MOONIE U!
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon--messiah, spiritual leader and chief executive of
the Unification Church--preaches that Jesus Christ appeared to him on a
mountaintop in Korea when Moon was 16 and told him that God had chosen Moon
to finish Christs' failed mission on Earth.
A communique from Moon to his disciples, titled ``Father's Instructions,''
spelled out nine goals as of Nov. 2, 1990. No. 8 says: ``Preparation to
undertake university ownership.''
Within 18 months, that was done. A Unification Church affiliate agreed April
25 to buy the University of Bridgeport [UB], an 86-acre campus that is a
one-hour drive from New York City and comes with faculty, students, science
laboratories, a 900-seat theatre and a successful basketball team.
Moon's followers had been laying the groundwork for at least a decade. The
task required converts, not necessarily church members but VIPs willing to
further the church's interests. They include a former member of Congress and
a former president of Costa Rica.
This is the story of the Unification Church's quest for legitimacy in a
small city and of sales strategies designed to overcome a reputation as a
brainwashing cult often referred to as ``Moonies.''
Legitimacy, said church critics, is a subtle process. UB will be displayed
as another jewel in the church empire, they said, offering this glimpse
forward:
In a few years, after current students and faculty finish or flee, PWPA
[Professors World Peace Academy, a Moonie front group] will fill the
ranks largely with foreign students and PWPA professors. Polite church
members will run an efficient campus, taking most jobs that Bridgeport
citizens anticipated filling. Escorts will lead campus tours for
visiting church donors, diplomats and most importantly, people deciding
whether to enter an agreement with the Unification Church and the Rev.
Moon.
Church Bids for Legitimacy, Washington Post, Laurie Goodstein, May 26,
1992