The relationship between the Unification Church and Judaism was marked by both cooperation and criticism. Unification Church was founded in 1954 in South Korea . According to the Chaplain's Handbook, published by the U.S. Department of the Army, its teachings are based on the Bible , but also contain interpretations not found in the Judeo-Christian tradition. [one]
In 1975, Union Church leader Moon Song Myung founded the Association Theological Seminary in Berrytown, New York , in part to improve relations between the Association Church and other religions , including Judaism . [2] One rabbi was hired to teach Old Testament disciplines, along with other professors from various Christian denominations. [3]
The Divine Principle , written by Moon and his other followers, was first published in 1966, and is the main textbook on the creed of the Unification Church.
In 1976, the American Jewish Committee published a report by Rabbi , in which it was noted that it contains “derogatory phrases, stereotypical images and accusations of collective sin and guilt” [4] At a press conference with the participation of AEK, representatives of Protestant churches and the Catholic Church, participants noted that the text “contains 125 anti-Jewish statements.” They noted that "then, the recent censure of Moon was inherently anti-Semitic and anti-Christian," and urged him to "thoroughly and consistently remove" anti-Semitic and anti-Christian sayings from the Divine Principle as a gesture of goodwill. [five]
In 1977, the Unification Church issued a rebuttal to the report, arguing that it was neither objective nor peacekeeping, but rather kept "on high tones" and was full of "sweeping accusations." She denied the anti-Semitic tendency of the Divine principle and provided detailed answers to 17 statements contained in the AEK report, stating that these statements are a distortion of teachings and silence in the text, or that these passages were an accurate account of Jewish scripture or passages from the New Testament . [6]
In 1984, Mose Darst , who was then president of the Unification Church in the United States , and himself converted from Judaism, [7] said that the Jewish community was “hostile” to the growth of the Unification Church and simply shifted the blame to the “insecurity” of society and "Simple-minded enthusiasm and ignorance." Rudin, who was the National Director of Inter-Religious Relations at the American Jewish Committee at the time, said Darst’s remarks were erroneous and unfair and that the word “hostile” was too harsh to use. " [8]
Moon’s statements about the Holocaust , both made in 1978 and repeated in 2003, [9] namely that "the Jewish victims of the Holocaust paid atonement for the crucifixion of Christ" are found in several sources, including the official record of the British Parliament . [ten]
In 2003, a representative of the Unification Church and webmaster Damian Anderson defended Moon: “The fact is that the Jewish people committed a grave sin by rejecting the Lord, and the world today also commits a grave sin by rejecting the Lord. I am not going to dilute the Father’s words within his walls for the sake of pleasing free-thinking societies. [11]
Among the rabbis who are affiliated with the Unification Church, there is the conservative rabbi Richard L. Rubinstein , who served on the advisory board of the unification church, [12] the board of directors of the Church Times Association of Washington Times , and the president of the University of Bridgeport affiliated church. [13] [14]
See also
- Unification Church and the main trends of Christianity
- Unification Movement and Science
Notes
- ↑ Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains, By US Department of the Army, Published by The Minerva Group, Inc., 2001. - P. 1-42. ISBN 0898756073 , ISBN 9780898756074
- ↑ Yamamoto, JI, 1995, Unification Church , Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House ISBN 0-310-70381-6 ( Excerpt Archived February 10, 2012.
- ↑ Rodney Sawatsky Dialogue with the Moonies // Theology Today , April 1978. “Only a minority of their teachers are Unification devotees; a Jew teaches Old Testament, a Christian instructs in church history and a Presbyterian lectures in theology, and so on. Typical sectarian fears of the outsider are not found among Moonies; truth is one or at least must become one, and understanding can be delivered even by the uninitiated. ”
- K. Gordon Neufeld, Where have all the Moonies gone? // First Things , March 2008
- Christian Century May 11, 1977 “In fact Moon's adherents differ from previous fringe groups in their quite early and expensive pursuit of respectability, as evidenced by the scientific conventions they have sponsored in England and the US and the seminary they have established in Barrytown, New York, whose faculty is composed not of their own group members but rather of respected Christian scholars. ”
- ↑ Rudin, A. James A View of the Unification Church , American Jewish Committee Archives, 1978
- ↑ David F. White Sun Myung Moon Is Criticized by Religious Leaders; Jewish Patrons Enraged // New York Times , December 29, 1976
- ↑ Daniel C. Holdgeiwe, Johnny Sonneborn, Response to A. James Rudin's Report , Unification Church Department of Public Affairs, March 1977.
- ↑ Religion: Sun Myung Moon's Goodwill Blitz , Time Magazine (April 22, 1985).
- ↑ "Unification Church seen as persecuted." // The Milwaukee Sentinel , September 15, 1984, page 4
- ↑ John Gorenfeld, Barry W. Lynn. Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right, and Built an American Kingdom
- ↑ Reports include:
- Jewish currents , Volume 30, 1976. - P.5
- Parliamentary debates: Official report , Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, February 23, 1977, vol 926. - P.1593 The Unification Church (Hansard, February 23, 1977)
- Religious education , Volume 73, 1978. - P.356
- Willa Appel Cults in America: programmed for paradise , 1983. - P.171
- David G. Bromley , Anson D. Shupe Anti-cult movements in cross-cultural perspective , 1994. - P.42
- Feher, Shoshanah. Passing over Easter: constructing the boundaries of Messianic Judaism . // Rowman Altamira, 1998 .-- P. 36.
- Gordon Neufeld Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon , 2002. - P.173
- Sun Myung Moon forms new political party to merge divided Koreas // Church & State, May 01, 2003
- John Gorenfeld, Bad Moon on the rise Archived August 16, 2011 to Wayback Machine // Salon Magazine , Sep 24, 2003
- Lee Penn False Dawn , 2004. - P.121
- ↑ * John Gorenfeld. “Bad Moon on the rise” Archived copy of August 16, 2011 on the Wayback Machine // Salon Magazine , September 24, 2003.
- David G. Bromley , Anson D. Shupe Anti-cult movements in cross-cultural perspective , 1994. - P.42;
- Feher, Shoshanah. Passing over Easter: constructing the boundaries of Messianic Judaism // Rowman Altamira, 1998 .-- P. 36.
- ↑ Richard L. Rubenstein Papers // American Jewish Archives
- ↑ “Rabbi Joins the Board of Moonie Newspaper” // The Palm Beach Post , May 21, 1978
- ↑ U. of Bridgeport Honors Rev. Moon, Fiscal Savior // New York Times , 8 September 1995
Links
- Judaism , An article in an encyclopedia affiliated with the Unification Church.