Just FYI for everyone on Reverand Moon and the wacky Congressional Members associated with him and a recent event in DC.
Info also below on what he has said about gays, the holocaust and other wacky Moonie quotes...
For the past two days, Politics1.com's Gunzburger has been reporting on the "bizarre coronation" ceremony held in a U.S. Senate office building in which Rep. Danny Davis (D) helped place a golden crown upon the head of billionaire Korean Unification Church "cult leader" and convicted tax felon Sun Myung Moon after Moon proclaimed himself "humanity's Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent."
Several other Members of Congress also participated in or were listed as "hosts" of the evening's festivities. As expected, the various elected officials involved in the event are now offering "various excuses" and "explanations" for attending the event.
Many claim they did "not" know the Moonie nature of the group or that they did not know the event would evolve into a "messianic coronation."
Below are some of the House members involved and the level of their involvement.
Rep. Danny Davis (D): Initially he told Capitol Fax he was "not necessarily in agreement with everything that [Moon] said. ... Jesus the Christ is my guy." Then, he explained to the Christian Challenge that he "was attempting to provide an accolade to the Rev. Moon and his wife for promoting visions of world peace. .. visions of family structure."Then in an interview published in the 6/17 edition of Chicago Reader, Davis equated Moon's messianic crowning ceremony to the Boy Scouts: "You know the Boy Scouts have rituals that they go through and they make individuals Eagle Scouts and they give awards and presentations. ... Of course the highest recognition goes to the highest promoter and the highest promoter is Reverend Moon so they come up with something higher that certificates and plaques that other folks get."
Rep. Curt Weldon (R): When first contact, Weldon's press sec. said "I'm telling you, he didn't go." When links were shown that he was listed as a "primary sponsor" she stated that Weldon "planned to attend this awards show, but couldn't make it due to his schedule." When a photo was produced that showed Weldon standing with a group of Moon associates at the event, she said Weldon's participation was apparently "limited to his attendance." Soon after, another photo emerged showing Weldon actually giving the welcoming "congratulatory remarks" from the stage -- as a photo was displayed next to him of himself giving a pin to Libyan dictator Moammar Khadfy. Weldon's CoS then said that Weldon "was at the banquet for '5 or 10 minutes' to speak about his recent trip to Libya; Weldon neither saw Moon at the event, nor witnessed the coronation, nor heard his Messianic speech."
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett(R): Bartlett's press sec. told Christian Challenge that Bartlett thought he had "received the Ambassadors for Peace Award from the Washington Times Foundation for his work in Congress, and attended part of the banquet ... this was the sum total of his participation ... His attendance in no way reflects an endorsement of what the Rev. Moon said or did at the event, or at any other time."
Rep. Harold Ford. Jr. (D): Ford's office told Christian Challenge that Ford did not attend the event and "if Rep. Ford was on the Host Committee, 'he was not aware that it had any affiliation with the Unifications Church,' and that Ford 'does not accept Moons claims to be messiah.'" Ford, meanwhile, does "not" appear anywhere in the video of the event.
Rep. Phil Crane (R): Crane's office told Christian Challenge that "we have checked [Crane's] schedule, and he was nowhere near the Dirksen Building" at the time of the event. They added: "we can say without equivocation that Rep. Crane was not there, and had no knowledge" of it.
Rep. Sanford Bishop (D): Bishop told Christian Challenge that "he received an 'international peace award' at the banquet, but go there late 'just before it was dismissed.'" He added: "The Messiah in my life is Jesus Christ ... I am not a Moonie, and I do not believe that Mr. Moon is a messiah."
Other House Members listed as hosts: House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R), Rep. Chris Cannon
(R), Rep. Charlie Rangel (D), Rep. Tom Davis (R) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D).
Moon has also made disparaging remarks against Jews: Speaking at an event in '03, Moon blamed the Jews for the Holocaust and "demanded" that they "accept him" as their messianic leader.
Moon: "Who are the Jewish members here? Raise your hands! Jewish people, you have to repent. Jesus was the King of Israel. Through the principle of indemnity Hitler killed 6 million Jews. That is why. God could not prevent Satan from doing that because Israel killed the True Parents. Even now, you have to determine that you will repent and follow and become one with Christianity through Rev. Moon."
Moon on gays: New York Press quoted Moon as saying, "There will be a purge on God's orders ... Gays will be eliminated ... It will be greater than the communist purge, but at God's orders" (Politics1.com, 6/18).
The Times Are A Changing
Washington Post's Ignatius writes, It's a "sign of the times" when even the people who bankroll Washington's "leading" conservative newspaper are said to be "uneasy" with Bush admin. foreign policy. But in that "heretical spirit, a revolt is reportedly brewing at the Unification Church, which owns the Washington Times and is pushing for changes at the paper."
Insiders say the church's "new line" is that with the end of the Cold War, it's "important to support international organizations" such as the UN and to "campaign for world peace and interfaith understanding." That stance would be "awkward" for the Times's hard-line editor-in-chief, Wesley Pruden, and its "stable of neoconservative columnists."
The only "public sign of ferment" was an announcement in 4/04 by News World Communications -- a Unification Church subsidiary that owns the Times -- that it would "no longer print" three related publications.
A spokesman explained that News World was seeking to "save money" and "reposition" its assets by terminating the biweekly Insight magazine, the monthly World & I magazine and a Spanish-language newspaper in New York, Noticias del Mundo.
The "real" battles,though, have been taking place "out of public view," and rumors about a "high-level power struggle" have been swirling around the Times offices. Sources say that the dominant church official overseeing the publications is now the Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak -- a close adviser to the church's founder, Rev. Moon.
Kwak's most "prominent" public role has been as chair of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace -- a Moon operation that seeks to "promote interfaith dialogue." He said at a conference in '02 that the 9/11 terrorist attacks "showed the tensions that exist between much of the Islamic world and the United States. To understand the conflict in the world today, we must understand the role of religion."
Pruden responded on 6/17 to the reports of friction between the paper and the church over foreign policy: "What you're saying confirms that we operate independently. ... They've never told me to put anything in the paper or keep anything out."
He added: "I would resist any effort to change the fundamental vision under which the paper was founded."
Ignatius: "Pruden won't give up control of the Times without a fight. And he has powerful Republican friends on Capitol Hill and in the administration who would probably back a campaign to maintain the paper's editorial line and fend off meddling by its owners. What's clear from the Times-Moon dust-up is that the battle for the soul of conservatism has a new front"(6/18)