Politics makes strange bedfellows. The Christian Right is no different than any other political movement - it will compromise its principles to obtain power. They’re no better than the rest of us, politically speaking of course.

Ever hear Limbaugh, Hannity O’Reilly, Coulter, Liddy and FoxNews make reference to their favorite Republican newspaper, The Washington Times?

Know who owns the Washington Times? Rev Moon, of Moonie cult fame. He also owns the United Press International (UPI). He owns these ventures through a front organization, News World Communications - Hoover’s factsheet on Rev. Moon’s News World Communications group.

Know what kind of journalism Moon advocates? The kind where journalists report the “facts” and then tell you what to think about the facts, from a religious perspective. Way down below in this post, I’ve provided a link and excerpts about a media conference sponsored by Rev. Moon’s organizations, wherein Rev. Moon’s group advocates for journalists to tell people what to think.

Rev Moon is widely reported to be a self-proclaimed messiah of sorts, or somehow to have a special God-like status in the world. Sun Myung Moon - biography from the Wikipedia.

Let’s look at this more closely, using info from Rev. Moon’s Unification Church website. The quoted passages below are from a speech by Rev. Moon, in which Rev. Moon seems to be saying some things that American Christians should find very offensive. Rev. Moon very strongly suggests that Jesus failed in his mission (rather than it having been foreordained that Jesus would be sacrificed on the cross), and that Moon has been annointed to complete the mission that Jesus failed to complete.

[At least, that’s what Rev. Moon appears to me to be suggesting. Read it for yourself. Seems like Jerry Falwell and the rest of the Religious Right should be mortified at being allied with a person such as Rev. Moon. But then again, Jerry Falwell may have received a multimillion dollar financial bailout from Moon, and so is beholden to Moon. ]

Anyway, here are some quotes from the Unification Church website:

Read the full speech here: Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon
Founder’s Address - The Messiah and True Parents (Shilla Hotel, Seoul, Korea January 27, 2004) . What follows are excerpts with Emphasis Added.

Tragically though, Jesus was unjustly put to death on the cross, because he was not received by the people of Israel, whom God had chosen. The Messiah, Jesus, who should have restored the position of True Parents . . . was prevented from establishing even the position of a true husband with God’s Marriage Blessing. Because of this, he could not establish the position of True Parents or multiply true children. Instead he died on the cross.

…

As it was, the True Parent providence intended to be fulfilled by Jesus, the second Adam, was thwarted midway by the faithlessness of those who had been chosen. As a result, humankind was forced to wait for the Second Coming of the Messiah. Heaven though, had mercy yet again on pitiful humankind.

. . .

The returning Messiah comes with the incredible burden of completing the mission of True Parents. To accomplish his mission, he must first, above everything else, achieve victory over the satanic realm. . . . Additionally, he must win over the many religious and philosophical leaders who are in the spirit world. None of this, however, can be accomplished through forced subjugation. Centering on God’s character of absolute love, he must convince them by revealing the universal principles of religion and the universe and in this way bring them to a natural surrender. Reverend Moon, who stands here before you, is the one who has appeared in this world bearing this incredible mission of the True Parent.

See also the story of how Moon was honored at a private ceremony held in the US Senate office building (with dozens of US Senators and Congressmen there) last year, where he and his wife received crowns in a coronation ceremony:

Coronation of Moon at US Senate office building.

Moon is reported to have declared at the coronation ceremony:

“I am God’s ambassador, sent to earth with his full authority. I am sent to accomplish His command to save the world’s six billion people, restoring them to Heaven with the original goodness in which they were created.

The five great saints and many other leaders in the spirit world, including even Communist leaders such as Marx and Lenin, who committed all manner of barbarity and murders on earth, and dictators such as Hitler and Stalin, have found strength in my teachings, mended their ways and been reborn as new persons”

You would think that the Christian Right would be extremely reluctant to be associated with someone who just might be a cultish self-proclaimed Messiah. Can someone explain to me how the Religious Right justifies its alliance with Rev. Moon and its support for Rev. Moon’s business organizations in the USA (Washington Times and UPI, in particular)?

Isn’t that a compromise of the fundamental principles of Christianity? Shouldn’t the Religious Right be rebuking Moon and working to oppose his growth in power and influence, rather than helping him grow by endorsing his business ventures and embracing his organizations?

The article below talks about a media conference hosted by Moon’s news organizations, under the banner the World Media Association (WMA). WMA is a moonie group. From WMA homepage - Mission of the Media - By Rev Moon (with his picture at the top of page).

Toward a ‘Faith-Based’ Fourth Estate. From the “Media” Blog by Rory O’Connor.

On the lookout for a new “news paradigm?” Look no more! The World Media Association is on the case, as evidenced by a WMA-sponsored forum in our nation’s capital this week.

…Is it really time, as the WMA asks, “for media to become ‘guide dogs’ instead of ‘watchdogs?’”

…
the forum will take place in the auditorium of the Washington Times, the money-hemorrhaging conservative daily controlled by the self-styled Messiah, Reverend Sun Myung Moon; the event is sponsored by a Moon front group and moderated by longtime acolyte Larry Moffitt; and Schaffer’s fellow “Featured Panelist” Marshall, editor of the Moon-controlled UPI, is a devotee who once promised to “follow forever” Moon’s teachings.

Reverend Moon’s followers claim the Washington Times, UPI and other messianic media holdings are independent.

…

[about Moon’s purchase of the UPI] as the Rev put it on another occasion, to establish “the journalism of the Kingdom of Heaven” one first needs “the wire service of the Kingdom of Heaven…”

…

But a glance at the Reverend Moon-authored “Mission of the Media” page on the WMA’s web site, yields a little more insight. …“We as founders, owners, writers and broadcasters of the media must …recover the public trust, draft an accurate account of history and gain the approval of God–creator and final judge of us all.” [here’s the link the the Mission of the Media page Mission of the Media - By Rev Moon (with his picture at the top of page).]

…

“Merely reporting the facts of the news will be much too elementary,” explains Moon. A more important role of the media is “to determine how to interpret and evaluate the facts, and thus provide the direction in which the audience is guided.

Talk about a new news paradigm!