CULTS OF OUR DAY
U N IT Y Many Christians do not realize the amazing story of the beginnings of this religious cult which carries on an around-the-clock ministry
B y Louis T . Talbot
S ixteen miles southeast o f Kansas City, in Jackson County at Lee’s Summit, Mo., on a magnificent 1,109-acre farm is the headquarters o f one o f the most fantastic religious cults in the world, called "Unity School o f Christianity.” This plant, once estimated at $2 million but now more likely worth $5 million, looks more like a well-to-do country club than a religious institu tion. It includes impressive air-conditioned buildings, recre ational facilities including a swimming pool, a g o lf course, tennis and shuffleboard courts, a fine hotel, a natural outdoor amphitheater and a 22-acre artificial lake which supplies water for all departments. A 100,000-gallon water storage tank located in the 165-foot "Unity Tower” looms up above the building and is the first sight to meet the eye o f the visitor. There are numerous cottages accommodating 16 students each, attractive residences for the sons o f the founders and other officials and workers, a huge printing plant and administration building, a vegetarian restaurant, a tea room, orchards, vineyards and various growing crops and an apartment building. The training school, originally located in Kansas City, moved to Lee’s Summit in 1949. There are 750 employees working and living on the grounds; eight magazines and hundreds o f books and pamphlets are turned out by the printing press which claims to produce 50 million pieces o f literature annually. There are the fo l lowing periodicals: Unity, Daily Word, Weekly Unity, Good Business, You, W ee Wisdom and a Unity Sunday school leaflet. Some publications are in Braille and there is a Spanish magazine. The present radio ministry consists o f a 15-minute spot program called "Unity Viewpoint” which is released over more than 40 stations in the U.S., Australia and Puerto Rico. In a recent brochure from their headquarters this state ment appeared: "The heart o f the Unity work is the Silent Unity ministry . . . Day and night, faithful groups o f Silent
Unity workers pray unceasingly. The telephone room at Silent Unity is open 24 hours a day to receive the telegrams, cablegrams and telephone calls o f those who seek help.” Silent Unity is housed in a splendid building, and the light in the phone room burns all night depicting, as stated by Unity, "the constant service offered by Silent Unity to any one who needs it.” In the March issue o f American Magazine, Clarence Woodbury described the Unity establishment under the title o f "Merchandisers o f Faith” as follows: "In its publishing plant, one o f the largest in the Middle West, 1 million Unity tracts, periodicals and books are turned out monthly, which range from one-leaf handouts to a 706-page metaphysical Bible dictionary selling for $5. "Even prayer has been put on a mass-production basis. More than 600,000 requests for prayers o f all kinds pour in every year by mail and wire from all over the world . . . the name and request o f every correspondent is placed on a prayer list and these lists are sent along to a prayer depart ment which is officially known as Silent Unity . . .” Here is a quotation from an attractive Unity brochure entitled, "Blessings from the Unity Household” (p. 1 0 ): "The mail is blessed before it is opened . . . as the mail goes through the Order Department, the Subscription Department, or the Letter Writing Department, an addi tional blessing is placed upon it . . . the outgoing mail receives a final blessing in the Mailing Department. The workers repeat a blessing such as this: 'The Christ-con- sciousness o f peace, power and plenty is expressed in this outgoing mail.’ ” ■ he Unity Training School is in session four months o f the year to train men and women for leadership in Unity activities such as healing, Sunday school work, etc. There is a Unity Correspondence CONTINUED
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O C TO B ER , 1955
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