Moonism and Opus Dei cults -similarities and differences-

In the 20th century, the phenomenon of religion was also affected by the technological and scientific progresses. Aside from these advances, the "understanding of secularism" that emerged prominently in this century triggered the occurance of these movements.These movements, which often have charismatic leaders claiming to be assigned to them by God, have challenged traditional religions, trying to present a new message and a new lifestyle to humanity without a complete break from them. Moon is a religious movement which was born in South Korea in 1954 as a synthesis of Protestant Christianity and Far Eastern religions and philosophies (especially Ying Yang and Confucianism). The center of this movement was later moved to USA. Although the Bible was its source, Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the movement, introduced the Divine Principle which consists of the teachings that he claimed were revealed to him from God. Divine Principle has been the main book of the movement. The basic principle of the movement is to create a common culture based on one nation and one language, which includes all humanity, as it was mentioned in the Divine Principle. To achieve this, the movement pursues its work all around the world. Opus Dei is a personal diocese affiliated with the Catholic Church which was established in Madrid by Josemaria Escriva in 1928. The basic principle of Opus Dei can be expressed as dealing with all Christians and providing a life style for Christians in all social classes according to their own beliefs and realizing the phenomenon of becoming religious in all segments. Our study consists of three parts. In the first part, the establishment of Moonism; the principles and teachings of this movement; In the second part, we tried to reveal the Opus Dei sect and, in the last part, with in the scope of the possibilities provided by the data, the similarities and differences of these two religious movements. Key Words: Moonism, Opus Dei, Sun Myung Moon, Josemaria Escriva, Christianity