Sun Myung Moon honors Jerry Falwell, hosts GOP leaders at Washington event

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and a phalanx of congressional rightwingers trooped to the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill Feb. 2 for a special reception honoring controversial Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon.

The event, sponsored by The Washington Times Foundation, included an "American Century Awards" ceremony. Honorees included the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Charles and Frances Ballard, a Washington couple who frequently crusade for official school prayer, and Robert Woodson, an African American conservative and school voucher advocate.

Members of Congress who attended the event include Sens. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) as well as House members Hastert, Reps. Henry Hyde (R-111.), Floyd D. Spence (RS.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.), Anne M. Northup (R-Ky.), Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) and Dennis J. Kucinich (DOhio).

In addition, former Secretary of State Alexander Haig and ex-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger joined the festivities. According to The Washington Times, an ultra-conservative daily that Moon owns, Weinberger lauded Falwell and the other award recipients for "overcoming man's inhumanity to man."

The newspaper reported that Falwell was honored with the Foundation's Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for Freedom, Faith and Family.

Falwell has appeared at three previous Moon gatherings, including one in Uruguay in 1995, and he has relied on Moon's largess to bail him out of tight financial spots. In 1997, a Moon front group called the Women's Federation for World Peace funneled $3.5 million to a non-Moon group to alleviate financial problems at Falwell's Liberty University. In 1996, a Moon publishing group lent Falwell $400,000 for use at Liberty.

Falwell and allies of the Religious Right in Congress cozy up to Moon even though his theology is decidedly at odds with conventional Christianity. Moon teaches that he is the Messiah, sent to complete the failed mission of Jesus Christ. However, both Moon and Falwell share a taste for right-wing politicking and hostility toward the separation of church and state.

The pair also have one other thing in common: a history of tax problems. Moon served time in federal prison after a conviction for tax evasion. Falwell was forced to pay $50,000 to the IRS for using his Old Time Gospel Hour for political purposes. The Falwell ministry also lost its tax exemption retroactively for 1986-87.