A Crowning at the Capital Creates a Stir
June 24, 2004
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, June 23 - As a shining symbol of democracy, the
United States capital is not ordinarily a place where
coronations occur. So news that the Rev. Sun Myung Moon,
the eccentric and exceedingly wealthy Korean-born
businessman, donned a crown in a Senate office building and
declared himself the Messiah while members of Congress
watched is causing a bit of a stir.
One congressman, Representative Danny K. Davis, Democrat of
Illinois, wore white gloves and carried a pillow holding
one of two ornate gold crowns that were placed on the heads
of Mr. Moon and his wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, at the
ceremony, which took place March 23 and capped a reception
billed as a peace awards banquet.
Mr. Davis says he held the wife's crown and was "a bit
surprised'' by Mr. Moon's Messiah remarks, which were
delivered in Korean but accompanied by a written
translation. In them, he said emperors, kings and
presidents had "declared to all heaven and earth that
Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity's
Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent.''
By Wednesday, after news of the event had been reported in
the online magazine Salon and various newspapers, Capitol
Hill was in full-blown backpedaling mode, as lawmakers who
attended but missed the coronation - or saw it and did not
think much of it - struggled to explain themselves.
"I remember the king and queen thing,'' said Representative
Roscoe G. Bartlett, Republican of Maryland, "But we have
the king and queen of the prom, the king and queen of 4-H,
the Mardi Gras and all sorts of other things. I had no idea
what he was king of.''
Others, like Senator Mark Dayton, Democrat of Minnesota,
insisted they were duped and had no idea that the
organization holding the reception was connected to Mr.
Moon. Mr. Dayton said he attended because a constituent was
being honored. He left before the crowning.
"I never saw Reverend Moon present during the time I was
there,'' Mr. Dayton said. "I did not stay for any formal
program.''
At 84, Mr. Moon cuts a curious figure in Washington, where
he mingles with the city's power elite by dint of his dual
roles as religious leader and media mogul. He owns The
Washington Times, which bills itself as a conservative
alternative to The Washington Post, as well as United Press
International, the wire service. He calls himself "Father''
and has drawn notoriety for officiating at mass weddings.
Mr. Moon's Unification Church has many tentacles, including
the Interreligious and International Federation for World
Peace, which held what it called an Ambassadors for Peace
awards banquet in the Dirksen Office Building on March 23.
An initial invitation, sent to all members of Congress,
stated that Mr. Moon and his wife would also be present and
honored for their work. But follow-up letters, including
one provided by Mr. Dayton, mentioned only the peace
foundation and simply told lawmakers who from their states
was being honored.
Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, an
organization devoted to preserving the separation of church
and state, said Mr. Moon often drew lawmakers into his fold
in this way. Mr. Lynn said it seemed Mr. Moon was courting
black lawmakers, including Mr. Davis of Illinois and
Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, who attended
but said he did not stay for the crowning ceremony.
"Reverend Moon has been very intentional about promoting
his activities within the African-American church
community,'' Mr. Lynn said. But he said he was disturbed by
lawmakers' "flimsy excuses,'' adding, "You had what
effectively amounted to a religious coronation in a
government building of a man who claims literally to be the
savior.''
Mr. Cummings, however, said the invitation was similar to
countless requests he receives to honor local constituents,
in this case a black bishop in his district. Mr. Bartlett
said he attended to support The Washington Times. "I'm a
conservative," he said. "I'm delighted that we have a
middle-of-the-road paper in Washington."
The event itself attracted little notice, though Mr. Lynn's
organization wrote about it in a newsletter in May. The
uproar did not occur until this week, when John Gorenfeld,
a freelance writer, published an account of the event in
Salon. Mr. Gorenfeld, who wrote that at least a dozen
members of Congress attended, said he had been scouting the
Internet, researching Mr. Moon, when he stumbled on a video
of the ceremony.
"Nobody sent it to me,'' he said. "I discovered it and I
thought, 'Oh, my God.' ''
But Archbishop George A. Stallings, pastor of the Imani
Temple, an independent African-American Catholic church in
Washington, who helped coordinate the reception, does not
see what all the fuss is about. "From his spiritual
perspective,'' he said, referring to Mr. Moon, "that is how
he sees his role, as ordained by God.''
He added: "This is not the first time the man has been on
Capitol Hill.''
As to whether it will be the last, that is an open
question. To hold the event in the Dirksen building, the
organization was required to find a senator to act as a
sponsor. But the identity of the sponsor remained a secret
on Wednesday; the Senate Rules and Administration
Committee, which approved the request, would not release
the name.
Susan Irby, a spokeswoman for Senator Trent Lott of
Mississippi, the committee chairman, said staff members
were examining the application, filed in the name of The
Washington Times Foundation, to see if there were any
violations of Senate rules.
Mr. Davis said he had attended meetings of the peace
foundation, knowing of Mr. Moon's involvement.
Of the crowning ceremony, Mr. Davis said: "It's my
understanding that what they were doing was recognizing Mr.
and Mrs. Moon as parents. They call it true parents, as
parents who provide parental guidance or parental
direction. That's what it meant to me. It meant nothing
more and nothing less.''
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/24/po...03728571f4f4da
Linear Mode
