CAUSA International
CAUSA International is an anti-communist educational organization created in New York City in 1980 by members of the Unification Church at the suggestion of Rev. Sun Myung Moon.[1] CAUSA was an acronym for "Confederation of the Associations for the Unification of the Societies of the Americas", and is also Spanish for "cause." In the 1980s CAUSA International was active in 21 countries. In the United States it sponsored educational conferences for evangelical and fundamentalist Christian leaders [2] as well as seminars and conferences for Senate staffers, Hispanic Americans and conservative activists.[3] In 1986 it produced the anti-Communist documentary film Nicaragua Was Our Home.[4]
CAUSA International promotes a worldview which it calls "Godism" as an alternative to Marxism. People of all religions are welcome to take part in CAUSA activities. Donald Sills, a fundamentalist Christian pastor and CAUSA organizer, said:[2]
- "Our organization is very simply an independent educational operation. The coalition is not classified as a Christian or even a religious organization so much as it is a First Amendment organization."
CAUSA International has been criticized for promoting the beliefs of the Unification Church, which many Christians consider to be heretical. Connaught Marshner, executive vice-president of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, said:[2]
- "They're not on our team because they don't have the same agenda. They've said things suggesting that their goal is to take over the U.S. government. Catholics, Mormons, and Protestants don't say that."
See also
References
- ↑ "Moon's 'Cause' Takes Aim At Communism in Americas." The Washington Post. August 28, 1983
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Sun Myung Moon's Followers Recruit Christians to Assist in Battle Against Communism Christianity Today June 15, 1985
- ↑ Church Spends Millions On Its Image, Washington Post, 1984-09-17. "Another church political arm, Causa International, which preaches a philosophy it calls "Godism," has been spending millions of dollars on expense-paid seminars and conferences for Senate staffers, Hispanic Americans and conservative activists. It also has contributed $500,000 to finance an anticommunist lobbying campaign headed by John T. (Terry) Dolan, chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC)."
- ↑ Public TV Tilts Toward Conservatives, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting "While conservatives dismiss Bill Moyers' world-class documentaries on our constitutional checks and balances as "propaganda," they never mention PBS's airing of unabashed right-wing agitprop films such as Nicaragua Was Our Home (the pro-contra film produced by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's CAUSA, which funded the contras after Congress' ban)..."
