by Kate Tsubata-Tokyo, Japan
This was written in repose to a plea over the WWW from the Chilean Church for help in dealing with Steve Hassan who is on a CAN speaking tour there.
Steve Hassan is a guy who joined in Queens, New York, for a period of about 6 weeks, as I remember. Since then, he has made a living accusing our movement, by any means possible. He wrote a book, not long ago, repeating many of the false allegations which he has constantly repeated during the past 20 years as his "ticket to fame."
He's a publicity hound. I met him in Boston, when he was trying to whip up anger towards our church there, in front of television cameras, in 1979. At that time, I confronted him, on camera, and demanded him to admit how much money he charges for a deprogramming. He refused to answer, because his dirty little secret is that this is a business for him. I told him "You joined the church for 6 weeks, and are using Rev. Moon to make money for yourself." He couldn't respond, because it was all totally true.
This is not a guy who can make it in life by contributing something positive to society, because he needs the dynamic of fear and power to make himself feel important. Unfortunately, his time has passed, as the Cult Awareness Network, and people like him, have been sued and bankrupted because of their illegal activities of kidnapping adults, holding them hostage, subjecting them to the same techniques they accuse the various religious organizations of using (isolation, coercion, sleep deprivation, emotional manipulation, and sexual temptation).
In the US, they are finished. Perhaps in other countries, they have not yet been exposed and regulated. The CAN group were advisors to US Attorney General Susan Reno on the Waco standoff, and their advice convinced Reno to order the FBI to storm the Branch Davidian's complex, causing the immolation of many unarmed, defenseless people, including children. That in turn led to other disasters like the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma by Timothy McVeigh. Scientologists have gotten CAN convicted in court, and fined, for their illegal activities, resulting in the complete turnover of all CAN materials and assets to key Scientologists.
For Hassan to style himself as the "expert" of a group that has so many actual crimes and loss of lives to its' credit is sort of like claiming credit for the Holocaust. You have to feel sorry for him. He's a sad guy, who thought his ticket to wealth and success lay in fomenting hate, and now, his arsenal has been spent, and his raucous cries of "lynch the so-and-so" don't work, because everyone else is turning from hate to love.
Regarding dealing with such comparisons as the Unification Movement to suicide cults, etc., I would be very matter of fact, and point out the actual record. While those groups sought to isolate from others, we go out and serve all others. While they glorified suicide, we teach that this is the worst thing one can ever do, because of the difficulty of restoring this from the spirit world. While they teach free sex, or sexual activity with the leader or leaders, we teach purity before marriage and absolute fidelity within marriage. While they focus on their small goals of gathering power, money or members, we have continually served those who do not belong to our movement, and have encouraged them to in turn, serve the greater community. (Science conference, World Media Conference, IRFF, Summit Council, Washington Times, home church, and now Family Federation for Unification and World Peace.)
Rev. and Mrs. Moon, in contrast to nearly every leader of powerful religious or charitable organizations, have a simple lifestyle, don't gather large amounts of material goods for themselves or their family, wear simple clothing, go to humble areas of the world and do physical hard work like fishing, and continually invest money, time, love and energy into things that help others, not themselves. Not even the Pope can stand up to that level of service and humility. What other religious man or woman has started boat building enterprises, machinery works, newspapers (well, a few here-Christian Science Monitor comes to mind), health food and herbal medicine companies, highway projects, etc.? Who else has entered the capitals of the worst dictatorships and anti-Christian countries and spoken directly about God to their top leaders? And who was the first one to give aid and help those countries, once they renounced the former system?
But even more intrinsic, who has worked tirelessly to bring all people, regardless of country or religion, back to the most central truth of our lives: that to be happy, we must be pure before marriage and faithful within marriage? Can any religion oppose this? No. Does it gain him a dime? No. Does it get him glory, members, political clout? Not so far. He's 77-it would be rather late for him to be building up to an eventual political career. Even if he was, marrying people or blessing them in their marriages seems like a detour, if anything, from a method of gaining power.
The positive side of all the attack he has endured is that no one group or church or country or race can say "he's ours." He never compromised his conscience to curry favor with the South Koreans or North Koreans, Japanese military or American government, though he served all of them with heart, work and money. Thus, they all jailed him, slandered him and treated him as the worst criminal. The communists attacked him-and he responded by loving them and lifting them out of their self-made nightmare. The Christians attacked and vilified him as the antichrist-and he loved them, served their churches and ministries, and uplifted them. Truthfully speaking, black people have the clearest conscience in regard to him, having more consistently been open and kind to Rev. Moon and his movement than any other group. Perhaps the white, Christian Americans have been the most prominent in their accusations and attacks. Yet, he has loved and served them more than any other group.
The facts are that in 77 years, no one has ever found one slightest speck of wrongdoing on his part, except the subjective interpretations of "he doesn't agree with me." It is because he won't succumb to bribery, seduction, drugs and alcohol, power-tripping, clique-based choices and other corruption that he has been rejected. Yet, he never rejected those same attackers. After being falsely accused, tried and convicted of trumped-up tax evasion charges in America, he went and shook hands with the prosecutor. He served the unjust and unearned jail sentence with love and service for all the other inmates, working side by side with them, honoring all the gag rules and uncomplainingly accepting the disrespect heaped on him. No one can maintain an act for 77 years, without letting the mask slip under pressure. He has endured concentration camp for 3 years, torture, starvation, poverty, death of his beloved children, massive persecution, assassination plots, betrayal-and yet, is smiling and cheerful, full of humor and compassion, free from bitterness or complaint. Even that is evidence of a character of great goodness.
Finally, the truest test is the test of time. If people had listened to Hitler and watched his actions in 1932, they could have foreseen World War II and the Holocaust. Though millions of Germans cheered for him in 1940, by 1946, he was the most reviled of all people, because time exposes each of us for what we are. Our thinking creates our actions, and our actions create our character, and our character creates our fate.
Jim Jones' thinking was hate filled, his actions were self-aggrandizing, and his character became ruthless and exploitative, culminating in a horrible fate for him and those who followed him. Same with all the false messiahs. Only one whose words are true, whose actions are loving, creates more and more goodness in the world through his or her existence. Ultimately, that is the kind of friend we want. That's the kind of defender we want at our side when we are in trouble. If Chile were being strangled by a dictatorship or an insurrection, who would they want to visit their leaders? A wimp, who won't tell them the truth? Or a man who will tell them even what they don't want to hear, but what is truly beneficial for the country? That is what the Russian people found, the people of the East Bloc, the people of North Korea, the people of Africa.
Rev. Moon has met with more than 100 world leaders, of many political and religious hues. But, he never changes his advice to any of them because of what they would like to hear. He tells each one "Love your wife. Be faithful in marriage. Teach your children purity. Be the moral educator of your nation, not just the leader. Educate the youth for purity and for leadership." Whether speaking to leaders in Washington or Burkina Faso, his message is the same.
Will Chile perish if it follows Rev. Moon's advice? Will marriages crumble if they follow his suggestions? Will the young people be stifled? Lose free will?
If people can't foresee that these things lead to goodness, they will just have to wait and observe the results over time. But then, when the realize the time they have wasted, they may have some feeling of regret over not having been part of the process.
