Explanation here, is unification church recognized as a Christian denomination within mainstream or is it separate religion?
Bush vs. The Axis of Evil - TL
They call themselves Christians, many American evangelicals recognize them as such, but normally people who know their existence and are not part of the two previous groups consider them as a sect with no relation to Christianity. Technically I think they are considered a New Religious Movement.
On that note, this raises a good question: How have conventional Korean Christians (to say nothing about Korean Buddhists and Shamanists) reacted religiously to the rose of the Moonies.
Sorry all, I was quite sick for a time so I wanted to recover before answering questions.
More like Iran, though like in Iran the population have rapidly secularised in response. Cairo has the seat in the UN since it controls the vast majority of the country, has the overwhelming support of the Non-Alligned bloc and the Europeans support them due to fears of refugee waves.
The regional powers threatened to intervene once the lines of control stabilised. Both sides effectively agreed to a meditated deal for an armistice to allow the Canal to repoen, though due to tensions the Canal has occasionally been closed and later reopened since.
Actually, that's a good idea - looking it up I see 'Yugoslavia' meant the land of the south Slavs so I'd say a 'UESR' - Union of Eastern Slavic Republics' would work. I'll edit the chapter once the post is done
It's somewhat like the Democrats winning in a landslide in 64 only for the political winds to turn right back around and see them in an equally devastating landslide only eight years later. Bush in many ways doesn't deserve re-election - he made stupid mistakes, he was reckless and he surrounded himself with malevolent actors. But going into the election, Bush had one thing going for him that made him electable again - a great story. At a time when it was believed that America now needed a tough guy President again, a guy who the dictators would think twice about before making a move, Bush was a war time President who had publicly admitted his mistakes and obviously wasn't in it for the power or pride. It was a compelling comeback narrative that swung Middle America, though Bush was still hated by millions of Americans too, and his election further contributed to polarisation. While Bush almost certainly wasn't the right choice for President, he had a compelling story, and that's worth its weight in gold.
Bush ran a million miles away from the Neocons - his emphasis is a mix of Trumanite Containment and Reaganite calculated punches. The Neocons are a fringe factor in his upcoming Administration, which is pretty much the candidates Colin Powell and Condoleeze Rice recommended.
Thank you very much for making that map - pretty much every OTL border change that happened TTL still happened, including South Sudan.
The Space Program was thrown even further down the pile than it was OTL in light of the deep issues in the US - space travel isn't my speciality but it was the only knock-on effect I could think off.
Might add it in the book.
Among hardcore religious Christians and liberal Christians the Unification Church is recognised as a cult, but among 'politically-aware' institutions that understand the need to deal with different groups, the Unification Church is recognised in the same way Mormonism is. They get good press in the 'Mainstream' Bible Belt due to their helping turn North Korea into a deeply 'Christian' country, as well as having a lot of money to pay for good PR.
Before the War they called them a cult, but now they are increasingly careful about what they say, sometimes out of fear for either a crazed follower attacking them or to find the security services are suddenly blackmailing them with evidence they are a 'Red Chinese spy'. The Unification Church is generally pleasant in public ecumenical forums, but while the Church's disturbing record is common knowledge in America, Japan and elsewhere, in Korea the press and mainstream Christian churches have a code of silence with the Church, not poking the bear. While there are more mainstream Christians in Korea than Moonies, the religioisity of the Moonies is far more fervent.
If you want to go full Yugoslavia, Vostokoslavia could be a potential short-form name for the country since Vostokoslavia would mean land of the east Slavs.
At least in OTL, American Evangelicals are the group that are the least likely to recognize the Unification Church as fellow Christians, though this might be different ITTL where the UC is much more prominent, like how Sorairo said:
The same happens IOTL where American Evangelicals appreciate the political views of Mormons as aligning with their own, but still view them as a heretical religion at best, and dangerous cult at worse.
I would also like to say that not recognizing Mormons, Moonies, JWs, etc. as Christians is not exclusive to hardcore fundamentalists, the average Catholics and non-Evangelical Protestants also do not consider these groups to be Christian, but they are just more "polite" in labeling them as such.
A lot less developed, until recently had a lot more petty crime/open prostitution, churches everywhere, every monument of the Kims outside a museum destroyed, still common to see rubble in the rougher edges of towns, replete with South Korean soldiers. Living standards in ROK-run North Korea would be equivalent to 1980s South Korea.
What happened to that village in the DMZ?
en.wikipedia.org
I could see post-war it would be turned into an actual village and filled by loyal North Korean refugees who were members of the Unification Church.
I also wonder how anime in this day would have been shaped due to the War on Terror/Second Korean War.
Kijong-dong - Wikipedia
I could see post-war it would be turned into an actual village and filled by loyal North Korean refugees who were members of the Unification Church.
I also wonder how anime in this day would have been shaped due to the War on Terror/Second Korean War.
And what about Korean Buddhists? Does the same thing as mainstream churches apply to them or are the Moonies getting the most pushback in SK society from them?
I was also thinking of the former JSA at Panmunjom. It was evacuated and then destroyed in the early days of the Second Korean War but has now restored as a museum village. I also can envision a massive monument dedicated to those who served at the DMZ from 1953 to 2002. The last line reads "We kept the peace at all costs."
On that note, what would the anthem of Vostokoslavia be? Wide is My Motherland, a Russian version of "Hey, Slavs", or Sovereign Union of Peoples?
The first song is a lot better for UESR's anthem than the latter two.
Well, I'd say Sovereign Union of Nations is a good nod as well owing to how it has been proposed as the anthem of the Union State of Russia and Belarus IIRC.
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True, but the tune of "Sovereign Union of Nations" is identical to Russian anthem, thus UESR would need to have an anthem that doesn't musically exclude non-Russian Eastern Slavs.
Great final chapter, @Sorairo! Question, how are relations between Iran and Vostokoslavia (the UESR)?
My guess would be not great: Saudi is established as flipping to the UESR/China’s orbit and since Iran and Saudi are rivals/hate one another, I imagine that Iran have cool relations with Moscow by default.
Then again I’m not @Sorairo so could be wrong
Especially as the Tudeh Party wants a neutral Iran and all that.My guess would be not great: Saudi is established as flipping to the UESR/China’s orbit and since Iran and Saudi are rivals/hate one another, I imagine that Iran have cool relations with Moscow by default.
Then again I’m not @Sorairo so could be wrong
Alternates between administrations. The Tudehists are neutral-ish while the Reseurrectionists are more Pro-West and would be a lot harsher rhetorically with the UESR. But it's nowhere near the Saudi emnity.