c. 1997 Religion News Service

Report: Moon’s Unification Church has few members, lots of businesses

(RNS) Membership in the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church continues to decline, even as his multibillion-dollar religious empire continues to grow, The Washington Post reported in a series of in-depth articles on the controversial movement.

In the Washington, D.C., area alone, the newspaper said, Moon’s church controls more than $300 million in commercial, political and cultural enterprises.

Among the holdings is the Washington Times, the liberal Post’s conservative newspaper competition for local circulation.

The Post stories, which began running in the paper Sunday (Nov. 23), coincided with the start of the week-long”World Culture and Sports Festival III,”which will culminate Saturday (Nov. 29) with a”blessing”ceremony at Washington’s R.F.K. Stadium at which Moon will bless as many as 30,000 couples who will either renew their marriage vows or be married at that time.

The couples need not be Unification Church members, and Moon’s organization said members of all faiths will be among the blessed. Marriage and family play a central role in Unification Church theology. Moon claims Jesus failed as a messiah because he did not establish a family.

The Rev. Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, is scheduled to speak at the stadium, and singer Whitney Houston is slated to perform. Couples have been asked to pay $70 to attend the event, but the Post has reported that the church will accept as little as $10 in order to fill the stadium.

Other festival events include academic conferences, cultural and sporting events designed to promote”world peace through ideal families.” The Unification Church claims about 50,000 members in the United States, but the Post, citing unnamed current and former members, said”the actual figure is closer to 3,000 nationwide.””They are in steep decline,”said Marvin Borderlon, president of the American Conference on Religious Movements, a Rockville, Md., group that fights discrimination against new religions and is, according to the Post, largely funded by the Unification Church.

Despite the reported decline of the church, Moon’s business holdings continue to grow.

According to the Post, Moon’s global holdings include huge tracts of land in South America, where the Korean-born religious leader was said to be refocusing his energies after deciding that Americans have not embraced his message. In South Korea alone, Moon’s holdings were reported to top $1 billion.

Moon founded his controversial church _ considered by some to be a destructive cult _ in 1954. In 1982, he was convicted of tax evasion and spent 13 months in federal prison.

Conservative Christians criticize Eisner `60 Minutes’ interview

(RNS) Conservative Christian leaders are criticizing comments made on CBS'”60 Minutes”by Walt Disney Co. chairman Michael Eisner about the boycott they are conducting against the entertainment conglomerate.

In the interview, which aired Sunday (Nov. 23), Eisner said claims that Disney has an anti-Christian agenda were”ridiculous.” In turn, Focus on the Family president James Dobson said Eisner was”disingenuous.””Mr. Eisner’s disparaging comments against those who are boycotting Disney as a matter of conscience reveal that he doesn’t seem to understand _ or care _ that families no longer trust Disney,”Dobson said in a statement.”He ridicules those with deeply held religious beliefs who are genuinely concerned about the direction the Disney company has taken in recent years.” Eisner said in the interview that people who regard the Disney animated movie”Pocahontas”to be anti-Christian are”nuts.”While critics said the production should have noted the Christian conversion of the historical Pocahontas, Eisner said the conversion occurred after the time period covered in the Disney film.

Eisner also answered questions concerning”Ellen,”a show with a lesbian character that airs on Disney-owned ABC. He said he was not offended when the star, Ellen DeGeneres, kissed another woman on a recent episode.”It doesn’t surprise me that he wasn’t offended,”Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said Monday (Nov. 24).”Most Southern Baptists and most evangelical Christians and I think a sizable portion of the American population was offended.” Land also was interviewed in the”60 Minutes”segment and said on the show that Disney is”pushing a Christian-bashing, family-bashing, pro-homosexual agenda.” Land said he and others affiliated with Southern Baptist Convention were perturbed that the”60 Minutes”program cited what he called a”bogus”poll that indicated that a majority of members of the denomination do not support the boycott.”Most people who are Southern Baptists who go to church every week and who are involved with the denomination support this boycott and so they are justifiably irritated when they have people like `60 Minutes’ telling the American people that the majority don’t support it,”he said.

Land said he believed Eisner’s appearance on the program was a sign the boycott must be having some influence on the company.”If the boycott was not a source of concern for him, then why would he consent to go on `60 Minutes?'”Land asked.

Eisner said in the interview that the boycott had not had any financial effect on his company, but he said,”You’ve got me here on `60 Minutes’ trying to respond to it, so to that extent it has some effect.”

Dutch Protestant groups edge closer to full merger

(RNS) Three Dutch Protestant denominations who together account for almost one-fifth of all Dutch citizens have taken a major step toward unification.

The Netherlands Reformed Church, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands agreed on a constitution and name for the united church during a meeting Nov. 14-15 in Alphen aan den Rijn, near The Hague.

The church’s new name will be the United Protestant Church in the Netherlands. None of the names of the three separate denominations was used to avoid offending church members, according to Ecumenical News International (ENI), a Geneva-based religious news service.

The three denominations have a combined membership of about 3 million, out of a total Dutch population of 16 million.T he Netherlands Reformed Church is by far the largest of the three, with about 2.1 million members _ although the figure reportedly includes many unbaptized children of church members.

The unification process is unlikely to be concluded before the year 2000, with some saying it will be 2010 before the new church is fully united. The process began in 1968.

The unity talks ran into problems over the issue of gay marriages and unwed couples living together. In the end, ENI said, the churches agreed to disagree. A letter will be sent to local congregations stressing the”sacred”character of marriages, but noting that there was no agreement on the appropriateness of other”life-long relationships.”

Septuplets educations already secured

(RNS) Add full college scholarships to the list of gifts given the Iowa septuplets. Moreover, they have a choice of schools.

Hannibal-LaGrange College, a 1,000-student Baptist institution in Hannibal, Mo., has extended full scholarships to the seven babies born to Kenneth and Bobbi McCaughey of Carlisle, Iowa _ provided the youngsters meet entrance requirements when they reach the appropriate age.

St. Ambrose University, a 2,770-student institution in Davenport, Iowa, has also offered full-tuition scholarships. St. Ambrose is a Roman Catholic school.

The McCaugheys are members of Carlisle’s Missionary Baptist Church.

Quote of the Day: Former President Jimmy Carter

(RNS)”I think that one of the worst things we can do as believers in Christ is to spend our time condemning others who profess a faith in Christ. I think we should be spending our time being generous and compassionate, and helping others. Too many Southern Baptist leaders are acting like the Pharisees did, making judgments on behalf of God. I think that’s wrong.” _ Former President Jimmy Carter, a Southern Baptist, commenting to journalists on plans by the Southern Baptist Convention to seek to convert Mormons during the convention’s June 1998 meeting, scheduled for Salt Lake City. Southern Baptist leaders say Mormon beliefs are unbiblical. Carter was quoted in the Providence (R.I.) Journal Bulletin Nov. 15.

MJP END RNS