Cults and Power: Two Moonies Seeking US House Seats

[Note: This blog post is reprinted from the October 18, 2007 edition of Scoobie Davis Online]
Nobody ever accused Sun Myung Moon and his Family Federation for World Peace (FFWP) of modesty. Both Moon and FFWP president Michael Jenkins made this claim about their movement: "We are the chosen people" (this slight of the Jewish people is hardly surprising considering Moon's view of Jews--see addendum).

At least two of Moon's "chosen people" are considering runs for US House seats. Last month, I wrote a post about FFWP member and Arizona State Representative Mark Anderson who is considering a challenge to freshman Democratic representative Harry Mitchell.

In recent days, FFWP member David Caprara is considering a run for the seat left vacant by the recent death of Representative Jo Ann Davis (R-VA).

What makes the runs by Anderson and Caprara especially interesting is that in a 2002 book paying tribute to Sun Myung Moon (modestly titled The Hope of All Ages, A Unified World Peace: A Tribute to the Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon), Anderson and Caprara co-authored a revealing chapter. In it, they acknowledged that the Congress's establishment of Parent's Day was inspired by Moon, a sexual predator and con artist who exploited people's concern for family members to bilk them out of their life savings. Members of Moon's cult view Moon and his wife as the "True Parents" of humanity. Caprara and Anderson acknowledged that this was the covert rationale for the establishment of Parents' Day by the US Congress: "The establishment of Parents' Day was the result of a bipartisan, multiracial and interfaith coalition of religious, civic, and elected leaders inspired by your commitment, Reverend Moon, to the ideal of establishing true parent role models"(p. 17).

Addendum: Sun Myung Moon on the Jewish people:

To recreate Israel, the church and the state must become one as Cain and Abel. Instead they became one with Rome and captured and killed Jesus. They united with Rome. Who are the Jewish members here, raise your hands! Jewish people, you have to repent. Jesus was the King of Israel. Through the principle of indemnity Hitler killed 6 million Jews. That is why. God could not prevent Satan from doing that because Israel killed the True Parents. Even now, you have to determine that you will repent and follow and become one with Christianity through Rev. Moon.

Thanks again to Moonboots for help with this post.