[maire]

Moonies used to be a big deal at college campuses in California. When my husband and I went to Berkeley in the 1970s, the Moonies were everywhere. They did many questionable things before fading away.

My husband is 4 years older than me - so he was not as aware of their recruitment practices. He said he was invited to dinner by a very attractive young woman who kept flirting with him all through dinner. She then invited him to a weekend retreat. He said he became suspicious and did not go. It was a good thing he did not go. By the time I went to Berkeley - we all knew about the retreats.

[andrekandre]

  >  She then invited him to a weekend retreat. He said he became suspicious and did not go

great article about that (infiltrating the moonies in san diego)

https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1980/may/08/cover-revere...

[flobosg]

Moonies were prevalent in Chile later on, during the late 90s. The press would refer to them as “la secta Moon” (the Moon cult).

[jphsnsir]

What happened at the retreats? Quick search gave no answers...

[kombucha13]

Pressure to join and indoctrination

[SoftTalker]

Yep I remember the "Moonie" cult in the news from the 1970s. They seemed to fade out after a while, like most fads do. I had no idea they were still operating.

[bink]

They still own and publish the Washington Times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Times

[tootie]

Abe gave a speech at a Unification Church event commemorating 9/11 in 2021. The keynote speaker was Donald Trump:

https://twitter.com/koryodynasty/status/1436866339113627648?...

[ok123456]

They also owned the University of Bridgeport until a few years ago.

[Larrikin]

What would happen at the retreat? Just indoctrination?

[kombucha13]

Very heavy pressure to join and indoctrination. The pressure tactics were very coercive. Essentially thought reform via a high control group/environment. Eventually people would think they made the choice to join themselves and had come to their own conclusions but in fact it was essentially are manipulation.