The Moon's the limit

Humanist, Sept-Oct, 2004 by Anna Kaplan

Anyone can proclaim to be the messiah. It's easy: find a public place, a corner outside a liquor store, a city square, and start preaching the gospel. Provided such individuals are not inciting violence, they're entertaining and, at most, mildly annoying when pestering passersby for change. One can't really argue with people who are convinced they are the next Jesus Christ; they will continue to believe whatever they want to believe.

However, it's highly unlikely that a self-proclaimed messiah will get enough attention to get, say, crowned. Especially not in a ceremony with members of the U.S. Congress present. Especially not in a Senate office building. Right?

It's amazing how much "respect" money can buy these days.

On March 23, 2004, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, leader of the international Unification Church (whose followers are commonly called "Moonies"), was "crowned" at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., regal robes and all. The event created a media stir in June, three months after the fact, but Moon's influence goes much deeper than the duping of a few senators. Using the millions of dollars he's made through thousands of front groups, Moon has infiltrated the U.S. government, media, and even public schools in order to further the agenda of what many critics call a cult religion.

The crowns were technically "Crowns of Peace," and the ceremony claimed to be an awards banquet for inter-faith religious leaders actively working to bridge gaps between beliefs. Several Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders were honored in addition to Moon, but the difference was that they wore suits while the reverend and his wife were decked out in robes. He also preached about his being the messiah and about Stalin and Hitler posthumously recognizing him as such.

For a man who has called homosexuals "dirty dung-eating dogs" and American women "a line of prostitutes," this was just a regular speech. The right-wing Korean businessman and owner of the ultraconservative Washington Times newspaper is known for performing mass weddings, showering politicians with money, and claiming that it's his job to complete Jesus' mission on Earth. He is also a convicted felon, having been incarcerated for eighteen months in 1982 for tax fraud and obstruction of justice.

This Ambassadors of Peace Awards event was sponsored by the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP), one of the many groups under the Unification umbrella. Moon's other front groups include the Women's Federation for World Peace, the American Family Coalition, the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, a New Jersey after-school celibacy program for teens, the Washington Times Foundation, and United Press International.

Among the attendees of the March event were Senator Mark Dayton (Democrat, Minnesota) and Representatives Roscoe Bartlett (Democrat, Maryland), Sanford Bishop (Democrat, Georgia), Christopher Cannon (Republican, Utah), Philip Crane (Republican, Illinois), Harold Ford (Democrat, Tennessee), and Curt Weldon (Republican, Pennsylvania). Several news sources reported that the offices of these members of Congress claimed they didn't know this would be a Moon event and only attended because their constituents were being honored. "We were duped," Dayton's spokesperson told the Washington Post.

Representative Danny K. Davis, a Democrat from Illinois who wore white gloves and carried the Reverend Moon's crown on a velvet pillow, was in fact aware what sort of event this would be. He defended his role by saying that school homecoming kings and queens get crowned all the time in this country and that this was no different. Davis claims to be a devout Methodist who doesn't believe Moon's preachings but respects the Unificationist's peace work.

Davis is listed as a cochair of the IIFWP, and a press release from an openly Unificationist organization states that "The Congressman has known Father Moon for many years.... He has continued to affirm his friendship and trust in Father Moon's efforts for peace."

Of course, Davis has the right to befriend whomever he wants. But the fact that he placed the crown on Moon's head after Moon said that "kings and presidents who enjoyed opulence and power on earth" had died, gone to heaven, and then "declared to all heaven and earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity's savior, messiah, returning lord and true parent" implies his support for more than just Moon's peace efforts.

There is also an issue of the requirement that a group be sponsored by a member of the House or Senate in order to use a congressional building. The Senate Rules and Administration Committee has persistently declined to divulge the sponsor's name, but Virginia Republican Senator John Warner's office confessed to sponsoring the room in July.

This is not the first time Davis and other government figures have attended Moon events, then denied their participation when the media found out.

In 1996 Moon's Family Federation for World Peace held an inaugural world convention at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Speakers and attendees included Gerald Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Coretta Scott King, Bill Cosby, and George H.W. Bush. The day before the event took place the Washington Post contacted these individuals inquiring about their involvement with the Unification Church. Upon finding out who was sponsoring the event, Bush's spokesperson said the former president would donate his speaking fee to charity and Cosby tried to back out of the engagement before being convinced otherwise by Moon's lawyers.