(February 16, 2015 at 2:10 pm)Metis Wrote: So, a new flavor of theist joined my workplace today, a "Unificationist". While I know the basics of Rev.Moon's creed and some of the recent changes ("We say heavenly parents not God the Father now etc") I only really know in depth some of the scandals they had back in the late 80's/early 90's in Europe. I actually thought they had died out but hey ho....
I need to read up, since he's one of those preacher types armed with pamphlets and I have to sit in a room with him for six damn hours a day. Anyone know any good books or sources about this gang? They claim to be Christian but they're so far out there with their "Eve fucked the Devil" and energy transfer stuff I don't know what angle to take this from.
If he brings up his group and tries to get you to attend a meeting or retreat or something report him to HR - he's as good as proselytizing to you which is completely inappropriate in the workplace, and since the Moonies have a generally questionable reputation you'll probably find allies in HR (where you might not if this guy was just mainstream evangelical or something).
As for researching the Moonies, start with their wikipedia page and go through the bibliography there.
The only book I've ever read about the Moonies wasn't
about the Moonies, it was written by an ex-member-turned-cult-exit-counselor Steve Hassan and was called
Combating Cult Mind Control. It's a fascinating read and a nice little portion of it talks about how the author was recruited into the Moonies, what he did while he was in, and how he got out.
Identify your aims with this guy. If all you want from him to for him to shut up and do his job, I'd stick with the HR-reporting plan. If you're actually interested in engaging him, do your own research on the group - it's practically guaranteed you'll learn more about the Moonies "true" beliefs online than this guy would tell you. If you want to talk him out of the Moonies, I'd give Hassan's book a read as he gives some advice on how to facilitate communication and trying to engage the "real" personality in this guy, not the cult personality.
And keep us posted on developments, I'm kind of interested now...