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ERE ID
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10721
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URL of title group
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https://www.rodofironministries.org/
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Stated purpose
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Our pastor, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, and his wife Rev. Yeon Ah Lee Moon, are the appointed heir/successor couple carrying on the providential work of his father, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, whose encounter with Jesus at age 15 led to his six-decade worldwide ministry to fulfill Christ's mission, based on the Bible and the Divine Principle.
Cheon Il Guk, The Kingdom of God (and/or Heaven), a sovereign and actual nation does not yet exist in this world, but is the long awaited culmination of the End of Time as prophesied in the Biblical Scripture. The Divine Principle and the Eight Great Textbook Curriculum revealed by True Father, Christ at His second Coming, is the spiritual foundation of this Constitution. It is upon this foundation of these eternal truths that the future nation of Cheon Il Guk will be politically and legally established.
They carry loaded AR-15s and other firearms around the clock; most members are armed. Not sure this is the best for physical safety of research team?
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Parent organization URL
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Christian New Religious Movement *seems militant
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Social Media Accounts
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Rod of Iron Ministries Facebook
Newfoundland Sanctuary Church Facebook
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Date established
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2012; offshoot of Unification Church (founded in 1054 in South Korea) due to familial conflict over leadership
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Established by
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Sun Myung Moon
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Membership
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Unification Church: >3 million
Around 3,900 followers on Facebook page
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Significant, esp. following Trump candidacy and attack on Capitol
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Research note
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In South Korea during Rev. Sun Myung Moon's youth, "police arrested him twice — for suspicion of having religious sex orgies and ducking the draft."
In the mid-1980s Moon served 13 months in prison for failure to declare $162,000 in taxable income."
Sister of current leader Sean Moon says " the possibility their commingling of God and guns could inadvertently incite violence "is the great concern for the family.""
Moon and Sanctuary Church followers helped organize the 2021 United States Capitol attack.
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Location
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Newfoundland, PA; retreat center being built in TN
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Publications about the group
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https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/10/08/rod-iron-antigovernment-christian-right-and-far-right-movements-join-freedom-festival
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Perceived enemies
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The government, the Democratic Party, various religious leaders, LGBTQ community, the Southern Poverty Law Center, explicitly against racism
Quotes about how they feel perceived as enemies by society:
-“So now it is criminal to quote the Bible in a Western civilization country”
-[Mimicking other people scolding them] “You’re delusional… You Trump supporting white supremacists, you domestic terrorists”
-[On mask mandates] “They call us a cult; they call us brainwashers… Look at what they’re doing to people, folks!”
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Key URLs about the group -- not by the group
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https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/10/08/rod-iron-antigovernment-christian-right-and-far-right-movements-join-freedom-festival
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Dehumanizing speech by group
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Refers to Pope Francis as "a socialist, communist devil"
"The Democratic Party has become the Communist Party funded by Nazi collaborator George Soros"
