Moon shadow

With Help From Congressional Republicans And The Bush `Faith-Based' Initiative, Controversial Korean Evangelist Sun Myung Moon Is Trying To Expand His Religious-Political Empire

At first glance, the invitation many clergy and community leaders around the country received last April to attend conferences on "Faith-Based Initiatives For Family and Community Renewal" might have looked like it came from the Republican congressional leadership and the Bush administration.

The material, decorated with a drawing of the U.S. Capitol, noted that the events would include a satellite broadcast of a GOP-sponsored "faith-based summit" for clergy transmitted live from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and said that prominent congressional leaders and White House staffers would take part.

The flyer promised that the "cutting edge program" would "provide the latest information on innovative policies and programs from the Executive and Congressional leadership in Washington; and build alliances for faith-based services at the state and community level."

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts, the House Republican Conference Chairman, was issuing press releases noting that the GOP's "faith-based" summit would be viewed by satellite at events in over 45 cities.

But if invitees took the time to read the fine print on the flyers touting the local gatherings, they would have learned that the get-togethers were sponsored not directly by the Republican Party but on its behalf by a group called the American Leadership Conference (ALC).

Reading further, they would have found out that the ALC is a project of the American Family Coalition and The Washington Times Foundation - both front organizations for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a controversial Korean evangelist and founder of the Unification Church. The "faith-based summit" itself was sponsored by Watts (R-Okla.), Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and other top congressional Republicans, but efforts to promote it at the grassroots level were turned over to a Moon organization.

Why is the Republican Party working hand in glove with Moon front groups? The partnership stems largely from Moon's phenomenal ability to make inroads in GOP and Religious Right circles. Despite his unorthodox theological views - Moon teaches that he is the new Messiah, sent by God to complete the failed mission of Jesus - Moon has had little difficulty penetrating the upper echelons of American conservatism.

While a number of Republican-aligned private organizations have promoted President George W, Bush's religion funding scheme, only Moon won an official relationship with the Republican leadership to rally. grassroots forces on behalf of the "faith-based" summit. This enhanced status enabled him to do grassroots political organizing - and religious recruitment - with the apparent blessing of Bush and his GOP allies in Congress.

Just a few years ago, Moon announced he was ready to give up on the United States, but the change of administrations in Washington seems to have sparked a change of heart in him. Frederick Clarkson, a journalist who has studied Moon and other far-right movements, notes that Moon specializes in the creation of "Astroturf organizations" - groups that appear to have grassroots power but that in reality speak mostly for Moon. Moon has used these groups to curry favor with Republicans for more than 30 years, Clarkson said, and is revving them up again to help the new Bush administration.

"Whenever the conservatives identify an issue as important to their agenda, Moon creates an Astroturf organization to create the appearance of grassroots support for these initiatives," Clarkson said.

Moon also has great influence among Capitol Hill Republicans through his ownership of the ultra-conservative Washington Times newspaper. Although the paper has never turned a profit, Moon has subsidized its operations since he founded the publication in 1982. Gradually, it has become an important outlet for conservatives eager for a vehicle to spread their views. Through the related Washington Times Foundation, Moon holds opulent seminars, dinners and other events that attract the top names in the Religious Right, clergy and political leaders.

Over the years, Moon has played host to Religious Right bigwigs like Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed, Gary Bauer and Beverly LaHaye. He has also paid high fees to ex-presidents Gerald Ford and George Bush to speak at Moon events.

To preview the Watts "faith-based" summit, Moon did a whirlwind tour of all 50 states in March and April, called the "We Will Stand Tour," to discuss family issues and plug the Bush proposal.

Although the speeches were billed as "a celebration of faith and family," Moon, 81, was frequently off message. In Las Vegas, for example, the more than 600 people who gathered at a church April 11 to hear the Korean evangelist may have gotten a little more than they bargained for. Moon's discussion of "faith" turned out to be a claim that he is the rebirth of Jesus Christ backed by assertions that only people who have received his blessing can enter Heaven.