Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
It's been almost eight months since Japan ordered the disbandment of the hotly debated Unification Church, and still, the controversial 'cult' is continuing to hit headlines around the world.
Such is more so the case this week than ever before, following the release of a stomach-churning new documentary about the 'Moonie' movement.
What was sold to potential members as a unique spiritual matchmaking process and a promise of marriage, was actually the guise for a darker reality, littered with control and coercion, sexual abuse, and billion-dollar cons.
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If nothing we've said so far is making any sense to you, worry not.
We're here to tell you everything you need to know about the alleged assassin group, their allegedly divine leader, and his sickening initiation rituals - including 'sperm communions'.
Who are the Moonies, and what did they believe?
The Moonies: Married to the Cult is a new feature-length film that homes in on the 1954 founding of the Christian Unification Church in Seoul, South Korea, by Sun Myung Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han.
The former famously considered himself to be the 'Second Coming of Christ', claiming he'd been divinely appointed to continue Jesus Christ's mission of beginning a new ideal family and extending a sin-free human lineage.
He wrote his own version of the Bible, which was later distributed around the world as nations outside of Asia came to know of his teachings - including from the United States and Japan.
Under Moon, members of the church who came from vast corners of the earth - known as 'Moonies' - were invited to take part in mass marriages, with saw thousands of brides and grooms dressed identically saying 'I do' to one another in a single room.
Married couples, meanwhile, undertook similar ceremonies, renewing their vows in the company of thousands of others doing the exact same thing.
Why is the church often branded a 'cult'?
Aside from their unconventional approach to tying the knot, members of the Unification Church have founded, owned and supported related organisations in business, education, politics - specifically anti-communism.
With this in mind, it was expected that Moonies contribute financially to missions, business endeavours and political appeals decided upon by founding and leading members of the church.
Since 2023, over 200 former members of the church have come forward claiming they felt pressured to donate staggering amounts of cash to causes it supported - so much so, that over 5.7 billion yen ($38.5m) has since been demanded in compensation, as per the BBC.
As a result, in recent years, founding members have been criticised for their social and political influence, with critics often condemning the Unification Church as something of a 'cult'.
What did Moonies do that was so controversial?
Political affiliation
On top of the financial exploitation of their members, the church was also linked to the 2022 assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Tetsuya Yamagami fatally shot the country's longest-serving leader whilst Abe was delivering a campaign speech for the upper house elections.
Upon his apprehension, the killer told police his motive was both personal and political, believing Abe had ties to the Moonies after making a video appearance at an event held by a church-affiliated organisation the year prior.
Yamagami claimed that his mother had been financially ruined by large, multi-million yen donations to the Unification Church, which left their family bankrupt, and that the politician had to pay the ultimate price for this.
Though an investigation later found that Abe was not a member, authorities found that a number of conservative ruling-party lawmakers had interacted with the Unification Church in some capacity, receiving donations and electoral support from Moonies directly.
Sexual abuse allegations
It isn't just the church's political affiliation that resulted in the group being shut down, but also allegations that leader Moon used the group as a means of satisfying his own sexual appetites.
According to his own illegitimate son, Sam - who stars in Prime Video's latest documentary on the group - Moon indulged in orgies with brainwashed members he considered to be his 'Disciples'.
"As part of his first Blessing, he slept with all of the women three times and by doing that, they would be restored. It was known as 'Purification of the Womb'."
He added: "Sex was used around very important ceremonies. On New Year’s Day, in order to inaugurate that spiritual holiday, he slept with six women at the same time."
Moon is also said to have made couples drink 'Holy Wine' during mass weddings, having allegedly laced it with his own semen.
"He can’t copulate with every woman to make perfect people so what can he do?" Sam continued. "What makes the wine ‘holy’ is that it contains some of the Rev Moon’s semen. It’s father’s way of sanctifying these couples."
Sam himself - raised by Moon’s right-hand man, Bo Hi Pak, but branded a 'Blessed Child' as a youngster - also claimed to have been subjected to abuse from a female senior member of the church from the age of five, not realising until years later that she was actually his mother.
He tells viewers of the doc: "I am the product of the evilness that they hid and I’m not going to be silent about it anymore because it’s destroyed my life."
A warped childhood
Sam - who has since moved to Arizona - also gave an insight into his warped upbringing: "As a Blessed Child in the Unification Church, they put extreme pressure on me. You are responsible to save and restore mankind.
"You need to be sexually pure and marry a mate that you can procreate with and populate the world with perfected people. That way, original sin will eventually be stamped out."
The man had been informed his father was Pak, and that he was the youngest of his six children.
"The rest of my siblings were quintessential well-behaved, Blessed Kids, but unfortunately, that didn’t rub off on me. I caused mayhem," he continued. "The man who I believed was my father was a disciplinarian. If we messed up, you would get a little beating."
He claimed that, with his dad often being busy with work, a female church member known as 'Auntie Annie' - who'd later be revealed as his mother - would care for the children.
"She was very kind to me and would bring me toys and candy and I would go to her house and talk about things with her," Sam continued. "When I was 13 I had a dream that was so disturbing I didn’t know what to do with it.
"I dreamed that Reverend Moon came to me and took me in his arms and said, 'You are my son.' Because I was confused, I went to my Aunt Annie and asked her what she thought it was about.
"She looked at me and said, 'It’s true.' And I thought, 'What the f**k? I am the Messiah’s son.'"
Multiple mistresses
Explaining what she'd told him, Sam recalled: "Annie told me that she was my real mum and that there was something special about her and Rev Moon’s relationship and that it was important to keep this a 'Heavenly Secret'."
Annie had reportedly told the youngster she and her sister had been told years earlier that they'd both marry and welcome children with Moon - who died in 2012, aged 92 - in a bid to provide him with a following, but that the sister hadn't gone through with it.
Despite Moon going on to marry a different woman, he continued sleeping with Annie, bearing an illegitimate child with her.
Sam continued: "Annie is like the keeper of secrets and she revealed many weird practices within the Church. Some of the things she told me about my father and what he did with the women of the founding couples of the Unification Church, shocked me."
Incestuous abuse
As mentioned, the documentary also hears Sam recalling the sexual abuse he endured at the hands of Annie as a child.
"The Unification Church has been nothing but dark masquerading as the light," he explained. "It’s about keeping secrets. But I don’t want to pretend any more. There is one major secret that I have kept and I expected to keep to my grave and that regards my mother and our relationship."
He continued: "I loved her company and when I was little I would ask if I could sleep with her in her room. I was five or six when at night in her bed she opened up her nightgown, showed her breast and she took my hand and said, 'If you want to touch this, you can'.
"By the time I was 15, our relationship was sexually consummated. She talked about me and her being sexualised as a providential thing. She believed that my father’s mission had failed. Rev Moon swore before God that Annie was the next True Mother and I am heir apparent to my father."
Sam added of Annie: "She explained that by having sex with her, I was able to prepare myself to become the next True Father. All of this made sense to me at the time. It gave me something to hold onto.
"The last time I saw my mother was a few months ago, at her nursing home and I said to her, 'What possibility do we have to be in a relationship if we don’t heal this in some way? Help me'.
"And she said, 'Many people knew what was going on'. And I said, 'I thought this was our secret'. And she said, 'No'."
Where are the Moonies now?
Despite a court in Japan ordering the disbandment of the Unification Church in March of this year over allegations of political manipulation using huge donations and abuse, it is said to remain active in many areas of the world, led by Moon’s widow, Hak Ja Han.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Topics: Crime, True Crime, True Life, Real Life, Documentaries, World News, News, Amazon Prime
Rhianna Benson