I chose this username and decided to do some editing because I happened to see an article here on Wikipedia about a project begun by Unification Church members (but independent of the church) which had some surprisingly inappropriate material about "moonie" "brainwashing." It has been almost a decade since I was a member of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, but I was a long-time member who knew/knows quite a bit more about the church than the average member, and although I no longer have the slightest desire to promote the church or cast it in a more favorable light than objective facts recommend (and I seriously doubt it can reform and solve its fundamental problems), I also object to bigoted disinformation, especially in a forum like this one which is seeking accurate, objective, and neutral point-of-view information on a variety of topics, including controversial ones. (written March 25, 2006)

Recently I have also added some items to certain pages related to Unificationism that I believe may help the Unification community to improve, although I do not hold out much hope. These include bringing out into the daylight some of the more difficult issues such as those raised in Nansook Hong's book In the Shadow of the Moons, which Dan Fefferman described as "having a ring of truth." I am also concerned about the violence, that seems to have been accepted at the time, not only from Hyo Jin Moon, but also from the official channel for Heung Jin Moon, and from Hyun Jin Moon as exemplified by his assaults of the Contemporary Realism painter Tim Folzenlogen when he was a member. If Unificationism is to survive, these issues must be faced by members and dealt with somehow, not swept under the rug. I realize that it might be better for a current member to take this bold action; I stand to be accused of being "negative." Any brave reformers still in the church who want to take up the challenge of solving internal problems as a foundation for saving the world? (written July 25, 2006)


This user has been on Wikipedia for 18 years, 7 months and 9 days.