London: Back in the 70s, you might at some point have been approached in the street by someone collecting money for the Unification Church. Likely dressed in normal attire, their only distinctive feature a gold wedding band bearing the symbol of the movement (a sun within a square frame, inside a ship’s wheel).

“They had quite a youth following in the 70s and had a public profile because you actually saw them out and about,” says Dr George Chryssides, honorary research fellow at York St John University and author of The Advent of Sun Myung Moon. “Then that stopped, some time in the mid to late 80s, so they weren’t publicly visible.”

Couples from around the world participate in a mass wedding ceremony at the Cheong Shim Peace World Centre in Gapyeong, South Korea, in 2015. Credit:AP

But the followers of the Korean-born Reverend Moon – derisively known as “Moonies” – never went away. Last week, the church famous for its mass wedding ceremonies in which thousands of couples tie the knot, often in sports stadiums, returned to the spotlight. (The church objects to being called a cult and its members “Moonies”. It says its “members have every reason to be proud of associating themselves with the name of Reverend Sun Myung Moon”.)

Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, who was arrested shortly after the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe this month, reportedly told investigators he bore a grudge against a particular group to whom his mother had given a large amount of money, and who he believed Abe had championed in Japan.

Although police have not named the group, it has since been revealed that Yamagami’s mother sold her home and land more than two decades ago to make a donation of about $1 million to the Unification Church, bankrupting the family.

In a statement last week, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (UFP), as the church is officially titled, confirmed that she was a member, but said members donated to the church on a voluntary basis.

Tetsuya Yamagami, holding a DIY weapon, is detained after former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated.Credit:AP

After the church’s connection to Abe’s assassination was revealed, its leader in Japan, Tomohiro Tanaka, said Abe supported UPF’s peace movement but that he was not a member, AP reported.

Elgen Strait, who was born into the church in the US in the early 80s, but now hosts a podcast in which he rails against what he calls the church’s sinister and bullying behaviour, is sceptical.

“There’s a concept that runs throughout the entire organisation that says your spiritual standing is directly impacted by the amount of money you give,” he says. “In the US you’re meant to give 10 per cent of your pre-tax income every month. In Japan, it’s 30 per cent. But that’s just to start with.”

More than 4000 couples get married in a ceremony arranged by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church in South Korea in 2005.Credit:AP

On top of this, further donations are expected, he says, in order to “liberate your ancestors” and for a multitude of other “spiritual reasons”. Ancestor liberation ceremonies are held, in Chryssides’ words, to “promote ancestors in the spiritual world”; or, as the late Reverend Moon put it, to “completely change the lineage of all human beings back into God’s lineage, as completely ideal sons and daughters” because “most of your ancestors have actually gone to hell”. Liberating them can cost up to hundreds of dollars.

Strait entered a marriage arranged by the church in his early 20s. It ended about four years ago. It was then that he started to investigate it and how it had affected his life. He uses his podcast, Falling Out, to tell his story and those of other people who have broken away from the religious movement.

The late Reverend Moon Sun-myung, founder of the Unification Church.Credit:AFP

Founded in 1954, the church’s teaching is a variation on Christian theology, underpinned by the belief that by sinning, Adam and Eve failed to realise God’s purpose and that Jesus’ failure to complete God’s plan meant a new messiah was required: namely Reverend Moon. The movement spread to the West in the late 50s and was labelled a “cult” in the 70s.

Strait estimates its global membership today is well under 50,000, with fewer than 10,000 in Japan and less than 2000 in the US. But precise and reliable figures are hard to come by. Chryssides says global membership is thought to be between 200,000 and 250,000, while the Financial Times reported this week the Japanese branch, which opened in 1959, has 600,000 members.

Tomihiro Tanaka, head of the Japan branch of South Korea’s Unification Church at a press conference last week. The church denied it demanded large donations from anyone.Credit:AP

Today, the movement is split. Since the death of Moon 10 years ago, his wife, Dr Hak Ja Han Moon, has led the main branch of the church while two of his sons lead two other, smaller branches. “Although they’ve disappeared from the public eye, there are still things happening,” says Chryssides. “There are acrimonious legal disputes going on about who’s entitled to Moon’s assets.”

Moon, a controversial evangelist and businessman who served a prison sentence for tax evasion in the US in 1982, is said to have had a net worth of $US900 million when he died aged 92, with interests in, among other things, a gun manufacturer, the Washington Times, a football team and a car manufacturer.

During his long career, he had also established other organisations. Among them was the Universal Peace Federation, which is still going strong and boasted a string of high-profile speakers at its global summit in February this year. According to its website, these included former US president Donald Trump, former US vice president Mike Pence, former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper. And, yes, Shinzo Abe.

The vehicle carrying the body of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (inset) leaves Zojoji temple after his funeral in Tokyo on July 12.Credit:AP, Getty Images

These names are used to bolster the standing of the church, Strait claims. “I don’t actually think [the Moonies] are weakened,” he says. “I think they have deep ties to Japan that go beyond Abe.”

In a recent YouTube video, he alleges they have “intentionally embedded themselves in politics”.

They are also believed to own a large amount of property in Korea, Japan and the US. While the size of the church appears to have diminished since its heyday, the allegations made by Abe’s alleged killer has brought a new wave of scrutiny to the decades-old movement. The Telegraph has contacted the church for comment.

The Telegraph, London

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