Unification Church founder speaks on campus

Over 200 students and other members of the Philadelphia community gathered at the Penn Tower Hotel Saturday afternoon to hear Hak Ja Han Moon speak on how to solve today's social problems. Moon, the founder and president of the Women's Federation for World Peace, and some of her thirteen children are currently on a tour of 100 American colleges and universities. Moon is presenting the same speech she has given in six continents and over 43 countries. Her talk focused on the need for women and young people to "take responsibility for restoring the world." Moon and her husband Reverend Sun Myung Moon founded the Unification Church in Korea. The Unification Church believes that homosexuality and sex before marriage are immoral and wrong. The focus on family values is the church's solution to major world aliments, Moon said. The many problems America faces today can be solved, she said, and the root of these problems can be traced to the radical behavior of the 1960's. "Rising divorce statistics indicate that husbands and wives feel little responsibility for their marriages?and individuals, devoid of any sense of human dignity, fail to even take responsibilities for themselves," Moon said. "America has seen such phenomena at work beginning with the youth movement of the sixties." Moon also spoke out against communism, charging that its anti-religious stance contributed to its downfall in the 1990's. "[My husband and I] have mobilized our church to help settle conflicts between the right wing, represented by the free world, and the left wing, represented by communism," she said. "The Cold War ended through the unity of the Cain and Abel blocs." The focus on the family and chastity is a major theme in Moon's talks. She and her husband often give the rite of matrimony to others in large groups. Two years ago, they united over 30,000 couples in marriage in one huge wedding celebration in Seoul, Korea. Moon has presented her speech to many world leaders, including the United Nations and Mikhail Gorbachev. She has spoken in each of the 50 states within the past two years. "The value of [Moon's] message is the forced unity within yourself," said Olga Molina Tobin, a member of the Unification Church that attended the speech. "Women need to be empowered in their homes and their families. Her message truly brings hope to the world."