"News,
Inspiration,
& Consumer Protection
for Spiritual Seekers"

------------

NHNE News List
Current Members: 220

------------

To subscribe, send a message to:
nhnenews-subscribe@onelist.com

To unsubscribe, send a message to:
nhnenews-unsubscribe@onelist.com

To discuss NHNE news items with others of like mind:
http://www.nhne.com/database/dbforum.html

To review/search all NHNE news posts:
http://www.onelist.com/messages/nhnenews

To review quick archive of linked posts:
http://www.nhne.com/newslist/index.html

To send in current news and information:
(be sure to include date, source, and URL):
nhne@...

To support NHNE:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html

P.O. Box 10627
Sedona, AZ USA 86339-8627

------------

MOON-LIT MATCHMAKERS NIBBLE AT APPLE
By Christopher Francescani
NEW YORK POST
Sunday, December 26, 1999
(Thanks to Steve Hassan of Freedom of Mind)

http://www.nypost.com/news/20442.htm

Looking for love and companionship? Forget the bar scene -- join the
Moonies.

A small army of Moonies has taken to the streets to woo recruits for the
Rev. Sun Myung Moon's next mass wedding in Seoul, South Korea -- on Feb. 13.
Japanese women are staked out on Midtown sidewalks, holding signs reading
"Looking for Love?" and "Find Your Ideal Mate" and directing likely
prospects to the church's New York City headquarters on West 43rd Street.

The women -- who recruit in pairs -- are volunteers from Moon's Unification
Church in Tokyo, said New York church spokesman Richard Lewis.

"It's not a recruitment drive. It's just trying to help people as couples,"
Lewis told The Post. "We're trying to build families."

The eager emissaries are stationed along Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the 40s.
For hours at a time, the women smile and wave their signs in the faces of
passers-by, male and female, young and old.

They are mostly ignored.

But when someone stops, they giggle and point to the headquarters address on
their sign. All the women observed by The Post spoke very little English and
answered questions largely by pointing and waving.

When a prospect agrees to visit the church, they take him -- or her -- by
the arm and try to walk the prospect there.

It's not the first such recruitment drive, says Steve Hassan, a former
high-ranking Moonie who's been tracking the church since he left it 23 years
ago.

"Right now, Moon is hurting, and he needs money, and so they're doing this
major fund-raising drive," Hassan said. "They do this often right before
mass weddings. They want Americans, and they want their money, so they go
after the lonely and lovesick."

Those who visit the 43rd Street headquarters meet "counselors" like Mary
Moriarty, an Australian photographer who moved to New York several years ago
after being "matched" to a church member.

To be paired with a mate, she said, an applicant must attend a daylong
seminar at the church, submit a photo of him or herself and pay $100 -- "to
show that you are sincere, that you are genuinely interested."

Then Rev. Moon looks at the photo and divines with whom the recruit will
spend the rest of his life.

Several days prior to the wedding, she said, you meet your mate and spend
some time together to become acquainted before the ceremony, which is
usually held in a football stadium or arena.

Denis Beltran, who was approached by church members in his native Peru and
on the streets of New York, was matched last year to a Japanese stewardess.

"I wanted to try an alternative" to more traditional dating methods, said
Beltran, who works for a Manhattan nonprofit organization. "I'm a guy who
wants to get married just once."

Beltran said he studied for more than two years, attending seminars and
volunteering within the church -- remaining sexually abstinent, as per
church rules, before he was married at last year's mass wedding ceremony in
Madison Square Garden.

He said he's so happy with his spouse that he brought his sister and brother
into the church and both recently found matches.

"Rev. Moon and his wife are like a parent for all mankind," Beltran said.
"Now I have many friends who I consider family."

Beltran said he never felt pressure to give the church money. When he was
asked for $1,000, he said, he donated what he could afford: $300.

Moon critic Hassan contends Beltran and others are being scammed by a
money-mad egomaniac who calls himself the Messiah and breaks his own rules.

"It's mind-control," he said. "It starts with a lecture and it goes to a
three-day workshop, then a seven-day workshop, then a 21-day workshop, and,
at least from my experience, that's the point at which you take your money
out of the bank, quit your job and move in."

Hassan -- author of the upcoming "Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to
Think for Themselves" -- said, "They try to keep you away from your family
and friends, they interrupt your phone calls, and they try not to let you be
alone at all."

Church spokesman Lewis dismissed Hassan's claims as "ridiculous" and said
hundreds of millions of church members around the world can attest to the
success of the matchmaking.

------------

Steve Hassan attached the following commentary to the above story before
sending it out to his mailing list:

"For those of you who didn't know that Moon's 21 year old son, Phillip Moon
committed suicide from a hotel window on October 27th in Reno, Nevada; that
Hyo Jin, eldest son of Moon was divorced by Nansook Hong and that her book,
In the Shadow of the Moons, detailed his cocaine problem, adulterous
behavior and violence. It is amazing to me that there are still people who
don't realize that there are still thousands of people still trapped in the
delusion and mind control of the Moon cult. There is so much overwhelming
evidence that Moon is a lying, immoral man who is exploiting them -- but
they are still in denial -- or are simply afraid to come out and rebuild
their lives. Many gave up their educations to become members. Now they have
children, and feel like they have no choice but to remain. Many have family
and friends "given up on them"- thinking that they have been in so long,
there was no hope. Well, there is hope! But we can reach out and talk with
these members. I do believe that deep down inside people want to know the
truth and they want to feel loved and not exploited. Cults don't practice
loving their members, so in the end they will always feel alienated the
longer they are involved. Practice unconditional love with the person still
in, and over time they will grow closer to you -- just like a plant turns
and looks for the sun."

http://www.freedomofmind.com/


------------

David Sunfellow, Founder & Publisher
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
P.O. Box 10627
Sedona, AZ USA 86339-8627

Primary eMail: nhne@...
Secondary eMail: nhne@...
NHNE: http://www.nhne.com/
wild2k: http://www.wild2k.com/
Phone: (520) 282-6120
Fax: (815) 346-1492

Subscribe NHNE Mailing List:
send a blank message to <nhnelist-on@...>

Subscribe NHNE News List:
send a blank message to <nhnenews-subscribe@onelist.com>

Subscribe NHNE Y2K List:
send a blank message to <nhney2k-subscribe@onelist.com>

Appreciate what we are doing?
You can say so with a tax-deductible donation:
http://www.nhne.com/main/donations.html