In response to a recent article in the Washington Post, "Moon Empire Gets a Bang For Its Buck" by John Mintz 3/10/99.

The articles which appear in the Washington Post and elsewhere paint a picture of the Unification Church as a sprawling, monolithic business empire, even going so far as to quote a private investigator who states, "Moon no longer looks at the church as the core organization. The movement's business part is the enduring part."

This is a fallacy. Rev. Moon is a religious leader first and an entrepreneur only in the service of his religious mission. He is a visionary. Any businesses which Rev. Moon founded have been for the purpose of supporting his religious goals, which is the establishment of a world of peace centered on God.

Businesses founded either by Rev. Moon or Unification Church members provide financial support for our families. We have nothing to defend about the way our businesses are structured or how they operate. Businesses are not the enduring aspect of our faith community, they are a natural aspect of life common to all religious communities.

The Unification Church of America has no business ties to Kahr Arms. The Unification Church operates as a legal, religious non-profit and has no interest in manufacturing guns. While some of our church members may be opposed to the manufacturing of guns, it is not inconsistent with Church teaching.

Unification doctrine teaches non-aggression while supporting the right to defend one's self and defend others against evil. In this sense, we hold in common with other faiths that it is not a violation of religious principles to invest in legitimate industries. The Church of England, for instance, considers it appropriate to invest its resources in a legitimate defense industry, which produces arms under government license.

Kahr guns are sold mainly to law enforcement agencies and have been praised by them as an effective deterrent against crime, thus they serve a useful purpose in fighting crime.

From a religious viewpoint, the need for the police and the military to have weapons is due to man's sinful nature. Once the religious ideal of a peaceful world is realized, this need for weapons will be made obsolete.

Like the Church of England, the Unification Church believes all weapon manufacturing and distribution should be subject to ethical criteria and open to continual review to insure that these weapons are not used to promote repression or further the cause of tyranny.

Sincerely,

Chris Corcoran
Public Affairs Director
Unification Church of America

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