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UC Leaks |
Leaking insider info for the sake of transparency and reform inside the Unification Church. |
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Notes Is the Unification Church practicing censorship to silence dissent?We have strong reason to believe that the Unification Church headquarters is systematically censoring and altering the information it shares with membership with ill intent. This is a fundamental violation of trust by the leaders within our spiritual community, and damages our church’s credibility and providential work.
Below we have documented three separate instances where the Unification Church has censored its own members who asked questions and shared information that the Unification Church headquarters didn’t like.
Censoring of Kyung Hyo Kim
On Febrary 22, 2010, presentations by Hyo Yeul Kim (Peter Kim) and Jin Yong Park (Richard Bach) were delivered at the World National Leaders Assembly. Below are the transcripts.
Feb 22, 2010; World National Leaders Assembly
Blessed family member Kyung Hyo Kim “felt that some of the speakers [from that meeting] made very unjust and inaccurate statements“ and that as a blessed family it was his “duty and responsibility to rectify such circumstances.” Kyung Hyo Kim shared his questions and concerns with those speakers and other blessed families in a series of letters (below) that were passed along mostly by email.
Kyung Hyo Kim Letters
Instead of addressing his questions, UC Vice International President Joon Ho Seuk issued the following memo stating that Kyung Hyo Kim would be sued for one claim he made.
April 2, 2010: Warning about irresponsibly spreading rumors through the internet
Of special interest is the clause “if such documents are sent or rumors spread through the internet without confirmation of facts, and bypassing the official channels of the organization and leadership, the World Mission Headquarters and national headquarters of the mission nations will take action to confirm the truth or untruth of such allegations and take any necessary actions against conduct that undermines the order within the organization (regardless of the truth of the allegation).”
Kyung Hyo Kim raised issues of false reporting, misuse of money, and falsification of documents, which are serious. Most organizations take allegations of misuse of money, false reporting, and any form of corruption very seriously and objectively investigate such claims made by its leadership or against its leadership, even hiring an independent third party or an ombudsman for such purposes.
Since this memo was issued we have seen great zeal in actions taken against conduct that undermines “order within the organization,” but no apparent objective investigative action into alleged wrongdoings. It appears that this memo and subsequent action taken against Kyung Hyo Kim is more of an attempt by church leadership to silence his questions rather than address them.
Censoring of Yong Ahn Kwon
Yong Ahn Kwon, who was the Boon-bong-wang of Algeria took personal notes from Hoon Dok Hae the morning of November 18, 2010 and shared them with others.
Nov. 18, 2010 HDH Notes
It is common for members to take notes during Hoon Dok Hae, as individuals often do for sermons and lectures. While personal notes should not be taken as a full or accurate account of an event, they none the less provide insight into content that was shared.
From the perspective of World Mission Dept though, these notes caused a lot of confusion and needed to be refuted. Instead of releasing the Hoon Dok Hae video which would definitively document what was really said, World Mission Dept attacked the credibility of Yong Ahn Kwon and their official account of what was said,
Nov 18-20, 2010 WMD Report of HDH
and two weeks later strips Yong Ahn Kwon of his position as a Boon bong wang.
Dec. 6, 2010; Dismissal of Boon-bong-wang
This raises a number of questions.- What did Father really say that morning? If World Mission Dept’s account is accurate, releasing the full video of that Hoon Dok Hae would have decisively discredited Yong Ahn Kwon’s account and clarified the situation.
- Why would Yong Ahn Kwon risk his reputation and position by lying when there were many other participants at Hoon Dok Hae who were also present and would give a different account?
- Why did World Mission Dept take such an aggressive action against Yong Ahn Kwon for sharing what were his personal notes from Hoon Dok Hae? Even if his notes contained errors, it wouldn’t be the first time notes with errors have been shared within our church communities.
Censoring and Excommunication of Jocelyn Remigio and her Family
In following letter, Jocelyn Remigio shares her recent experience of being excommunicated from the Unification Church for distributing Global Peace Newsletters.
A Great Injustice
Jocelyn’s firsthand account raises some serious questions.- Initially, “Eric and Joy Remigio’s family and all GPYC members are no longer Unification Church members” “based on True Parents direction.” Later, the “direction changed already since Dr. Yong and Michael Zablan reconciled already during the funeral of one UMHQ staff.” If this account is accurate, it indicates that True Parents didn’t actually give the initial direction but the authority of their names were invoked regardless. How common is this practice?
- Jocelyn demanded a copy of the memo regarding her excommunication, but none was ever produced. Being excommunicated is a serious matter, but the Philippines church would not provide a written document stating such. Why?
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Possible Censorship of Events and Meetings
We’ve compiled a series of memos and letters that strongly suggest World Mission Department is censoring brothers and sisters whose words and actions could damage the credibility of leaders inside our movement. This is a big deal. It indicates that our leaders fear having their misdeeds exposed, and since truth won’t vindicate them they try to silence anyone who would speak out. If this were not the case, there would be no reason to censor anyone in our church.
Chronology of Events
- WMD released a memo requiring TP approval of all meetings.
- Hyun Jin Nim released a memo on the same day announcing that GPF would separate from UPF.
- First application of guidelines only used to restrict GPF related activities.
- WMD issued memo stating Hyun Jin Nim didn’t have WMD permission to speak in Brazil. Also guidelines were altered to give National Leader & Regional President authority to approve meetings and events.
- Rev. Shin agreed to let Hyun Jin Nim speak in Brazil.
- WMD issued a memo condemning Hyun Jin Nim’s speech in Brazil. His supporters are also banned from speaking.
1. WMD released a memo requiring TP approval of all meetings
Considering that the church has many thousands of members spread out across most nations, and wants to expand its membership and establish its own nation by 2013, many events and activities will need to be held. Reviewing so many meetings would easily fill the busy schedules of the International President and True Parents. It is possible that these guidelines were designed to be selectively enforced using the authority of True Parents and largely not followed by UC leaders and members. This seems likely considering the fact that these guidelines were issued the same day that Hyun Jin Nim informed UPF leaders that he would continue GPF activities in spite of no longer leading UPF.
2. Hyun Jin Nim released a memo on the same day announcing that GPF would separate from UPF
November 4, 2009: Letter from the UPF Co-Chairman
3. First application of guidelines only used to restrict GPF related activities
As there are no other public memos available that show other instances of these guidelines being enforced, it appears the only time these guidelines are enforced are to stop GPF activities,
March 24, 2010: Establishing and engaging in activities of GPF (or GPFF, GPC, GPA)
or to justify why Hyun Jin Nim can not speak to UC members.
4. WMD issued memo stating Hyun Jin Nim didn’t have WMD permission to speak in Brazil. Also guidelines were altered to give National Leader & Regional President authority to approve meetings and events
“In the absence of True Parents’ official approval all board directors, leaders, and members of our church (HSAUWC/FFWPU) in Brazil should fully respect and follow the decisions and guidelines of the regional president and national leader.” This memo doesn’t explicitly indicate that True Parents disapproved of Hyun Jin Nim speaking. It also indicates that the regional president and national leader also have authority to decide who can speak at assemblies without True Parents approval, contrary to guidelines previously issued. The following two documents show that the regional president Rev. Dong Mo Shin in fact did agree to let Hyun Jin Nim speak, which apparently would be in his authority to decide.
5. Rev. Shin agreed to let Hyun Jin Nim speak in Brazil
The Reality of the Facts - Mauricio Baldini
6. WMD issued a memo condemning Hyun Jin Nim’s speech in Brazil. His supporters are also banned from speaking
Yet the following memo contradicts these two first hand accounts:
Notice, “he sought and was informed of True Parents’ instructions through the World Mission Headquarters. True Parents stated that, without their approval, no one has permission to give a sermon at an official gathering of members.” These are the same guidelines stated in the Nov. 4, 2009 memo, but differ from what was stated in the May 27, 2010 memo. Apparently there is flexibility in how these guidelines are applied. Does Rev. Shin need or get permission for every meeting held in South America, or is he empowered to make those decisions himself as the May 27 memo would indicate? Do local pastors in America or other nations need or get such permission? Shortly after this memo was issued, USA church HQ announced that anyone supporting Hyun Jin Nim would also not be allowed to speak at any public event. This policy seems to be selectively applied to censor and stop certain individuals from having meetings or speaking. Why?
