Unification Church of The United States - Changes in The 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s

Changes in The 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s

On July 1, 1982 a large number of the members of the Unification Church of the United States were married by Rev. and Mrs. Moon in a Blessing ceremony (sometimes called a "mass wedding") in Madison Square Garden in New York City. The total number of couples who took part was 2075, some coming from other countries. Soon after other American members were married in ceremonies in South Korea. Most who took part were matched with their future spouses by Moon. Many couples were international or interracial. Before this most American church members had been single and living celibately.

Also in the 1980s Moon instructed church members to take part in a program called "Home Church" in which they reached out to neighbors and community members through public service. Unification Church business interests, which had begun in the 1960s, expanded in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s (decade). Church owned businesses in the United States include media and entertainment, fishing and sea food distribution, hotels and real estate, and many others. Many church members found employment in church owned businesses while others pursued careers outside of the church community. Also expanding were church sponsored interdenominational and cultural projects.

In 1984 Eileen Barker, a British sociologist specializing in religious topics, published The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? which disputed much of the negative characterization of church members by the news media In 1991 Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon by investigative journalist Carlton Sherwood criticized the federal government's prosecution of Moon in the 1980s.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Moon made anti-communism much less of a priority for church members. In 1991 Moon announced that members should return to their hometowns in order to undertake apostolic work there. Massimo Introvigne, who has studied the Unification Church and other new religious movements, has said that this confirms that full-time membership is no longer considered crucial to church members. In 1997 Dr. Sontag commented: "There's no question their numbers are way down. The older members complain to me that they have a lot of captains but no foot soldiers."

On May 1, 1994 (the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Unification Church in Seoul, South Korea), Moon declared that the era of the Unification Church had ended and inaugurated a new organization: the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) would include Unification Church members and members of other religious organizations working toward common goals, especially on issues of sexual morality and reconciliation between people of different religions, nations, and races (see Unification Movement). The FFWPU co-sponsored the Million Family March in 2000, the Global Peace Festival in the late 2000s (decade), and blessing ceremonies in which thousands of non–Unification Church married couples were given the marriage blessing previously given only to Unification Church members.

In 2009 Sun Myung Moon appointed his daughter In Jin Moon president of the Unification Church of the United States. She has worked to modernise the church's worship style in an effort to involve younger members.