Editing Sun Myung Moon (section)

===Blessing ceremonies===
{{main|Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church}}
[[File:TPblessing ceremony.jpg|thumb|250px|Moon presides over a mass blessing ceremony in 2010.]]

Although they initially lived communally, his followers gradually returned to the traditional Christian family form (monogamy). Blessing ceremonies have attracted attention in the press and in the public imagination, often being labeled "mass weddings". People who have never met, from completely different countries, were married by the Messiah of the [[Unification Church]] by "matching". They were informed that a certain person, specially chosen for him/her by the Messiah, would become their husband/wife. Some of them did not see their future partner until the day of the "marriage". Public mass blessing ceremonies followed.<ref>The men and women entered a large room, where Moon began matching couples by pointing at them." [http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/sides-moon-marriages-article-1.267920 NY Daily News] "In the Unification tradition, romantic liaisons are forbidden until the members are deemed by Mr. Moon to be spiritually ready to be matched at a huge gathering where he points future spouses out to one another. His followers believe that his decisions are based on his ability to discern their suitability and see their future descendants. Many are matched with people of other races and nationalities, in keeping with Mr. Moon's ideal of unifying all races and nations in the Unification Church. Though some couples are matched immediately before the mass wedding ceremonies, which are held every two or three years, most have long engagements during which they are typically posted in different cities or even continents, and get to know one another through letters." [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/22/nyregion/look-life-after-mass-marriage-for-2075-couples-give-take-200-10-years-together.html?pagewanted=all NY Times] "Many were personally matched by Moon, who taught that romantic love led to sexual promiscuity, mismatched couples and dysfunctional societies. Moon's preference for cross-cultural marriages also meant that couples often shared no common language." [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/03/moonies-mass-wedding-south-korea-unification-church-hak-ja-han-sun-myung-moon Manchester Guardian] "Moon's death Sept. 2 and funeral Saturday signaled the end of the random pairings that helped make Moon's Unification Church famous — and infamous — a generation ago." [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/though-united-in-a-crowd-by-rev-sun-myung-moon-couples-say-marriages-succeeded-on-failed-on-their-own/2012/09/15/b0bfa176-fe77-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html Washington Post] "Many of the couples who married at mass weddings were hand-picked by Moon from photos. It led to some strange pairs such as a 71-year-old African Catholic archbishop who wed a 43-year-old Korean acupuncturist. In 1988 Moon entered the Guinness Book of Records when he married 6,516 identically dressed couples at Seoul's Olympic Stadium. Moonie newly-weds were forbidden to sleep together for 40 days to prove their marriage was on a higher plane. They then had to consummate their marriage in a three-day ritual with the sexual positions stipulated by their leader." [https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/inside-the-sinister-moonie-cult-how-1301689 Daily Mirror]</ref><ref name="massmarr"/><ref name="Hadjimatheou 2012">{{cite web | last=Hadjimatheou | first=Chloe | title=Moon wedding: Getting married with 4,000 others | website=[[BBC News]] | date=28 June 2012 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18624358 | access-date=9 March 2023}}</ref><ref name="Eng Jackson 2006">{{cite journal | last1=Eng | first1=Monica | last2=Jackson | first2=David | title=Despite controversy, Moon and his church moving into mainstream -- chicagotribune.com | website=Chicago Tribune | date=25 May 2006 | url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-0604sushi-1-sidebar,0,6972307.htmlstory | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725201717/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/chi-0604sushi-1-sidebar,0,6972307.htmlstory | archive-date=25 July 2008 | url-status=dead | access-date=8 March 2023 | quote=The church's most spectacular rite remains mass weddings, which the church calls the way "fallen men and women can be engrafted into the true lineage of God."}}</ref><ref name="wapo"/><ref name="nyt"/><ref name="10yearslater"/> Some couples are already married, and those that are engaged are later legally married according to the laws of their own countries.<ref name="wapo">{{cite news | last1=Murphy | first1=Caryle | last2=Wheeler | first2=Linda | title=WashingtonPost.com: The Cult Controversy | newspaper=Washington Post | date=30 November 1997 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/wedd97.htm | access-date=8 March 2023|quote=Church and stadium officials estimated that more than 40,000 people, mostly couples, attended the event, including the Moon-matched couples who took their marriage vows on the football field and exchanged gold rings displaying the church symbol. Those couples, however, must still fulfill whatever requirements exist where they live to be considered legally married.}}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite web | author=The Associated Press | title=28,000 Couples Gather for Rev. Moon Rites | website=[[The New York Times]] | date=30 November 1997 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/30/us/28000-couples-gather-for-rev-moon-rites.html | access-date=8 March 2023|quote=The real weddings were held later in separate legal ceremonies.}}</ref> Meant to highlight the church's emphasis on traditional morality, they brought Moon both fame and controversy.<ref name="10yearslater">{{cite news|last=Henneberger|first=Melinda|title=A Look at Life After Mass Marriage; For 2,075 Couples (Give or Take 200), 10 Years Together, Thanks to Sun Myung Moon|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/22/nyregion/look-life-after-mass-marriage-for-2075-couples-give-take-200-10-years-together.html|access-date=21 June 2013|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=22 September 1992}}</ref>

36 couples participated in the first ceremony in 1961 for members of the early church in [[Seoul]]. The ceremonies continued to grow in scale; over 2,000 couples participated in the 1982 one at New York's [[Madison Square Garden]], the first outside South Korea.<ref name=GuardianObit /><ref name=Businessweek /> In 1992, about 30,000 couples took part in a ceremony and a record 360,000 couples in Seoul took part three years later.<ref name=BBCMoonieMarriage>{{cite news|title=Unification Church Mass Moonie Marriage in the US|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1997/unification_church/34821.stm|access-date=21 June 2013|work=[[BBC News]]|date=29 November 1997}}</ref>

Moon said that he matched couples from differing races and nationalities because of his belief that all of humanity should be united: "International and intercultural marriages are the quickest way to bring about an ideal world of peace. People should marry across national and cultural boundaries with people from countries they consider to be their enemies so that the world of peace can come that much more quickly."<ref name=usatoday2012-09-02a /><ref name=GuardianObit /><ref name=AUTOBIOGRAPHY />