#ex-moonies

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Advice for those leaving: Say sorry. Say you were wrong. – Elgen Strait

“...maybe you want to leave a cult, maybe you're thinking 'this is the final straw, but how do I do it? How do I leave this thing that has been a part of my life for x number of years?' I can imagine that's a very daunting thing to do. If anybody needs a suggestion on how to start, here's mine, it's very simple. Say I'm sorry. Say I was wrong. Just start with those two sentence to all the people that you love that might have been hurt by this group, and the rest follow from there. And if you're thinking beyond that, ‘what about the ties I have with the group? Maybe that'll help with my family, but how about, what about the group?’ It's really easy. Just stop going.  Just stop going to the meetings. Stop taking the calls. Stop giving them your money. You don't have to leave in a declaration of independence. You can just stop. You can just fade out and fade in to the lives of your families, and just leave it at that.”

—Elgen Strait on season 1, episode 2 of Falling Out

[whatisonthemoon]

Moonsplained: recovering from spiritual abuse

Limi has been making incredible YouTube videos - a great resource for ex-Moonies:

Hi! I'm Limi. I grew up in a cult and I tell stories about it. This is my story of cult recovery and building a life and identity of my own. I'm not a licensed therapist. I'm an educator seeking justice--hoping that this never happens to anyone else. I was born into and left a cult run by Sun Myung Moon and his family. It's officially now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU). When I was growing up it was called the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianities (HSA-UWC). It's commonly called the Unification Church by members and media, and the derogatory slur is "Moonie." Members who have left call themselves exmoonies. Through telling my story, I hope to create an awareness of lives after spiritual abuse, what had to be overcome, what needed to be healed, and the joy of the adventure of recreating one's own self. Want to be an exmoonie? Need support? https://itsoktoleave.org/ Resource for others www.igotout.org

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Ex-Moonie Allen Tate Wood Slandered by the Unification Church

“When I joined the UC in Baltimore I was told, within a few months, that Allen Tate Wood had fallen with all the sisters in the Maryland center. Also that he saw himself as the real messiah and wanted to start a church of his own. I can't tell you how many times we were told that story. It always ended the same way, "He didn't even have the humility and love to say good-bye to True Father." It made True Father cry to know that Allen just left without so much as a good-bye. We were taught to hate Allen.” - L. F.

The reason for the UC propaganda was because Allen was an effective opponent of Sun Myung Moon. Allen had inside knowledge and was articulate in his explanations. See:

Allen Tate Wood on Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church.

1. Interview at North Texas State University (Summer 1985) 2. Deconstructing Extremism in 21st Century America (c. 2014) 3. Interview with Walter Evans in the Texas Metroplex (1985) 4. Moonstruck: A memoir of my life in a cult – Allen Tate Wood with Jack Vitek (1979) 5. Defectors inside story: How the nickel and dime Moonies rake in $219 million

‘A kind of fascism’ – former Moon organization leader

[whatisonthemoon]

I provide the usual opening line: I'm with the church, we're having a fundraising drive for a summer camp, we're selling jewelry. The apartment's nicer than the others in the building. No velvet pictures of Jesus or J.F.K. on the living room wall, no wailing children, no gaggle of dirty men swilling beer in the kitchen. There's a matching love seat and couch, clean white carpeting, and a wallful of books. I'm thinking twenty-dollar sale. Minimum.

She picks through the box, occasionally lifting a piece from the board and trying it on. After a few minutes she settles on a necklace, a cheap puca and coral number, then lopes into the bathroom to study herself in the mirror. From the couch I can see her back. She's undone the top of her suit and stands facing the mirror. The thin white strip crossing her brown back reminds me of the dividing line on the Santa Monica Freeway. It's been almost a year since I've kissed a woman.

full article: https://newworldwriting.net/backissues/1997/semansky.html

[whatisonthemoon]

The Curious Case of Gary Jarmin

Originally posted on WIOTM on May 6, 2016 by Don Diligent or Mr. Moon Critic:

Once upon a time there was a troubled teenager by the name of Gary Jarmin. Then one day Jon Schuhart (with the help of Gary’s sister) “rescued” him from a “home for troubled youth”. Schuhart then convinced him to join the “Unified Family” of Los Angeles in 1967. By the early 1970’s Neil Salonen & Bo Hi Pak put him in charge of the Freedom Leadership Foundation. At that time, no one was a more ardent anti-communist then Gary. He went to Vietnam in 1970 with a contingent of UC members (including Alan Tate Wood) to lobby for the U.S. maintaining its commitment to (winning) the Vietnam War. He’s been lobbying ever since. What does your sister say about you now? http://www.c-span.org/person/?garyjarmin

[whatisonthemoon]

Yamagami Our Hero

Of course, Yamagami is our hero. He is courageous, industrious, and compassionate – a lot like us when we shed blood, sweat, and tears for the Church and humanity. That is the meaning of a hero in our tradition.  While pursuing his revenge, Yamagami cared about us. All humane and heroic. He is only a criminal to others, but also a hero to us. 

Rev. Moon was also courageous and industrious, but he was NOT a hero because he lacked compassion towards others. He was one helluva narcissist with grandiosity, and was incapable of being compassionate with others. He was courageous and industrious only for working towards his goals (like, building up his kingdom of heaven on earth), and could have served as a good self-help guru for others, but never a hero. Hero is one that sacrifices his life for others.

Instead of compassion, Rev. Moon had pity towards himself, his God, and his family. Then, his self-pity swiftly turned into self-glorification, which was in fact Rev. Moon’s legacy. Self-glorification is the very culture of the True Family. Such culture is nothing new, but all common experience that humanity has been experiencing for ages from kings, dictators, oligarchs, or a few elites. It is nothing but Pride – the deadly sin. Rev. Moon’s life was just that. The grandiose achievements by Rev. Moon and the like must be kept in as museum pieces for warning, and never allowed to inspire future humanity.

Yamagami is our hero, but not a leader. He was NOT born a criminal though. What he did for himself and others in the given circumstances made him one.

Yamagami is also a symbol of our suffering. That is why his sad eyes cause pain in my heart. He is our child, our brother, and our friend.

We should send him a letter.

-Martin

[whatisonthemoon]

For those seeking to send letters to Tetsuya Yamagami

Tetsuya Yamagami is at Osaka Detention Center. 

Here’s the address you can use to get in contact with him. He likely won’t respond but he’s assured people that he is reading every letter.

Address: Post Code: 534-8585 1-2-5 Tomobuchi-cho, Toshima-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka, Japan Attention: Osaka Detention Center Mr. Tetsuya Yamagami

[whatisonthemoon]

2nd Generation Activism in Japan

From @nowwarmom on Twitter:

Morusuko and the team of 2nd-gen former Unification Church members are sending yellow stickers to candidates who have declared that they won’t have any relationship with the UC or receive election support from the UC.

Morusuko and the team's activities were also featured in this TV program. The list of 3800 candidates allows you to find out which candidates had or did not have any connections. If yes, you can check what kind of connection they had.

Video in Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y9gUZsfg20