Moonies

Moonies is a derogatory [* [http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/moonie?view=uk Oxford English Dictionary] ] [* [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moonie WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University] ] term for members of the Unification Church, based on the name of church founder Sun Myung Moon. It is considered a disparagement by most church members, but has nevertheless been used by them and others on occasion without any negative connotations.

History

Rather than calling members of the church "Unification Church members" or "Unificationists," news articles in the 70s used names emphasizing the members' relationship to Moon as a charismatic leader - often characterized as a cult of personality - such as "Moon-children" or "Moonite," and later "Moonie."

Sun Myung Moon himself used the word quite a few times. In several speeches he made light of the word "moonies," encouraging members to graduate in three stages from "Moonies" to "Sunnies" and then to "Kingies:" "Those who oppose us call us Moonies but we call ourselves Sunnies and the spirit world will tell you that you are Kingies." [ [http://www.tparents.org/moon-talks/sunmyungmoon78/780319.htm "Where God Resides and His Course"] , sermon by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Belvedere, Tarrytown, New York, March 19, 1978.] [ [http://www.tparents.org/moon-books/bif2/BIF2-7-3-03.htm "The Life of Husband and Wife in a Blessed Family"] , "Blessing and Ideal Family Part 2", by Rev. Sun Myung Moon.] [ [http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/sunmyungmoon82/SunMyungMoon-820702.htm "Sun Myung Moon Speaks to the 2100 Couples"] , speech to members by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Felt Forum, Madison Square Garden, New York, July 2, 1982.] [ [http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/sunmyungmoon77/771111.htm "The Children's Day We Have Been Longing For"] , speech to members by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Manhattan Center, November 11, 1977.] He also sometimes referred to members as "moonies" in a straightforward manner. ["All Things Depend On Us," sermon by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, January 8, 1978.]

Response by members

In the early 1980s Unificationists took a public stance against the word, asking major media organizations to stop referring to them as "Moonies," stating that the term was intended as a demeaning and pejorative slur. In an official press release from the American Unification Church headquarters in the early 1980s, "Moonie" was described, in comparison to earlier pejorative references such as "Moonite," as "even more derogatory and diminutive."

In August 1994 the "Unification News", the official monthly newspaper of the church, published an article saying in part:

One can only wonder how long Unificationists must bide their time before their sincere petitions regarding the offensive use of the term "Moonie" will finally be acknowledged. I consider twenty years to be enough. Any short-term anesthesia has long since worn off and it really hurts to be so persistently abused. Unification Church members have been derided as "Moonies," then mobbed and beaten. In New York City, a seven-months pregnant woman was beaten and sent to the hospital as a result of irrational hatred of "Moonies." Church missionaries have been murdered in the course of their public church duties because they were "Moonies." Members have been abducted, imprisoned, assaulted and abused. In many instances the perpetrators were not charged by the authorities or even admonished by society because their victims were only "Moonies." [ [http://www.tparents.org/UNews/unws9408/MOONIE.htm "Moonie" a bad word?] ]

Unification Church member Gary Fleisher wrote, "Calling us 'Moonies' is just a technique of making it easy to hate us, because Moonies aren't human. It is easy to hate and persecute robots. The word Moonie has the same purpose as nigger, kike, spik, mick, or Polak. It is to make a group of enemies, that it is acceptable to hate and misuse." [ [http://www.tparents.org/Moonie/Moonie.htm Myth and Fact: Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church] ]

"The Religion Style Book", published by the Religion Newswriters Association, says that the word "Moonie" is, "A derogatory term for a member of the Unification Church. Journalists should not use it except in direct quotes." [ [http://www.religionstylebook.org/styleM.php] Religion Style Book, Accessed August 29, 2008]

ee also

*Unification Church
*Unification Church of the United States

References

External links

* [http://www.tparents.org/UNews/unws9408/MOONIE.htm An essay on the use of the term "Moonie"] by a Unificationist
* [http://religiousfreedom.com/tskfrce/colvin.htm Testimony of Alex Colvin to the Maryland Task Force to study the effects of cult activities on public senior Higher Education institutions] which contains a discussion of the use of "Moonie"
* [http://www.perkel.com/politics/moonies/index.htm Anti-Unification site retaining use of the word "Moonie"]
* [http://www.sonic.net/sentinel/1earth4.html News stories from the early 1990s liberally using the "M-word"]
* [http://www.unification.org Unification Church official website]
* [http://www.geocities.com/unificationism/ A balanced introduction to Unificationism] including both support and criticism from current and former Unificationists.
* [http://www.geocities.com/craigmaxim/c-3a.html Page from anti-Unification site asserting that the term "Moonie" was once acceptable to Unificationists] including a photograph near the bottom of the page showing a coffee mug bearing the slogan "I'm a Moonie and I [heart symbol] it!"
* [http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1978/v35-1-criticscorner3.htm Dialogue with the Moonies] Article by a Christian theologian which praises the character of Unificationists, yet uses the word "Moonie".