Cult News

Three former Japanese followers of “cult leader” Rev. Moon of the Unification Church decided they didn’t like the spouses he chose for them and wanted out of their arranged marriages. According to Japan Today all three participated in one of Moon’s mass weddings, but later sued their former leader.

A court in Japan awarded the plaintiffs about $75,000 dollars in damages. The judge said, “The followers had no freedom to refuse the partners selected for them, and were made to believe that if they did not participate here, they and their ancestors would not be saved.”

Rev. Moon has been performing his own variation of “shotgun weddings” on a massive scale for many years. But instead of pregnancy making marriage necessary, it’s getting into Heaven. According to Moon singles cannot enter Heaven. Rev. Moon claims it was even necessary for him to officiate over the marriage of Jesus in “spirit world” to help get him in.

Most media seem to be taken in by the spin and/or the spam from Falun Gong devotees. A recent example can be seen within the Jewish publication the “Forward.” Correspondent Benjamin Soskis laments that “religious groups offer little support to Chinese sect.”

But had Soskis spent more time on hard research and less on politically correct hand wringing, he would have found that Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi, is both a megalomaniac and a bigot.

Sarah Lubman of the San Jose Mercury News did her homework and actually read Mr. Hongzhi’s racist rants. Li says that “mixed-race people…[are] instruments of an alien plot to destroy humanity’s link to heaven.” And that these interracial unions are somehow part of “a plot by…evil extraterrestrials.” Hongzhi appears to be homophobic too when he calls gays “disgusting,” and prophesizes that one day they will be ”eliminated” by ”the gods.”

Much of Hongzhi’s writings seem paranoid and ramble on about beings from outer space who are “embedding their technology and science in human bodies” so they can “control” humanity through “their thoughts.” This is a little like L. Ron Hubbard’s theories, which form the basis for Scientology.

Washington Post reporter Peter Carlson, like Lubman looked beyond the group’s rhetoric. He discovered that the followers of “Master Li” believe not only that he can “personally install” falun (a wheel of law) in their abdomens, but he can “levitate,” “become invisible” and knows the “top secret of the Universe.”

Canadian reporter Brian Hutchinson of the National Post, found that Falun Gong is based upon the “idea that life on Earth is doomed, that it is rotting and that it needs to be ‘rectified’ in order to proceed to the next stage of existence.” And “Master Li…has succeeded in preventing the cosmos from decomposing altogether, as other ‘higher beings’ were willing to allow.”

Hongzhi has also made this sweeping claim, “What I do today is for the purpose of rectifying humankind and the substances of the entire Earth.” This statement appears to match the hubris of Rev. Moon, founder of the Unification Church, who says he is the messiah.

Hongzhi eerily parallels the claims made by Marshall Applewhite of “Heaven’s Gate“? Like Li, Applewhite believed he was on a mission to fight against evil planetary forces. Just like Applewhite, Hongzhi sees himself in a singular and pivotal role. And he warns, “Not acknowledging the Master in the human world is not acknowledging oneself as a disciple.”

Yes, Mr. Soskis might have done a little bit more research, and then he would have better understood why, as one Jewish leader he quoted observed, “It’s hard to get [Jewish groups] to speak out on behalf of Falun Gong,”

It’s hard to say who is crazier, Rev. Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, or his political and religious cronies, which include former President George Bush Sr., evangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell and Senator Orin Hatch.

Last month Moon announced himself as “Savior, Messiah and King of Kings of all humanity.” He actually splashed this across newspapers throughout America in full-page ads. Apparently heaven had a convention and unanimously decided this, and somehow Moon got the meeting minutes and felt obliged to share the details.

The ads in Utah papers alone, home of long-time Moon friend Orin Hatch, cost more than $7,000. But of course that’s chump change for this billionaire, who built a religious empire on the backs of “brainwashed” street vendors once called “Moonies.”

Moon owns the Washington Times, which loses millions of dollars every year. But that newspaper, along with his more recent purchase of UPI, gives him juice in the capital and affords him a certain cache to court politicians inside the beltway. Prominent leaders and members of Congress attend his staged events, which are sponsored by one Moon controlled entity or another.

That Moon now 82, is a self-deluded possibly crazy old man, is not the point. Even his historical title of “cult leader” seems to pale next to a simple question more pertinent for most Americans. Why do these respected leaders pay so much attention to the would-be savior from Korea?

How can Jerry Falwell, a born-again Christian, suffer a false messiah? Rev. Falwell routinely condemns others for seemingly lesser sins, but he has never publicly condemned Moon. Instead he has posed with him for pictures, even though Moon says Jesus didn’t accomplish his mission. The Baptist minister has taken Moon’s money to shore up his own interests.

And how can Orin Hatch, a devout Mormon, put up with a man who sees himself as more important than Joseph Smith? It seems Senator Hatch imagines that Moon has been “persecuted,” like his Mormons ancestors who fled from unhappy circumstances in Illinois and eventually settled in Utah.

But then comes former President George Bush Sr. who has received millions of dollars from Moon for speeches. Obviously, he doesn’t need the money. What is he thinking? Or is this just an example of greed?

Who is really deluded?