Also: Rude Muslim cleric gets owned, and a look at the Source Family.
The late cult leader Sun Myung Moon, who brainwashed his Unification Church followers into believing he was the Messiah, was once quoted as saying “I will continue to lead the church from the spirit world.”1
In July 2002 the Moonies placed an ad in U.S. newspapers stating that there had been a Christmas Day meeting “in the spirit world” attended by Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, Buddha, Martin Luther and John Harvard. During this meeting, according to the ad, Jesus hailed Moon as the Messiah, proclaiming, “You are the Second Coming who inaugurated the Completed Testament Age.”
The ad said Muhammad then led everyone in three cheers of victory.
The advertisement concluded with “A Letter from God,” which read in part, “You, the True Parents [Referring to Moon and his wife], have now succeeded in everything and have raised everything to its true level. So you are now the Savior, Messiah and King of Kings of all of humanity!”
That said, fantasist Moon — who was buried last September — appears to have little to no influence up there — and if he is leading his church, he’s doing it wrong.
A blog titled How Well Do You Know Your Moon, operated by ex-members, has posted an English translation of a recently released article in the Korean publication Shin Dong about the power struggle within the Unification Church after Moon’s death.
Among other things, Moon’s 4th and 7th sons have been overthrown, and Moon’s erstwhile secretary/butler has now become a “person above all institutions.”
Meanwhile, the Unification Church continues to preach complete nonsense. Theologically it is considered to be at best a cult of Christianity, since it rejects, denies or twists Christianity’s essential doctrines.
Rude Muslim cleric gets owned on TV
Egyptian Muslim cleric Yousuf Badri was paid 1,000 Egyptian pounds (about $114) by Al-Nahar TV in exchange for a televised interview.
But he got belligerent before the interview when the female host, Riam Said took off her hijab — the scarf many Muslim women wear.
These scarves are regarded by many Muslims as a symbol of both religion and womanhood, with some even saying it stands for modesty, privacy, and morality.
But there is debate among Muslims as to whether or not the Quran actually requires that women wear a hijab.
In fact, in some Muslim countries it is even forbidden to wear a veil in public buildings.
The cleric apparently insists that Said wear the veil during the interview, which she does.
However, when she asks a question regarding sexual harassment by clerics performing exorcisms, Badri gets rude again — to which Said takes exception:
How a Spiritual Commune known as the Source Famly became a cult
Here we go, back to the Seventies.
For anyone looking to teach a master class in brainwashing techniques, “The Source Family” might be an excellent place to start. Documenting the hippy-dippy lifestyle and hedonistic principles of Hollywood’s favorite 1970s cult — led by the self-professed guru and suspected bank robber Jim Baker, a k a Father Yod — Maria Demopoulos and Jodi Wille’s disturbing film is an object lesson in psychological manipulation.
A review, at FilmSchoolRejects.com, says that on the upside this is a “Solid slice of life documentary about an inherently interesting group of people and their complicated history; well-crafted combination of new and old material.”
On the other hand, the site says “it doesn’t provide some essential grounding — we’re never sure of just who Jim Baker was and how that made him who he became, and we’re never quite aware of the impact that the Source had on the era it seemed to so embody.”
Another review, published in The Daily (of the University of Washington) says, because “the Family’s story is so unique, it would be hard to make a bad documentary about it,” but that for a “film about spirituality, there is somewhat of a spiritual hole left in it.”
The reviewer concludes
The film commits the cardinal sin of documentary storytelling: focusing on the group as one entity rather than on its very human parts. In telling the story of the whole group, the film leaves out individual experience, personal growth, and emotion — exactly what mattered to the subject of the film.Â
The Hollywood Reporter’s review does go much in-depth, but the site carries a brief preview.
Wikipedia entry on Father Yod
The Source Family documentary
Notes:
- A Washington Post article published in 1997, quoted Moon as saying this when asked what will happen to his empire after he dies ↩