件で『追放』された側の告発」

In the July 1984 issue of ‘Bungei Shunjū’ “This is the secret part of the ‘Unification Church’ – Accusation by the side ‘expelled’ in the Sekai Nippo ‘World Daily News’ incident”

Moon’s Japanese Profits Bolster Efforts in U.S.

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Hiroko Yamasaki 山崎浩子 Book: 愛が偽りに終わるとき When love turns out to be not true Hiroko Yamasaki, an Olympic gymnast, joined and left the UC

Taguchi Tamiya 田口民地 Book: 原理からの回復 (1989) Recovering from the Divine Principle

Kiyoharu Takahashi The Ungodly Gains Of The World’s Greediest Church

Children of the Moon video

Professor Lev Semenov My experience within the hierarchy of the Moon cult during its years of expansion in Russia and in the CIS

Ray and Sonya Pearson video

Teddy Hose:

VIDEO: Over the Moon – Escaping Sun Myung Moon, Hak Ja Han and their family

Talk Beliefs with Teddy about growing up in the UC / FFWPU

Teddy Hose traveled from San Francisco to protest at Sean Moon’s church blessing with AR-15 rifles

Ford Greene Ford Greene: Attorney at odds

Lydia Catina-Amaya Human trafficking in the FFWPU / Unification Church is despicable. Here is one Filipina’s story of her slavery in the US at the hands of Korean leaders.

“May” On the outside, looking in

Jolettah The Way I left the Unification Church – Girl leaves cult and arranged marriage and explores her new life

Jen Kiaba The Purity Knife

Jen Kiaba photos

Life Without Reverend Moon

http://summerofcheesecake.blogspot.com

Miss Mayhem and I decided to start this blog as a bit of a therapy project. We are sisters who grew up together, then grew apart when Miss Mayhem left the Unification Church that we had grown up in. After I left as well, we began to retrace our steps to begin our relationship as sisters and friends again. This blog is a part of that healing process.

“I’m not sure where this misconception came from that a Moon-sanctioned union will be free of heart-ache, gut wrenching fights (either internal or with a spouse), and potential breakup. That should be Lesson #1 in any relationship, in any religion: there are no guarantees that it will work or be immediately fulfilling. A breakup can be a learning tool. But at least at the end of the day, outside of the Unification Church there is proper support for a struggling couple and less threat of “fire and brimstone” if things don’t work out. In fact, the breakups I’ve seen in the UC tend to be much nastier because of the religious ramifications.</rant>”

Hideo Higashibaba Growing Up Moonie podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/growing-up-moonie/id1453725149 REVIEW of Growing Up Moonie by Nic Dobija-Nootens https://podcastreview.org/review/growing-up-moonie/ What comes next podcast

David Adler Esquire magazine feature by Warren Adler: Rescuing David (my son) from the Moonies

Anon Church member never allowed herself to enjoy sex because “sex was evil”

John Coming out as a Moon cult survivor after 40 years

Diane Benscoter Book: Shoes of a Servant – my unconditional devotion to a lie (2013)

It’s been a long time in the making… but here it is! Deprogrammed the web-doc. Now take a 15 minute break from whatever you are doing and put on some earphones and enjoy!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Diane-Benscoter/114855778543949 Own Your Brain website Diane Benscoter’s videos

Meeting Robin Williams

MLP What I Really Learned in the UC:

“Never ever ever under any circumstances ever ever listen to or believe a single word any person, particularly a religious person, ever says ever. Watch only their actions.”

My advice on leaving the UC

The Incident at the New Yorker Hotel

Fun with numbers

Sloe Gin A Letter to Rev. Moon

Letter from a disenchanted student of the Divine Principle.

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Glenn Emery Pay Day at the Washington Times! Washington Times Circulation Hoax

Why I stayed in the Unification Church for so long Vivid dreams, spiritual experiences, bizarre coincidences… all of these things played a big role in convincing me to join. I perceived them as a form of personal validation from God that I was doing the right thing. After a few of those, I would not have listened to anyone trying to tell me I had made a mistake. The Divine Principle appealed to me on an intellectual level. It made sense of all the bible stories I learned in Sunday School. The DP built on what was already familiar to me, so it did not seem exotic or strange, like Scientology or Hare Krishna or other groups at the time.

Over time, my ego and identity fused with the Unification Church. Without the UC/True Parents/Divine Principle, I had no identity. Therefore, it was absolutely necessary that I never quit or leave. Otherwise, I wouldn’t exist.

Fear was also a factor. I believed bad things happened to members who lose faith and leave. Satan would invade. I felt responsible to keep going, even when I felt nothing and was plagued by doubts, because my family and my ancestors depended on me to “get the victory.” If I left, they would accuse me of failing them. So I wasn’t just in it for myself. By the time the Blessing finally rolled around, I was bored with the UC/DP. I would have quit, but I had nowhere to go. It was easier to simply keep going rather than start over. Besides, I didn’t want to face my family and friends and hear them say, “I told you so.” So my UC ego kept be in check.

Staying in the UC creates its own inertia. The longer someone is in it, the greater the inertia. I call it the “leathery bonds of convenience.” Very tough and hard to break. Simply easier to stay together with a blessed spouse, especially after having a child, even when there’s no deep emotional connection.

I believe people stay in the UC simply because they no longer see any other alternative. They’re too old to start over. They’ve invested too much personal capital to walk away. Even if they no longer believe, they continue to cling to vague hope it will all work out somehow, someday. Peer pressure from the larger group cannot be overestimated either. Leaving the group is an act of betrayal, violation of a sacred trust. Even when it all goes to hell, the group ethos is to stick together, no matter what. It takes a lot of courage to overcome that.

Glenn Emery’s personal story – Blog

Glenn Emery challenges Takeru Kamiyama

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Yolande Elise Brener All that Heaven Allows – My sexual re-education in the UC

Beyond Belief Interviews Yolande Brener

Book: Holy Candy: Why I Joined A Cult And Married A Stranger (2014) What is the purpose of life? Is there a spiritual world? Does true love exist? If there is a God, why does he allow innocents to suffer? The desire to find answers to these questions – passed to her on a business card – led Yolande Brener to enter a bizarre, 15-year odyssey in a cult that would climax in her participation in one of the largest mass marriages in history. In HOLY CANDY, Yolande Brener pulls back the curtain on the church’s doings – but this is far from a simple black and white exposé. It is spooky, riveting, and utterly believable…

Michael Warder Reasons for leaving

Tim Folzenlogen Hyun Jin Moon’s assault on him

Kirsti L. Nevalainen Book: Change of Blood Lineage through Ritual Sex in the Unification Church (2011)

The Fall story in Genesis 3 was an attack against Sex Rites

CARP members were paid by FBI for spying on Americans

CIA and Unification Church cooperated in Sandinista War

Sun Myung Moon Exchanged Weapons for Drugs

Karen Alleyne Taylor “Moon looked over to Steve, [my husband] who sat only a short distance away and said to him in English, “She belongs to me first”. He looked pointedly at him while Bo Hi Pak translated, “If you don’t like it you can leave the room”. Steve shook his head and said, “it’s ok, Father” or words to that effect. Over the years I wondered what that was all about, I wanted to understand the significance. Now I do understand, the reality has been unlocked for me, thanks to courageous women like Nansook Hong and Annie Choi.”

Adultery and Sam Park

The East Sun Building

Master Marine Gel Coat

The European Machine Tool Industry of the UC

Allen Tate Wood Book: Moonstruck – A Memoir of My Life in A Cult (1979) (with John Vitek) “A Modern day Pilgrim’s Progress with an extended stay among the Moonies, Wood’s self-examination charts a way through a dark night of the soul in which many are still stranded.” — Henry Marshall Ph.D. Dept. of Psychology, Texas Southern University Website: http://www.atwood7.com/ https://www.facebook.com/allen.t.wood

Sun Myung Moon and the FFWPU / UC

VIDEO: Moon’s strategies for grabbing power clearly explained Allen Tate Wood answers Walter Evans’ questions about the Unification Church (now rebranded as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification). He talks about Moon’s plans to penetrate the religious, political and economic worlds to further his own aims to grab power. Strategies for gaining the allegiance of leaders were / are very concrete. (23 minutes)

Allen Tate Wood on the Unification Church VIDEO interview with Allen Wood: author, lecturer and consultant on the cult phenomenon…. former political leader of the Moonies in the U.S.

North Texas State pt.1

North Texas State pt.2

North Texas State pt.3

North Texas State pt.4

North Texas State pt.5

“Park Chung-hee [President of South Korea 1963-1979], gave orders to create a new Christian influence that would weaken progressive Christians who fought against his dictatorship.*” Moon’s Unification Church was one of the groups – from that time politics was key to the existence of the UC and the survival of Moon himself, in both Korea and the US. LINK * Korea Herald, November 2, 2016 by Ku Yae-rin

A brief critical examination of the Divine Principle theory of history A Pilot Study – by Jane E.M. Williams & Allen Tate Wood

Young-oon Kim said Sun Myung Moon was “a pure virgin until the age of 40”

Moon’s Ignorance – he “spoke to Buddha,” but thought he was Chinese!

My Four and a Half Years with The Lord of the Flies

Moon “must have sexual relations with 70 virgins, 70 widows and 70 men’s wives”

Inside the head of a new cult member – New Statesman June 2008

Saving your family from the Manson Family – New Statesman July 2008

The social impact of cult groups – New Statesman July 2008

Steve Hassan Book: Combating Cult Mind Control (25th Anniversary Edition) LINK

website: https://freedomofmind.com

Frank Frivilous How I Evaluate the Influence of the Divine Principle on My Life? “It’s similar to the sensation of having built an elaborate sand sculpture and having to witness it washed away by the tide.”

Moon, WACL, CAUSA, the CIA, the Contras, South America, etc. part 1

Moon, WACL, CAUSA, the CIA, the Contras, South America, etc. part 2

Moon, WACL, CAUSA, the CIA, the Contras, South America, etc. part 3

Fear and Loathing at Cheongpyeong Lake

Benjamin Douglas Cognitive biases – are UC members more prone to them?

Mark Palmer I got married in a Moonie mass wedding He was a public schoolboy from a wealthy English family. So what made Mark Palmer spend seven years as a disciple of the cult?

K. Gordon Neufeld Book: Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon, A Cult Survivor’s Memoir

Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Choo Choo Pow

Peddler of Paradise

Waning Moon

Where have all the Moonies gone?

K. Gordon Neufeld is also the author of Cult Fiction: One Writer’s Creative Journey Through an Extreme Religion.

His website is www.neufeldbooks.com.

Joseph Nikolas Erobha / Sansu the Cat The Lunacy of Rev Moon or Why I Am Not A Unificationist

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part I)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 2)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 3)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 4)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 5)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 6)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 7)

An Odyssey Through the Shadow of the Moons (Part 8)

An Open Letter to a Skeptical Unificationist

Craig Maxim website: My life and experiences

website: Rev. Moon’s African Son?

Skeptical Pete Dear Mr Moon

Graham Lester A workable plan for an ideal world

Here is a brief essay in which I have attempted to demonstrate how the positive ideals of the Unification movement can be effectively realized without resorting to the dogma and superstitions of the Divine Principle.

Ten reasons why the atom is not a good role model for human couples

Five of the Many Ways in Which the Principle View of the Fall Is Nonsensical

Imagination Theology: The problem and the solution

Arthur Ford was a con man too

Song-do Kim, the woman who created the Divine Principle

The Failure of Prayer

Which is Worse, Orthodox UC or the Sanctuary Cult?

The Unification Church should follow the Anglican model

The Divine Principle is the core problem of the movement and the core problem of the Moon family.

It is indeed official UC teaching that Jesus had sex with Mary Magdalene

Father’s plans to impregnate Mrs. Jesus back in 1978.

Ethics without Religion

Onni Durst is a supporter of the Woo group – led by another illegitimate son of Moon

Ten things Moon didn’t do

Todd Harvey website: http://www.conversationswithtodd.org

My Experience in the Unification Church

Eight Reasons I Got Out of the Unification Church

Church and state: A personal and public tug of war

Richard Barlow Backbiting and Rumour Mongering

Breaking Silence on In Jin, Ben, Alistair Farrant

How “God’s Day” was established on January 1st 1968

Danny Harth My Life in the FFWPU / Unification Church

Natalija Velikorodina My Thoughts After Moonies

Isshi Honesty In The Unification Church

Josh Freed Book: Moonwebs (1980) – inspired the movie Ticket to Heaven (1981)

Ticket to Heaven – on wikipedia (it won 4 Genie awards in 1982)

Ticket to Heaven – New York Times movie review

Barabara and Betty Underwood Book: Hostage to Heaven (1979) Who Is the Captive? Onni Durst (Lim/Im Yeon-soo) Speaks One Family meeting with Onni Durst scarred my soul A story from Bay Area Unification Church of the 1970s – part 1

A story from Bay Area Unification Church of the 1970s – part 2

A story from Bay Area Unification Church of the 1970s – part 3

Deanna Durham Book: Life among the Moonies: three years in the Unification Church (1981)

Boonville – “It was a very complex set of manipulations”

Childcare in the Unification Church of Oakland

David Sunfellow http://nhne-pulse.org/the-life-death-of-sun-myung-moon/

Susan and Anne Swatland Book: Escape from the Moonies (1982) The Dancing Doctor Onni Durst – The Dragon Lady When you holy salt a room, it is important to first open the doors and the windows so the foolish spirits can get out.

Steve Kemperman Book: Lord of the Second Advent (1981)

Chris Elkins Book: Heavenly Deception (1980)

Jacqui Williams Book: The Locust Years (1987)

Christopher Edwards Book: Crazy for God: The nightmare of cult life (1979)

Erica Heftman Book: Dark Side of the Moonies (1982)

YR Faced with the acutely disturbing reality of the Unification Movement… The Dream Is Over Liberation of ancestors by a third party? Re: Bully Reflections on the significance of lineage and of Jesus If Adam and Eve didn’t exist, then there was no fall and therefore no need for a savior. Reflections on a very Korean “messiah” Hooked on the “true lineage” rhetoric

Garry Scharff Interview with Gary Scharff in May 1978

Linda Feher

Moon’s Human Trafficking

Hyung Jin Moon’s revelation about his parents in Las Vegas

The Garden of Eden story reconsidered

The problem with the Fefferman-Panzer debate

The heart of Dr. Rev. Hak Ja Han

Dear Kate Tsubata

Collective Grief: The Five Stages of Grief in the CIG Symposium

The CIG Constitution: Isolationist Dogma

Bo Hi Pak and the Hiding of Sam Park

Hyung Jin said, “True Mother must return to her sons, the True Cain and Abel.” What does the DP say?

Why I never attended anything by Black Heung Jin Nim, even though I

was threatened with eternal damnation if I didn’t.

Thomas W. Case Book: Moonie Buddhist Catholic: A Spiritual Odyssey (1996) Boonville in the spring of 1974 Boonville – Is this how the Family cared for its children? Suppose Mr. Moon took over the world...

mercilavix Jesus taught: “love your neighbor as yourself”

Linda Anthenin Statement to the Fraser Committee Notarized Statement of Linda Anthenien to the Fraser Committee

Diane Devine Statement submitted to the Fraser Committee

Phillip Greek Statement to the Fraser Committee

#Unification Church #FFWPU #Moonies #Ex-moonies #cult #testimonies #abuse #Sun Myung Moon

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