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 the "Chicago Tribune" was picketed after referring to members as "Moonies". Minister and civil rights leader James Bevel handed out fliers at the protest which said: "Are the Moonies our new niggers?" On an October 6, 1994 broadcast of "Nightline", host Ted Koppel stated: "On last night's program ...I used the term 'Moonies'. This is a label which members of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church find demeaning and offensive, and I'd like to apologize for its use." In other contexts it is still sometimes used and not always considered pejorative. On February 25, 1920, Sun Myung Moon was