• Founded: 1954

• Membership: 3 million

The Unificationists — or Moonies, as they are better known — observe the teachings of their founder, Sun Myung Moon, who claimed to be the Second Coming of Christ. He came back to finish what he started by purging the descendants of Eve of the “serpent seed,” a fringe Christian belief that she had mated with Satan and thereby produced mankind. The group was infamous in its early years for mass weddings conducted amid widespread allegations of brainwashing. Since coming into cash in the 1980s and ’90s, the church has become a political powerhouse in Korea and Japan, though many of its tithing members struggle with poverty.

• Founded: 1984

• Membership: 200,000