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 . . . . . . .x,.. . . . . ...... .. . . : ..Yr. .. . ..tn:v..nrv n.... . . . . ............. ...... .u. . . . ....... . . ... . . . . . ....a. . .d f.3.. .wa 'hR ' ~,w....a..r,,. . . !Si.t~.?a.:.S ;. S.., .1x.,... .^v~ 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 ,.