Unification Church

== Science ==

The ''Divine Principle'' calls for the unification of science and religion: "Religion and science, each in their own spheres, have been the methods of searching for truth in order to conquer ignorance and attain knowledge. Eventually, the way of religion and the way of science should be integrated and their problems resolved in one united undertaking; the two aspects of truth, internal and external, should develop in full consonance."

In the 1970s and 1980s the Unification Movement sponsored the [[International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences]] (ICUS),<ref name="crimson">[http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=270162 Kety Quits Moon-Linked ICF Conference] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220035929/http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=270162 |date=20 February 2006 }} [[Harvard Crimson]], 1976-08-10.</ref> in order to promote the concept of the unity of science and religion.<ref name="Tingle, D 1979">Tingle, D. and Fordyce, R. 1979, ''Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and its Principles'', Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press {{ISBN|0-682-49264-7}} pp. 86–87</ref><ref name="Biermans, J 1986">Biermans, J. 1986, ''The Odyssey of New Religious Movements, Persecution, Struggle, Legitimation: A Case Study of the Unification Church'' Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Ontario: The Edwin Melton Press {{ISBN|0-88946-710-2}} p. 173</ref> American news media have suggested that the conferences were also an attempt to improve the often controversial public image of the church.<ref name="ReferenceH">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/image.htm Church Spends Millions On Its Image] [[The Washington Post]]. 1984-09-17</ref><ref name="news.google.com">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BhgMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=E1oDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3911,2642602&dq=international-conference-on-the-unity-of-the-sciences Rev. Moon is sponsor of scholarly conference], ''[[St. Petersburg Times]]'', November 12, 1977</ref> The first conference, held in 1972, had 20 participants; while the largest conference, in [[Seoul]], South Korea in 1982, had 808 participants from over 100 countries.<ref name="ICUS Statement of Purpose">{{cite web|url=https://icus.org/?cat=info&top=purpose|title=ICUS|date=9 March 2016 |access-date=19 January 2019}}</ref> Participants in one or more of the conferences included Nobel laureates [[John Carew Eccles|John Eccles]] (Physiology or Medicine 1963, who chaired the 1976 conference)<ref name="crimson" /> and [[Eugene Wigner]] (Physics 1963).<ref>[http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/wigner.html Eugene Paul Wigner Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224080317/http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/wigner.html |date=2008-02-24 }} Princeton University Library</ref>

The relationship of the Unification Movement and science again came to public attention in 2002 with the publication of ''[[Icons of Evolution]]'', a popular book critical of the teaching of [[evolution]] written by member [[Jonathan Wells (intelligent design advocate)|Jonathan Wells]]. Wells is a graduate of the [[Unification Theological Seminary]] and has been active with the [[Discovery Institute]] as an advocate for [[intelligent design]].<ref>{{Cite book| title = Library journal, Volume 131, Issues 12–15| year = 2006| page = 45| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SpfhAAAAMAAJ&q=%22icons+of+evolution%22+pseudoscience|quote=Libraries with larger budgets may want to purchase books that represent viewpoints at the extremes of this struggle, including such intelligent design tracts as ... Jonathan Wells's ''Icons of Evolution'' ... For example we may be obligated to our patrons to make available works that embody ideas fundamental to significant cultural undercurrents such as "intelligent design" but not to burden budgets and minds with every other form of pseudoscience.}}</ref><ref name="Gishlick">{{cite web|url=https://ncse.com/creationism/analysis/icons-evolution|title=Icons of Evolution?|date=19 October 2008|website=NCSE|access-date=19 January 2019}}</ref><ref>[http://www.discovery.org/articleFiles/PDFs/survivalOfTheFakest.pdf Survival of the Fakest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205192713/http://www.discovery.org/articleFiles/PDFs/survivalOfTheFakest.pdf |date=2006-12-05 }}, Jonathan Wells, 2000 (A reprint from the ''[[American Spectator]]'')</ref>