(Cross-posted at Talk2Action.)

On the early Sunday morning of May 18, 2003, the high priests of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, owner of the Washington Times and Religious Right enigma, gathered over a grave near Jerusalem to hold a funeral for the Christian cross. They had been touring the Middle East in the name of peace. They proposed Moon's teachings as the glue for Jews and Muslims, bewildering locals, and they held briefings on Mideast policy for the State Department, or so they claimed. They networked with politicians. And steam gathered for a big, big finale.

They buried the cross because it was Satan's icon, Moon said, cleaving Jew from gentile, Christian from Muslim. Moon demanded a new symbol that everyone could agree on: the Crown of Glory. In February and March, 2004, on Capitol Hill, U.S. politicians would attend two ceremonies celebrating this gospel, the last climaxing with the selfsame Crown Of Glory lowered onto the Times owner's head. (Video here, Washington Post link for those of you new to this story -- and a big welcome for Farkers.)

A surprising figure wrote a song especially for the crown tour, according to the Reverend's flock. That's U.S. senator, Christian recording artist and longtime Moon friend Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

With Moon in the front row, Hatch introduces Mrs. Moon 13 years ago on Capitol Hill. Click for video.

Hatch's tune appears on an album issued in 2004 to commemorate the Reverend's roadshow. It had to be rushed out to be ready in time for Moon's March 23, 2004 crowning on Capitol Hill, according to this cult newsletter:

"They asked me to put together a compilation CD (in about two weeks!) in order that it could be available for the Ambassadors for Peace/Coronation banquet that took place in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. on March 23."

Sen. Hatch shared songwriting duties with a Utah state politician and two other men. As advertised, a track on the album, "Jerusalem Peace Song," bears the following songwriting credits:

9) Jerusalem Peace Song (3:50)
(Orrin Hatch / Howard Stephenson / Dan Whitley / Stan Seale)

Was it an unwitting mistake -- writing a song for a group campaigning to dump the cross, a symbol of which many of Hatch's constituents are still rather fond? Perhaps. But Hatch and Moon, it turns out, go back years together. And their unlikely friendship offers a handy way to light a lantern along the convoluted corridors of the Reverend's maze of influence on Capitol Hill, touching a number of liberal Democrats but most enormous in its gifts to the conservative side of the aisle, including the $2 billion+ subsidy for the Times.

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On February 4, 2004, over a month before the controversial "Crown of Peace" awards on Capitol Hill in which Moon named himself the Messiah, an earlier ritual was held at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building. I blogged about that here. The press has never reported on the earlier spectacle, in which Preston Moon, the likely heir to the church, drops by to pick up a crown on behalf of his father.

A Moon pastor exulted after the Preston Moon event:

"One unique dimension was the debuting of a special song called the "Jerusalem Peace Song", inspired by our Middle East Peace Initiative and authored by US Senator Orrin Hatch, Utah Senator Howard Stephenson and others. The performers of the song were quite inspired to reflect the spirit of reconciliation among the children of Abraham."

Those are the words of Jim Flynn, said by Moon's group to be "giving very important briefings to key American decisionmakers in the state department, Capitol Hill and beyond. The briefings are going well." (The Middle East is not.)

Crowning the Washington Times owner King of Peace in 2004: An accident? wondered observers. Or did the pols know what they were doing?

Some yes -- some no.

And Orrin Hatch's songwriting cameo? As Beatles fans know, those Lennon/McCartney credits don't tell you everything.

But consider Hatch's previous antics in Moon's world of plausible (and implausible) deniability -- a seemingly endless parade of surreal award shows in which Hatch and Moon have exchanged trophies.

In 1992, Moon presented Hatch with an award.

In 1993, there occurred a ludicrous episode in which Hatch played a key role. The punchline of the story is this: the U.S. now celebrates a holiday invented by Moon's Unification Church, which successfully lobbied for "Parents Day."

Senior Republicans proposed, on the floor of Congress, a holiday that would seemingly celebrate American moms and dads of the mortal kind. But as the Washington City Paper later unearthed, it turned out to be the brainchild of Reverend Moon himself, who openly said he was putting one over on Americans by convincing Congress to enact a holiday secretly honoring him as a "True Parent." By the time Clinton signed it into law, the "True" had been stripped, and Moon front group the American Family Coalition was disguising its links to the Times owner.

Much of the sordid story is here. If you don't believe me, get a load of the Congressional Record of July 27, 1993, in which Lott actually utters the words:

"...I rise today to offer remarks on `True Parents Day,' which will be celebrated officially on July 28, 1993..."

And there, on our national calendar, the holiday still stands-- here's George W. Bush on the subject. Moon crowed: "Men and women in the American Congress didn't know what they were doing, but as you know Congress passed the resolution of Parents Day."

Hatch played a visible role in the Parent's Day campaign, addressing a number of Moon front groups, including the ones that arranged for George H.W. Bush to tour with the Reverend in the mid-1990s. The evening after Trent Lott's proposal, Hatch hosted a Moon delegation on Capitol Hill.

Click on the Google Video window to watch a longer version of what was posted above. Hatch introduces Moon's wife as "my friend," with Moon in the front row. She then takes the stage, declaring herself and the Reverend the "True Parents." She also tells the audience that the "Completed Testament Age" has begun. In other words, she believes Congress is helping the couple write a third book of the Bible.

This was at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, years before Moon would be crowned within these marble walls.

And Hatch has met privately with the Reverend, according to Truth Is My Sword, a book put out by the church. In the 1980s, Hatch held a special hearing protesting Rev. Moon's imprisonment as a tax cheat. "I would like to underscore that I am not a close friend of Rev. Moon nor do I endorse his theology," he said at the time, declaring Moon -- like Joseph Smith, prophet of the Mormons -- a victim of religious discrimination. According to this Unification Church publication, Hatch calls the Reverend "a great man."

To conclude: the Messiah is something of a regular on Capitol Hill. His church newsletters speak of a "Coronation of God's Kingship" held in 2001 at Congress's Rayburn Building, as well as a speech in 2000 delivered to politicians at the Cannon Building. Around this time, Hatch and Moon shook hands while exchanging honors at something called the Century Awards -- held, natch, in the halls of Congress (pictured):

Moon's own appearances in Washington date as far back as December 18, 1975, when, his visa troubles having been straightened out by the late Strom Thurmond, he appeared in the House Caucus Room to make light of the widespread accusation that he was enslaving young Americans with "brainwashing."

"Are Americans really that foolish? Can they really be brainwashed by Rev. Moon, a Korean? I know your answer is no. My answer is no, too. No American is so foolish. I respect Americans very much, and I am surprised at such accusations."

So if 2004's crowning marked an instance of bad judgement, it's a breed of bad judgement that important members of Congress -- including Orrin Hatch -- have been exhibiting for decades.

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Thanks to Moonboots for multimedia footage.

By the way: I ordered a copy of the CD a few weeks ago, but it never arrived. Has the Reverend considered the Apple Music Store?

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