Where in Washington, D.C. is Reverend Moon?: True love's pitchman flies off handle as Rob Boston asks about gifts

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6/30/2004

True love's pitchman flies off handle as Rob Boston asks about gifts

Above: Gold watch given to Rev. Stallings by Sun Myung Moon. Stallings erupted into anger Wednesday morning after Rob Boston of American United asked him if he'd taken gifts from Moon.

A must-read from Washington, D.C.'s Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Spokesman Rob Boston attended today's National Press Club event addressing the Mar. 23 coronation ritual. He also unearths a stunning quote by a Moon reverend suggesting that the true meaning of the Crown of Peace ceremony on Capitol Hill -- that America surrendered to Moon as king -- was concealed from those involved.

Schanker and another Unification Church official, the Rev. Michael Jenkins, said the event had been distorted by writers who did not attend it. This, they claim, generated controversy and caused members of Congress to distance themselves from the Moon gala.

The event, Schanker said, was "mischaracterized" by "independent writers" who made "ugly" charges. "We are here," he said, "to set the record straight." (The reference to "independent writers" was to blogger John Gorenfeld, who first reported about the event and later did an in-depth piece about it for Salon.com.)

The event was also, of course, characterized by a Unification Church video reel that was many people's first exposure to the news, and met with near-universal dismay. Continues Boston:

Claims that the event was merely about peace among religions seem to conflict with a description of the ceremony that appeared on a Unification Church website. On Moon's Family Federation for World Peace and Unification website a few days after the crowning, top Moon official Chung Hwan Kwak was quoted as saying, "So in effect, the crowning means America is saying to Father, 'Please become my king.'"

Observed Kwak, "The 'outside' view of the Capitol Hill event was that Father received a crown, an award for his years of dedication and leadership in reconciliation and peace-making. The 'inside' view of the event was that America surrendered to True Parents in the king's position."

Did you catch that last part?

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"John Gorenfeld: The first man on the Moon"
-- Ana Marie Cox ("Wonkette," Time.com Washington editor)

"Thanks to the superb reporting of John Gorenfeld on Salon.com and his indispensable Web page, Moon's shenanigans are routinely scrutinized. Maybe some of Gorenfeld's discernment will rub off on preachers and politicians."
-- Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist

"The scene summoned the moment in Robert Graves's "I, Claudius" when Emperor Caligula declares himself a god in the Roman Senate; a fawning solon instantly offers a prayer."
-- New York Times editorial on the Crown of Peace scandal

"I am happy that our work is being challenged and improved in consistency, openness and coordination, by the accountability your spotlight demands. I am not talking about simply removing stuff from websites..."
-- Moon spokesman the Rev. Phil Schanker

"Instead of welcoming Reverend Moon, this government put me into prison. History will reveal the truth in the future and the American government and people will realize what an evil thing they did. What will they do then? They will bow down. Again, that is the way of natural subjugation." -- Moon in 1987

"A political movement basing its appeal on old fashioned patriotism and family values simply cannot justify an alliance with a cult that preys on the disintegration of the American family and advocates allegiance to an international social order operating with cell-like secrecy."
-- Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA)