Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1991, Page 16
However, in August, 1982 the Society of Friends in Canada approved a statement upholding
freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and committed itself to cult-education
programs, support groups, and aid for cult-affected families and further investigation of
human rights violations.97 The Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ in
October, 1982, condemned authoritarian cults and resolved to adopt a cult-education
program.98 The American Lutheran Church prepared a resource paper for its clergy and
youth99, and the Lutheran Church of Austria sponsored a cult conference.100 The Council of
Churches of the City of New York did join the Interfaith Coalition of Concern about Cults,
and the NCC denied the Unification Church membership in its organization in 1977101 and
publicly declared it a non-Christian body. Many NCC leaders have refused to attend
Unification Church-sponsored conferences.102 And some Protestants worry that the
Unification Church‟s Unification Theological Seminary, which received New York State
academic accreditation in November of 1986103, could easily be confused with the
prestigious mainstream Protestant Union Theological Seminary.104
The Evangelical Protestant community was the first religious group in the early 1970s to
publicize religious cults. According to J. Gordon Melton, the first counter-cult groups grew
out of the Plymouth Brethren, Reformed and Baptist traditions.105 Spiritual Counterfeits
Project in Berkeley, California is an Evangelical counter-cult group, and The Dialog Center
International in Aarhus, Denmark, is an academic research center.
Cult Attempts to Gain Support of Religious Leaders
Aware of the negative publicity such active counter-cult efforts generate, some cults have
attempted to woo mainstream religious leaders in order to at least neutralize them and to
gain legitimacy through their acceptance and public endorsement.
The Unification Church has been particularly active in attempting to gain legitimacy through
the positive recognition of prominent mainstream religious leaders. In 1985, while its leader
Sun Myung Moon was serving an eighteen-month prison sentence for tax fraud, the
Unification Church sent packets of books, brochures, and videotaped lectures about its
theology costing an estimated six million dollars to 300,000 mainstream denominational
clergy and rabbis throughout the United States.106 The Unification Church‟s political anti-
communist organization, CAUSA (Confederation of Associations for the Unification of the
Societies of the Americas, and the Spanish word for “cause”) USA, sponsors the CAUSA
Ministerial Alliance. The Ministerial Alliance holds conferences and lectures for clergy, which
Christianity and Crisis estimates 10,000 pastors have attended.107 The Unification Church
has enlisted the support of Mormon church leader and political conservative W. Cleon
Skousen,108 and The Mormon Church-led National Center for Constitutional Studies has co-
sponsored conferences with CAUSA for state legislators on the United States constitution.109
A Christian minister in Vermont reported in 1984 that a Unification Church member posed
as a reporter exploring clergy‟s involvement in the nuclear disarmament issue, and another
reports he was asked by a Unification Church member to start a food distribution center.110
The Unification Church has made special efforts to win over black Church leaders, and,
some say, infiltrate black churches through its CAUSA Ministerial Alliance111. According to
Christianity and Crisis, the CAUSA Ministerial Alliance has had a higher percentage of
positive response from black clergy than from white112, especially from black ministers in
Chicago, Detroit, and the New York City area.113
The Unification Church has also appealed to the black churches by claiming that Sun Myung
Moon has been persecuted by the media and in the law courts because he is an Asian, and it
invites blacks to ally themselves with him to combat racism. Among Moon‟s black clergy
supporters are prominent civil rights leaders such as Wyatt Walker, Ralph Abernathy,
Joseph Lowery, and former Black Panthers Eldridge Cleaver and Anthony Bryant.114
Ironically, observers point out, Moon has been accused of making racist statements in his
However, in August, 1982 the Society of Friends in Canada approved a statement upholding
freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and committed itself to cult-education
programs, support groups, and aid for cult-affected families and further investigation of
human rights violations.97 The Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ in
October, 1982, condemned authoritarian cults and resolved to adopt a cult-education
program.98 The American Lutheran Church prepared a resource paper for its clergy and
youth99, and the Lutheran Church of Austria sponsored a cult conference.100 The Council of
Churches of the City of New York did join the Interfaith Coalition of Concern about Cults,
and the NCC denied the Unification Church membership in its organization in 1977101 and
publicly declared it a non-Christian body. Many NCC leaders have refused to attend
Unification Church-sponsored conferences.102 And some Protestants worry that the
Unification Church‟s Unification Theological Seminary, which received New York State
academic accreditation in November of 1986103, could easily be confused with the
prestigious mainstream Protestant Union Theological Seminary.104
The Evangelical Protestant community was the first religious group in the early 1970s to
publicize religious cults. According to J. Gordon Melton, the first counter-cult groups grew
out of the Plymouth Brethren, Reformed and Baptist traditions.105 Spiritual Counterfeits
Project in Berkeley, California is an Evangelical counter-cult group, and The Dialog Center
International in Aarhus, Denmark, is an academic research center.
Cult Attempts to Gain Support of Religious Leaders
Aware of the negative publicity such active counter-cult efforts generate, some cults have
attempted to woo mainstream religious leaders in order to at least neutralize them and to
gain legitimacy through their acceptance and public endorsement.
The Unification Church has been particularly active in attempting to gain legitimacy through
the positive recognition of prominent mainstream religious leaders. In 1985, while its leader
Sun Myung Moon was serving an eighteen-month prison sentence for tax fraud, the
Unification Church sent packets of books, brochures, and videotaped lectures about its
theology costing an estimated six million dollars to 300,000 mainstream denominational
clergy and rabbis throughout the United States.106 The Unification Church‟s political anti-
communist organization, CAUSA (Confederation of Associations for the Unification of the
Societies of the Americas, and the Spanish word for “cause”) USA, sponsors the CAUSA
Ministerial Alliance. The Ministerial Alliance holds conferences and lectures for clergy, which
Christianity and Crisis estimates 10,000 pastors have attended.107 The Unification Church
has enlisted the support of Mormon church leader and political conservative W. Cleon
Skousen,108 and The Mormon Church-led National Center for Constitutional Studies has co-
sponsored conferences with CAUSA for state legislators on the United States constitution.109
A Christian minister in Vermont reported in 1984 that a Unification Church member posed
as a reporter exploring clergy‟s involvement in the nuclear disarmament issue, and another
reports he was asked by a Unification Church member to start a food distribution center.110
The Unification Church has made special efforts to win over black Church leaders, and,
some say, infiltrate black churches through its CAUSA Ministerial Alliance111. According to
Christianity and Crisis, the CAUSA Ministerial Alliance has had a higher percentage of
positive response from black clergy than from white112, especially from black ministers in
Chicago, Detroit, and the New York City area.113
The Unification Church has also appealed to the black churches by claiming that Sun Myung
Moon has been persecuted by the media and in the law courts because he is an Asian, and it
invites blacks to ally themselves with him to combat racism. Among Moon‟s black clergy
supporters are prominent civil rights leaders such as Wyatt Walker, Ralph Abernathy,
Joseph Lowery, and former Black Panthers Eldridge Cleaver and Anthony Bryant.114
Ironically, observers point out, Moon has been accused of making racist statements in his
