The Words of the Biddlecombe Family

For the record on Moon wedding

Richard Biddlecombe
December 14, 2009
ScotlandonSunday.com

With reference to the Scotland on Sunday article on 18 October, 2009, about the recent Unification Church wedding in Korea titled "Dark side of the Moon", your reporter seems to have got his wires hopelessly crossed. I should like to draw your attention to the following points:

The article starts off by saying that the beaming reverend "was resplendent in white", whereas in point of fact Rev. Moon was wearing a black suit.

The article states that the church requires followers to surrender all material wealth to it. That is simply not true. There is no such requirement.

The word "Moonie", used in the report, is a derogatory term (as defined by the Oxford Dictionary) and many publications have long since opted to cease using it.

The Divine Principle is not a substitute for the Bible despite the fact that the Unification Church's teaching are biblically based.

Contrary to claims made in the article, Reverend Moon is neither homophobic nor anti-Semitic. The Divine Principle does not say the Holocaust was payback time for the Jews' part in Jesus' crucifixion. In common with various Christian denominations, Unification theory takes the view that the Jews, as chosen people, were intended to welcome Jesus rather than reject him.

Further evidence of not being anti-Semitic is borne out by the numerous Middle East peace initiative events that the Unification Movement hosts in Jerusalem on a regular basis.

The Church's view on homosexuality is not far removed from those of many other faith groups. Namely that whilst it has nothing against homosexuals as individuals it doesn't approve of sexual acts between same-sex people.

The article draws attention to the fact that Rev. Moon was jailed in the United States for tax evasion yet omits mentioning that it was for an amount of a mere $7,000 spread over three years which he claimed was a church fund and that his imprisonment caused an outcry amongst many Christian leaders in the United States who regarded it as religious persecution.

As regards the article's reference to a book attributed to Reverend Moon's daughter-in-law but which was actually ghost written by an American writer, no-one is denying that Rev. Moon's son, Hyo Jin Moon, had certain issues. He was a talented musician who unfortunately became a victim of the New York music scene's drugs culture. Nevertheless he went through rehabilitation and managed to emerge from such a lifestyle. He remarried but later died at the young age of 45.

The report mentions a "suicide leap" of Rev. Moon's sixth son whereas there is no evidence to confirm that his death from falling from a building was suicide rather than an accident.

The report speaks of allegations of sex rituals and brainwashing. In the United Kingdom in the 1970s a member of parliament by the name of Paul Rose made allegations that the Unification Church brainwashed people and broke up families and it was widely reported in the British press at that time. However, in 1978 he made a public apology in the High Court for his comments.

Richard Biddlecombe, media consultant to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification 

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