While I try to maintain a scholarly detachment most of the time - I mean,
messiahs are just a sub branch of the shamanic ancestor profession in
Korea - there are literally *hundreds* of the blighters - but once in a
while I have to step back and shake my head at the incredible *weirdness*
(not to mention heartbreak) of it all.
Megalomania? This is a guy who, upon his release from jail for tax fraud, crowns himself Emperor of the Universe. And starts a church holiday to commemorate it.
As the real world Moon organisation shrinks from repeated family scandal,
government investigation and fiscal black holes like the Washington Times
(which loses $20 million dollars a year), Moon is retreating more and more
into the 'spirit world' for his victories, where he can make endless
grandiose claims with little fear of being proved wrong.
Did you know Jesus is Number 2 in the Kingdom of Heaven? Moon's dead son Heung Jin is number 1 - in fact he had to unlock the door and let Jesus in. To a lower level, of course.
Did you know that 37 Presidents of the United States are members of the Unification Church, and recognise Moon Sun Myung as their personal messiah? Yep, all the dead ones. (The living Bushes aren't Moonies, but they're happy enough to take his money).
http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/unif213.html
http://www.unification.net/leesanghun/leesanghun20030828.html
In the spirit world, Moon has converted Marx, Lenin Stalin and Mao to his personal cause, as well as Buddha, Moses, Mohammed, Socrates and Martin Luther. I bet Old Joe recognised a kindred spirit. :)
But wait, there's more... Moon has *married* many of these dead people to living Unification Church members. Forget Mary Magdalene, Jesus is married to a living Korean spiritualist Moonie. I'm not sure if we can expect children.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2843/6_26/94044228/p1/article.jhtml?term =
Numerology and spirit world have always been a big part of Moon's ideology. Remember those mass arranged marriages that kept getting bigger, till Moon ran out of members? The last 'Blessing' collected signatures on street corners from anyone who could sign a petition in favour of marriage, even so, the claim of 100 Million marriage convinced few. Having switched to the spirit world, Moon can now boast of the '4 Billion marriage'.
This obsession with symbol and numbers extends to the personal lives of members - 40 hour and 7 day fasts, 40 hour fundraising, whatever. The new leader of the Family Federation in Australian, a Korean (of course) here under dubious visa arrangements, is unimpressed with the 'spiritual backbone' of church members. He has declared a 'chong song' condition where every member must make **500 full body bows a day** to Moon's photograph for the next seven years! This is a real demand. It takes hours. Try a few full body bows - it rapidly becomes an act of athletic endurance. In the face of this, even twenty year members are (at last!) considering their options.
There's the darker dark side as well - the flirtation with fascism in the name of anti-communism, the Yakuza/Japanese ultra national links (also in the name of anti-communism), the long denied arms factories that now have a web page where you can check out the mine launchers ( http://www.tongil.co.kr/ ), the free circulation of currency and people with little regard to legal niceties, the constant manoeuvring behind hundreds of front groups. There's the theocratic, stalinist ideology that proclaims the end of individualism, the end of the world's religious diversity (guess what will replace it?), the creation of Moon-controlled 'Peace UN', the abhorrence of homosexuality and free love, the historical necessity of the Jews' historical tribulations, and a whole host of other factoids that border on the absurd. Did you know that hippies were God's punishment to America because it rejected Moon as messiah? (Actually, hippies as punishment makes a weird kind of sense - I remember this every time I hear a Moody Blues song. :))
Moon's latest fixation is the United Nations ( http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/analysis/1101moon.htm ), and he has recently begun hosting 'Providential' peace rallies in Jerusalem using front organisations. Moon missives are talking of setting up creches and kindergartens on the Gaza Strip.
Trust me, Glorathan religious weirdness has got nothing on the real world. And this is why I occasionally seem to do a double take when people start chirping about 'Moonie Madness'. I've never mined it for Gloranthan inspiration though, its just way too scary.
Cheers
John
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