Unification Church of the United States Unification Church of the United States The Unification Church of the United States, sometimes colloquially referred to as the "Moonies", is a new religious movement in the United States of America. It began in the 1950s and 1960s when missionaries from Japan and South Korea were sent to the United States by the international Unification Church's founder and leader Sun Myung Moon. It expanded in the 1970s and then became involved in controversy due to its theology, its political activism, and the lifestyle of its members. Since then it has been involved in many areas of American society and has
Unification movement flesh' (Job 10:11), and lives there forever." They also note that family and other human relationships continue after death. The Unification movement does not uphold belief in reincarnation or eternal damnation. Unification theologian Young Oon Kim writes: The seungwha ceremony was introduced by Sun Myung Moon in 1984, at the time of the death of his son Heung Jin Moon. Members who had died prior to this were given traditional Christian funerals. When the new and more distinct format was ordained, the official church newspaper reported: The ceremony itself consists of three parts: The Gwi Hwan Ceremony (or "returning to