At the national level, it sometimes seems as if the Republican Party only deals with bizarre, hateful religious leaders. There’s Jerry Falwell, who believes liberals helped cause the terrorist attacks of 9/11; there’s Pat Robertson, who wants nuclear bombs thrown at the State Department and thinks God told him Bush is going to win in 2004; and then there’s the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
Moon is a controversial Korean evangelist and founder of a religious order called the Unification Church, which believes Moon is a new messiah sent by God to complete what he calls “the failed mission” of Jesus. From a political perspective, Moon also has deep ties to the Republican Party in Washington and owns/publishes the ultra-conservative Washington Times newspaper.
To be sure, Moon has had a propensity for saying, and believing, some pretty bizarre stuff over the years. My personal favorite came in the summer of 2002 when Moon’s church began announcing that the founders of several world religions — including Jesus Christ, Confucius, Buddha, Muhammad — met in the “spirit world” to pledge loyalty to Moon. Riiiiight.
Anyway, this self-proclaimed messiah has always been to the lunatic fringe of conservative politics, and as always considered gays, in particular, to be his most serious enemy. Now, it appears, Moon wants that enemy “eliminated.”
I noticed (via Atrios) that blogger John Gorenfeld found a message from Moon on the website of Moon’s webmaster, in which the evangelist explains what the world would be like if he were king.
“There will be a purge on God’s orders, and evil will be eliminated like shadows,” Moon reportedly said. “Gays will be eliminated, the 3 Israels will unite. If not then they will be burned. We do not know what kind of world God will bring but this is what happens. It will be greater than the communist purge but at God’s orders.”
Bush and the GOP have refused to distance themselves from Falwell and Robertson, despite their lunacy over the years. Any chance we can get an RNC statement repudiating Moon’s latest example of madness?