Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon is the founder and spiritual leader of the Unification Church. The broader Unification Movement includes foundations and enterprises operating in the realms of religion, academia, the arts, media, sports, agriculture, technology, ocean enterprises, and more.
Born into a farming family in 1920 in what is now North Korea, Reverend Moon became a Christian at age 10 at a time when occupying Japanese forces brutally persecuted Christians. He received a calling from Jesus in 1935 and subsequently pursued a course of prayer and study of Christian and other scriptures. During this period of spiritual search, he continued his secondary education in Korea and later studied electrical engineering in Japan.
He began his public ministry in Communist-occupied North Korea by sharing new insights into God's Will and Jesus' mission. Communist authorities imprisoned the young preacher in the late 1940s, severely tortured him, and sentenced him to the infamous Hungnam labor camp, where he remained until 1950, when authorities released him due to the advance of UN forces.
Reverend Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC), which later became generally known as the "Unification Church," in 1954 in Seoul, Korea. His teachings, known as the Divine Principle, draw upon biblical truths and Eastern wisdom to present a comprehensive view of God's ideal plan for humanity, the cause of sin, and the history of God's work to restore the lost ideal.
Nurturing a growing community of faithful disciples in Korea and Japan, Reverend Moon sent missionaries to the United States in 1959. Unificationists believe that Reverend and Mrs. Moon have succeeded in becoming the first True Parents, having established a God-centered family and lineage. During the 1960s, large numbers of people joined the movement in Korea and Japan, and missionaries brought the message from America to Europe as well.
Reverend Moon views the United States as a microcosm of humanity uniquely positioned to advance world peace. He and Mrs. Moon came to the country in 1971 to spread his optimistic vision and stimulated a period of rapid growth in the movement throughout the early 1970s. Central to this vision was the promise of an enhanced personal relationship with God through individual devotion, "blessed marriage," and intercultural families dedicated to bringing peace to the world.
For more than three decades Reverend Moon has been attracting collaborators through conferences that engage participants from all races, religions, and cultures. His ideas have captured the imagination of thousands of clerics, academics, and community activists, who form the core of the Universal Peace Federation founded by Reverend Moon in 2005 as his culminating and overarching peace organization.
Reverend and Mrs. Moon are the parents of 14 children and have more than 40 grandchildren. Their peace mission has been advanced prominently in recent years through the participation of three generations of their family in speaking tours across the world.