News from Rev. Moon in jail - Original Document

\ \\ NEWS FROM REV. MOON IN JAIL

“I taR.e car e of the ki tchenwor k in the morning hour s. r,

This is t he e x lu sive intervi ew obta ined by th e daily news paper Kyun ghya n g _S hirnmu n by ~ < ng ‘Pac Ho (pe rma nen t corr r s ,de nt in Wa sh i n,J -ton ) f 1 born v . :, ,11 Myung J.Oon , founder of t he Unif jt 1 · u11 c hurch. : v . 11 1111

has be e n jailed i n a fed era l pr i son in Danbury, Connet icu l: since July 20, 19 84 t o a sentence of 18 months in pri son for tax fr aud. Th is article was ublished in the August ‘/t h edition o f th e t>ape r.

Question : How are you feeli n g n ow?

An swe r : Religion is destined to s urvive fr om all t h< i e t hat persec ute it . God is aware tha t without the movemen t f or world salvation t hat I have created, there is no altcJ n ative f or the s urvival of humanki n d. God h as p ut me in jail for o ne reas on, s o that my campa ign c an r ea c h lhc who le wo r ld. Today I am thankful to Him .

Question: Wh at is y our li fe jn prison like ?

Answer : I rise a t 3: 00 a.m. t o pray with Mr . Kamiy ama , my companion in captivity, until 5 :0 0 a.m . From 5:30 a .m. t il l 6:30 a.m. I a m busy doing my du tie s in the kitchen . The hour that follow s i s bre~k fast time. I work in the ki l che n als o betwee n 4 :30 p.m . a n d 5:30 p.m . I dedicate t he rest of my time to me et v isito r s, t o re ad, t o medi tate, t o wa lk and exercis e.

Quest ion: Ca n o u give some Je t a ils ,bou t your readi ng s a nd your exer c ises ?

Answer : I read the Bib c and I stu dy the mes sage of th e Un if icati on Church as wel l a s book s (on English conver sation ). . \ I als o re ad the American daily newspaper s distributed by post as well as Korean newspa p ers . I play pool and tab le tennis. I h old a religious se r vice everyday in my room, an d practice Sun day rituals in th e prison chapel under the supervision of the chaplain.

Oue stj~: Wh1. t do y ou l . ‘r y ; I f l •l

Answer : In a word, the p r ison tre ats me with cour t<~sy , giving me some personal fa cilities, in the meas ure all owe d by the regulations it assigns me light work in th e kitche n . This prison a pplies what is called an “honor” system and allows to the pri soners according t o their characte rs , t heir autonomy in a ll fields. The visits are· free for my 12 chi ldren and their s ouses, as well as for three other persons , one of them is Bo Hi Pak , president of the Washington Times. Twelv e persons in charge of the Unification Church and other personalities are a lso a llowed to visit me .

Question: Is it true that the center of ec isi on of th e Unification Church has been transferre d t o the prison?

Answer : A b ui lding or a n off ice cannot con sti tute centr e of decision making . The centre is wher ever I a m.

Question : Do you have good relati onships with lh e rison, r·r1’!

An swer: My compa nion in a pti v ity, Mr. Kum iyama is a loy a l and sin cere memb er o f our Church. He is ve ry ded icated l o me . He watches over me during my hours of sleep , between mi<’ n ight a nd 3:00 a.m . Other prisoners ar e a lso o pe n t oward me . ‘l’oday a pri s oner introdu c e d me to his wife . To her ~e uest , I I i gned

an au togr ~ph on her handkerch ie f . • \ QuC”s tion : Do you do miss ionary act iviti es in the pr i son?

An s we r: I 2m not inclined t o o it . My only activity i s the one of prayer , b ut some p r iso ners l ik e to listen to my se rmons, a nd e ven Rev. Graham, chap lain o f ·i ‘1e pri son , wants to do r eligious servi c e s with me .

Quc~stior1 : \✓h y do }1 1 th j,’ nL ,. Lg, n, c on se rvative and ri~ht wing politi c al ly , ha s turned a de df e ar toward you, who follows th e same li n e p oli ti cally?

Answer: The parties o r the per s o ns of t he right share my vision of an ant i-communist movemen t, but have the tendency to have a nar row point of view concerning racial discr imination. The progre ssive camp is more frien dly concerning relig ious liberties a nd r aci al discrimin ation. Frankly, t his is one of my di ,1 emmas t o try to mai ntain a relat ionship with the two side s. However, the fact th at the White Ho u se is s eemingly keeping itsel f from the decision s o f justice, re flects a n a ttitude of cowa rd ice , and reveals its fea r t o h ave to c onfront a h a ndic a p if it finds it se lf invol ved in thes e de cisions during th e next presidentia l e lecti on. The efforts t hat I have de d icated to the anti-co mmunist moveme nt a nd in t he fav our of th e United States di d not have a s a goal the re cognition of the Americans. - This wa s the will of god . ;uon t he time will come whe n the United S tates won’t b e a ble ·L0 ne gle ct th e Unification Church and a spec ia l presidenti al a mn e sty will be given .

Question: Do ou have the i nl:l n ti on io publis h wri ting:; 1

o n you r life in pri uon?

Answer: I’ve made a r ule not t o wr i ~e books myself. Never thele ss my sermons o r my word s h e re can be publ is h e d b y . \ my d is c ip l es.

Que sti on : Wh at is the goal of th e iverse f inancial a ctivities of the Unification Ch urch?

Answer: We be i e ve t hat ··a l v • t i o n o f the sou ls can ke 2 lace y the rla lizati on ve ·;;arth . he ., ‘a l -:: t i v.itie s 2 .cen ’ t , o n du c t e d fo - t b ut fo r t he constr uc tion of an i d ea l so ciety.

Que stion: f or which r easons h a s the Unification Chu r ch been critici zed by other Christian c hurches?

Answer: An historical perspe ctive teaches us t hat all new religiou s · groups have unde r gone persecution f r om es tabli s hed ·religious i n s titutions and other g r oups. Who can de ny t h~- historical t r uth? But whether a r eligious dogma is true or false is no t up to man to judge. As for myself, I h ave alway s encouraged di alogue betwee n di ffere n t de nomi nati o n s and the healing of rifts.

Question: What do y ou thi nk o f 1-:he 1>X t r ao:r.din a ry grow th Tl: Christianity in Korea?

Answer: From my poi nt of vi e w , Kore a i s a n ation whe re r eligion will prosper. Personally I a m proud Lh at the pro te s t ,. t faith has blo s somed in Korea, t he la nd of my ancesto rs and I p ray f or t he s alv ation o f my Father l a nd. Howeve r a t th e same t ime we must remain vigilant aga inst t he i s p e ct o f Chr i stian iLy that is in search of material pro s perity j n Kor e a . At t he heart of the Unification Church o u r rule j t o “l i v e fo r Lh e s ake of others.” How can we mak e t h e d iff <:~1-·ence .)e Lwee n r eligions a nd sh aman i s m if the ne s t of p r:os p ri -Ly i s t he f i :r. ~t go ,~ l ?

Question: Why do you turn away f rom j o urnalists ?

\ Answer: I don’t have t he t i me to me et them , a nd I don ’ t have a ny s p e cia l declaration to make. Also a l ar ge majority of the Americ an p ress has t he tendency to ass ume prejudice s and t o exagge rate the weak points of others .