International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

The International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS) was a series scientific conferences sponsored by the International Cultural Foundation, an organization founded by Sun Myung Moon, the founder and leader of the Unification Church. [ [http://www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/unification.htm excerpt] The Unification Church Studies in Contemporary Religion, Massimo Introvigne, 2000, Signature Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, ISBN 1-56085-145-7 ] [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=270162 Kety Quits Moon-Linked ICF Conference] Harvard Crimson, 1976-08-10. ] The first conference, held in 1972, had 20 participants; while the largest conference, in Seoul, South Korea in 1982, had 808 participants from over 100 countries. [ [http://www.icus.org/index.php?cat=info&top=purpose ICUS Statement of Purpose] ]

The conferences have been criticised as an attempt to improve the often controversial Unification Church's public image. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/image.htm Church Spends Millions On Its Image] Washington Post. 1984-09-17 "An estimated 5,000 scholars, including more than two dozen Nobel laureates, have accepted expense-paid trips to academic conferences around the world held by the International Conference of the Unity of Sciences (ICUS) and the Professors World Peace Academy, two offshoots of the Moon-financed International Cultural Foundation (ICF), a New York-based umbrella organization for church academic programs. This year's 13th annual ICUS conference, with the theme "Absolute Values and The New Cultural Revolution," was held over the Labor Day weekend at the new J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington and attracted 240 participants from 46 countries, including John Lombardi, dean of international programs at Indiana University; Claude A. Villee, a Harvard Medical School biochemist; Morton Kaplan, a University of Chicago political scientist, and Eugene P. Wigner, a Princeton University physicist and Nobel laureate who, at an ICUS conference two years ago, received a $200,000 "founder's award" from Moon."] Other commentators have mentioned that Moon believes that religion alone can not save the world, [Tingle, D. and Fordyce, R. 1979, "Phases and Faces of the Moon: A Critical Examination of the Unification Church and its Principles", Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press ISBN 0682492647 p86-87] and that his particular belief in the importance of the unity of science and religion was a motivation for the founding of the ICUS. [Biermans, J. 1986, "The Odyssey of New Religious Movements, Persecution, Struggle, Legitimation: A Case Study of the Unification Church" Lewiston, New York and Queenston, Ontario: The Edwin Melton Press ISBN 0889467102 p173 ]

Participants in one or more of the conferences have included:
*Sir John Eccles - neurophysiologist, chairman for the 1976 conference. [ [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=270162 Kety Quits Moon-Linked ICF Conference] Harvard Crimson, 1976-08-10. ]
*Friedrich Hayek - economist [ [http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf0s2000xp&chunk.id=c01-1.7.6.4&brand=oac Register of the Friedrich A. von Hayek Papers, 1906-1992] Online Archive of California.]
*Morton Kaplan - professor of political science, chairman for the 1980 conference. [ [http://www.ettl.co.at/icus/p003.htm A Short History of the Conferences] ICUS website.]
*John Kelsay - author and professor of religion [ [http://www.fsu.edu/~religion/faculty/documents/kelsaycv.pdf.] Florida State University.]
*Robert Mulliken - profesor of chemical physics [ [http://ead.lib.uchicago.edu/view.xqy?id=ICU.SPCL.MULLIKEN&c=m Guide to the Robert S. Mulliken Papers] University of Chicago Library.]
*James Oberg - journalist and author [ [http://www.debunker.com/texts/black_box_approach_to_ufo_perceptions.html The Black Box Approach To UFO Perceptions] ]
*Raphael Patai - cultural anthropologist [ [http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/patai.pdf. Raphael Patai - Papers] New York Public Library]
*Robert Prechter - author and Executive Director, Socionomics Institute [ [http://socionomics.net/recentevents.aspx Socionomics Institute ] ]
*Richard Rubenstein - author and professor of religion [ [http://www.americanjewisharchives.org/aja/FindingAids/RichardRubenstein.htm Richard L. Rubenstein Papers] American Jewish Archives]
*Frederick Seitz - physicist [ [http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN88/wn112588.html MOON-STRUCK SCIENTISTS ARE GATHERED IN LOS ANGELES] Bob Park, University of Maryland November 25, 1988. "Alvin Weinberg, former director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is listed as the Conference Chairman. Frederick Seitz, who was once the APS president, is one of the two featured plenary speakers."]
*Ernest William Titterton - nuclear physicist [ [http://www.science.org.au/academy/basser/lists/ms168.txt The papers of SIR ERNEST WILLIAM TITTERTON] ] Australian Academy of Science]
*Alvin Weinberg - former director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory [University of Maryland]
*Jonathan Wells - author and advocate of intelligent design [ [http://www.worldandi.com/specialreport/1998/March/Sa17439.htm Evolution by Design] ]
*Eugene Wigner - physicist [ [http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/wigner.html Eugene Paul Wigner Papers] Princeton University Library]

References

External links

* [http://www.icus.org/ Official site of the ICUS]