Moon has gotten a lot of mileage by appealing to social and religious conservatives in the US, both with money and by co-opting the message of "family values", "christian values" and "world peace." (*) The Wheaton College student newspaper editor has even done an internship at the Washington Times, owned by Moon.
Moon parades around the Capitol, UBF holds a conference at Wheaton College, UBF holds large conferences at major universities: all made possible by ignorance, lack of information and the deceptive face that cults like to present.
(*) It's funny to hear UBF USA leaders also go on about America's Christian roots, about school prayer, about "In God We Trust", about America being the "City on a Hill" because it fits into the UBF "vision" and catchphrase of KOP & HN. (They are strangely mum about abortion, though. Hm.) Easier to talk about America's problems than their own.
Also, from the blog of the freelance journalist who covered this Moon coronation:
(Add the love of baseball bat "training" to arranged marriages on the list of things that the Unification Church and UBF have had in common)
Capitol's King of Peace wants to whale on you with a baseball bat
As James posts in the comments section, still no baseball team in Washington. But in 1997, future UPI wire service president Chung Kwak was given standing orders to hit slacker Unification Church members with a baseball bat. The man recently coronated in the Senate offices as the King of Peace declared:
How much easier it is for you compared to True Father's course. You have absolutely no excuse. [...] (Applause) Father wants Reverend Kwak to keep a baseball bat in his hand all the time and if he sees anyone neglecting their mission in this regard then he can freely use it. Particularly those who are sleeping and hiding, Reverend Kwak's baseball bat will fall upon you at any time. Father is ordering all of us to make our absolute commitment to Reverend Kwak to accomplish the 3.6 million couples Blessing this year.
Reverend Moon has been talking about hitting people with baseball bats for some time now. In 1976 he said:
I will never retire. The only thing you can do to stop me is to leave no work for me to do. Do you think that if you do, I would hit you with a baseball bat and tell you to go away, stop blocking my way? Suppose I were to hit you with the baseball bat to stop you, bloodying your ear and breaking a bone or two, yet still you insisted on doing more work for Father.
In 1980:
A great champion would say, "Thank you Father! Next time you bring your baseball bat to hit me, I will be ready."
In 1987 he imagined what would happen if Satan came along and tried to steal Moon's act:
You have a relationship with True Father, but suppose Satan comes along with a thick baseball bat made of iron.
From the 1998 Gates of True Love" speech:
What if Father tries to beat you out of the Unification Church with a baseball bat? Will you leave?
There's really nothing funny about this violent false Messiah, just as there's nothing funny about the violence that Samuel Lee perpetrated, instigated and ordered while he was leading UBF.
One thing I remember clearly: In the early 90s, I was there one Sunday during Lee's lengthy announcements when he said that he had learned some "good" things from Sun Myung Moon.
