One of the most active crusaders against Moon is Steve Hassan.  He is a former member who believes that Moon hypnotizes people with a sophisticated and calculated mind control technique.  Margaret Singer and John Lifton also write about how Moon and other so-called cult leaders are diabolic like the North Koreans who "brainwashed" some American P.O.Ws to become traitors.

Persecution versus Debate

The motif throughout this book is that persecution is one of the very worst things a person and a nation can do. What is persecution? At what point is a line crossed from debate and disagreement to persecution. The Republican and Democratic party accuse each other of ruining America. They accuse each other of hurting people with their laws. The abortion debate is extremely hot and emotional. The Catholics and Protestants have fought against each other for over 400 years. When these and other groups have debated each other and been peaceful, then they are on the side of right. When individuals and groups resort to violence or incite people to violence against non-violent people, then they are on the side of evil. One dictionary defines persecution as "to oppress with injury or punishment for adherence to principles or religious beliefs." God is speaking through Jerry Falwell who stands up for the UC against its persecutors. Satan is speaking through Steve Hassan who persecutes the UC. Dear Reader, take your pick. We pray you will choose God's side and hug Rev. Moon as Rev. Falwell does instead of take him and his followers to court as the friends of Steve Hassan does. Steve would like nothing better to counter Jerry Falwell in a court of law or any public appearance. Let's pray for him and his twisted friends who worked so hard to bring American down. The blood of a million men fought for religious freedom and in the name of freedom, jerks like Hassan attack innocent groups from Amway to Mormons to Fundamental Christians.

When a pro-lifer bombs an abortion clinic, he has crossed the line. When Catholics and Protestants kill their enemies in Ireland they have crossed the line. Human history has been a tragic tale of people crossing the line. The first great leader in world history to form a nation that was based on freedom of religion was George Washington. He wrote a famous letter to a Jewish congregation saying that America would was a place of freedom. He said, "to bigotry, no sanction." The Jewish people have been persecuted horribly for 2000 years. They have always been a tiny minority. The evil leader, Hitler, wrote his hatred of the Jews in his book Mein Kampf. He then persecuted the Jews in his country of Germany. They totaled about one-half of one percent of the people. They were innocent people who should have had the right to their lifestyle, even though it looked weird and was heretical to the majority.

Those who persecute are those who turn to or condone violence against minority religions. People like Steve Hassan, Margaret Singer and Rick Ross, write bigoted books like Mein Kampf and, like Hitler, persecute new religious movements. They denounce minorities with highly charged words like "cults" and label them "dangerous." Hassan, Singer, Ross and many other bigots testify in courts of law to send leaders and members to jail and have the goal of ultimately crushing the organizations they have determined as abusive. Countries like Germany and Japan even have banned some minority religions. The key to understanding persecution is to understand the nature of religion and the nature of violence. Religions often ask for vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The lifestyle of religious people has always gone against the grain. Religious pioneers are usually the most non-conformist of all. They demand sacrifice. Hassan and his ignorant friends haven't got a clue to what religion is and therefore make the same mistakes persecutors have done for thousands of years.

John Locke - Letter of Toleration

 In the eighteenth century John Locke wrote words that stirred the Founding Fathers and are apparently unknown to twentieth century bigots like Hassan and Singer: "Teach that liberty of conscience is every man’s natural right, equally belonging to dissenters as to themselves; and that nobody ought to be compelled in matters of religion either by law or force. Every one is to be accountable for his own actions, and no man is to be laid under a suspicion or odium for the fault of another. Those that are seditious, murderers, thieves, robbers, adulterers, slanderers, etc., of whatsoever Church, whether national or not, ought to be punished and suppressed. But those whose doctrine is peaceable and whose manners are pure and blameless ought to be up on equal terms with their fellow-subjects. Thus if solemn assemblies, observations of festivals, public worship be permitted to any one sort of professors, all these things ought to be permitted to the Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists, Armenians, Quakers, and others, with the same liberty. Nay, if we may openly speak the truth, and as becomes one man to another, neither Pagan nor Mahometan, nor Jew, ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the commonwealth because of his religion." The Unification Church and many of the other small religious movements that Hassan, Singer and Ross harass and attack are as "peaceable and whose manners are pure and blameless" as the many other churches have been when they were starting out. To people of small minds like Hassan and Singer, zealousness is a crime. Agressive witnessing is not "peaceable." Pointing out dire consequences for not doing God's will makes them targets of "blame."

Violence is also difficult to understand. God's way is to use violence for defense against violent aggressors or breakers of law. The problem is that people have different ideas on what defense is. Hassan and his stupid friends see some minorities as violent and/or breakers of law when they often are not. Rev. Moon was seen by his jury in New York as a lawbreaker and sent to prison in Danbury, Connecticut for one year where he had to work in the kitchen washing dishes. Many major religions, including the National Council of Churches and famous ministers like Jerry Falwell denounced this as persecution. Senator Orrin Hatch, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that appoints Supreme Court Justices, honored Rev. Moon by having him speak at a special subcommittee held on religious freedom on capitol hill.

Hassan and those who incite individuals to deprogram or the state to try to enact laws to regulate and abolish religions are the truly dangerous people. In the name of freedom and patriotism, they spit on the precious Bill of Rights. They are pathetic people to be pitied -- and fought. How do we fight against them? We teach the truth to counter their lies and if they use force, then we defend ourselves. Some juries have seen the light and fined and imprisoned some deprogrammers as the criminals they are.

We must also understand that just because some one is doing something illegal, we must always question whether the law is godly. Hitler's laws against the Jews were wrong. The stupid jurors and judge of Rev. Moon misread the laws and put an absolutely good man in jail. The laws against Blacks in America were wrong. Jailing Martin Luther King was wrong. The laws used against Jesus and countless other religious people such as Gandhi and Christians in Saudi Arabia today are wrong. Gandhi seemed "dangerous" to the British in India and Muslims see Christians and the Bible as "dangerous" in their countries. They are of Satan when they stop the peaceful pursuit of Gandhi and Christian missionaries. Gandhi and some Christians practice celibacy. No matter how disgusting and ridiculous religious people act, they must not be taken to court or kidnapped or beaten or killed. If they break a legitimate law then they should be punished. Rev. Moon and Martin Luther King and their followers break no legitimate laws. The Boy Scouts teach tolerance of religions. We pray that Hassan and his sick friends will someday see the evil of their ways.

 WHO IS DESTRUCTIVE?

Hassan has his diabolical website at www.freedomofmind.com. Satan likes to twist words. Hassan is a dupe of Satan and thinks he is for freedom. It's like Communists calling themselves democratic and republics. Hassan says the UC is a "destructive" cult. Why are some groups destructive? They use what he calls "mind control." People in these groups are not "freely able to choose." They are slaves to "dictatorial control." They have weak minds and so mesmerized and hypnotized that they "submit and turn over their power to some other human being."

 Slavery?

Hassan says he started out deprogramming members of the UC but saw the light and changed and now speaks against these "involuntary interventions." I guess it is all right for Steve to make mistakes when he starts building his business, but others cannot. He says if a group is "legitimate, it will stand up to scrutiny." Carlton Sherwood's book does this better than Hassan's book does. Then Hassan makes this stupid comment: "If a group is legitimate, it will not lie nor will it use phobias to enslave new members." Phobias "enslave?" What about the fear of eternal damnation? That is the key teachings of one billion Christians. What could be worse? I can't think of a fear greater than that of burning in hell forever as Billy Graham has told hundreds of millions of people. He says that if Hassan is going to be tortured forever if he doesn't give up his Judaism and accept his version of the Bible. Is Hassan picketing Billy Graham crusades? No. There is no logic here. The UC teaches that Hassan will go to heaven forever. Who is teaching a greater phobia? Sadly, he has an article that he reprints in which Eileen Barker praises Hassan's book. St. Paul said us truly religious people have to fight the good fight against pseudo religious and secular enemies like Hassan and Singer.  

In the Unification movement's magazine, Unification News, there have been several articles against Hassan. We have put some of them together. If you would like to read them, click [dpcopy.tripod.com/1_apology/apology_hassan.html] here.