The Michigan Daily-Sunday, April 20, 1980-Page 5
An evening at thaCR house
When a Daily reporter and
photographer visited the local CARP
house earlier this month, the mem-
bers present were friendly and
gracious.
The house, located in a quiet
suburban neighborhood about two
miles from campus, was sparsely
furnished, with only a picnic table,
benches, and folding chairs in the
living and dining areas.
ON THE WALLS, a large
American flag, a blackboard, and
some photographs of the group
provided the only decorations.
After dinner, members and guests
sang together and then listened to an
hour-long lecture on the Divine
Principle by Campus Minister Steve
Symonds. Periodically, Symond's
wife, Mary, leaned over to explain a
point.
"Do you believe in God?" she
asked once, while another time she
said that although she had first heard
the doctrine some 12 years ago, she
is only now beginning to "scratch
the surface."
A GUEST WHO asked not to be
identified left immediately after the
lecture. He said he had been invited
by a friend who had become a CARP
member . The guest said he had at-
tended out of curiosity and respect
for the friend.
CAMPUS CARP MINISTER Steve Symonds explains the Divine Principle to
a small group during an evening CARP meeting.
In an interview the next day, he
said he did not think he would go
back. "I'm not shopping around for a
new religion, but I didn't think it was
that bad," he said.
Daily photos
by David Harris
.LOCAL CARP President Bill Hilbert (third from left) listens with other CARP members and
to a presentation on the Divine Principle at the CARP house.
an unidentified visitor
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Pro-draft and th Divine Principle
(Continued from Page 1)
of the opposition is communist-
inspired."
Unification Church members believe
that communism is atheistic, and
erefore fundamentally opposed to the
world spiritual unity the Unification
Church seeks.
- THE MOVEMENT's doctrine is
based on what members say were
revelations Moon received from God in
Korea over a number of years. The
religion resembles Christianity in that
it accepts Christ as the Messiah, but
Moon's followers--who view him a
prophet-believe mankind will
eventually become "ideal" on earth, at
which time the real history of man will
begin.
"The goal of history is to restore
the world," Symonds said. "In the
hearts of the people, that has always
been the dream."
Although CARP members claim
there is a difference between their
group and the Unification Church, most
are involved in the larger movement and
many joined CARP because of their
previous association with the
Unification Church.
BUT UNIFICATION Church op-
ponents, including former members,
have charged that CARP is one of 60
"fronts" for the Unification Church,
many of which allegedly conceal their
involvemen with Moon.
The Moon organization comprises a
vast international network that, accor-
ding to a 1978 Congressional subcom-
ittee report, is engaged in economic
and political as well as religious ac-
tivities. The report says the churches,
businesses, foundations, and other
groups-including CARP-are under
the centralized direction and control of
Moon.
Moon industries in Korea include a
weapons factory and a pharmaceutical
plant.
The report also states the Moon
organization resembles "a
m ultinational corporation," "a
paramilitary organization," and "a
tighty disciplined international political
party."
THE MOON movement's "negative"
publicity-such as the 1978
Congressional report-had its, roots in
media investigations that began in 1973
and 1974, according to Dan Fefferman,
a former national spokesman for the
Unification Church. He now directs the
CARP Mobile Group, which tours the
country promoting the organization.
"The issues that were newsworthy
-
'It's kind of hard tc
people your faith.'
-Loc
were not the issues we might have
chosen," Fefferman said in a recent in-
terview with the Daily. "If someone
joins the Unification Church by getting
involved in a front group, by being
hooked into it, that's no good. If mem-
bers were overworked, that's no good,"
Fefferman said.
But Fefferman has been charac-
terized by an ex-member as "not even a
Moonie in a sense. He doesn't even buy
very much of the racket. He's the guy
who thinks the stuff up."
FEFFERMAN SAID the real con-
troversy started with the deprogram-
ming issues, when parents were paying
thousands of dollars to have their
children "kidnapped" and
"deprogrammed" so they would leave
the movement. "It focused attention on
the free will, brainwashing issue," he
added.
At the same time, the Unification
Church became involved in politics and
defended former President Nixon
during Watergate. "We were forgiving
Nixon while the media was attacking
him," said Fefferman, who coordinated
the movement's "Project Watergate."
BUT ACCORDING to Jim Conant, a
Harvard student who was involved with but while they are doing this, they're
the Unification Church for seven mon- plying you for information, your in-
,ths and who later became a terests and likes," Conant explained.
deprogrammer, the media attacks of "They blackmail you socially. These
the Church were entirely accurate. people constantly have an ulterior
Conant first became interested in motive."
"the Moonies"-a name the group Conant claimed that each new recuit
sometimes uses itself-when the Har- is assigned a "spiritual parent" who
vard Divinity School and Sociology finds out all about the new person.
Dept. offered him money to infiltrate Then, while the recruit is asleep, the
the group. "I was getting credit for it spiritual parent reveals all he has lear-
and I took a semester off," Conant ex- ned about him. This information,
Conant said, is then used against the
person in subtle forms of peer pressure.
CONANT WENT on two- and three-
really explain to day retreats with the Unification Chur-
ch and took several weeks off between
each trip 'to get my head together."
Finally, Conant joined a 19-day
,al CARP President workshop. "I was constantly resisting.
Bill Hilbert But still, I was constantly wondering
what's special here. It's so easy to
overestimate your ability to resist.
Generally you see the abyss too late,"
plained. "I was never a Moonie. From he said.
the Church's point of view, I was a Conant said he was immune to the ef-
Moonie for about four months. forts of the church members for the fir-,
"They really have perfected an ar- st four days. After that, he said he was
tificial environment to stimulate all unable to resist.
sort ofbehvio," Cnan sad. The AFTER HE returned home at the end
sorts of behavior," Conant said. "The of the retreat, he said he decided not to
kind and quantity of food you're go back. Since that time he has been in-
allowed is constantly decreased. The volved in publicizing his views of the
amount of sleep allowed is constantly movement and is one of the members of
decreased. The average Moonie gets 2-4 the Boston-based Ex-Members Against
hours sleep per night. They try to star- oonm
ve you and turn your clock off: They put Moon.
Aohrmember of the Ex-Members
you on a carbohydrate diet and lead you group, Massachusetts Institute of
from one emotional extreme to another. groMsauetsnIns ero
The mae yu lkea mnicdepessveTechnology student Nancy Kanwisher,
They make youlike a manic depressive said she was never a Moonie herself,
because you're on a constant sugar but has become involved in the anti-,
high." Moon group because "it's very scary. I
CONANT SAID the basic strategy is wouldn't trust myself to go to a Moonie
to overload the potential recruit. "The'meeting. I really wouldn't trust anyone.
overload technique makes people stop It's just sort of a public hazard."
evaluating critically. You get the per-
son to the point where he just doesn't UNIFICATION CHURCH and CARP
know what's going on." members deny that any of thes
Eventually, Conant said, members techniques are used by the movement
dissolve the new person's sense of in- Hilbert said, "I don't think what you've
dividuality. During the day, Conant been told by these people is true. I know
said the members use a "love-bond" it's not because I've been involved in
technique in which they are extremely the movement for four and a hal
friendly and reinforcing to the recruit. years."
"The facade seems so inconspicuous, Those associated with the Unification
DAN FEFFERMAN, a long-time Unification Church activist, now travels
around the country promoting CARP.
P
e
t.
,e
n
if
in
Church admit that the members work
very hard, but they repeatedly insist it
is because they want to. Hilbert denies
that there is ever a reduction in food
and Fefferman said "if there is any
protein deprivation, it's because they
didn't plan well."
SYMONDS SAID that local CARP
members, most of whom live in a house
two miles from campus on Manchester
Road, rise early, but go to bed between
11 p.m. and midnight. Symonds asserts
there is always plenty to eat at the
CARP house.
Symonds said that ex-members are
often the most vehemently anti-Moon
because "they need to find a
justification for leaving." He said
people leave because they do not feel
able to make the kind of spiritual com-
mitment demanded in the movement,
and some of them feel they must turn
against it.
Another charge often made against
the movement is that it separates and
alienates recruits from their parents.
Symonds said, "The commitment
people make is quite a deep one. People
will travel in the movement. I myself
have been away from my home for six
years."
Symonds said it is natural for parents
to want their children home, and added
Moon himself was upset that children
did not talk to their parents. Moon wan-
ts to see a reconciliation between
parents and children inside and out of
the movement, Symonds said.
IN ADDITION, the Divine Principle
stresses the importance of the family,
and Symonds said the Unification
Church would like to see the world
united "like one big, happy family."
Some members claim they were
reconciled to their families after
joining the church. Fefferman said he
had been in a rebellious period until af-
ter he joined the movement, when he
was able to communicate with his
family again.
CARP's Hilbert remains in close con-
tact with his family in New York City.
He said his family supports him and
they have all participated in some
CARP workshops to see what he is
doing.
HILBERT DESCRIBES his relation-
Moon personally and considers him "a
friend and a very wonderful leader."
According to Hilbert's sister, his
parents were worried when he first
joined the movement, but accepted
what he was doing because they did not
want to lose him. At first, she said, "he
was really tired. He would sit there like
Sym onds
... opponents communist-inspired
he was going to fall asleep and pray un-
der his breath. You might think he was
a zombie," she said.
BUT HILBERT'S sister said he is
very happy now. Although at first he
might not have been getting enough food
or sleep, she said, she believes he is not
at all "zombie-like" now. "He calls prac-
tically every other day," Hilbert's
other sister, Carol, 26, said.
Hilbert's sisters both said they
believed that every one who joined the
group was looking for something. They
said the group filled a need for com-
panionship for Bill, whom they said had
never had many close friends at home.
- U ,.