Children in Minority Religions - Growing Up in Controversial Religious Groups - Liselotte Frisk†

Children in Minority Religions - Growing Up in Controversial Religious Groups - Liselotte Frisk†

11. Learning the Principles: Socialization of Children within the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification through Sunday School

Children in Minority Religions - Growing Up in Controversial Religious Groups - Liselotte Frisk†

Peter Åkerbäck [+-]
Stockholm University, Sweden
Peter Åkerbäck has a PhD in History of Religion from Stockholm University and is Director of Studies in the Department of Sociology there. His dissertation The Impermanent Religions: Collective Suicide and Salvation in Peoples Temple, Ordre du Temple Solaire and Heaven's Gate was published in Swedish in 2008. He is co-author with Liselotte Frisk of New Religiosity in Contemporary Sweden: The Dalarna Study in National and International Context published by Equinox in 2015.

Description

One fundamental part of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly Unification Church) theology is its strong focus on the family and, in relation to that, children growing up in the movement. This article focuses on the movement’s attempts to socialize its second generation into becoming members of the parent’s religion. This question is especially urgent in this religious group. A central part of Reverend Sun Myung Moon´s theology concerns his assignment to restore humankind to its “true linage”. Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden humanity has been part of a “false lineage”, but couples that are blessed and married within the movement are “restored”. The children born in such marriages are seen as being born without the burden of original sin. These children are therefore considered not only as very special but also as the hope for all humankind and a possibility for lasting peace and a heavenly kingdom. So how does this movement socialize their second generation to this assignment? This question is examined investigating Sunday school material and interviews with parents and second generation members.

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Citation

Åkerbäck, Peter. 11. Learning the Principles: Socialization of Children within the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification through Sunday School. Children in Minority Religions - Growing Up in Controversial Religious Groups. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 283-310 Feb 2018. ISBN 9781781794203. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=32378. Date accessed: 19 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.32378. Feb 2018

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