Unification Church

== Scholarly studies ==

In the early 1960s [[John Lofland (sociologist)|John Lofland]] lived with HSA-UWC [[missionary]] [[Young Oon Kim]] and a small group of American members and studied their activities in trying to promote their beliefs and win new members. Lofland noted that most of their efforts were ineffective and that most of the people who joined did so because of personal relationships with other members, often family relationships. Lofland published his findings in 1964 as a doctoral thesis entitled "The World Savers: A Field Study of Cult Processes", and in 1966 in book form by [[Prentice-Hall]] as ''[[Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith]].''<ref>''Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America: African diaspora traditions and other American innovations'', Volume 5 of Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America, W. Michael Ashcraft, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, {{ISBN|0-275-98717-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-275-98717-6}}, page 180</ref><ref>''Exploring New Religions'', Issues in contemporary religion, George D. Chryssides, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001{{ISBN|0-8264-5959-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8264-5959-6}} p. 1</ref><ref>[http://kingsvillerecord.our-hometown.com/news/2009-12-16/Editorial/Exploring_the_climate_of_doom.html Exploring the climate of doom]{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423123818/http://kingsvillerecord.our-hometown.com/news/2009-12-16/Editorial/Exploring_the_climate_of_doom.html |date=2012-04-23 }}, Rich Lowry, 2009-12-19 'The phrase "doomsday cult" entered our collective vocabulary after John Lofland published his 1966 study, "Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith." Lofland wrote about the Unification Church.'</ref><ref>[http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/conversion.htm Conversion] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121122133/http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/conversion.htm |date=2012-01-21}}, [http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/Unification.htm Unification Church] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113080905/http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/Unification.htm |date=2012-01-13 }}, ''Encyclopedia of Religion and Society'', Hartford Institute for Religion Research, [[Hartford Seminary]]</ref>

In 1977 [[Frederick Sontag]], a professor of philosophy at [[Pomona College]] and a minister in the [[United Church of Christ]].,<ref name="latimes.com">[https://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-frederick-sontag20-2009jun20,0,6245632.story Frederick E. Sontag dies at 84; Pomona College philosophy professor], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', June 20, 2009</ref> spent 10 months visiting HSA-UWC members in North America, Europe, and Asia as well as interviewing Moon at his home in [[New York State]]. He reported his findings and observations in ''[[Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church]]'', published by [[Abingdon Press]]. The book also provides an overview of the ''Divine Principle''.<ref name="Who is this Pied Piper of Religion">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YvILAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mlkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5598,2647477&dq=frederick-sontag Who is this Pied Piper of Religion?], ''[[St. Petersburg Times]]'', February 4, 1978</ref> In an interview with [[UPI]] Sontag compared the HSA-UWC with [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] and said that he expected its practices to conform more to mainstream American society as its members become more mature. He added that he did not want to be considered an [[apologist]] but a close look at HSA-UWC's [[theology]] is important: "They raise some incredibly interesting issues."<ref name="Moon: an objective look at his theology">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Se4PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OI0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7264,3898196&dq=frederick-sontag Moon: an objective look at his theology], ''[[Boca Raton News]]'', 1977-11-25</ref>

In 1984 [[Eileen Barker]] published ''[[The Making of a Moonie]]'' based on her seven-year study of HSA-UWC members in the United Kingdom and the United States.<ref name="Rusher">[https://web.archive.org/web/20050415093632/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_v38/ai_4580948 Review], [[William Rusher]], ''[[National Review]]'', December 19, 1986.</ref> In 2006 [[Laurence Iannaccone]] of [[George Mason University]], a specialist in the [[theory of religious economy|economics of religion]], wrote that ''The Making of a Moonie'' was "one of the most comprehensive and influential studies" of the process of conversion to [[new religious movement]]s.<ref>[http://faculty.arec.umd.edu/cmcausland/RALi/The%20Market%20for%20Martyrs.pdf The Market for Martyrs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111212356/http://faculty.arec.umd.edu/cmcausland/RALi/The%20Market%20for%20Martyrs.pdf |date=2012-01-11 }}, [[Laurence Iannaccone]], [[George Mason University]], 2006, "One of the most comprehensive and influential studies was The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? by Eileen Barker (1984). Barker could find no evidence that Moonie recruits were ever kidnapped, confined, or coerced. Participants at Moonie retreats were not [[deprived of sleep]]; the lectures were not "trance-inducing"; and there was not much chanting, no drugs or alcohol, and little that could be termed "frenzy" or "ecstatic" experience. People were free to leave, and leave they did. Barker's extensive enumerations showed that among the recruits who went so far as to attend two-day retreats (claimed to be Moonie's most effective means of "brainwashing"), fewer than 25% joined the group formore than a week and only 5% remained full-time members one year later. And, of course, most contacts dropped out before attending a retreat. Of all those who visited a Moonie centre at least once, not one in two-hundred remained in the movement two years later. With failure rates exceeding 99.5%, it comes as no surprise that full-time Moonie membership in the U.S. never exceeded a few thousand. And this was one of the most New Religious Movements of the era!"</ref> Australian psychologist Len Oakes and British psychiatry professor [[Anthony Storr]], who have written rather critically about [[cult]]s, [[guru]]s, [[new religious movement]]s, and their leaders have praised ''The Making of a Moonie''.<ref>Oakes, Len "By far the best study of the conversion process is Eileen Barker's The Making of a Moonie [...]" from ''Prophetic Charisma: The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities'', 1997, {{ISBN|0-8156-0398-3}}</ref><ref>Storr, Anthony Dr. ''Feet of clay: a study of gurus'' 1996 {{ISBN|0-684-83495-2}}</ref> It was given the Distinguished Book Award for 1985 by the [[Society for the Scientific Study of Religion]].<ref>[http://www.sssrweb.org/PastWinners.cfm Past Winners] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206081124/http://www.sssrweb.org/PastWinners.cfm |date=2010-02-06 }}</ref> In 1997 Barker reported that Unificationists had mostly undergone a transformation in their [[world view]] from [[millennialism]] to [[utopianism]].<ref>''The Coming Deliverer: Millennial Themes in World Religions'', 
Editors:	Fiona Bowie, Christopher Deacy
Publisher:	University of Wales Press, 1997
Original from	the University of Virginia
Digitized	Jun 24, 2008
{{ISBN|0708313388}}, 9780708313381</ref>

In 1998 [[Irving Louis Horowitz]], sociologist, questioned the relationship between the HSA-UWC and scholars whom it paid to conduct research on its behalf.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kent|first1=Stephen|first2=Theresa |last2=Krebs |title=Academic Compromise in the Social Scientific Study of Alternative Religions|journal=Nova Religio|year=1998|volume=2|issue=1|pages=44–54|doi=10.1525/nr.1998.2.1.44}}</ref>