Flutterby™! : The shoe! 2004-04-05 20:05:39.992779+00

The shoe!

2004-04-05 20:05:39.992779+00 by Dan Lyke 14 comments

Damn. I had this great rant centered around the alleged Address to the United States Congress on March 23, 2004 by Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon in which he says:

But in the context of Heaven's providence, I am God's ambassador, sent to earth with His full authority. I am sent to accomplish His command to save the world's six billion people, restoring them to Heaven with the original goodness in which they were created.

where I was going to propose that if they're going to let random religious cranks address Congress and claim to be the messiah, sign me up! After all I've got the Jesus look in the long hair and the beard, and I wear sandals...

But no, I can't find reference to the Rev. Dr. in the March 23 Congressional Record Extension of Remarks, Senate Daily Digest, the Senate Congressional Record or the House Congressional Record. And a quick news.google.com search turns up... well... evidence that the Washington Post Reliable Source edits columns after they've been posted. John Gorenfeld points to Atrios pointing to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification of U.S.A., specifically the program and host committee, but since that website appears to be just another Unification Church front I'm not sure I'm going to call it credible.

So, alas, despite Bill Humphries' disclaimer that it didn't look like an April fools prank, I have to chalk it up to the Rev. Dr. Moon making the address "in spirit" or otherwise corporeally disengaged from his alleged audience. Which is a shame, because Bill points to a great suggestion made by veritas in Atrios' comments:

So, let's crucify him next Friday and see if he rises again.

All was not lost, because that Google search did lead to Sometimes Jesus calls, sometimes Ted sends e-mail, a quick rundown on messiah-hood today.

[Edit: As Diane pointed out, I unfairly maligned The Washington Post when I meant to denigrate the blatant Unification Church front]

I think you meant to say "just another Unification Church front".

(BTW, I was never more astounded in my life as the day during my working life in NYC in 1982 when my favorite co-worker, G., went to lunch with me and told me he was a Moonie ("I even sell flowers on the corner sometimes, it's quite humbling."). It was a chin-dropped-can't-breathe moment. A few years later, my kids went to a private school with the entire Moon clan of youngsters. The kids weren't allowed to come over to play, or vice-versa; probably just as well....)

You are correct (although in digging around the number of Washington Post articles which apparently had mention of this event and later dropped it makes me wonder).

I've known people with a lot of weird beliefs. And remember, the North Koreans are still listening to the Dear Leader after how many years of tyranny and starvation? So it's not surprising that folks would find another Korean as charismatic.

This goes back to some of my soul searching about real estate, for too long I've just tossed things off in the "I don't understand that, so I won't get involved", and I'm finding it's costing me money. Time to get myself a TV ministry.

as i read your comment about the rev. moon, i remembered talking about "savior comparisons" posted by meuon refer to this i hope this link is correct, it's a first attempt.

how would rev.moon restore us to heaven? i don't think i'm ready to go to heaven yet, too much to do down here and i definitely don't need a man telling me what i need to do!

by the way, i just finished reading "daughter of God" by lewis purdue. i really enjoyed the book and loved the idea of a female God that he suggests in the story. he alledges throughout the story the abuse to women in the bible which i've known of for many years. it's an eye opener when you read a biblical story of angels visiting earth, the locals (homs) want the angels but the man of god won't give the angels to them, so he gives his maid/slave to the homos who use her in very bad ways. when she finally comes home the owner/man of god kills her because she had sex (very unwillingly) with these men. can't think of where that is in the bible, but it is there. i gave the condensed version. anyway, purdue's story suggested that there was a female messiah after jesus...it was a good read, i like his style, i kept thinking this would make a great movie lol, maybe use alanis morrisette as the messiah?

It's not just the Moonies. A couple of nice Morman gentleman stopped by a few days ago, and got trapped into declaring what they really believe: The Church of Latter Day Saints is the ONLY direct descendent church of Jesus Christ, handed to Mr. Smith by Jesus and God himself.

Well -- is this any different than Christianity or any of the other blather people follow?

Re: Mormons; have they been preaching something else to the public? I always thought that position was pretty clear.

meuon brings up the LDS gentlemen on a mission... I just finished reading "Under the Banner of Heaven: a Story of Violent Faith", simultaneously with "Islam: a Short History" by Karen Armstrong. There sure are a lot of faiths that are certain they have The One And Only Truth, and many of them are not planning to stop until they are in charge and can run things according to their view of the world, however absurd that view may seem to nearly everyone else. I was struck by some surprising parallels between some facets of Islam and some facets of Mormonism, especially with regard to politics and history (and recommend both books, by the way: it's always best to be informed, even if you're somewhat alarmed as a result).

I know I have trouble swimming in the same mental stream as the rest of society, but am I really that out of touch? I am truly surprised that this is not already common knowledge. One of the key defining points of any religious faith is that each is the One True Belief. If it doesn't believe in its own Rightness, then it's not really a religion. Some may be more tolerant of other belief structures, but they still think those others are wrong (misguided, mistaken, etc.)

And that is my gripe with most religions: They are exclusive not inclusive.

My apologies, I got interrupted (darn clients), I was going to expound on the amount of arrogance about it they had, this young man denounced all other religions as false. Of course I had fun, asked them where the golden tablets were, etc.. I mean, there should be some evidence of such a world altering event as described by Joseph Smith. They were unusually ignorant of other faiths, even other Christian sects. One of the nice gentlemen was from Utah, and had never heard of the great prophet Larry Harvey and of the tribal cult that honored him. The one that comes together every year to burn an effigy. Of course, the artwork hanging on my walls (including some artistic nudity) of the ceremonies and services of this cult bothered them. To them, the flaming and burning references are evil and obviously the work of the Devil

Fortunetely for them, my faith includes them and forgives them for their ignorance without their having to do anything.

Still, as Diane pontificated: "There sure are a lot of faiths that are certain they have The One And Only Truth^(tm)" and that is the source of almost ALL of the worlds problems. I say, lets throw the leaders of all of these religions in an arena, add some lions and tigers, and see whose God saves who to prove they are right. Oh, yeah, guess the Romans already did that. Hmm..

That's hilarious, meuon, because it's so nearly true; especially when you look at the year-round activity and organization of the burner communities in hotspots like S.F. and Seattle. Give it another ten years and maybe there'll be a "burner" checkbox in the religion section on the census...

#Comment Comparative religion made: 2004-04-08 00:30:30.37406+00 by: baylink [edit history]

My personal favorite not-even-a-little-bit-accidental treatise on comparative religion is Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice, which is to early 80's religion what his new For Us, The Living is to last 30's macroeconomics.

While the book is *much* funnier if you have the background to appreciate all the jokes (which is true, also, of Number Of The Beast; I saw an annotated synopsis of that about 6 months ago, and was *amazed* how much I'd walked right on by), you'll still get something out of it if you don't know anything at all about religion.

Re: the shoe. No, I'm not nearly so subtle, I just had the upcoming theater re-release of Life of Brian

on my brain when I was trying to come up with a title.

Any clue on that annotated synopsis? I remember reading that back in high school and thinking "eh, so they do lots of stuff...".

Reading the comments and updates on John's blog, it's pretty clear that Moon was engaged in puffery. But there's still a serious ick factor in that he was doing his coronation thing in a federal office building, even if he had 'rented' it out for the announcement.