Members recruited for Washington Times

Mose Durst
February 1982

At the close of the entertainment on God's Day, master of ceremonies Larry Moffitt announced a special meeting immediately afterwards in the Grand Ballroom of the World Mission Center for seminarians, seminary graduates, and all members interested in writing, photography, marketing, computers, etc. "Father is very interested in the Washington Times," he explained to the members. "It's going to be starting sooner than you think."

Father spent about two hours talking about a wide range of topics, before beginning to select newspaper trainees. "The media uses lies to cause incredible damage," he said. "With lies they can brainwash everybody. Think what can happen, then, if we use the truth? I have been building media efforts based on truth, culminating now in the Washington Times."

Referring to the World Media Conference begun two years ago, Father said, "When I instructed members to organize the conference, they were very skeptical about the feasibility of such an effort. But still people came. Last year, the participants in the media conference complained about not receiving the same kind of treatment as the ICUS participants. So they asked me to come and give a Founder's Address next year; also, they want to meet in Korea. The media people claim that they can be much more effective in spreading the word than the scientists."

"After my indictment, people thought my house would be like a funeral parlor," Father joked. "But now that I announced the formation of the Washington Times, people were flabbergasted." He looked around at the members and said, "To build a newspaper company, you need six sets of eyes; you need to be able to go anywhere, detect anything, fight any encounter. Have you acquired this kind of spirit in CARP or Ocean Church?" He urged the members to cultivate their internal and external energy so they would be able to do anything.

"Are you confident that you can contribute something to the movement? Do you feel that you could do more, much more, if you were given the chance?" Then he asked who thought he could go out and without funds establish a newspaper on his own. A few raised their hands, but Father said, "You answer yes, but your eyes say no." He challenged all to be more adventurous, stating that if he were not that way, the Unification Church of today would not have come into existence.

Finally, Father asked for people with special skills and interests, beginning with writers. He looked at each one, sometimes asking them questions. News World staff members were present to talk with the candidates. Finally, about 170 members were chosen to begin a training program .n New York.

Further details on plans for the Washington Times will be announced in the future.

Parents' Conferences generate goodwill

Three recent parents' conferences in the United States brought together parents, members and professionals to consider and discuss the beliefs, practices and implications of our church and its founder. In late October and November, over 250 parents convened in New York City, San Francisco and Chicago, some with their adult children, to hear an overview of the Principle, panel discussions and question and answer sessions.

Each one-day conference began with Dr. Mose Durst giving a brief summary of major points of Divine Principle and answering questions. Perhaps a unique aspect of the conference, panels of parents of our members featured the testimonies of various parents. Parents told, for instance how they dealt with the wide range of emotions and questions that arose when they learned that their child was involved in a new religious movement. A recently-produced film, "The New Brainwashers," was shown, documenting the impact of illegal acts of faith-breaking. The viewpoint of this film is that the so- called "deprogrammers" are far more guilty of brainwashing than the groups they purport to rescue people from. In each conference, professionals in fields such as mental health, diplomacy and religion offered their opinions on new religious movements and the positive effects they may have on both the lives of their members and society as a whole.

Honest discussion and deep questioning with thoughtful answers characterized all three conferences, with attendees varying from parents who had attempted to deprogram their offspring to parents who themselves were church members. Concerns ranged from theological aspects to questions like, "When is my child coming home?"

Dr. Durst told conference participants that our church wanted to learn from what the parents had to offer and hoped to communicate in an ongoing way with every parent in the country. A Lutheran minister in attendance observed that rarely had he seen a church so willing to invite people to come and give suggestions, which in some instances were likely to be extremely critical.

In addition, Dr. Durst is encouraging state leaders to establish parents' conferences in every region and to encourage every member to maintain good communications with his parents and families. "Because our church is new and controversial," he observed, "one individual member's irresponsibility can cause great difficulty for our church."

Both parents and members who attended expressed a sense of deep satisfaction regarding the conferences. Mrs. Lillian Dilg, parents' coordinator for the American Unification Church, expressed the overall sense that parents, like everyone else, are often not negative, but simply need a place and channel to vent their gripes.

As a result of the conference, several parents have committed themselves to establishing ongoing parents' groups to support one another, understand more deeply what their children and doing, and support their rights to do it.