Mose Durst

Last updated

Mose Durst (born September 5, 1939) is an author, educator, and the former president of the Unification Church of the United States. [1]

Durst was born in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, to immigrant parents from Russia. He received a Master's degree and Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Oregon. He taught at Laney College in Oakland, California. [2] In 1972 he converted from Judaism [3] and joined the Unification Church in Oakland, then became a lecturer and a church leader in California. In 1974, he married Korean missionary Yon Soo Lim, and they led the Northern California church together. [4]

In 1980, Durst was appointed by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon as the president of the Unification Church of the United States. As church president Durst expanded some of the successful practices of the Northern California church to the national level. [5] [6] [4]

In 1984, Durst expressed regret over misunderstandings between Unification Church members and some members of the Jewish community. He placed blame for this both on the members' "youthful zeal and ignorance" and on the community's "insecurity." [7] That same year he wrote in his autobiography: "Our relations with the Jewish community have been the most painful to me personally. I say this with a heavy heart, since I was raised in the Jewish faith and am proud of my heritage." [8]

Durst currently teaches literature and history to middle school students at the Principled Academy, a Unification Church sponsored school in San Leandro, California, and is the chairman of the school's board. He has published seven books: To Bigotry, No Sanction: Reverend Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church, Principled Education, Shakespeare’s Plays, and Oakland, California: Towards A Sustainable City, [9] and two children’s books. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sun Myung Moon</span> Korean religious leader (1920–2012)

Sun Myung Moon was a Korean religious leader, also known for his business ventures and support for conservative political causes. A messiah claimant, he was the founder of the Unification Church, whose members consider him and his wife Hak Ja Han to be their "True Parents", and of its widely noted "Blessing" or mass wedding ceremonies. The author of the Unification Church's religious scripture, the Divine Principle, he was an anti-communist and an advocate for Korean reunification, for which he was recognized by the governments of both North and South Korea. Businesses he promoted included News World Communications, an international news media corporation known for its American subsidiary The Washington Times, and Tongil Group, a South Korean business group (chaebol), as well as other related organizations.

The Subcommittee on International Organizations of the Committee on International Relations was a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives which met in 1976 and 1977 and conducted an investigation into the "Koreagate" scandal. It was chaired by Representative Donald M. Fraser of Minnesota. The committee's 447-page report, made public on November 29, 1977, reported on plans by the National Intelligence Service (KCIA) to manipulate American institutions to the advantage of South Korean government policies, overtly and covertly.

HJ International Graduate School for Peace and Public Leadership formerly known as Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) from its founding in 1975 until July 2023 is a private Unification Church-affiliated graduate seminary headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. The seminary was granted an absolute charter from the State of New York in January 1984 and received accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in November 1996.

Bo Hi Pak was a prominent member of the Unification Church. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a major leader in the church movement, leading projects such as newspapers, schools, performing arts projects, political projects such as the anti-communist organization CAUSA International, and was president of the Unification Church International 1977–1991. He was also the president of Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unification Church</span> International new religious movement

The Unification Church (Korean: 통일교) is a new religious movement derived from Christianity, whose members are called Unificationists or sometimes informally Moonies. Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012) began gaining followers after the Second World War. On 1 May 1954 in Seoul, South Korea, Moon formally founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC), the Unification Church's full name, until 1994, when it was officially changed to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. It has a presence in approximately 100 countries around the world. Its leaders are Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han, whom their followers honor with the title "True Parents".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hak Ja Han</span> Korean religious leader (born 1943)

Hak Ja Han Moon is an international religious leader. Her late husband Sun Myung Moon was the founder of the Unification Church (UC). Han and Moon were married in April 1960 and have 10 living children and over 30 grandchildren. In 1992, she established the Women's Federation for World Peace, and traveled the world speaking on its behalf. Since her husband's death, she has assumed leadership of the Unification Church, whose followers call her "True Mother" and "Mother of Peace".

Heung Jin Moon, also referred to by members of the Unification Church (UC) as Heung Jin Nim or posthumously as Lord Heung Jin Nim, was the second son of church founders Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han. At the age of 17 he died in a vehicle accident in New York State. Three months later his parents conducted a spiritual wedding ceremony between him and Julia Pak, daughter of church leader, Bo Hi Pak. He is officially regarded by the UC to be the "king of the spirits" in heaven. After Moon's death, some church members claimed that they were channelling messages from his spirit. In 1988 a church member from Zimbabwe, named Kundioni, claimed to be the incarnation of Moon. His acts of violence against church members were a source of controversy within the church. Moon is now believed by church members to be leading workshops in the spiritual world in which spirits of deceased persons are taught UC teachings.

Richard Lowell Rubenstein was a theologian, educator, and writer, noted particularly for his path-breaking contributions to post-Holocaust theology and his socio-political analyses of surplus populations and bureaucracy. A Connecticut resident, he was married to art historian Betty Rogers Rubenstein.

Chung Hwan Kwak, is a South Korean religious leader. He was a leader in the Unification Church (UC), and was appointed to many leadhip positions in organizations related to the Unification Church by its founder Sun Myung Moon. Since 2002, he was the chairman and president of News World Communications, which owns United Press International, and other publications, including the Middle East Times, and Tiempos del Mundo, a Spanish-language newspaper published in 16 countries throughout the Americas. He was also the president of the Family Party for the Universal Peace and Unity, a South Korean political party founded by UC members, one of whose main goals is the reunification of Korea. He was also the chairman of the ″Social Responsibility Committee″ for the Asian Football Confederation.

<i>Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon</i> 1991 book by Carlton Sherwood

Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon is a 1991 book by Carlton Sherwood about the early 1980s investigation and trial of Sun Myung Moon, the leader of the Unification Church, for violations of United States tax law. The book, subtitled The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, alleges that there were elements of racism and religious persecution in the prosecution of the Moon case. The book was published by Regnery Publishing, an American publisher which specializes in conservative books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church</span> Large-scale wedding or marriage rededication ceremony sponsored by the Unification Church

The Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony (축복결혼식), often abbreviated to Blessing, is a large-scale wedding, or a marriage rededication ceremony, sponsored by the Unification Church. It is given to married or engaged couples. Through it, members of the Unification Church believe that the couple is removed from the lineage of sinful humanity and engrafted into God's sinless lineage. As a result, the couple's marital relationship—and any children born after the Blessing—exist free from the consequences of original sin.

Nansook Hong, is the author of the autobiography, In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family, published in 1998 by Little, Brown and Company. It gave her account of her life up to that time, including her marriage to Hyo Jin Moon, the first son of Unification Church founder and leader Sun Myung Moon and his wife Hakja Han Moon.

Hyung Jin Moon, also known as Sean Moon, is an American pastor and, along with his wife Yeon Ah Lee Moon, founded the Pennsylvania-based World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church. The Sanctuary Church is a schismatic and militant sect of the Unification Church, which was founded by Hyung Jin Moon's father Reverend Sun Myung Moon and now led by his mother Hak Ja Han.

In 1984, Sun Myung Moon, the founder and leader of the Unification Church, was imprisoned in the United States after being found guilty by a jury of willfully filing false federal income tax returns and conspiracy. Church members and supporters stated that the prosecution was politically motivated, discriminatory, and unfair.

Neil Albert Salonen served as the ninth president of the University of Bridgeport, a private university in Bridgeport, Connecticut from 1999 to 2018. He is a member of the Unification Church and became the president of the Unification Church of the United States in 1972. In 1974 he led the National Prayer and Fast Committee, a group founded by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon to support United States president Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. In 1976 Salonen met with Senator Bob Dole to defend the Unification Church against charges made by its critics, including parents of some members. In that year he was president of the Freedom Leadership Foundation, an anticommunist and pro South Korean propaganda organization, as well as church president. In 1980 Salonen was succeeded as the president of the American church by Mose Durst. In 1997 he served as master of ceremonies at a blessing ceremony for about 20,000 engaged and married couples presided over by Rev. and Mrs. Moon and held in Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington D.C. In 2002, Salonen was selected to serve on the Presidents Leadership Group, "a body of higher education presidents and chancellors who have declared their commitment to student substance abuse prevention."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unification Church of the United States</span> Religious movement in the United States

The Unification Church of the United States is the branch of the Unification Church in the United States. It began in the late 1950s and early 1960s when missionaries from South Korea were sent to America by the international Unification Church's founder and leader Sun Myung Moon. It expanded in the 1970s and then became involved in controversy due to its theology, its political activism, and the lifestyle of its members. Since then, it has been involved in many areas of American society and has established businesses, news media, projects in education and the arts, as well as taking part in political and social activism, and has itself gone through substantial changes.

Daniel G. Fefferman is a church leader and activist for the freedom of religion. He is a member of the Unification Church of the United States, a branch of the international Unification Church, founded by Sun Myung Moon in South Korea in 1954.

The Family Peace Association is an international peace organization. It was inaugurated on December 2, 2017, in Seoul, South Korea, where it announced its mission: "To enlighten humanity by uplifting their spiritual consciousness through universal principles and values rooted in God-centered families.". The co-founders of the Family Peace Association are Hyun Jin Moon and Junsook Moon. Jinman Kwak is its president.

Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, believed in a literal Kingdom of God on earth to be brought about by human effort, motivating his establishment of numerous groups, some that are not strictly religious in their purposes. Moon was not directly involved with managing the day-to-day activities of the organizations that he indirectly oversaw, yet all of them attribute the inspiration behind their work to his leadership and teachings.

References

  1. ↑ Lattin, Don (11 February 2001). "Children of a Lesser God / THE MOONIES: Looking to its youth for survival". SFGATE. San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  2. ↑ "Reaching Out Across America - Interview with Dr. Mose Durst about the Unification News". www.tparents.org. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  3. ↑ "Religion: Sun Myung Moon's Goodwill Blitz". Time Magazine . April 22, 1985. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008.
  4. 1 2 Excerpts Archived 2003-04-29 at the Wayback Machine The Unification Church, Studies in Contemporary Religion Massimo Introvigne, Signature Books, ISBN   1-56085-145-7.
  5. ↑ "Moonie change seen", Modesto Bee , May 8, 1980
  6. ↑ "Neil Duddy Interview: Dr. Mose Durst". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
  7. ↑ "Unification Church seen as persecuted", The Milwaukee Sentinel , September 15, 1984, page 4
  8. ↑ To Bigotry, No Sanction, Mose Durst, 1984
  9. ↑ Oakland, California: Towards A Sustainable City, AuthorHouse.
  10. ↑ The Principled Academy - Staff page Archived 2007-06-25 at the Wayback Machine , school web site.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.