Read the WaPo article here.
I dont know much about what some scornfully call Rev Moon, that is ‘self-proclaimed messiah,’ for the Christ also ‘self-proclaimed’ himself as Messiah. Nor do I know about ‘financial irregularities’ Rev Moon was said to have had, as there are rampant ‘irregularities’ in many many large church systems and they have come to criminal light with regularity over the decades.
What I wonder more about, now that we know that J Edgar tried to subvert so many who merely disagreed with the ruling parties, that the Berrigan brothers were hounded by our government for speaking out strongly against war (one said we are burning draft cards in place of sending our children to be burnt [by artillery fire], that literally tens of thousands of people who had ‘a different idea’ of governance were ‘secretly’ following by government spies and infiltrators; that according to recently released Wikileak documents the US conspired with UK to literally undermine the freely elected Aristide of Haiti [after the murderous Papa Doc Duvalier and Bebé Doc Duvalier dictatorship), literally spreading rumors about Aristide being a drunk, liking underage women and practicing voodoo– all in order to scare the essentially rural and non-literate people away from him (He was a former Catholic priest who was elected by a huge majority… but apparently the US and UK hated that Aristide took on the murderous death squads of Duvalier, and took on the ricos who enslaved the poor, keeping them poor by dominating government, providing no means for reliable education and literacy, nor medicines nor health systems, just letting the Haitian people rot)… I wonder what the real story is about Reverend Moon.
In the little I have read about him, I find many charges made against him. I see he was placed in prison for tax evasion. I see the government in the US tried to hound and silence him. I also find he was received by many who were at war with one another… North Korea’s late president, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, HW Bush.
My sense is there’s more to the story than the stories we’ve been told. We were treated to the media’s ridicule and lambasting of Moon for holding huge weddings across the world. Yet only today, in the Washington Post piece have I ever heard there was a reason to Moon’s reasoning. What has been troped about him is that he was power mad and made people marry each other.
yet, in a similar vein to Gandhi who said, each muslim family ought adopt a hindu orphan child and love and raise that child, and each hindu family ought adopt a muslim child and love and raise that child… and then, there would be more understanding, more peace, for each would understand love not based on religion or nation, but as love. Just love.
This is what I did not know about Rev. Moon: his marriages were cross-cultural, often cross-racial, cross-religions. His idea was that if the world were better blended in love between those who had histories of being affronts to one another, that they and their children would be part of a peaceful movement in this world.
Religion is spit upon by some, scorned by others, held up as ‘not the true religion’ by others… and let to live in peace by yet others, and enjoined by many with whole hearts. We’ve seen a lot from those who negate and ridicule and charge. I wonder most of all, how/why leaders of powerful nations found Rev Moon a worthy minister to meet with. I cant imagine the leaders named willingly meeting with actual scammers clothed in religious whatever.
But then, dont know. The picture of Rummy all chummy and close with Saddam, stays in the mind.
I’d say, those who love Rev. Moon, may they be comforted. I’d say those disenchanted as it is called, hopefully find happiness. Those truly harmed, may they be healed.